2011 Conference USA football season

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

2011 Conference USA football season
LeagueNCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
SportFootball
DurationSeptember 1, 2011
through January 7, 2012
Number of teams12
TV partner(s)ABC, Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network, CSS, CST
2012 NFL Draft
Top draft pickDT Dontari Poe, Memphis
Picked byKansas City Chiefs, 11th overall
Regular season
Season MVPQB Case Keenum, Houston
East championsSouthern Miss
West championsHouston
Championship Game
ChampionsSouthern Miss
  Runners-upHouston
Finals MVPRB Tracy Lampley, USM
Football seasons
← 2010
2012 →
2011 Conference USA football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 20 Southern Miss x$   6 2     12 2  
Marshall   5 3     7 6  
East Carolina   4 4     5 7  
UAB   3 5     3 9  
UCF   3 5     5 7  
Memphis   1 7     2 10  
West Division
No. 18 Houston x   8 0     13 1  
Tulsa   7 1     8 5  
SMU   5 3     8 5  
Rice   3 5     4 8  
UTEP   2 6     5 7  
Tulane   1 7     2 11  
Championship: Southern Miss 49, Houston 28
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
As of January 10, 2012
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2011 Conference USA football season was an NCAA football season that was played from September 1, 2011, through January 2012. Conference USA consists of 12 football members separated into two divisions: East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB, and UCF make up the East Division, while Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTEP comprise the West Division.

The 2011 football season marked the 17th season of the conference's existence and 16th of football competition; although C-USA was established in 1995, it did not begin football competition until 1996.

Previous season[edit]

UCF won the conference championship for the second time, defeating the SMU Mustangs 17–7.

Preseason[edit]

Coaching changes[edit]

Preseason polls[edit]

No Conference USA teams were ranked though Houston, Southern Miss and UCF each received votes in the Coaches Poll, and Houston, Southern Miss, Tulsa and UCF received votes in the AP poll.

Coaches[edit]

Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school C-USA record
East Carolina Ruffin McNeill 1 7–7 6–7 5–3
Houston Kevin Sumlin 3 23–16 23–16 16–8
Marshall Doc Holliday 1 5–7 5–7 4–4
Memphis Larry Porter 1 1–11 1–11 0–8
Rice David Bailiff 4 40–45 19–30 15–17
Southern Miss Larry Fedora 3 22–17 22–17 14–10
SMU June Jones 3 92–64 16–23 12–12
Tulane Bob Toledo 4 91–103 13–35 7–25
Tulsa Bill Blankenship 0–0 0–0 0–0
UAB Neil Callaway 4 15–33 15–33 11–21
UCF George O'Leary 7 97–77 45–44 33–23
UTEP Mike Price 7 169–167 40–45 20–28
Statistics are through the conclusion of the 2010 NCAA Season.
  • Tulane head coach Bob Toledo resigned on October 18 after starting the season 2–5 and was replaced for the rest of the season by interim head coach Mark Hutson.[2]

Regular season[edit]

Index to colors and formatting
Conference USA member won
Conference USA member lost
Conference USA teams in bold
Rankings from Coaches' Poll

Week One[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
September 1 8:00PM #20 Mississippi State Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee FSN L 14–59 33,990
September 3 3:30PM Southeastern Louisiana Tulane Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans W 47–33 15,912
September 3 3:30PM UCLA Houston Robertson StadiumHouston FSN W 38–34 31,114
September 3 7:00PM Charleston Southern UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida BHSN W 62–0 39,752
September 3 7:00PM Rice #24 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial StadiumAustin, Texas Longhorn Network L 9–34 101,624
September 3 7:00PM #12 South Carolina East Carolina Bank of America StadiumCharlotte, North Carolina FSN L 37–56 58,272
September 3 8:00PM Tulsa #1 Oklahoma Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, Oklahoma FX L 14–47 85,260
September 3 9:05PM Stony Brook UTEP Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, Texas W 31–24 OT 28,752
September 3 10:00PM Louisiana Tech Southern Miss M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi FSN W 19–17 22,356
September 4 3:30PM Marshall West Virginia Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, West Virginia ESPN L 13–34 60,758
September 4 7:30PM SMU #9 Texas A&M Kyle FieldCollege Station, Texas FSN L 14–46 86,951

