The 2023 Conference USA football season was the 28th season of college football play for Conference USA (CUSA). The season began on August 26, 2023 and ended with the Conference Championship Game on December 2, 2023. The conference consisted of nine members and was part of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
Conference realignment Prior to the 2023 season, Conference USA saw substantial realignment, with six schools leaving the conference to join the American Athletic Conference: UTSA, North Texas, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Rice, and UAB. Conference USA then invited four schools to join: Liberty and New Mexico State, who were both previously FBS independents; Jacksonville State, who were previously in the ASUN Conference at the Division I FCS level; and Sam Houston, who were previously in the Western Athletic Conference also at the Division I FCS level. The realignment left CUSA with nine football members for the 2023 season. CUSA further announced that Kennesaw State, another member of the ASUN Conference, would move up beginning in 2024.
On the same day the membership changes took effect (July 1, 2023), the conference unveiled a "brand refresh". The former abbreviation of "C-USA" was retired in favor of "CUSA", and the logo was slightly updated.
Both Jacksonville State and Sam Houston were initially ineligible for both the conference championship and for bowl games due to their transition from the FCS level to FBS level. However, Jacksonville State received a berth in the New Orleans Bowl after only 79 non-transitional teams were eligible to fill the 82 bowl slots this season.
Preseason Preseason poll The preseason poll was released on July 21, 2023.
Media poll 1 Western Kentucky 18 2 Liberty 4 3 Middle Tennessee 4 Louisiana Tech 5 New Mexico State 6 UTEP 7 Jacksonville State 8t FIU 8t Sam Houston
Preseason player awards Preseason player awards were announced on July 24.
Offensive Player of the Year: Austin Reed (Redshirt Senior, Western Kentucky quarterback) Defensive Player of the Year: JaQues Evans (Junior, Western Kentucky linebacker) Special Teams Player of the Year: Smoke Harris (Redshirt Senior, Louisiana Tech kick returner/punt returner)
Head coaches On December 4, 2022, Jamey Chadwell was announced as the new head coach of Liberty after previous head coach Hugh Freeze left to take the head coaching position at Auburn. Chadwell had previously been head coach of Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Conference.
Note: All stats shown are before the start of the 2023 season. Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school CUSA RecordFIU Mike MacIntyre 2 50–73 4–8 2–6Jacksonville State Rich Rodriguez 2 172–121–2 9–2 0–0Liberty Jamey Chadwell 1 99–57 0–0 0–0Louisiana Tech Sonny Cumbie 2 5–12 3–9 2–6Middle Tennessee Rick Stockstill 18 109–103 109–103 79–53New Mexico State Jerry Kill 2 165–110 7–6 0–0Sam Houston K. C. Keeler 10 259–100–1 85–27 0–0UTEP Dana Dimel 6 47–79 17–40 8–28Western Kentucky Tyson Helton 5 32–21 32–21 23–8
Post-season changes On November 26, UTEP announced that it had fired head coach Dana Dimel after 6 season with the school. Dimel had posted a 20–49 record in his tenure. On December 4, UTEP announced Scotty Walden as the new head coach for the 2024 season. Walden had previously been head coach at Austin Peay. On November 27, Middle Tennessee announced that it had fired head coach Rick Stockstill after 18 seasons with the school. Stockstill had a 113–111 record during his tenure at the school. On December 6, Middle Tennessee announced Derek Mason as the new head coach for the 2024 season. Mason had previously been head coach at Vanderbilt. On December 23, New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill announced that he was stepping down from the position. The school announced that wide receivers coach Tony Sanchez would be promoted to the head coach position for 2024.
Rankings
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Final FIU AP C CFP Not released Jacksonville State AP C CFP Not released Liberty AP RV RV RV RV 25 25 22 20 18 25C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 22 20 RV CFP Not released 25 24 23 Louisiana Tech AP C CFP Not released Middle Tennessee AP C CFP Not released New Mexico State AP RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released Sam Houston AP C CFP Not released UTEP AP C CFP Not released 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 formattingCUSA member wonCUSA member lostCUSA teams in bold The 2023 schedule was released on January 10, 2023.
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 CUSA win CUSA loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)CUSA teamOpponentScoreAttendance New Orleans Bowl December 16 Caesars Superdome • New Orleans, LA ESPN 2:15 p.m. Jacksonville State Louisiana W 34–31OT 14,485 New Mexico Bowl December 16 University Stadium • Albuquerque, NM ESPN 5:45 p.m. New Mexico State Fresno State L 10–37 30,822 Famous Toastery Bowl December 18 Jerry Richardson Stadium • Charlotte, NC ESPN 2:30 p.m. Western Kentucky Old Dominion W 38–35OT 5,632New Year's Six Bowl Fiesta Bowl January 1, 2024 State Farm Stadium • Glendale, AZ ESPN 1:00 p.m. No. 23 Liberty No. 8 Oregon L 6–45 47,769
Rankings are from Final CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone.
