2020 Conference USA football season explained

2020 Conference USA football season
Color:	013ac6
Color Text:	ffffff
Sport:	Football
Pixels:	200px
Duration:	September 3, 2019 to December 18, 2020
No Of Teams:	13†
Draft:	2021 NFL Draft
Draft Link:	2021 NFL Draft
Top Pick:	DT Milton Williams, Louisiana Tech
Picked By:	Philadelphia Eagles, 73rd overall
Season:	Regular season
Mvp Link:	Conference USA football individual awards
Conf1:	East
Conf1 Champ:	Marshall
Conf2:	West
Conf2 Champ:	UAB
Finals:	Conference USA Championship Game
Finals Link:	2020 Conference USA Football Championship Game
Finals Champ:	UAB
Finals Runner-Up:	Marshall
Finals Mvp:	Spencer Brown, UAB^[1]
Prevseason Link:	2019 Conference USA football season
Prevseason Year:	2019
Nextseason Link:	2021 Conference USA football season
Nextseason Year:	2021

The 2020 Conference USA football season was the 25th season of college football play for Conference USA (C-USA). It was played from September 3, 2020 until December 18, 2020. The league consisted of 14 members in two divisions. It was part of the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season.

Preseason

Preseason Awards

The conference preseason awards were released On August 25.^[2]

• Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Brenden Knox, Junior, RB, Marshall
• Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: DeAngelo Malone, Senior, DE, WKU
• Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year: John Haggerty, Sophomore, Punter, WKU

Offense! Position! Player! Class! Team

QB	Jack Abraham	Senior	Southern Miss
RB	Justin Henderson	Senior	Louisiana Tech
RB	Brenden Knox	Junior	Marshall
OL	D'Antne Demery	Senior	FIU
OL	Desmond Noel	Senior	Florida Atlantic
OL	Kody Russey	Senior	Louisiana Tech
OL	Cain Madden	Senior	Marshall
OL	Jordan Meredith	Senior	WKU
TE	Jason Pirtle	Senior	North Texas
WR	Jaelon Darden	Senior	North Texas
WR	Tim Jones	Senior	Southern Miss
WR	Austin Watkins Jr.	Senior	UAB

Defense! Position! Player! Class! Team

DL	Markees Watts	Junior	Charlotte
DL	Willie Baker	Senior	Louisiana Tech
DL	Dion Novil	Senior	North Texas
DL	Jordan Smith	Junior	UAB
DL	DeAngelo Malone	Senior	WKU
LB	Tavante Beckett	Senior	Marshall
LB	Blaze Alldredge	Senior	Rice
LB	Kristopher Moll	Senior	UAB
DB	Nazeeh Johnson	Senior	Marshall
DB	Ben DeLuca	Senior	Charlotte
DB	Reed Blankenship	Senior	Middle Tennessee
DB	Ky’el Hemby	Senior	Southern Miss

Specialists! Position! Player! Class! Team

K	Ethan Mooney	Junior	North Texas
P	John Haggerty	Senior	WKU
KR	Deion Hair-Griffin	Junior	North Texas
PR	Talik Keaton	Sophomore	Marshall
LS	Reeves Blankenship	Junior	Louisiana Tech

Media predictions

No 2020 Preseason Media Poll was released by Conference USA.

Head coaches

Note: All stats shown are before the start of the 2020 season.

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	CUSA Record
Charlotte	Will Healy	2	20-27	7-6	5-3
FIU	Butch Davis	3	86–59	23-16	14–10
Florida Atlantic	Willie Taggart	1	56–62	0–0	0–0
Louisiana Tech	Skip Holtz	8	144–107	56–36	37–19
Marshall	Doc Holliday	11	78–51	78–51	49–29
Middle Tennessee	Rick Stockstill	15	91–88	91–88	68–41
North Texas	Seth Littrell	5	28–26	28–26	18–14
Old Dominion	Ricky Rahne	1	0–0	0–0	0–0
Rice	Mike Bloomgren	3	5–20	5–20	4–12
Southern Miss	Jay Hopson	5	60–39	28–22	20-12
UAB	Bill Clark	5	45–22	34–19	23–9
UTEP	Dana Dimel	3	32-61	2–22	1-15
UTSA	Jeff Traylor	1	0–0	0–0	0–0
Western Kentucky	Tyson Helton	2	9–4	9–4	6–2

Rankings

See main article: 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.

