The 2011 Conference USA football season was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

football season that was played from September 1, 2011, through January 2012. Conference USA consists of 12 football members separated into two divisions: East Carolina,

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 ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

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, and UCF make up the East Division, while

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, SMU,

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, and

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 stu ...

comprise the West Division. The 2011 football season marked the 17th season of the conference's existence and 16th of football competition; although C-USA was established in 1995, it did not begin football competition until 1996.

Previous season

UCF won the conference championship for the second time, defeating the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

17–7.

Preseason

Coaching changes

* Bill Blankenship replaced

Todd Graham Michael Todd Graham (born December 5, 1964) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2020–2021). Graham has served as the head football coach at Rice ...

Preseason polls

No Conference USA teams were ranked though Houston, Southern Miss and UCF each received votes in the Coaches Poll, and Houston, Southern Miss, Tulsa and UCF received votes in the AP poll.

Coaches

*Tulane head coach Bob Toledo resigned on October 18 after starting the season 2–5 and was replaced for the rest of the season by interim head coach

Mark Hutson Mark Hutson (born August 29, 1966) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Sallisaw High School. Hutson played college football at the University of Oklahoma, where he was a consensus selection at o ...

Regular season

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

Week Thirteen

Week Fourteen- C-USA Championship Game

Players of the week

Rankings

Records against other conferences

Bowl games

Bowl Eligibility

Bowl Eligible (5)

*Houston (12–1) became bowl eligible on October 8 after defeating East Carolina. *Southern Miss (11–2) became bowl eligible on October 22 after defeating SMU. *Tulsa (8–4) became bowl eligible on November 3 after defeating UCF. *SMU (7–5) became bowl eligible on November 5 after defeating Tulane. *Marshall (6–6) became bowl eligible on November 26 after defeating East Carolina

Bowl Ineligible (7)

*UAB (3–9) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to Marshall. *Tulane (2–10) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to East Carolina. *Memphis (2–10) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to UCF. *Rice (4–8) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 13 after losing to Northwestern. *UCF (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 19 after losing to East Carolina. *UTEP (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 25 after losing to UCF. *East Carolina (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 26 after losing to Marshall.

Attendance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Conference USA Football Season