2013 Conference USA football season explained

2013 Conference USA football season
Color:
  1. 193980
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League:NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport:Football
Pixels:250px
Duration:August 29, 2013
through January 1, 2014
No Of Teams:14
Tv:Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, CSS, CST
Draft:2014 NFL Draft
Draft Link:2014 NFL Draft
Top Pick:DT Khyri Thornton, USM
Picked By:Green Bay Packers, 85th overall
Season:Regular Season
Season Champ Name:Champions
Mvp:QB Shane Carden, ECU
Conf1:East
Conf1 Champ:Marshall
Conf2:West
Conf2 Champ:Rice
Finals:Championship Game
Finals Link:2013 Conference USA Football Championship Game
Finals Champ:Rice
Finals Runner-Up:Marshall
Finals Mvp:RB Luke Turner, Rice
Seasonslistnames:Football
Prevseason Year:2012
Nextseason Year:2014

The 2013 Conference USA football season is an NCAA 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

See main article: 2012 Conference USA football season. Tulsa won the conference championship for the second time, defeating former members Central Florida Knights 33–27.[1]

2013 season

Conference USA added several new members this season after losing four.[2]

In preseason polls, Tulsa was projected to be top of the 2013 season followed by East Carolina.[3]

East Division

Projected as the winner of the East Division, East Carolina lost its first conference game of the season to Tulane in triple overtime, 36-33. Marshall then topped the standings until they lost 51-49 to new member Middle Tennessee, 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 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, 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, when former member Houston Cougars hosted the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Robertson Stadium. It was the first time that Rice Stadium would host the Championship game series after Rice won the West Division.[4] 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 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 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)

Bowl GameDateStadiumCityTelevisionTime (EST)Away TeamHome TeamScoreAttendance
New Orleans BowlDecember 21, 2013Mercedes-Benz SuperdomeNew Orleans, LAESPN9:00 P.M.TulaneLouisiana–Lafayette21–2454,728
Beef 'O' Brady's BowlDecember 23, 2013Tropicana FieldSt. Petersburg, FLESPN2:00 P.M.OhioEast Carolina20–3720,053
Military BowlDecember 27, 2013Navy–Marine Corps Memorial StadiumAnnapolis, MDESPN2:30 P.M.MarshallMaryland31–2030,163
Armed Forces BowlDecember 30, 2013Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, TXESPN11:45 A.M.Middle TennesseeNavy6–2439,246
Liberty BowlDecember 31, 2013Liberty BowlMemphis, TNESPN4:00 P.M.RiceMississippi State7–4457,846
Heart of Dallas BowlJanuary 1, 2014Cotton BowlDallas, TXESPNU12:00 P.M.UNLVNorth Texas14–3638,380

Other bowl eligible teams

Membership

See main article: 2010–13 Conference USA realignment. Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF left Conference USA, and joined the American Athletic Conference, the football-sponsoring offshoot of the original Big East, on July 1, 2013.[6]

Louisiana Tech and UTSA joined C-USA from the WAC. Florida Atlantic, FIU, Middle Tennessee, and North Texas joined C-USA from the Sun Belt.[7] Old Dominion, which had moved five of its sports from its former home of the Colonial Athletic Association 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, 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.

East Division West Division
Louisiana Tech
North Texas
Rice
Tulane
Tulsa
Southern MissUTEP
UTSA

After the 2013 football season East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa moved to The American on July 1, 2014, at the start of the 2014 football season.[6] On the same day, Western Kentucky joined C-USA from the Sun Belt.

Rankings

See also: 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.

Legend
  Improvement in ranking
 Drop in ranking
 Not ranked previous week
align=center style="width:20px; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; background:white;" RVReceived votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
тTied with team above or below also with this symbol
Ranking Movement
  Pre Wk
1 		Wk
2 		Wk
3 		Wk
4 		Wk
5 		Wk
6 		Wk
7 		Wk
8 		Wk
9 		Wk
10 		Wk
11 		Wk
12 		Wk
13 		Wk
14 		Final
East Carolina
Pirates		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRRV
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Florida Atlantic
Owls		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
CNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
HARNot releasedNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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FIU
Panthers		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Louisiana Tech
Bulldogs		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Marshall
Thundering Herd		APNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Middle Tennessee
Blue Raiders		APNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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North Texas
Mean Green		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Rice
Owls		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Southern Miss
Golden Eagles		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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HARNot released NRNRNRNRNRNRNR
BCSNot released
Tulane
Green Wave		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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Tulsa
Golden Hurricane		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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UAB
Blazers		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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UTSA
Roadrunners		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
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UTEP
Miners		AP NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
CNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
HARNot releasedNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
BCSNot released

Notes and References

  1. Web site: UCF Knights vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane - Drivechart. https://archive.today/20130124123127/http://espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=323360202 . dead . January 24, 2013 . ESPN. 2012-12-01. 2010-12-01.
  2. Web site: Conference USA adds 5 schools. Associated Press. ESPN. May 4, 2012. April 24, 2013.
  3. Web site: Tulsa, ECU picked atop the Conference USA preseason poll. Chip Patterson. CBSSPORTS. July 18, 2013. December 7, 2013.
  4. Rice to Host Marshall in 2013 Football Championship Game . Conference USA . December 1, 2013 . December 2, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203062242/http://www.conferenceusa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120113aac.html . December 3, 2013 . dead .
  5. Web site: FAU not invited to bowl game. Dieter Kurtenbach. Sun Sentinel. December 8, 2013. December 9, 2013.
  6. Web site: Old Big East now American Athletic. Brett McMurphy. ESPN. April 4, 2013. April 24, 2013.
  7. Web site: FAU, MTSU leaving Sun Belt early to join C-USA in 2013. April 24, 2013.

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