Week Two[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
September 10 3:30PM Purdue Rice Rice StadiumHouston CBS Sports Network W 24–22 25,317
September 10 3:30PM Southern Miss Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia CSS MRSH 26–20 24,247
September 10 3:30PM Tulsa Tulane Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans CST TLSA 31–3 19,752
September 10 3:30PM #11 Virginia Tech East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina FSN L 10–17 49,404
September 10 7:00PM Houston North Texas Apogee StadiumDenton, Texas ESPN3 W 48–23 28,075
September 10 7:00PM Memphis Arkansas State ASU StadiumJonesboro, Arkansas L 3–47 29,872
September 10 7:00PM UAB #18 Florida Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, Florida FSN L 0–39 87,473
September 10 7:00PM UTEP SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas FSN SMU 28–17 26,691
September 10 8:00PM Boston College UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida CBS Sports Network W 30–3 45,671

Week Three[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
September 17 4:00PM Tulane UAB Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama TULN 49–10 17,658
September 17 6:00PM UCF FIU FIU StadiumMiami ESPN3 L 10–17 20,205
September 17 7:00PM Houston Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet StadiumRuston, Louisiana ESPN3 W 35–34 24,628
September 17 7:00PM Marshall Ohio Peden StadiumAthens, Ohio ESPN3 L 7–44 24,244
September 17 7:00PM Austin Peay Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee W 27–6 18,808
September 17 7:00PM Southeastern Louisiana Southern Miss M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi W 52–6 27,433
September 17 8:00PM Northwestern State SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas W 40–7 20,083
September 17 8:00PM UTEP New Mexico State Aggie Memorial StadiumLas Cruces, New Mexico ESPN3 W 16–10 19,751
September 17 10:00PM #7 Oklahoma State Tulsa H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma FSN L 33–59 24,563

Week Four[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
September 23 8:00PM UCF BYU LaVell Edwards StadiumProvo, Utah ESPN L 17–24 59,874
September 24 12:00PM SMU Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee FSN SMU 42–0 16,748
September 24 3:30PM Tulane Duke Wallace Wade StadiumDurham, North Carolina ESPN3 L 27–48 20,138
September 24 3:30PM UAB East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina ECU 28–23 50,023
September 24 3:30PM Southern Miss Virginia Scott StadiumCharlottesville, Virginia W 30–24 43,220
September 24 3:30PM #11 Virginia Tech Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia CBS Sports Network L 10–30 34,424
September 24 7:00PM UTEP #17 South Florida Raymond James StadiumTampa, Florida ESPN3 L 24–52 39,628
September 24 7:00PM Rice #19 Baylor Floyd Casey StadiumWaco, Texas FSN L 31–56 40,088
September 24 8:00PM Tulsa #4 Boise State Bronco StadiumBoise, Idaho CBS Sports Network L 21–41 34,019
September 24 8:00PM Georgia State Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, Texas CSS W 56–0 32,005

Week Five[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
September 29 8:00PM Houston UTEP Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, Texas CBS Sports Network HOU 49–42 24,111
October 1 12:00PM Tulane Army Michie StadiumWest Point, New York CBS Sports Network L 6–45 31,235
October 1 3:30PM SMU #20 TCU Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, Texas CBS Sports Network W 40–33 35,632
October 1 3:30PM Marshall Louisville Papa John's Cardinal StadiumLouisville, Kentucky CBS Sports Network W 17–13 53,267
October 1 7:00PM Memphis Middle Tennessee Johnny "Red" Floyd StadiumMurfreesboro, Tennessee ESPN3 L 31–38 20,098
October 1 7:00PM North Texas Tulsa H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma W 41–24 21,240
October 1 7:00PM UAB Troy Veterans Memorial StadiumTroy, Alabama SportSouth L 23–24 18,044
October 1 8:00PM North Carolina East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina CBS Sports Network L 20–35 50,610

Week Six[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
October 8 12:00PM Mississippi State UAB Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama FS South L 3–21 28,351
October 8 12:30PM Memphis Rice Rice StadiumHouston CSS RICE 28–6 14,179
October 8 3:30PM Southern Miss Navy Navy–Marine Corps Memorial StadiumAnnapolis, Maryland CBS Sports Network W 63–35 33,462
October 8 7:00PM East Carolina Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, Texas CBS Sports Network HOU 56–3 30,126
October 8 7:00PM Marshall UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida BHSN UCF 16–6 24,750
October 8 8:00PM Syracuse Tulane SuperdomeNew Orleans L 34–37 23,188

Week Seven[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
October 15 3:00PM Rice Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia MRSH 24–20 27,509
October 15 3:30PM UCF SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas FSN SMU 38–17 22,932
October 15 3:30PM UTEP Tulane Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans FCS Central UTEP 44–7 16,690
October 15 7:00PM East Carolina Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee ECU 35–17 17,975
October 15 8:00PM UAB Tulsa H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma CBS Sports Network TLSA 37–20 21,494

