The 2021 Conference USA football season was the 26th season of college football play for Conference USA (C-USA). The season started on August 28, 2021, and ended on December 23, 2021. The conference consisted of 14 members in two divisions. It was part of the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
Preseason
Preseason Media Poll The Preseason Media Poll was released on July 19. Marshall was voted the favorite to win the East Division, while UAB was voted favorite for the West Division.
East Division (votes for 1st):1. Marshall (17)2. Florida Atlantic (6)3. Western Kentucky (1)4. Charlotte5. Middle Tennessee6. FIU7. Old Dominion
West Division (votes for 1st):1. UAB (15)2. UTSA (9)3. Louisiana Tech4. Southern Miss5. Rice6. North Texas7. UTEP
Preseason player awards Preseason player awards were announced on July 20.
Offensive Player of the Year: Sincere McCormick (Junior, UTSA runningback) Defensive Player of the Year: DeAngelo Malone (Senior, Western Kentucky defensive back) Special Teams Player of the Year: Lucas Dean (Junior, UTSA punter)
Preseason awards
The following list contains C-USA players who were included on preseason watch lists for national awards.
Award Head coach/Player School Position Link Maxwell Award Chris Reynolds Charlotte QB Grant Wells Marshall QB Frank Gore Jr. Southern Miss RB Sincere McCormick UTSA RB Bednarik Award Tyler Grubbs Louisiana Tech LB Reed Blankenship Middle Tennessee S Kris Moll UAB LB Praise Amaewhule UTEP DE Rashad Wisdom UTSA S DeAngelo Malone Western Kentucky DE Davey O'Brien Award Frank Harris UTSA QB Grant Wells Marshall QB Doak Walker Award Frank Gore Jr. Southern Miss RB DeWayne McBride UAB RB Sincere McCormick UTSA RB Fred Biletnikoff Award Jacob Cowing UTEP WR Zakhari Franklin UTSA WR Bradley Rozner Rice WR John Mackey Award Joshua Simon Western Kentucky TE Hayden Pittman UAB TE Leroy Watson UTSA TERimington Trophy Alex Salguero Marshall C Outland Trophy Spencer Burford UTSA OT Colby Ragland UAB OT Sidney Wells UAB OT Bronko Nagurski Trophy Jamare Edwards Marshall DT Tyler Grubbs Louisiana Tech LB DeAngelo Malone Western Kentucky DE Kris Moll UAB LB Dion Novil North Texas DT Lou Groza Award Jacob Barnes Louisiana Tech K Hunter Duplessis UTSA K Brayden Narveson Western Kentucky K Matt Quinn UAB K Paul Hornung Award Jacob Adams Louisiana Tech FB Jake Bailey Rice WR Jermaine Brown Jr. UAB RB DeAndre Torrey North Texas RB Wuerffel Trophy Peter Agabe Charlotte LB Joshua Mate Louisiana Tech OL Reeves Blankenship Louisiana Tech LS Alex Mollette Marshall OL Reed Blankeship Middle Tennessee S Jordan Young Old Dominion LB Ikenna Enechukwu Rice DL Colby Ragland UAB OL Hunter Duplessis UTSA KWalter Camp Award Sincere McCormick UTSA RBManning Award Frank Harris UTSA QB Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Deion Hankins UTEP RB Sincere McCormick UTSA RB Jordan Myers Rice TE Bailey Zappe Western Kentucky QB Ray Guy Award Bernardo Rodriguez North Texas P Cesar Barajas Louisiana Tech P Jacob Barnes Louisiana Tech K John Haggerty Western Kentucky P Kyle Greenwell UAB P Kyle Ulbrich Middle Tennessee P Lucas Dean UTSA P Matthew Hayball Florida Atlantic P Tommy Heatherly FIU P Polynesian College Football Player Of The Year Award Ahofitu Maka UTSA OL Manase Mose North Texas OL Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Luke Anthony Louisiana Tech QB Bailey Hockman Middle Tennessee QB Tyler Johnston III UAB QB Chris Reynolds Charlotte QB
Head coaches Doc Holliday was released from the Head Coach position at Marshall after 11 seasons with the program. He was replaced by Charles Huff, who had previously been the running backs coach at Alabama.
