2016 Conference USA football season

Last updated

2016 Conference USA football season
Conference USA logo (2013-2023).svg
League NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport Football
DurationSeptember 1, 2016
through December 27, 2016
Number of teams13
TV partner(s) ESPN, CBS Sports Network, American Sports Network, beIN Sports, Campus Insiders, CUSA.tv
2017 NFL Draft
Top draft pickG Forrest Lamp, WKU
Picked by Los Angeles Chargers, 38th overall
Regular season
Season MVPQB Ryan Higgins, La. Tech
East champions Western Kentucky & Old Dominion (co-champions)
West champions Louisiana Tech
Championship Game
ChampionsWestern Kentucky
  Runners-upLouisiana Tech
Finals MVPRB Anthony Wales, WKU
Football seasons
  2015
2017  
2016 Conference USA football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
East Division
Western Kentucky xy$  7 1   11 3  
Old Dominion x  7 1   10 3  
Middle Tennessee  5 3   8 5  
FIU  4 4   4 8  
Charlotte  3 5   4 8  
Marshall  2 6   3 9  
Florida Atlantic  2 6   3 9  
West Division
Louisiana Tech xy  6 2   9 5  
UTSA  5 3   6 7  
Southern Miss  4 4   7 6  
North Texas  3 5   5 8  
Rice  2 6   3 9  
UTEP  2 6   4 8  
Championship: Western Kentucky 58, Louisiana Tech 44
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2016 Conference USA football season was the 21st season of Conference USA football and part of the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 1 with Charlotte facing Louisville. [1] This season was the second season for the C-USA under realignment that took place in 2014, which added the 14th member Charlotte from the Atlantic 10 Conference. The 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.

Contents

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. West champion Louisiana Tech played at East champion Western Kentucky's Houchens Industries-L. T. Smith Stadium for the Conference USA Championship on December 3, which Western Kentucky won 58–44. UAB continued to undergo reinstatement of its football program during the 2016 season and will begin play for the 2017 season. [2]

Western Kentucky entered the season as defending Conference USA champions, defeating Southern Miss in the previous year's championship game. The Hilltoppers would then go on to defeat South Florida in the Miami Beach Bowl 45–35. [3]

Preseason

2016 predictions

The 2016 preseason media predictions were released on July 21, 2016 with the vote conducted by media members that cover the conference schools. Middle Tennessee was picked to win the East division for the first time in school history. After coming second in the East last year, which resulted a trip to the Bahamas Bowl, the Blue Raiders returned 13 starters for the upcoming season. In the West division, the media predicted Southern Miss to overcome the other 5 teams in the division. Southern Miss has been in the C-USA championship more than any team in the conference, with 3 appearances including an appearance last season against Western Kentucky. The Golden Eagles brought back seven starters on offense and six starters on defense. Western Kentucky, defending C-USA champion, was predicted to finish second in the East division, instead of returning to the title game.

The championship game was held on December 3, 2016, where the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers bested the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 58-44.

References: [4]

Head coaches

Three Conference USA teams hired new head coaches for the 2016 season. All three were in the West Division, and all three were replacing coaches who had spent at least 3 seasons at their respective schools.

Note: All stats shown are before the beginning of the season.

TeamHead coachYears at schoolOverall recordRecord at schoolCUSA record
Charlotte Brad Lambert 412–2212–220–8
FIU Ron Turner 455–8210–267–17
Florida Atlantic Charlie Partridge 36–186–185–11
Louisiana Tech Skip Holtz 4110–8822–1716–8
Marshall Doc Holliday 750–2850–2833–15
Middle Tennessee Rick Stockstill 1164–6164–6117–7
North Texas Seth Littrell 10–00–00–0
Old Dominion Bobby Wilder 857–2757–277–9
Rice David Bailiff 1074–7553–6037–35
Southern Miss Jay Hopson 132–170–00–0
UTEP Sean Kugler 414–2314–239–15
UTSA Frank Wilson 10–00–00–0
Western Kentucky Jeff Brohm 320–720–712–4

C-USA vs other conferences

C-USA vs power conferences

Index to colors and formatting
Conference USA member won
Conference USA member lost
Conference USA teams in bold

This is a list of the power conference teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) C-USA plays in non-conference (Rankings from the AP Poll):

DateVisitorHomeSiteScore
September 1Charlotte#19 Louisville Papa John's Cardinal StadiumLouisville, Kentucky 14–70
September 1 Indiana FIU FIU StadiumMiami 34–13
September 3Louisiana Tech Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Razorback StadiumFayetteville, Arkansas 20–21
September 3Southern Miss Kentucky Commonwealth StadiumLexington, Kentucky 44–35
September 9 Maryland FIUFIU Stadium • Miami, Florida41–14
September 10Florida Atlantic#25 Miami Hard Rock StadiumMiami Gardens, Florida 10–38
September 10Middle Tennessee Vanderbilt Vanderbilt StadiumNashville, Tennessee 24–47
September 10UTEP#11 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial StadiumAustin, Texas 7–41
September 10WKU#1 Alabama Bryant–Denny StadiumTuscaloosa, Alabama 10–38
September 16 Baylor Rice Rice StadiumHouston 38–10
September 16 Arizona State UTSA AlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas 32–28
September 17Florida Atlantic Kansas St. Bill Snyder Family Football StadiumManhattan, Kansas 7–63
September 17Louisiana Tech Texas Tech Jones AT&T StadiumLubbock, Texas 45–59
September 17North Texas Florida Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, Florida 0–32
September 17Old Dominion NC State Carter–Finley StadiumRaleigh, North Carolina 22–49
September 24 Vanderbilt WKU Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith StadiumBowling Green, Kentucky 31–30 OT
September 24 Louisville Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia 59–28
October 1Marshall Pittsburgh Heinz FieldPittsburgh 27–43
October 15Southern Miss LSU Tiger StadiumBaton Rouge, Louisiana 10–45
October 22Middle Tennessee Missouri Faurot FieldColumbia, Missouri 51–45
November 19UTSA Texas A&M Kyle FieldCollege Station, Texas 10–23
November 26Rice Stanford Stanford StadiumStanford, California 17–41

