Conference USA Football Championship Game

Conference USA Football Championship Game
Sport	College football
Conference	Conference USA
Current stadium	Hosted at school site by team with best conference winning percentage
Played	2005–present
Last contest	2024
Current champion	Jacksonville State
Most championships	East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, UAB, UCF, UTSA, Western Kentucky (2)
TV partner(s)	CBSSN
Official website	ConferenceUSA.com
Sponsors
Xbox 360 (2005) Aéropostale (2006) HotelPlanner.com (2010) Dynacraft BSC (2016–2017) Globe Life (2018) Ryan LLC (2019–2022)

The Conference USA Football Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the season champion of Conference USA (CUSA) since 2005.

History

The championship game from 2005 to 2021 showcased the CUSA East Division regular season champion against the West Division regular season champion. From the 2022 season, the game pits the number one (1) team in the season standings versus the number two (2) team. The game is typically played on the first Saturday of December. The 2018 edition of the game, sponsored by Globe Life, was played on December 1, 2018, and televised by CBSSN. Ryan LLC currently holds sponsorship rights to the game. ^[1]

Due partly to major conference realignment in the early 2010s and early 2020s, only five of the nine current CUSA members have played in the Conference USA Football Championship Game, with the most recent 2023 edition featuring two schools in their first season in the conference. The only current CUSA members to have won the championship game are Liberty and Western Kentucky. During the era of divisional play, the overall series between both divisions was led 10–8 by the East Division.

The CUSA Football Championship Game had been aired on ESPN or its affiliates since 2005, but since the 2018 edition has aired on CBSSN. ^[2]

800km
500miles

Sam Houston

Jacksonville State

New Mexico State

Liberty

Western Kentucky

UTEP

Middle Tennessee

Louisiana Tech

FIU

  

Results

Conference USA champions (1996–2004)

Before 2005, each member of the conference played in a round-robin scheduling to determine the champion of the conference. In this time period, Southern Miss won the most titles with four. During this time frame, the winner of the CUSA Championship customarily received a berth to play in the Liberty Bowl against a member of the SEC. If two teams tied for the best conference record, co-champions were declared.

Season	Champion(s)	Conf. record	Overall record	Bowl result
1996	Houston	4–1	7–5	lost Liberty Bowl
	Southern Miss	4–1	8–3
1997	19 Southern Miss	6–0	9–3	won Liberty Bowl
1998	7 Tulane	6–0	12–0	won Liberty Bowl
1999	14 Southern Miss	6–0	9–3	won Liberty Bowl
2000	Louisville	6–1	9–3	lost Liberty Bowl
2001	17 Louisville	6–1	11–2	won Liberty Bowl
2002	23 TCU	6–2	11–2	won Liberty Bowl
	Cincinnati	6–2	7–7	lost New Orleans Bowl
2003	Southern Miss	8–0	9–4	lost Liberty Bowl
2004	6 Louisville	8–0	11–1	won Liberty Bowl

Final rankings from AP Poll shown.

Conference USA Championship Game (2005–present)

Below are the results from all Conference USA Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of its primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.

