The 2014 Conference USA football season was a part of the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season and was played from August 2014 through January 2015. The 2014 football season marks the 20th season of the Conference USA's existence and 19th of football competition; although C-USA was established in 1995, it did not begin football competition until 1996.
2014 season
Before the season Conference USA football added two new members in 2014 (Old Dominion (transitioning from FCS) and Western Kentucky (from the Sun Belt Conference)) and lost three from the previous season (East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa) to the American Athletic Conference.
In preseason polls, Marshall was favored to win the East Division and the 2014 conference title followed by North Texas to win the West Division. Marshall was also the only team in the conference to have received votes from the AP and Coaches' Poll Preseason Rankings before the season.
East Division In the first East Division game of the season, Middle Tennessee defeated Western Kentucky 50–47 in triple overtime, bringing the Blue Raiders to the top of the division and the Hilltoppers to the bottom. A week later after the Blue Raiders defeated the Hilltoppers, newcomers Old Dominion defeated the last year conference champions Rice, putting the Monarchs to first in the east division surpassing Middle Tennessee. In the following week, Old Dominion received its first conference loss against Middle Tennessee, bringing the undefeated Blue Raiders back on top on the East Division standings. After winning 3 conference games, Middle Tennessee then lost for the first time in conference play to the undefeated Marshall Thundering Herd, the projected winner of the conference. Marshall would go on to become East Division champions after defeating the defending conference champions, Rice, and after FIU defeated Middle Tennessee to put the Thundering Herd into the conference championship for the second time in back to back seasons.
West Division In the first conference game of the season, the projected division winner, North Texas lost 21–42 to Louisiana Tech, bringing the Bulldogs to the top of the division and the Mean Green to the bottom. Louisiana Tech would go on to win the West Division 7–1, with wins over North Texas, Southern Miss, UTEP, UTSA, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky, UAB, and Rice and with a loss to Old Dominion.
Championship Game At the conclusion of the 2014 regular season the tenth C-USA championship game was played at Marshall on December 6, 2014 where the East Division Champs, Marshall, defeated the West Division Champs, Louisiana Tech, 26-23 to claim the conference championship.
After the season On December 2, 2014, UAB announced that the school will be cutting their football program after the 2014 season. Following public outcry and a fundraising push, UAB reinstated their football program, with the program being relaunched for the 2017 season.
Bowl games
Bowl eligibility
Bowl eligible Louisiana Tech Marshall Middle Tennessee Rice UAB UTEP Western Kentucky
Bowl ineligible Florida Atlantic Florida International North Texas Old Dominion Southern Miss UTSA
Results Conference USA bowl games for the 2014 season are:
Bowl GameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)C-USA TeamOpponentScoreAttendanceNew Mexico BowlDecember 20University Stadium • Albuquerque, New MexicoESPN2:20 p.m.UTEPUtah State L 6–21 28,725Boca Raton BowlDecember 23FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FloridaESPN6:00 p.m.MarshallNorthern Illinois W 52–23 29,419Bahamas BowlDecember 24Thomas Robinson Stadium • Nassau, BahamasESPN12:00 p.m.Western KentuckyCentral Michigan W 49–48 13,667Hawaii BowlDecember 24Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HIESPN8:00 p.m.RiceFresno State W 30–6 25,365Heart of Dallas BowlDecember 26Cotton Bowl • DallasESPN1:00 p.m.Louisiana TechIllinois W 35–18 31,297
All times Eastern Time Zone.