2016 records against non-conference opponents

Postseason

Bowl games

Per conference regulations, all teams with seven or more wins shall be placed into conference bowls prior to any other bowl eligible teams without a winning record (i.e. 6–6 record). The rankings are from final CFP Poll and all game times are in Eastern. Old Dominion was the first team to accept a bowl bid on November 28. [10]

DateTimeBowl GameSiteTVCUSA TeamOpponentResult
December 27, 201612:00 p.m. Heart of Dallas Bowl Cotton BowlDallas ESPNNorth Texas Army Army 38, North Texas 31 OT
December 24, 20168:00 p.m. Hawaii Bowl Aloha StadiumHonolulu, Hawaii ESPNMiddle Tennessee Hawaii Hawaii 52, Middle Tennessee 35
December 23, 20163:30 p.m. Armed Forces Bowl* Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, Texas ESPNLouisiana Tech Navy Louisiana Tech 48, Navy 45
December 23, 20161:00 p.m. Bahamas Bowl Thomas Robinson StadiumNassau, Bahamas ESPNOld Dominion Eastern Michigan Old Dominion 24, Eastern Michigan 20
December 20, 20167:00 p.m. Boca Raton Bowl FAU StadiumBoca Raton, Florida ESPNWestern Kentucky Memphis Western Kentucky 51 Memphis 31
December 17, 20169:00 p.m. New Orleans Bowl Mercedes-Benz SuperdomeNew Orleans ESPNSouthern Miss. UL-Layfeyette Southern Miss 28 UL Lafayette 21
December 17, 20162:00 p.m. New Mexico Bowl University StadiumAlbuquerque, New Mexico ESPNUTSA New Mexico New Mexico 23 UTSA 20

Postseason awards

All C-USA [13]

Home game attendance

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of Capacity
Charlotte Jerry Richardson Stadium 15,31415,80715,08012,58913,93914,30613,43385,15414,19292.67%
FIU FIU Stadium 20,00016,08917,08418,524†16,16417,06114,41315,054114,38916,34181.70%
Florida Atlantic FAU Stadium 29,41914,887†13,8467,4019,3389,1225,84360,43710,07234.24%
Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium 28,01916,91022,10117,97822,05823,012†102,05920,41173.64%
Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium 38,22726,48824,25840,59222,83920,90420,84117,397172,31924,75964.77%
Middle Tennessee Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium 30,78819,96720,10522,411†13,50510,22786,21517,24356.00%
North Texas Apogee Stadium 30,85024,718†15,60919,82318,21621,64319,120119,12919,85464.36%
Old Dominion Foreman Field 20,11820,11820,11820,11820,11820,11820,118120,70820,118100.00%
Rice Rice Stadium 47,00027,047†20,79220,13421,53819,89219,148121,15120,25843.10%
Southern Miss M. M. Roberts Stadium 36,00029,50927,90528,32531,275†28,34726,164171,52528,58779.41%
UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium 51,50030,11937,893†21,41917,75119,25415,97718,591161,00423,00044.66%
UTSA Alamodome 65,00022,38029,035†19,81823,63319,55323,807138,22623,03735.44%
WKU Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium 22,11319,28623,67417,33118,67615,51616,239110,72218,45383.45%

Bold – Exceed capacity
†Season High

References

  1. "C-USA Announces 2016 Football Schedule". Conferenceusa.com. February 4, 2016. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  2. "UAB to reinstate football for 2017 season". ESPN.com. July 21, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  3. "Doughty goes out on top: WKU rallies from early deficit to beat USF 45–35 in Miami Beach Bowl". U.S. News & World Report . Miami. Associated Press. December 21, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  4. "C-USA ANNOUNCES 2016 PRESEASON MEDIA FOOTBALL POLL". Conference USA. July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  5. Evans, Thayer (October 10, 2015). "North Texas fires head coach Dan McCarney after 0–5 start". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  6. McMurphy, Brett (December 5, 2015). "North Texas tabs UNC's Seth Littrell as new coach". ESPN. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  7. "Southern Miss coach Todd Monken leaves to become Buccaneers OC". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. January 24, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  8. "Southern Miss hires Alcorn State's Jay Hopson as new head coach" Sun Herald. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  9. Ching, David (January 14, 2016). "UTSA taps LSU assistant coach Frank Wilson as head coach". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  10. Bowl invitation
  11. "FB: Holtz Named C-USA Coach of the Year". www.conferenceusa.com. Conference USA. December 7, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  12. "FB: 2016 Players of the Year". www.conferenceusa.com. Conference USA. December 7, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  13. "FB: 2016 All-Conference Teams". www.conferenceusa.com. Conference USA. December 6, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.