Year	West		East		Site	Attendance	MVP	TV
2005	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	44	UCF Knights	27	Citrus Bowl • (Orlando, Florida)	51,978	TE Garrett Mills, Tulsa	ESPN
2006	Houston Cougars	34	Southern Miss Golden Eagles	20	Robertson Stadium • (Houston, Texas)	31,818	WR Vincent Marshall, Houston	ESPN2
2007	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	25	UCF Knights	44	Bright House Networks Stadium • (Orlando, Florida)	44,128	RB Kevin Smith, UCF	ESPN
2008	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	24	East Carolina Pirates	27	Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium • (Tulsa, Oklahoma)	22,740	CB Travis Simmons, East Carolina	ESPN2
2009	18 Houston Cougars	32	East Carolina Pirates	38	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • (Greenville, North Carolina)	33,048	WR Dwayne Harris, East Carolina
2010	SMU Mustangs	7	UCF Knights	17	Bright House Networks Stadium • (Orlando, Florida)	41,045	RB Latavius Murray, UCF
2011	7 Houston Cougars	28	24 Southern Miss Golden Eagles	49	Robertson Stadium • (Houston, Texas)	32,413	RB/WR Tracy Lampley, Southern Miss	ABC
2012	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	33	UCF Knights	27	Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium • (Tulsa, Oklahoma)	17,635	RB/PR/KR Trey Watts, Tulsa	ESPN2
2013	Rice Owls	41	Marshall Thundering Herd	24	Rice Stadium • (Houston, Texas)	20,247	RB Luke Turner, Rice
2014	Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	23	Marshall Thundering Herd	26	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • (Huntington, West Virginia)	23,711	K Justin Haig, Marshall
2015	Southern Miss Golden Eagles	28	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	45	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • (Bowling Green, Kentucky)	16,823	QB Brandon Doughty, Western Kentucky
2016	Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	44	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	58		13,213	RB Anthony Wales, Western Kentucky	ESPN
2017	North Texas Mean Green	17	Florida Atlantic Owls	41	FAU Stadium • (Boca Raton, Florida)	14,258	WR Kalib Woods, Florida Atlantic	ESPN2
2018	UAB Blazers	27	Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders	25	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)	15,806	RB Spencer Brown, UAB	CBSSN
2019	UAB Blazers	6	Florida Atlantic Owls	49	FAU Stadium • (Boca Raton, Florida)	14,387	WR Deangelo Antoine, Florida Atlantic
2020	UAB Blazers	22	Marshall Thundering Herd	13	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • (Huntington, West Virginia)	8,324‡	RB Spencer Brown, UAB
2021	UTSA Roadrunners	49	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	41	Alamodome • (San Antonio, Texas)	41,148	RB Sincere McCormick, UTSA
Year	No. 1 seed		No. 2 seed		Site	Attendance	MVP	TV
2022	23 UTSA Roadrunners	48	North Texas Mean Green	27	Alamodome • (San Antonio, Texas)	41,412	QB Frank Harris, UTSA	CBSSN
2023	24 Liberty Flames	49	New Mexico State Aggies	35	Williams Stadium • (Lynchburg, Virginia)	20,077	QB Kaidon Salter, Liberty
2024	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	52	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	12	Burgess–Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium • (Jacksonville, Alabama)	15,628	QB Tyler Huff, Jacksonville State

‡ 2020 game attendance limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results by team

Current members

Appearances	School	W	L	Pct	Titles	Runners-up
4	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	2	2	.666	2015, 2016	2021, 2024
2	Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	0	2	.000		2014, 2016
1	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	1	0	1.000	2024
1	Liberty Flames	1	0	1.000	2023
1	Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders	0	1	.000		2018
1	New Mexico State Aggies	0	1	.000		2023

• FIU, Kennesaw State, Sam Houston and UTEP have yet to make an appearance in a Conference USA Championship Game.
• Both Delaware and Missouri State, which join in 2025, will respectively be eligible for the title game for the first time in 2026.

Former members

Appearances	School	W	L	Pct	Titles	Runners-up
4	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	2	2	.500	2005, 2012	2007, 2008
4	UCF Knights	2	2	.500	2007, 2010	2005, 2012
3	UAB Blazers	2	1	.666	2018, 2020	2019
3	Houston Cougars	1	2	.333	2006	2009, 2011
3	Marshall Thundering Herd	1	2	.333	2014	2013, 2020
3	Southern Miss Golden Eagles	1	2	.333	2011	2006, 2015
2	East Carolina Pirates	2	0	1.000	2008, 2009
2	Florida Atlantic Owls	2	0	1.000	2017, 2019
2	UTSA Roadrunners	2	0	1.000	2021, 2022
2	North Texas Mean Green	0	2	.000		2017, 2022
1	Rice Owls	1	0	1.000	2013
1	SMU Mustangs	0	1	.000		2010

• Charlotte, Memphis, Old Dominion, and Tulane did not make an appearance in a Conference USA Championship Game while members of the conference.

Game location

The team with the best overall conference win percentage will be the team that hosts the championship game. Six venues have hosted two title games—Houston's Robertson Stadium (since demolished, with TDECU Stadium standing at its former site), UCF's FBC Mortgage Stadium (both under its former name of Bright House Networks Stadium), Tulsa's Chapman Stadium, Western Kentucky's Houchens Stadium, Florida Atlantic's FAU Stadium, and UTSA's Alamodome. Of these schools, the only one still a CUSA member is Western Kentucky.

