2017 Conference USA football season

2017 Conference USA football season
League	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport	Football
Duration	August 26, 2017 through December 27, 2017
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	ESPN, CBS Sports Network, Stadium, beIN Sports, CUSA.tv, FloSports
2018 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	DE Marcus Davenport, UTSA
Picked by	New Orleans Saints, 14th overall
Regular season
Season MVP	RB Devin Singletary, FAU
East champions	Florida Atlantic
West champions	North Texas
Championship Game
Champions	Florida Atlantic
Runners-up	North Texas
Finals MVP	WR Kalib Woods, FAU
Football seasons
←  2016 2018  →

2017 Conference USA football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Florida Atlantic x$		8	–	0					11	–	3
FIU		5	–	3					8	–	5
Marshall		4	–	4					8	–	5
Western Kentucky		4	–	4					6	–	7
Middle Tennessee		4	–	4					7	–	6
Old Dominion		3	–	5					5	–	7
Charlotte		1	–	7					1	–	11
West Division
North Texas x		7	–	1					9	–	5
UAB		6	–	2					8	–	5
Southern Miss		6	–	2					8	–	5
Louisiana Tech		4	–	4					7	–	6
UTSA		3	–	5					6	–	5
Rice		1	–	7					1	–	11
UTEP		0	–	8					0	–	12
Championship: Florida Atlantic 41, North Texas 17
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

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. ^[1] 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.

The C-USA consisted 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 was divided into the East and West divisions. UAB began play for the first time since 2014, after the Blazer football program was dropped from competition. ^[2]

Preseason

Media predictions

The 2017 preseason media football poll was released on July 18. ^[3] 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 1. Western Kentucky (20 first-place votes) 2. Middle Tennessee (4) 3. Old Dominion (3) 4. Marshall (1) 5. Florida Atlantic 6. FIU 7. Charlotte

West Division 1. Louisiana Tech (20) 2. UTSA (7) 3. Southern Miss (1) 4. North Texas 5. Rice 6. UTEP 7. UAB

Preseason awards

The conference preseason awards were released on July 17. ^[4] 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

Offense

Position	Player	Class	Team
QB	Mike White	Senior	Western Kentucky
WR	Richie James	Junior	Middle Tennessee
WR	Jonathan Duhart	Senior	Old Dominion
WR	Allenzae Staggers	Senior	Southern Miss
RB	Ray Lawry	Senior	Old Dominion
RB	Ito Smith	Senior	Southern Miss
OL	O’Shea Dugas	Junior	Louisiana Tech
OL	Will Hernandez	Senior	UTEP
OL	Trey Martin	Senior	Rice
OL	Austin Pratt	Senior	UTSA
OL	Brandon Ray	Senior	Western Kentucky
TE	Ryan Yurachek	Senior	Marshall

Defense

Position	Player	Class	Team
DL	Marcus Davenport	Senior	UTSA
DL	Jaylon Ferguson	Sophomore	Louisiana Tech
DL	Chris Johnson	Senior	Western Kentucky
DL	Oshane Ximines	Senior	Old Dominion
LB	Emmanuel Ellerbee	Senior	Rice
LB	Alvin Jones	Senior	UTEP
LB	Josiah Tauaefa	Sophomore	UTSA
LB	Anthony Wint	Senior	FIU
DB	Brandon Addison	Senior	Old Dominion
DB	Nate Brooks	Junior	North Texas
DB	Joe Brown	Senior	Western Kentucky
DB	Kishawn McClain	Senior	North Texas

Specialists

Position	Player	Class	Team
P	Jake Collins	Junior	Western Kentucky
K	Canon Rooker	Senior	Middle Tennessee
KR	Kylen Towner	Senior	Western Kentucky
PR	Nacarius Fant	Senior	Western Kentucky
LS	Matt Bayliss	Senior	UTSA

• Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Mike White, Senior, QB, WKU
• Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Emmanuel Ellerbee, Senior, LB, Rice
• Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year: Kylen Towner, Senior, KR, WKU

Head coaches

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.