	Pre	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Final
rowspan="3" style=""	Charlotte	AP
C
CFP	Not released
FIU	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Florida Atlantic	AP												RV
	C													RV
	CFP	Not released
Louisiana Tech	AP						RV
	C			RV	RV		RV
	CFP	Not released
Marshall	AP		RV		RV	RV	RV	22	19	16	16	15	17	15
	C		RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	18	15	15	15	16	15
	CFP	Not released											21
Middle Tennessee	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
rowspan="3" style=""	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	RV	RV	RV	RV
	C				RV	RV	RV	RV
	CFP	Not released
UTEP	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
UTSA	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
WKU	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

Old Dominion suspended all Fall sports including football for the 2020 season.^[3] Rice suspended the start of the football season till September 26 on August 8.^[4] Rice pushed the start of their football season back an additional month, not starting play until October 24.^[5]

Regular season

Index to colors and formatting
C–USA member won
C–USA member lost
C–USA teams in bold

Conference USA Championship Game

See also: 2020 Conference USA Football Championship Game.

Postseason

Bowl games

Legend
	C-USA Win
	C-USA Loss

See also: 2020–21 NCAA football bowl games.

Bowl game	Date	Site	Television	Time (EST)	C-USA team	Opponent	Score	Attendance
Myrtle Beach Bowl	December 21		ESPN	2:30 p.m.	North Texas	Appalachian State	L 28–56	5,000
New Orleans Bowl	December 23	Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA	ESPN	3:00 p.m.	Louisiana Tech	Georgia Southern	L 3–38	3,000
Montgomery Bowl	December 23	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, AL	ESPN	7:00 p.m.	Florida Atlantic	Memphis	L 10–25	2,979
Camellia Bowl	December 25	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, AL	ESPN	2:30 p.m.	Marshall	Buffalo	L 10–17	2,512
First Responder Bowl	December 26	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • Dallas, TX	ABC	3:30 p.m.	UTSA	No. 19 Louisiana	L 24–31
LendingTree Bowl	December 26	Ladd-Peebles Stadium • Mobile, AL	ESPN	3:30 p.m.	Western Kentucky	Georgia State	L 21–39

Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone. C-USA teams shown in bold.

Note: UAB was originally slated to play in the Gasparilla Bowl on December 26. However, the bowl was cancelled after their opponent, South Carolina, was forced to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues among the team.

Selection of teams

• Bowl eligible:
• Bowl-ineligible:

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Week		Offensive				Defensive				Special Teams
		Player	Team	Position		Player	Team	Position		Player	Team	Position
Week 1 (Sept. 7)		Grant Wells	Marshall	QB		K.D. Davis	North Texas	LB		Matt Quinn	UAB	K
Week 2 (Sept. 14)		Sincere McCormick	UTSA	RB		Tyler Murray	Charlotte	LB		Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	K
Week 3 (Sept. 21)		Frank Harris	UTSA	QB		Tavante Beckett,	Marshall	LB		Jacob Barnes	Louisiana Tech	K
Week 4 (Sept. 28)		Luke Anthony	Louisiana Tech	QB		Jamal Ligon	UTSA	LB		Lexington Joseph	FIU	KR
Week 5 (Oct. 5)		Tyrrell Pigrome	Western Kentucky	QB		Leighton McCarthy	Florida Atlantic	LB		Brayden Narveson	Western Kentucky	K
Week 6 (Oct. 12)		Aaron McAllister	Charlotte	RB		Tavante Beckett (2)	Marshall	LB		Duron Lowe	UTEP	KR
Week 7 (Oct. 19)		Jason Bean	North Texas	QB		Eli Neal	Marshall	LB		Nikia Eason Jr.	UAB	OLB
Week 8 (Oct. 26)		Sincere McCormick (2)	UTSA	RB		Trey Baldwin, Antonio Parks	Louisiana Tech, UTSA	LB, S		Jalen Jackson	Middle Tennessee	CB
Week 9 (Nov. 2)		Aaron Allen	Louisiana Tech	QB		Bee Jay Williamson	Louisiana Tech	DB		Jacob Barnes (2)	Louisiana Tech	K
Week 10 (Nov. 9)		Grant Wells (2)	Marshall	QB		DeAngelo Malone	Western Kentucky	DL		Matt Hayball	Florida Atlantic	P
Week 11 (Nov. 16)		Grant Wells (3)	Marshall	QB		Rashad Wisdom	UTSA	S		Robert LeFevre	Marshall	P
Week 12 (Nov. 23)		Sincere McCormick (3)	UTSA	RB		Dion Novil	North Texas	DL		John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	P
Week 13 (Nov. 30)
Week 14 (Dec. 7)
Week 15 (Dec. 14)

C–USA Individual Awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Conference USA football coaches at the end of the season