Selection of teams Bowl eligible (4): Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State, Western Kentucky Bowl ineligible (5): FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Sam Houston, UTEP
Conference USA records vs other conferences
2023–2024 records against non-conference foes:
Power Conferences 5RecordACC0–0Big Ten0–3Big 120–2Pac-120–1Notre Dame0–0SEC1–4Power 5 Total1–10Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican2–2Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)2–1MAC3–0Mountain West1–4Sun Belt1–2Other FBS Total9–9FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision8–0Total Non-Conference Record18–19
Postseason
Power Five ConferencesRecordACC0–0 Big 12 0–0Big Ten0–0Notre Dame0–0Pac-12 0–1SEC 0–0Power 5 Total0–1Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican 0–0Independents (Excluding Notre Dame) 0–0MAC 0–0Mountain West 0–1Sun Belt 2–0Other FBS Total 2–1Total Bowl Record2–2
Conference USA vs Power 5 matchups This is a list of games CUSA teams scheduled against power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, 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 2 SEC Middle Tennessee No. 4 Alabama Bryant–Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL L 7–56 September 2 Big 12 Sam Houston BYU LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT L 0–14 September 9 SEC Middle Tennessee Missouri Faurot Field • Columbia, MO L 19–23 September 9 Big Ten UTEP Northwestern Ryan Field • Evanston, IL L 7–38 September 16 Pac-12 UTEP Arizona Arizona Stadium • Tucson, AZ L 10–31 September 16 Big Ten Western Kentucky No. 6 Ohio State Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH L 10–63 September 23 Big Ten Louisiana Tech Nebraska Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE L 14–28 September 23 Big 12 Sam Houston Houston TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX L 7–38 November 4 SEC Jacksonville State South Carolina Williams–Brice Stadium • Columbia, SC L 28–38 November 18 SEC FIU Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR L 20–44 November 18 SEC New Mexico State Auburn Jordan–Hare Stadium • Auburn, AL W 31–10
Conference USA vs Group of Five matchups The following games include CUSA teams competing against teams from the American, MAC, Mountain West, or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 2 American Louisiana Tech SMU Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX L 14–38 September 2 MAC Bowling Green Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA W 34–24 September 2 American South Florida Western Kentucky Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY W 41–24 September 9 American North Texas FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium • Westchester, FL W 46–39 September 9 Sun Belt Jacksonville State Coastal Carolina Brooks Stadium • Conway, SC L 16–30 September 9 Mountain West Air Force Sam Houston NRG Stadium • Houston, TX L 3–13 September 16 American North Texas Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA L 37–40 September 16 MAC Liberty Buffalo UB Stadium • Amherst, NY W 55–27 September 16 Mountain West New Mexico State New Mexico University Stadium • Albuquerque, NM W 27–17 September 23 MAC Eastern Michigan Jacksonville State Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium • Jacksonville, AL W 21–0 September 23 Mountain West Colorado State Middle Tennessee Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, TN L 23–31 September 23 Mountain West New Mexico State Hawaii Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex • Honolulu, HI L 17–20 September 23 Mountain West UNLV UTEP Sun Bowl • El Paso, TX L 28–45 September 23 Sun Belt Western Kentucky Troy Veterans Memorial Stadium • Troy, AL L 24–27 November 11 Sun Belt Old Dominion Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA W 38–10
Conference USA vs FBS independents matchups The following games include CUSA teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, UConn, or UMass.
Date Visitor Home Site Score August 26 UMass New Mexico State Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM L 30–41 September 16 FIU UConn Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT W 24–17 November 18 UMass Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA W 49–25
Conference USA vs FCS matchups
Date Visitor Home Site Score September 2 Maine FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium • Westchester, FL W 14–12 September 2 East Tennessee State Jacksonville State Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium • Jacksonville, AL W 49–3 September 2 Western Illinois New Mexico State Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM W 58–21 September 2 Incarnate Word UTEP Sun Bowl • El Paso, TX W 28–14 September 9 Northwestern State Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA W 51–21 September 9 Houston Christian Western Kentucky Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY W 52–22 September 16 Murray State Middle Tennessee Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, TN W 35–14 November 4 Kennesaw State Sam Houston Bower Stadium • Huntsville, TX W 24–21
Awards and honors
Player of the week honors