The 2019 Conference USA Football Championship Game was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game played on Saturday, December 7, 2019, at FAU Stadium in

Boca Raton, Florida 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 ...

, to determine the

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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 featured the East division champions

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 ...

and the West division champions UAB and was the conference's 15th championship game. With sponsorship from

Ryan LLC Ryan LLC, based in Dallas, Texas, is a tax services and software provider. Ryan LLC has more than 18,000 clients in over 60 countries. The company has over 113 locations around the globe, including locations in Canada, the Netherlands, the United ...

, a global tax services and software provider, the game was officially the 2019 Ryan Conference USA Football Championship Game.

Previous season

The

2018 Conference USA Football Championship Game The 2018 Conference USA Football Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and determined the 2018 football champion of Conference USA (CUSA). The game featured the East D ...

featured East Division champion

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 ...

against West Division champion UAB in a rematch of the regular season match up a week before. Unlike the week prior, UAB was able to get a final field goal to take the lead, towards the end of the 4th quarter in a win of 27–25.

Teams

The 2019 CUSA Football Championship Game was contested by the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accept ...

, East Division champions, and the UAB Blazers, West Division co–champions. The teams have met eight times previously, with Florida Atlantic holding a 6–2 edge in the series. The teams' last meeting came in

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; UAB won, 31–28. Florida Atlantic's last victory in the series came in

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, when they defeated UAB 37–3 . This will be the teams' first meeting in the CUSA Football Championship.

Florida Atlantic

clinched its spot in the Championship Game after its November 30 win over

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 ...

. This is Florida Atlantic's second overall appearance in the Championship Game in three seasons. The Owls were previously 1–0 overall in the game, with their sole win back in

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against North Texas.

UAB

UAB earned its spot after clinching the West Division title on November 30 with a win over North Texas. This will be UAB's second appearance in the title game, when they defeated Middle Tennessee last season, 27–25. The Blazers are the first team to represent the West Division twice consecutively since former CUSA member,

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, did back in

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. Eight different teams had represented the division each year since then. UAB was previously 1–0 overall in the game, with their sole win last season against

Game summary

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019 Conference USA Football Championship Game Championship Conference USA Football Championship Game Florida Atlantic Owls football games UAB Blazers football games December 2019 sports events in the United States

Conference USA Football Championship The Conference USA Football Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the season champion of Conference USA (C-USA) since 2005. History The championship game from 2005–2021, showcased the C-USA East Division regu ...