Will Hall took over as the new permanent Head Coach at Southern Miss, filling the vacancy left after Jay Hopson had resigned one game into the previous season.
Note: All stats shown are before the start of the 2021 season. Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school CUSA RecordCharlotte Will Healy 3 22–31 9–10 7–5FIU Butch Davis 4 86–64 23–21 14–13Florida Atlantic Willie Taggart 2 61–66 5–4 4–2Louisiana Tech Skip Holtz 9 149–112 61–41 41–21Marshall Charles Huff 1 0–0 0–0 0–0Middle Tennessee Rick Stockstill 16 94–92 94–92 71–45North Texas Seth Littrell 6 31–31 31–31 21–18Old Dominion Ricky Rahne 2 0–0 0–0 0–0Rice Mike Bloomgren 4 7–23 7–23 6–15Southern Miss Will Hall 1 56–20 0–0 0–0UAB Bill Clark 6 51–26 40–22 26–10UTEP Dana Dimel 4 35–66 5–27 1–19UTSA Jeff Traylor 2 7–5 7–5 5–2Western Kentucky Tyson Helton 3 14–11 14–11 10–5
Post-season changes On November 10, Butch Davis announced that he would not return to FIU after the school declined to extend his contract. On November 26, Louisiana Tech announced that they were firing head coach Skip Holtz. Holtz was allowed to coach the final game of the season before being dismissed immediately after. The school announced on November 30 that Texas Tech offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie would take over as the new head coach.
Rankings
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Final Charlotte AP C RV CFP Not released FIU AP C CFP Not released Florida Atlantic AP C CFP Not released Louisiana Tech AP RV C CFP Not released Marshall AP C RV RV RV CFP Not released Middle Tennessee AP C CFP Not released North Texas AP C CFP Not released Old Dominion AP C CFP Not released Rice AP C CFP Not released Southern Miss AP C CFP Not released UAB AP RV RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released UTEP AP C CFP Not released UTSA AP RV RV RV 24 23 16 15 15 15 RV 24 RV C RV RV RV RV RV 25 22 18 16 18 20 RV 25 RV CFP Not released 23 22 22 Western Kentucky AP C CFP Not released
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week No change in ranking from previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
Schedule Index to colors and formattingC-USA member wonC-USA member lostC-USA teams in bold All times Eastern time.
Week 0
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Conference USA Championship Game
Postseason
Bowl Games
Legend C-USA Win C-USA Loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)C-USA teamOpponentScoreAttendance Bahamas Bowl December 17 Thomas Robinson Stadium • Nassau, Bahamas ESPN 12:00 p.m. Middle Tennessee Toledo W 31–24 13,596 Boca Raton Bowl December 18 FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL ESPN 11:00 a.m. Western Kentucky Appalachian State W 59–38 15,429 New Mexico Bowl December 18 University Stadium • Albuquerque, NM ESPN 2:15 p.m. UTEP Fresno State L 24–31 16,422 Independence Bowl December 18 Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA ABC 3:30 p.m. UAB No. 13 BYU W 31–28 26,276 New Orleans Bowl December 18 Caesars Superdome • New Orleans, LA ESPN 9:15 p.m. Marshall No. 23 Louisiana L 21–36 21,642 Myrtle Beach Bowl December 20 Brooks Stadium • Conway, SC ESPN 2:30 p.m. Old Dominion Tulsa L 17–30 6,557 Frisco Bowl December 21 Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX ESPN 7:30 p.m. UTSA San Diego State L 24–38 15,801 Frisco Football Classic December 23 Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX ESPN 3:30 p.m. North Texas Miami (OH) L 14–27 11,721
Conference USA records vs other conferences
2021–2022 records against non-conference foes:
Power Conferences 5RecordACC1–3Big Ten1–3Big 120–2Pac-120–0BYU/Notre Dame0–0SEC0–6Power 5 Total2–14Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican3–4Independents (Excluding Notre Dame and BYU)2–5MAC0–2Mountain West2–2Sun Belt1–5Other FBS Total8–18FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision14–0Total Non-Conference Record24–32
