The 2013

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 season is 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 August 2013 through January 2014. The 2013 football season marked the 19th season of the conference's existence and 18th of football competition; although C-USA was established in 1995, it did not begin football competition until 1996.

Previous season

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. ...

won the conference championship for the second time, defeating former members

Central Florida Knights The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I ( FBS for football) as a member of the ...

33–27.

2013 season

Conference USA added several new members this season after losing four. In preseason polls,

was projected to be top of the 2013 season followed by

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

East Division

Projected as the winner of the East Division, East Carolina lost its first conference game of the season to

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

in triple overtime, 36-33. Marshall then topped the standings until they lost 51-49 to new member

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 ...

, which returned East Carolina to the top spot. Until the East Carolina–Marshall game at the end of the season, East Carolina was number one followed by Marshall. Whoever ended up winning the game would then be crowned winners of the East Division. Marshall defeated East Carolina 59–28 to earn the division title.

West Division

As Tulsa was projected to be number one in conference, the team lost their first conference play against

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 ...

in overtime bringing Tulane on top of the western division standings. Tulane became up-top with a conference record of 4–0 after close wins against

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 ...

, East Carolina, and Tulsa. Tulane then lost their first conference game of the season to Florida Atlantic in early November bringing new member North Texas to the top of the division after North Texas defeated Rice. Projected in being last in the division, UTSA defeated Tulane and North Texas in November, which brought UTSA second in the standings after Rice being brought up to first. At the end of the season, Rice had to defeat Tulane in order to be crown the winners of the west division or Tulane or UTSA would have then been crowned winners of the division. Rice defeated Tulane 17–13 and crowned winners of the West Division for the first time and their first appearance in the championship game as well.

Championship Game

After the 2013 season, the ninth C-USA championship game was played in Houston, Texas, for the third time since

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, when former member

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

hosted the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Missi ...

Robertson Stadium John O'Quinn Field at Corbin J. Robertson Stadium (often referred to as simply Robertson Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, located on the campus of the University of Houston. It was the home of the Houston Cougars football and wome ...

. It was the first time that ''Rice Stadium'' would host the Championship game series after Rice won the West Division. Both Rice and Marshall enter the game with 7-1 conference records. Rice was crowned Conference USA Champion for the first time ever after defeating Marshall by 17–points. Rice represented the conference in the 2013 Liberty Bowl in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

against the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I. Sports sp ...

, a 44-7 loss for Rice.

Bowl season

Eight teams earned bowl eligibility during the season, but UTSA is still transiting into the FBS level and will not be eligible for bowl games until after the 2014 season. (C-USA teams in italic and winning teams in bold)

Other bowl eligible teams

*Florida Atlantic (6-6) became bowl eligible on November 29 after defeating FIU but did not get a bid to a bowl game.

Membership

Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF left Conference USA, and joined 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 football-sponsoring offshoot of the original Big East, on July 1, 2013.

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 ...

and UTSA joined C-USA from the WAC. Florida Atlantic,

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 ...

, and

joined C-USA from the

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

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 ...

, which had moved five of its sports from its former home of the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

to C-USA for the 2012–13 school year, moved the rest of its athletic program to C-USA. ODU had an established FCS program that played as an FCS independent in 2013, joined C-USA football as a provisional FBS member in 2014, and became fully bowl-eligible in 2015.

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 ...

, which was starting a football team this season, was initially an FCS independent before becoming a provisional FBS member in 2014 and a C-USA football member in 2015. The 49ers joined 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 ...

. After the 2013 football season

, and

moved to The American on July 1, 2014, at the start of the 2014 football season. On the same day,

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 ...

joined C-USA from the Sun Belt.

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 Conference USA Football Season