• FIU hired Butch Davis to replace Ron Turner, who was fired after going 0–4 with the panthers. ^[5] Ron Cooper was promoted as interim head coach after the fire until the hire of Davis. Davis is coming from a break from coaching football from 2011 to 2016. He was the head coach for many teams in college such as North Carolina and teams in NFL. Littrell was hired on November 14, 2016. ^[6]
• Florida Atlantic hired Lane Kiffin to replace Charlie Partridge, who was fired after leading the Owls to a 9–27 record during his three-year tenure at Florida Atlantic. ^[7] Kiffin spent three years prior to Florida Atlantic at Alabama as an offensive coordinator under the head coach, Nick Saban. Lane was hired on December 12, 2016. ^[8]
• Western Kentucky hired Mike Sanford Jr. to replace Jeff Brohm, who resigned on December 5, 2016, to become the head coach at Purdue. Sanford was a quarterback coach and an offensive coordinator at Notre Dame for two seasons. Sanford was hired on December 14, 2016.

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

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	CUSA record
Charlotte	Brad Lambert	5	16–30	16–30	3–13
FIU	Butch Davis	1	63–43	0–0	0–0
Florida Atlantic	Lane Kiffin	1	35–21	0–0	0–0
Louisiana Tech	Skip Holtz	5	119–93	31–22	22–10
Marshall	Doc Holliday	8	53–37	53–37	35–21
Middle Tennessee	Rick Stockstill	12	72–66	72–66	22–10
North Texas	Seth Littrell	2	5–8	5–8	3–5
Old Dominion	Bobby Wilder	9	67–30	67–30	14–10
Rice	David Bailiff	11	77–84	56–69	39–41
Southern Miss	Jay Hopson	2	39–23	7–6	4–4
UAB	Bill Clark	2	17–10	6–6	4–4
UTEP	Sean Kugler	5	18–31	18–31	11–21
UTSA	Frank Wilson	2	6–7	6–7	5–3
Western Kentucky	Mike Sanford Jr.	1	0–0	0–0	0–0

Records against FBS conferences

Regular season Power 5 conferences Record ACC 1–4 Big Ten 0–4 Big 12 1–2 Pac-12 0–2 SEC 0–7 Power 5 Total 2–19 Other FBS conferences Record American 2–4 Independents 3–2 MAC 4–3 Mountain West 0–0 Sun Belt 4–2 Other FBS Total 13–11 FCS Opponents Record Football Championship Subdivision 9–1 Total non-conference record 24–31

Post season Other FBS conferences Record ACC 0–1 American 1–1 MAC 1–1 Mountain West 1–0 Sun Belt 1–2 Total bowl record 4–5

Postseason

Postseason awards

• Most Valuable Player: Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic ^[9]
• Offensive Player of the Year: Mason Fine, QB, North Texas ^[9]
• Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Davenport, DE, UTSA ^[9]
• Special Teams Player of the Year: Isaiah Harper, KR, Old Dominion ^[9]
• Coach of the Year: Bill Clark, UAB ^[10]
• Freshman of the Year: Spencer Brown, RB, UAB ^[9]
• Newcomer of the Year: Jalen Guyton, WR, sophomore, North Texas & Teddy Veal, WR, junior, Louisiana Tech ^[9]

All-Conference Teams

^[11]