Conference USA vs Power 5 matchups This is a list of games C-USA has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, BYU, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 3 ACC Old Dominion Wake Forest Truist Field • Winston-Salem, NC L 10–42 September 3 ACC Duke Charlotte Jerry Richardson Stadium • Charlotte, NC W 31–28 September 4 SEC Rice Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR L 17–38 September 4 SEC Louisiana Tech Mississippi State Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, MS L 34–35 September 4 SEC Florida Atlantic No. 13 Florida Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, FL L 14–35 September 4 Big Ten UTSA Illinois Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL W 37–30 September 11 ACC Middle Tennessee No. 19 Virginia Tech Lane Stadium • Blacksburg, VA L 14–35 September 11 SEC UAB No. 2 Georgia Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA L 7–56 September 18 Big 12 FIU Texas Tech Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX L 21–54 September 18 Big 12 Rice Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX L 0–58 September 25 Big Ten Indiana Western Kentucky Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY L 31–33 September 25 SEC Southern Miss No. 1 Alabama Bryant–Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL L 14–63 October 2 Big Ten Western Kentucky No. 17 Michigan State Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI L 31–48 October 2 ACC Louisiana Tech No. 23 NC State Carter–Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC L 27–34 October 2 Big Ten Charlotte Illinois Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL L 14–24 October 9 SEC North Texas Missouri Farout Field • Columbia, MO L 35–48
Conference USA vs Group of Five matchups The following games include C-USA teams competing against teams from the American, MAC, Mountain West, or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 4 American Marshall Navy Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD W 49–7 September 4 Sun Belt Southern Miss South Alabama Hancock Whitney Stadium • Mobile, AL L 7–31 September 10 Mountain West UTEP Boise State Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID L 13–54 September 11 Sun Belt Georgia Southern Florida Atlantic FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL W 38–6 September 11 American Houston Rice Rice Stadium • Houston, TX L 7–44 September 11 American North Texas SMU Gerald J. Ford Stadium • Dallas, TX L 12–35 September 11 Sun Belt Texas State FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium • Miami, FL L 17–23 OT September 18 American SMU Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA L 37–39 September 18 American East Carolina Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV L 38–42 September 18 Sun Belt Charlotte Georgia State Center Parc Stadium • Atlanta, GA L 9–20 September 18 Sun Belt Troy Southern Miss M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS L 9–21 September 23 Sun Belt Marshall Appalachian State Kidd Brewer Stadium • Boone, NC L 30–31 September 25 MAC Buffalo Old Dominion S.B. Ballard Stadium • Norfolk, VA L 34–35 September 25 Mountain West New Mexico UTEP Sun Bowl • El Paso, TX W 20–13 September 25 MAC FIU Central Michigan Kelly/Shorts Stadium • Mount Pleasant, MI L 27–31 September 25 American UAB Tulane Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA W 28–21 September 25 American UTSA Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN W 31–28 September 25 Mountain West Florida Atlantic Air Force Falcon Stadium • Colorado Spring, CO L 7–31 October 2 Mountain West UNLV UTSA Alamodome • San Antonio, TX W 24–17
Conference USA vs FBS independents matchups The following games include C-USA teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn, or UMass.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 28 Independent UTEP New Mexico State Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM W 30–3 September 11 Independent Western Kentucky Army Michie Stadium • West Point, NY L 35–38 September 18 Independent Old Dominion Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA L 17–45 October 2 Independent Liberty UAB Protective Stadium • Birmingham, AL L 12–36 October 9 Independent Middle Tennessee Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA L 13–41 October 22 Independent Middle Tennessee UConn Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT W 44–13 October 23 Independent Liberty North Texas Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX L 26–35
Conference USA vs FCS matchups