Individual conference honors 2014 Conference Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards
AwardPlayerSchoolMost Valuable PlayerBrandon DoughtyWKUOffensive Player of the YearRakeem CatoMarshallDefensive Player of the YearNeville HewittMarshallSpecial Teams Player of the YearJ.J. NelsonUABFreshman of the YearRay LawryOld DominionNewcomer of the YearCody SokolLouisiana TechCoach of the YearDoc HollidayMarshall
All-Conference players Coaches All-Conference Selections
Position Player Class Team First Team Offense (Coaches) QB Rakeem Cato SR Marshall RB Devon Johnson SR Marshall RB Jordan Howard SO UAB OL Chris Jasperse SR Marshall OL Mitchell Bell SR Louisiana Tech OL Clint Van Horn JR Marshall OL Josh Mann SR Old Dominion OL Cyril Lemon SR North Texas TE Jonnu Smith SO FIU WR Tommy Shuler SR Marshall WR Antonio Vaughan SR Old Dominion WR Lucky Whitehead SR Florida Atlantic First Team Defense (Coaches) DL Brian Nordstrom JR Rice DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches SR Southern Miss DL Diaheem Watkins SR UAB DL James Rouse SR Marshall LB Neville Hewitt SR Marshall LB Derek Akunne SR North Texas LB Andrae Kirk SR Florida Atlantic DB Richard Leonard JR FIU DB Kevin Byard JR Middle Tennessee DB Xavier Woods SO Louisiana Tech DB Darryl Roberts SR Marshall First Team Special Teams (Coaches) K Corey Acosta SR Southern Miss P Tyler Williams JR Marshall KR J.J. Nelson SR UAB PR Richard Leonard JR FIU LS Matt Cincotta JR Marshall
Position Player Class Team Second Team Offense (Coaches) QBBrandon Doughty SR WKU RB Kenneth Dixon JR Louisiana Tech RB Aaron Jones SO UTEP RB Leon Allen JR WKU OL Brian O'Leary SR UAB OL Jerell Watkins SR UTEP OL Isaiah Anderson SR Middle Tennessee OL Cameron Clemmons SR WKU OL Darius Johnson JR Middle Tennessee OL Nico Carlson SR Rice TE Kennard Backman SR UAB WR Jared Dangerfield JR WKU WR Trent Taylor SO Louisiana Tech WR Jordan Taylor SR Rice Second Team Defense (Coaches) DL Arnold Blackmon SR Marshall DL Michael Wakefield JR FIU DL Houston Bates SR Louisiana Tech DL Robert Singletary SR UTSA LB Jake Ganus JR UAB LB T.T. Barber JR Middle Tennessee LB Jermaine Holmes SR Marshall DB Triston Wade SR UTSA DB D'Joun Smith SR Florida Atlantic DB James Jones SR North Texas DB Bryce Callahan SR Rice DB Wonderful Terry JR WKU Second Team Special Teams (Coaches) K Sean Ianno SR UTSA P Dalton Schomp SO Florida Atlantic KR Autrey Golden JR UTEP PR J.J. Nelson SR UAB LS Jesse Medrano SR UTSA
Attendance TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7Game 8Total Average% of CapacityFIUFIU Stadium20,00014,0539,98110,14710,82612,54413,16312,09712,91795,72811,96659.8%Florida AtlanticFAU Stadium29,41914,11213,92810,91517,7249,566 66,24513,24945.0%Louisiana TechJoe Aillet Stadium27,71726,00418,15718,07120,01118,029 100,27220,05472.4%MarshallJoan C. Edwards Stadium38,22725,10631,71030,21027,23630,68023,57623,711 192,22927,46171.8%Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium30,78815,60524,91114,02218,71718,95212,243 104,45017,40856.5%North TexasApogee Stadium30,85022,39816,99821,32319,12720,95714,824 115,62719,27162.5%Old DominionForeman Field20,11820,11820,11820,11820,11820,11820,118 120,70820,118100.0%RiceRice Stadium47,00017,55817,46518,43019,46418,164 91,08118,21638.8%Southern MissM. M. Roberts Stadium36,00026,44821,83624,75623,34322,94917,103 136,43522,73963.2%UABLegion Field71,59427,13329,60416,13320,3659,45728,355 131,04721,84130.5%UTEPSun Bowl Stadium51,50035,42232,97925,50924,67324,22227,455 170,26028,37755.1%UTSAAlamodome65,00033,47230,41925,31831,95620,28124,012 165,45827,57642.4%WKUHouchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium22,11317,21514,92317,88618,47216,81912,518 97,83316,30673.7%Total––––––––––1,587,373–
Membership
East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa left Conference USA, and joined the American Athletic Conference, the football-sponsoring offshoot of the original Big East, on July 1, 2014.
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 has an established FCS program that played as an FCS independent in 2013, and will join C-USA football as a provisional FBS member in 2014, and become fully bowl-eligible in 2015. Also Western Kentucky will join the conference from the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2014. Charlotte, which is a football team, that is initially provisional FBS member in 2014 and will bring football to C-USA in 2015. The 49ers joined from the Atlantic 10 Conference.
With Old Dominion and Western Kentucky makes the conference at 13 teams which will be both in the East Division, while Southern Miss moves from the East Division to the West. The East division consist of 7 members while the West division consists of 6 members.
East Division West Division Florida Atlantic Louisiana Tech FIU North Texas Marshall Rice Middle Tennessee Southern Miss Old Dominion UTEP UAB UTSA Western Kentucky
References