Position Player Team First Team Offense QB Mason Fine North Texas RB Devin Singletary Florida Atlantic RB Ito Smith Southern Miss WR Thomas Owens FIU WR Tyre Brady Marshall WR Korey Robertson Southern Miss TE Ryan Yurachek Marshall OL Reggie Bain Florida Atlantic OL Roman Fernandez Florida Atlantic OL Antonyo Woods Florida Atlantic OL Will Hernandez UTEP OL Brandon Ray Western Kentucky First Team Defense DL Jaylon Ferguson Louisiana Tech DL Oshane Ximines Old Dominion DL Brian Womac Rice DL Marcus Davenport UTSA LB Azeez Al-Shaair Florida Atlantic LB Emmanuel Ellerbee Rice LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe Western Kentucky DB Jalen Young Florida Atlantic DB Shelton Lewis Florida Atlantic DB Secdrick Cooper Louisiana Tech DB Darious Williams UAB First Team Special Teams P Kaare Vedvik Marshall K Parker Shaunfield Southern Miss KR Isaiah Harper Old Dominion PR Darrell Brown Old Dominion LS Cameron Linck Louisiana Tech

Position Player Team Second Team Offense QB Mike White Western Kentucky RB Jeffery Wilson North Texas RB Spencer Brown UAB WR Teddy Veal Louisiana Tech WR Ty Lee Middle Tennessee WR Jalen Guyton North Texas TE Harrison Bryant Florida Atlantic OL Jordan Budwig FIU OL O'Shea Dugas Louisiana Tech OL Levi Brown Marshall OL Devin Farrior Southern Miss OL Chris Schleuger UAB Second Team Defense DL Fermin Silva FIU DL Ryan Bee Marshall DL Xavier Thigpen Southern Miss DL Kevin Strong UTSA LB Anthony Wint FIU LB Chase Hancock Marshall LB Khalil Brooks Middle Tennessee DB Brad Muhammad FIU DB Amik Robertson Louisiana Tech DB Malik Gant Marshall DB Curtis Mikell Southern Miss Second Team Special Teams P Jack Fox Rice K Trevor Moore North Texas KR Keion Davis Marshall PR Austin Trammell Rice LS Matt Bayliss UTSA

Position Player Team Honorable Mention Offense QB Alex McGough FIU QB Jason Driskel Florida Atlantic QB Brent Stockstill Middle Tennessee QB A. J. Erdely UAB RB Alex Gardner FIU RB Gregory Howell Florida Atlantic RB Jarred Craft Louisiana Tech RB Boston Scott Louisiana Tech RB Ray Lawry Old Dominion WR Rashid Bonnette Louisiana Tech WR Marcel Williams Marshall WR Michael Lawrence North Texas WR Austin Walter Rice WR Allenzae Staggers Southern Miss WR Andre Wilson UAB WR Nacarius Fant Western Kentucky WR Lucky Jackson Western Kentucky TE Pharoah McKever FIU TE Kam McKnight Louisiana Tech TE Deon Yelder Western Kentucky OL Nate Davis Charlotte OL Eugene German Charlotte OL Joshua Outlaw Louisiana Tech OL Ethan Reed Louisiana Tech OL Robert Behanan Middle Tennessee OL Chandler Brewer Middle Tennessee OL T. J. Henson North Texas OL Sosaia Mose North Texas OL Jordan Murray North Texas OL Elex Woodworth North Texas OL Nick Clarke Old Dominion OL Isaac Weaver Old Dominion OL Calvin Anderson Rice OL Trey Martin Rice OL Drake Dorbeck Southern Miss OL Arvin Fletcher Southern Miss OL James Davis UAB