Award	Player	School
Player of the Year	Jaelon Darden, WR, Sr.	North Texas
Offensive Player of the Year	Sincere McCormick, RB, So.	UTSA
Defensive Player of the Year	Tavante Beckett, LB, Sr.	Marshall
Special Teams Player of the Year	Lucas Dean, P, So.	UTSA
Freshman Player of the Year	Grant Wells, QB	Marshall
Newcomer of the Year	Luke Anthony, QB, Grad.	Louisiana Tech
Coach of the Year	Doc Holliday	Marshall

All-conference teams

Position	Player	Team
First Team Offense
WR	Jaelon Darden	style=	North Texas
WR	Austin Trammell	style=	Rice
WR	Austin Watkins, Jr.	style=	UAB
OL	Kody Russey	style=	Louisiana Tech
OL	Cain Madden	style=	Marshall
OL	Josh Ball	style=	Marshall
OL	Colby Ragland	style=	UAB
OL	Sidney Wells	style=	UAB
TE	Xavier Gaines	style=	Marshall
QB	Grant Wells	style=	Marshall
RB	Brenden Knox	style=	Marshall
RB	Sincere McCormick	style=	UTSA
First Team Defense
DT	Milton Williams	style=	Louisiana Tech
DT	Dion Novil	style=	North Texas
DE	Darius Hodge	style=	Marshall
DE	Jordan Smith	style=	UAB
DE	DeAngelo Malone	style=	WKU
LB	Tavante Beckett	style=	Marshall
LB	Blaze Alldregde	style=	Rice
LB	Kristopher Moll	style=	UAB
DB	BeeJay Williamson	style=	Louisiana Tech
DB	Steven Gilmore	style=	Marshall
DB	Gregory Grate, Jr.	style=	Middle Tennessee
DB	Rashad Wisdom	style=	UTSA
First Team Special Teams
K	Hunter Duplessis	style=	UTSA
P	Lucas Dean	style=	UTSA
KR	Wayne Toussant	style=	Louisiana Tech
PR	Talik Keaton	style=	Marshall
LS	Jacob Fuqua	style=	UAB

• Denotes Unanimous Selection

Ref:^[6]

All Conference Honorable Mentions:

Offense:

Defense:

Special Teams:

All-Americans

The 2020 College Football All-America Teams are composed of the following College Football All-American first teams chosen by the following selector organizations: Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Walter Camp Foundation (WCFF), The Sporting News (TSN), Sports Illustrated (SI), USA Today (USAT) ESPN, CBS Sports (CBS), FOX Sports (FOX) College Football News (CFN), Bleacher Report (BR), Scout.com, Phil Steele (PS), SB Nation (SB), Athlon Sports, Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Yahoo! Sports (Yahoo!).

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. Football consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.^{[7] [8]}

Position	Player	School	Selector	Unanimous	Consensus
First Team All-Americans
WR	Jaelon Darden	style=	North Texas	ESPN, FWAA, USAT
OL	Cain Madden	style=	Marshall	Athletic, USAT

Position	Player	School	Selector	Unanimous	Consensus
Second Team All-Americans
WR	Jaelon Darden	style=	North Texas	AFCA, AP, CBS, TSN
OL	Cain Madden	style=	Marshall	AP
RB	Sincere McCormick	style=	UTSA	FWAA
LB	Tavante Beckett	style=	Marshall	FWAA
P	Lucas Dean	style=	UTSA	TSN

National award winners

C-USA records vs Other Conferences

2020–2021 records against non-conference foes:

Regular season

Power 5 Conferences	Record
ACC	0–3
Big Ten	0–0
Big 12	0–1
BYU/Notre Dame	0–3
Pac-12	0–0
SEC	0–0
Power 5 Total	0–7
Other FBS Conferences	Record
American	0–2
Independents (Excluding BYU and Notre Dame)	2–4
MAC	0–0
Mountain West	0–0
Sun Belt	5–5
Other FBS Total	7–11
FCS Opponents	Record
Football Championship Subdivision	8–1
Total Non-Conference Record	15–19

Post Season

Power Conferences 5	Record
ACC	0–0
Big Ten	0–0
Big 12	0–0
BYU/Notre Dame	0-0
Pac-12	0–0
SEC	0–0
Power 5 Total	0–0
Other FBS Conferences	Record
American	0–0
Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)	0–0
MAC	0–0
Mountain West	0–0
Sun Belt	0-0
Other FBS Total	0–0
Total Bowl Record	0–0

