2017 Conference USA football season


The 2017 Conference USA football season was the 22nd season of Conference USA football and part of the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 26 with Rice facing Stanford in Sydney, Australia. This season was the third season for C-USA under realignment that took place in 2014, which added the 14th member Charlotte from the Atlantic 10 Conference. C-USA is a "Group of Five" conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the American Athletic Conference, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
C-USA consists of 14 members: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA, and Western Kentucky; and is split up into the East and West divisions. UAB will begin play for the first time since 2014, after the Blazer football program was dropped from competition.

Preseason

Media predictions

The 2017 preseason media football poll was released on July 18. Western Kentucky was picked to win its third straight East Division title, while Louisiana Tech was picked to repeat as West Division champion.
East Division
The conference preseason awards were released on July 17. WKU senior QB Mike White was selected as the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. Rice senior LB Emmanuel Ellerbee was selected the Defensive Player of the Year, and WKU senior KR Kylen Towner was selected Special Teams Player of the Year honors
PositionPlayerClassTeam
QBMike WhiteSeniorWestern Kentucky
WRRichie JamesJunior
WRJonathan DuhartSeniorOld Dominion
WRAllenzae StaggersSeniorSouthern Miss
RBRay LawrySeniorOld Dominion
RBIto SmithSeniorSouthern Miss
OLO’Shea DugasJuniorLouisiana Tech
OLWill HernandezSeniorUTEP
OLTrey MartinSeniorRice
OLAustin PrattSeniorUTSA
OLBrandon RaySeniorWestern Kentucky
TERyan YurachekSeniorMarshall

PositionPlayerClassTeam
DLMarcus DavenportSeniorUTSA
DLJaylon FergusonSophomoreLouisiana Tech
DLChris JohnsonSeniorWestern Kentucky
DLOshane XiminesSeniorOld Dominion
LBEmmanuel EllerbeeSeniorRice
LBAlvin JonesSeniorUTEP
LBJosiah TauaefaSophomoreUTSA
LBAnthony WintSeniorFIU
DBBrandon AddisonSeniorOld Dominion
DBNate BrooksJuniorNorth Texas
DBJoe BrownSeniorWestern Kentucky
DBKishawn McClainSeniorNorth Texas

PositionPlayerClassTeam
PJake CollinsJuniorWestern Kentucky
KCanon RookerSenior
KRKylen TownerSeniorWestern Kentucky
PRNacarius FantSeniorWestern Kentucky
LSMatt BaylissSeniorUTSA

Three Conference USA teams hired new head coaches for the 2017 season. All three were in the East Division, and all three were replacing coaches who had spent at least three seasons at their respective schools.
Note: All stats shown are before the beginning of the season.
TeamHead coachYears at schoolOverall recordRecord at schoolCUSA record
CharlotteBrad Lambert516–3016–303–13
FIUButch Davis163–430–00–0
Florida AtlanticLane Kiffin135–210–00–0
Louisiana TechSkip Holtz5119–9331–2222–10
MarshallDoc Holliday853–3753–3735–21
Middle TennesseeRick Stockstill1272–6672–6622–10
North TexasSeth Littrell25–85–83–5
Old DominionBobby Wilder967–3067–3014–10
RiceDavid Bailiff1177–8456–6939–41
Southern MissJay Hopson239–237–64–4
UABBill Clark217–106–64–4
UTEPSean Kugler518–3118–3111–21
UTSAFrank Wilson26–76–75–3
Western KentuckyMike Sanford Jr.10–00–00–0

Records against FBS conferences

Regular season
Power 5 conferencesRecord
ACC1–4
Big Ten0–4
Big 121–2
Pac-120–2
SEC0–7
Power 5 Total2–19
-
Other FBS conferencesRecord
American2–4
Independents3–2
MAC4–3
Mountain West0–0
Sun Belt4–2
Other FBS Total13–11
-
FCS OpponentsRecord
Football Championship Subdivision9–1
-
Total non-conference record24–31

Post season
Other FBS conferencesRecord
ACC0–1
American1–1
MAC1–1
Mountain West1–0
Sun Belt1–2
-
Total bowl record4–5

Postseason

Postseason awards

Bowl games

DateTimeBowl GameSiteTVCUSA TeamOpponentResult
December 16, 20171:00 PMNew Orleans BowlMercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LAESPNNorth TexasTroy50–30
December 16, 20172:30 PMAutoNation Cure BowlCamping World Stadium • Orlando, FLCBSSNWestern KentuckyGeorgia State27–17
December 16, 20174:30 PMNew Mexico BowlDreamstyle Stadium • Albuquerque, NMESPNMarshallColorado State31–28
December 16, 20178:00 PMCamellia BowlCramton Bowl • Montgomery, ALESPNMiddle TennesseeArkansas State35–30
December 19, 20177:00 PMBoca Raton BowlFAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FLESPNFlorida AtlanticAkron50–3
December 20, 20177:00 PMFrisco BowlToyota Stadium • Frisco, TXESPNLouisiana TechSMU51–10
December 21, 20178:00 PMGasparilla BowlTropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FLESPNFIUTemple28–3
December 22, 201712:30 PMBahamas BowlThomas Robinson Stadium • Nassau, BahamasESPNUABOhio41–6
December 27, 20171:30 PMIndependence BowlIndependence Stadium • Shreveport, LAESPNSouthern MissFlorida State42–13

Home game attendance

†Played at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL
‡ Conference Championship Game