Bowl games

See also: 2017–18 NCAA football bowl games

Legend
	CUSA win
	CUSA loss

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

Date	Time	Bowl Game	Site	TV	CUSA Team	Opponent	Result
December 16, 2017	1:00 p.m.	New Orleans Bowl	Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA	ESPN	North Texas	Troy	50–30
December 16, 2017	2:30 p.m.	AutoNation Cure Bowl	Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FL	CBSSN	Western Kentucky	Georgia State	27–17
December 16, 2017	4:30 p.m.	New Mexico Bowl	Dreamstyle Stadium • Albuquerque, NM	ESPN	Marshall	Colorado State	31–28
December 16, 2017	8:00 p.m.	Camellia Bowl	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, AL	ESPN	Middle Tennessee	Arkansas State	35–30
December 19, 2017	7:00 p.m.	Boca Raton Bowl	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL	ESPN	Florida Atlantic	Akron	50–3
December 20, 2017	7:00 p.m.	Frisco Bowl	Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX	ESPN	Louisiana Tech	SMU	51–10
December 21, 2017	8:00 p.m.	Gasparilla Bowl	Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FL	ESPN	FIU	Temple	28–3
December 22, 2017	12:30 p.m.	Bahamas Bowl	Thomas Robinson Stadium • Nassau, Bahamas	ESPN	UAB	Ohio	41–6
December 27, 2017	1:30 p.m.	Independence Bowl	Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA	ESPN	Southern Miss	Florida State	42–13

Home game attendance

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Total	Average	% of Capacity
Charlotte	Jerry Richardson Stadium	15,314	18,651	11,029	10,584	11,889	10,937	8,330	—	71,420	11,903	77.73%
FIU	FIU Stadium	20,000	5,017†	15,348	16,433	18,874	17,127	16,199	14,004	103,002	14,715	73.57%
Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium	29,419	28,481	16,743	12,913	13,277	15,880	24,116	14,258 ‡	125,668	17,953	61.02%
Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium	28,562	24,002	28,100	22,013	17,815	18,504	16,511	15,651	142,596	20,371	71.32%
Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium	38,227	22,463	24,044	26,097	19,966	19,516	18,361		130,447	21,741	56.87%
Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium	30788	26717	16523	15527	13412	11411	10128	—	93,718	15,620	50.73%
North Texas	Apogee Stadium	30,850	19,592	20,142	23,068	18,872	26,108	26,392	—	134,174	22,362	72.49%
Old Dominion	Foreman Field	20,118	20,118	20,118	20,118	20,118	20,118	20,118	—	120,708	20,118	100.00%
Rice	Rice Stadium	47,000	18,932	21,766	19,992	18,124	17,956	—	—	96,770	19,354	41.18%
Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium	36,000	22,761	24,337	21,907	21,970	19,101	20,189	—	130,265	21,711	60.31%
UAB	Legion Field	71,594	45,212	21,789	27,213	25,309	21,224	12,505	—	153,252	25,542	35.68%
UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium	51,500	19,136	22,133	20,418	19,456	16,597	—	—	97,740	19,548	37.96%
UTSA	Alamodome	65,000	25,093	23,517	25,270	20,076	20,148	—	—	114,104	22,821	35.11%
WKU	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium	22,113	18,614	16,223	17,590	16,754	12,441	12,612	—	94,234	15,706	71.02%

†Played at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL ^[12]

‡ Conference Championship Game

References

1. "FB: 2017 Schedule Released". Conferenceusa.com. January 26, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
2. "UAB to reinstate football for 2017 season". ESPN.com . July 21, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
3. "FB: Preseason Media Poll". Conference USA. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
4. "FB: 2017 Preseason Awards". Conference USA. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
5. "Weekend Replay: Head Coach Ron Turner relieved of duties". September 26, 2016.
6. "ESPN analyst Davis leaving to be FIU coach". November 14, 2016.
7. "Florida Atlantic fires Charlie Partridge after three seasons". USA Today .
8. Low, Chris; McMurphy, Brett (December 12, 2016). "Alabama OC Lane Kiffin to be next head coach of Florida Atlantic". ESPN . Retrieved December 12, 2016.
9. "FB: 2017 C-USA Individual Awards" (Press release). Conference USA. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
10. "FB: UAB's Bill Clark Named Coach of the Year" (Press release). Conference USA. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
11. "FB: 2017 All-Conference Awards" (Press release). Conference USA. December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
12. "Hurricane Irma 2017: FIU vs. Alcorn State to be played in Birmingham". AL.com. September 7, 2017.