The 2017 Conference USA Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 2, 2017, at
FAU Stadium in
Boca Raton
Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...
,
Florida, and determined the
2017
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football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
champion of
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
(C-USA). The game was played between
Florida Atlantic
Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-cam ...
, the East Division champion, and
North Texas, the West Division champion. The title sponsor was
Dynacraft BSC.
In the
2016 championship game, hosted by WKU,
the Hilltoppers had defeated
Louisiana Tech 58–44.
The 2017 championship game was the 13th game in the championship series and was won by Florida Atlantic, 41–17.
Teams
North Texas Mean Green
North Texas claimed its place in the title game on November 11 with a 45–10 win over UTEP.
Florida Atlantic Owls
Florida Atlantic clinched the East division on November 18 after defeating rivals
FIU
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florida ...
52-24 in the
Shula Bowl. The win also ensured that the Owls would host the championship game. At the time, FAU was 7–0 in C-USA play to North Texas' 6–1, with each team having one conference game to play. Although an FAU loss and North Texas win would have left the teams tied, the Owls held the tiebreaker with a head-to-head win over the Mean Green during the season.
Aftermath
North Texas went on to play in the
2017 New Orleans Bowl
The 2017 New Orleans Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 16, 2017, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The 17th edition of the New Orleans Bowl featured the Sun Belt Conference co-champion ...
, losing to
Troy. Florida Atlantic went on to play in the
2017 Boca Raton Bowl
The 2017 Boca Raton Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 19, 2017, at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The fourth edition of the Boca Raton Bowl featured the Conference USA champion Florida Atlantic Owls agai ...
, defeating
Akron.
If the winner of the C-USA Championship Game was one of the highest in the
rankings of the "Group of Five" conferences, the team could have been placed in the
College Football Playoff or a "New Year's Six" bowl. Otherwise, the conference champion would supposedly choose which game to attend, from those with ties to the conference. However, FAU athletic director Pat Chun said that FAU did not choose the Boca Raton Bowl, but that FAU was told where to go by the conference.
Game summary
Scoring summary
Source:
Statistics
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 Conference USA Football Championship Game
Championship
Conference USA Football Championship Game
Florida Atlantic Owls football games
North Texas Mean Green football games
Conference USA Football Championship Game
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...