The 2017 Conference USA football season was the 22nd season 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 ...

football and part of the

2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2017. The regular season began on August 26, 2017, and end ...

. The season began on August 26 with

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

facing

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. This season was the third season for C-USA under realignment that took place in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, which added the 14th member

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

from the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

. C-USA is a "Group of Five" conference under the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

format along with the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

, the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

, the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

, and the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. C-USA consists of 14 members:

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 ...

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 ...

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

, UAB,

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

, UTSA, and

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

; and is divided 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 *1. Western Kentucky (20 first-place votes) *2. Middle Tennessee (4) *3. Old Dominion (3) *4. Marshall (1) *5. Florida Atlantic *6. FIU *7. CharlotteWest 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. 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 *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 Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant col ...

to replace Ron Turner, who was fired after going 0–4 with the panthers. 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 North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and teams in

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. Littrell was hired on November 14, 2016. * Florida Atlantic hired

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

to replace

Charlie Partridge Charles James Partridge (born December 7, 1973) is an American college football coach. He is the assistant head football coach and defensive line coach at the University of Pittsburgh, a position he has held since 2018. Partridge served as the ...

, who was fired after leading the Owls to a 9–27 record during his three-year tenure at Florida Atlantic. Kiffin spent three years prior to Florida Atlantic at

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

as an offensive coordinator under the head coach,

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

. Lane was hired on December 12, 2016. * Western Kentucky hired

Mike Sanford Jr. Michael Gunar William Sanford (born February 4, 1982) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He is the former interim head coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. He played college football at Boise State from 2000 to 2004. He then served ...

to replace

Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head football coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Brohm played college football at the University of Louisville for coach Howard S ...

, who resigned on December 5, 2016, to become the head coach at

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. 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.

Records against FBS conferences

Regular season Post season

Postseason

Postseason awards

*Most Valuable Player:

Devin Singletary Devin Singletary (born September 3, 1997), nicknamed "Motor", is an American football running back for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida Atlantic Owls football, Florida Atlantic. As a ...

, RB, Florida Atlantic *Offensive Player of the Year:

Mason Fine Mason Fine (born April 19, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at North Texas. Early years Fine, who is one-quarter Cherokee, grew up in P ...

, QB, North Texas *Defensive Player of the Year:

Marcus Davenport Marcus Davenport (born September 4, 1996) is an American football defensive end for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at UTSA and was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the ...

, DE, UTSA *Special Teams Player of the Year: Isaiah Harper, KR, Old Dominion *Coach of the Year:

Bill Clark William Clark (1770–1838) was an American soldier and explorer; governor of Missouri Territory. William Clark may also refer to: Business * W. H. Clark (brewer) (William Henry Clark, c. 1815–c. 1870), brewer in South Australia * William Bell ...

, UAB *Freshman of the Year: Spencer Brown, RB, UAB *Newcomer of the Year:

Jalen Guyton Jalen Guyton (born June 7, 1997) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Texas. High school Guyton attended Allen High School in Allen, Tex ...

, WR, sophomore, North Texas & Teddy Veal, WR, junior, Louisiana Tech

All-Conference Teams

Bowl games

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

Home game attendance

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

References

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