In most recent years, Marshall and Rice both finished with 7–1 records in conference play in 2013, and did not play one another in the regular season; the site was chosen based on the BCS rankings at that time on December 1. Although only 25 teams were explicitly ranked, the ranking formula could be used to determine the relative rankings of any two teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Since 2014, when the BCS was replaced with the College Football Playoff rankings (CFP), national rankings have been removed from the tiebreaker process.

Following the 2024 contest, the home team is 15–5 overall in CUSA football championship games.

Game records

Team	Record, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Most points scored (one team)	58, Western Kentucky vs. Louisiana Tech	2016
Most points scored (losing team)	44, Louisiana Tech vs. Western Kentucky	2016
Fewest points scored (winning team)	17, UCF vs. SMU	2010
Fewest points scored	6, UAB vs. FAU	2019
Most points scored (both teams)	102, Western Kentucky (58) vs. Louisiana Tech (44)	2016
Fewest points scored (both teams)	24, UCF (17) vs. SMU (7)	2010
Most points scored in a half	38, Western Kentucky (1st half) vs. Louisiana Tech	2016
Most points scored in a half (both teams)	65, Western Kentucky vs. Louisiana Tech (1st half)	2016
Largest margin of victory	43, Florida Atlantic (49) vs. UAB (6)	2019
Smallest margin of victory	2, UAB (27) vs. Middle Tennessee (25)	2018
Total yards	656, Western Kentucky (421 passing, 235 rushing) vs. Louisiana Tech	2016
Rushing yards	386, Jacksonville State vs. Western Kentucky	2024
Passing yards	577, Western Kentucky vs. UTSA	2021
First downs	33, Houston vs. East Carolina	2009
Fewest yards allowed	223, Florida Atlantic vs. UAB (84 passing, 139 rushing)	2019
Fewest rushing yards allowed	−9, Western Kentucky vs. UTSA	2021
Fewest passing yards allowed	72, Marshall vs. Louisiana Tech	2014
Individual	Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Total offense	582, Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky vs. UTSA	2021
Touchdowns responsible for	5, Case Keenum, Houston vs. East Carolina	2009
Rushing yards	284, Kevin Smith, UCF vs. East Carolina	2007
Rushing touchdowns	4, shared by: Kevin Smith, UCF vs. East Carolina Anthony Wales, Western Kentucky vs. Louisiana Tech	2007 2016
Passing yards	577, Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky vs. UTSA	2021
Passing touchdowns	5, Case Keenum, Houston vs. East Carolina	2009
Receiving yards	241, James Cleveland, Houston vs. East Carolina	2009
Receiving touchdowns	3, Zakhari Franklin, UTSA vs. North Texas	2022
Tackles	15, shared by: Gerald McRath, Southern Miss vs. Houston C.J. Cavness, Houston vs. East Carolina	2006 2009
Sacks	2, Bruce Miller, UCF vs. SMU	2010
Interceptions	2, shared by 4 players, most recent: Jaylen Young, Florida Atlantic vs. North Texas	2017
Long Plays	Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Touchdown run	74, Kevin Smith, UCF vs. Tulsa	2007
Touchdown pass	75, Deangelo Antoine from Chris Robison, Florida Atlantic vs. UAB	2019
Kickoff return	69, Dwayne Harris, East Carolina vs. Houston	2009
Punt return	83, Joe Burnett, UCF vs. Tulsa	2007
Interception return	72, Travis Simmons, East Carolina vs. Tulsa	2008
Fumble return	40, Travis Simmons, East Carolina vs. Tulsa	2008
Punt	73, Matt Dodge, East Carolina vs. Tulsa	2008
Field goal	54, Lucas Carneiro, Western Kentucky vs. Jacksonville State	2024
Miscellaneous	Record, Team vs. Team	Year
Game attendance	51,978, UCF vs. Tulsa	2005
Source: Conference USA [3]

Selection criteria

Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. Often, two or more teams tie for the best record in their division and each team is recognized as a divisional co-champion. However, tiebreakers are used to determine who will represent the division in the championship game.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FBS conference championship games

References

1. "Ryan Named Football Championship Title Sponsor". Conference USA . October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
2. CBS SPORTS NETWORK ANNOUNCES 2018 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FEATURING SERVICE ACADEMIES AND TOP SCHOOLS FROM NINE CONFERENCES
3. "C-USA Records Master" (PDF). conferenceusa.com. pp. 35–36. Retrieved December 3, 2021.