C-USA vs Power Five matchups

This is a list of games the Sun Belt 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 10	ACC	UAB	Miami, FL	Hard Rock Stadium • Miami, FL	L 14–31
September 12	Big 12	UTEP	No. 14 Texas	Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX	L 3–59
September 12	ACC	Western Kentucky	Louisville	Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	L 21–35
October 2	Independents	Louisiana Tech	No. 22 BYU	LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT	L 14–45
October 9	Independents	UTSA	No. 15 BYU	LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT	L 20–27
October 31	ACC	Charlotte	Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC	L 19–53
October 31	Independents	Western Kentucky	No. 11 BYU	LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT	L 10–41

C-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 3	Sun Belt	South Alabama	Southern Miss	M.M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	L 21-32
September 12	Sun Belt	Charlotte	App State	Kidd Brewer Stadium • Boone, NC	L 20-35
September 12	Sun Belt	UTSA	Texas State	Bobcats Stadium • San Marcos, TX	W 51-48 2OT
September 19	Sun Belt	Troy	Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, TN	L 20-35
September 19	Sun Belt	No. 23 App State	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	W 17-7
September 19	American	SMU	North Texas	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	L 35-65
September 24	Sun Belt	UAB	South Alabama	Hancock Whitney Stadium • Mobile, AL	W 42-10
September 26	American	Tulane	Southern Miss	M.M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	L 24-66
September 26	Sun Belt	UTEP	Louisiana-Monroe	Malone Stadium • Monroe, LA	W 24-10
October 23	Sun Belt	Louisiana	UAB	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	L 20-24
November 21	Sun Belt	Middle Tennessee	Troy	Veterans Memorial Stadium • Troy, AL	W 20-17
December 7	Sun Belt	Florida Atlantic	Georgia Southern	Allen E. Paulson Stadium • Statesboro, GA	L 3-20

C-USA vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include C-USA teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, or UMass.

Date	Conference	Visitor	Home	Site	Score
September 5	Independents	Middle Tennessee	Army	Michie Stadium • West Point, NY	L 0-42
September 19	Independents	Liberty	Western Kentucky	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY	L 24-30
September 26	Independents	FIU	Liberty	Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA	L 34-36
September 5	Independents	Army	UTSA	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX	L 16-28
November 7	Independents	UMass	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium• Huntington, WV	W 51-10
November 20	Independents	UMass	Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL	W 24-2

C–USA vs FCS matchups

Date	Visitor	Home	Site	Score
September 3	Central Arkansas	UAB	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	W 45-35
September 5	Eastern Kentucky	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	W 59-0
September 5	Houston Baptist	North Texas	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	W 57-31
September 5	Stepen F. Austin	UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX	W 24-14
September 19	Abilene Christian	UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX	W 17-13
September 26	Houston Baptist	Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA	W 66-38
October 23	Jacksonville State	FIU	Riccardo Silva Stadium • Miami, FL	L 10-19
October 24	Chattanooga	Western Kentucky	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY	W 13-10
November 7	North Alabama	Southern Miss	M.M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	W 24-13

NFL Draft

The following list includes all C-USA players who were drafted in the 2021 NFL draft.

Player	Position	School	Draft Round	Round Pick	Overall Pick	Team
Milton Williams	DT	Louisiana Tech	3	9	73	Philadelphia Eagles
Jordan Smith	OLB	UAB	4	16	121	Jacksonville Jaguars
Jaelon Darden	WR	North Texas	4	24	129	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Josh Ball	OT	Marshall	4	33	138	Dallas Cowboys

Notes and References

1. News: CHAMPS AGAIN! UAB Defeats Marshall 22-13 to Win C-USA Title . uabsports.com . December 18, 2020 . December 19, 2020.
2. Web site: 2020 Preseason Football Awards. Conference USA. en. 2020-05-11.
3. Web site: Old Dominion Athletics Announces Cancellation of Fall Sports Season. ODUsports.com. August 10, 2020. November 7, 2020.
4. Web site: Rice Delays Start of 2020 Football Season. RiceOwls.com. August 10, 2020. November 7, 2020.
5. Web site: Owls Opener with Middle Tennessee to be Played Without Fans. RiceOwls.com. October 9, 2020. November 7, 2020.
6. Web site: C-USA Announces 2020 All-Conference Teams. December 20, 2020. December 22, 2020. conferenceusa.com. Conference USA.
7. Web site: 2010-11 NCAA Statistics Policies(updated 9/15/2010) . December 10, 2011 . January 3, 2012 . September 15, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120103181529/http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Stats/Statistics+Policies . . dead .
8. http://www.sportingnews.com/ca/ncaa-football/news/alabamas-tua-tagovailoa-2018-consensus-all-american-team/u4gei2bnxvig1jmptsbwhsj97 2018 Consensus All-America Team