Week Eight[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
October 20 8:00PM UCF UAB Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama CSS UAB 26–24 8,872
October 22 3:30PM East Carolina Navy Navy–Marine Corps Memorial StadiumAnnapolis, Maryland CBS Sports Network W 38–35 34,612
October 22 3:30PM Memphis Tulane Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans MEM 33–17 25,158
October 22 4:30PM Marshall #20 Houston Robertson StadiumHouston CSS HOU 63–28 32,107
October 22 7:00PM Tulsa Rice Rice StadiumHouston FSN TLSA 38–20 17,314
October 22 8:00PM SMU Southern Miss M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi CBS Sports Network USM 27–3 32,685
October 22 8:00PM Colorado State UTEP Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, Texas Time Warner El Paso W 31–17 31,797

Week Nine[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
October 27 8:00PM Rice #18 Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, Texas FSN HOU 73–34 32,112
October 29 12:00PM UAB Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia CSS MRSH 59–14 20,735
October 29 3:30PM Tulane East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina ECU 34–13 49,410
October 29 3:30PM SMU Tulsa Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma FSN TLSA 38–7 21,261
October 29 4:00PM Memphis UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida BHSN UCF 41–0 37,683
October 29 8:00PM #25 Southern Miss UTEP Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, Texas CBS Sports Network USM 31–13 24,906

Week Ten[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
November 3 8:00PM Tulsa UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida CBS Sports Network TLSA 24–17 36,712
November 5 3:00PM Tulane SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas SMU 45–24 20,106
November 5 3:30PM UTEP Rice Rice StadiumHouston FSN RICE 41–37 14,372
November 5 4:00PM #24 Southern Miss East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina CSS USM 48–28 50,345
November 5 8:00PM #14 Houston UAB Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama CBS Sports Network HOU 56–13 13,909

Week Eleven[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
November 10 8:00PM #11 Houston Tulane Mercedes-Benz SuperdomeNew Orleans CBS Sports Network HOU 73–17 17,657
November 12 12:00PM Rice Northwestern Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois BTN L 6–28 26,886
November 12 12:00PM Marshall Tulsa Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma FSN TLSA 59–17 17,672
November 12 3:30PM Navy SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas FSN L 17–24 21,080
November 12 4:15PM UAB Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee UAB 41–35 17,848
November 12 8:00PM UCF #23 Southern Miss M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi CBS Sports Network USM 30–29 32,925
November 12 8:00PM East Carolina UTEP Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, Texas Time Warner El Paso UTEP 22–17 25,571

Week Twelve[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
November 17 8:00PM Marshall Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, Tennessee FSN MRSH 23–22 15,101
November 17 8:00PM #20 Southern Miss UAB Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama CBS Sports Network UAB 34–31 14,103
November 19 3:00PM Tulsa UTEP Sun BowlEl Paso, Texas Time Warner El Paso TLSA 57–28 23,849
November 19 3:30PM SMU #10 Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, Texas FSN HOU 37–7 32,207
November 19 3:30PM Tulane Rice Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois RICE 19–7 15,461
November 19 7:00PM UCF East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina FSN ECU 38–31 50,277

Week Thirteen[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
November 25 12:00PM #7 Houston Tulsa Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, Oklahoma FSN HOU 48–16 29,015
November 25 7:00PM UTEP UCF Bright House Networks StadiumOrlando, Florida CBS Sports Network UCF 31–14 21,127
November 26 12:00PM Rice SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, Texas FSN SMU 27–24 14,442
November 26 3:30PM East Carolina Marshall Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia CBS Sports Network MRSH 34–27 OT 22,456
November 26 4:00PM UAB Florida Atlantic FAU StadiumBoca Raton, Florida L 35–38 12,044
November 26 4:00PM Memphis Southern Miss M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi CSS USM 44–7 26,347
November 26 11:00PM Tulane Hawaii Aloha StadiumHonolulu, HI Oceanic PPV/ESPN3 L 23–35 27,411

Week Fourteen- C-USA Championship Game[edit]

Date Time (EDT) Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance
December 3 12:00PM #23 Southern Miss #6 Houston Robertson StadiumHouston ABC USM 49–28 32,413

Players of the week[edit]

Week Offensive Defensive Special teams
Player Team Player Team Player Team
1 – Sep. 5 Case Keenum, QB Houston Cordarro Law, DL Southern Miss Robert Kelley, KR Tulane
2 – Sep. 12 Patrick Edwards, WR Houston Ja'Gared Davis, LB
George Carpenter, LB
SMU
Marshall
Kase Whitehead, P Marshall
3 – Sep. 19 Case Keenum, QB
Ryan Griffin, QB
Houston
Tulane
Korey Williams, LB Southern Miss Nick Adams, KR UAB
4 – Sep. 26 Reggie Bullock, RB ECU Jamie Bender, S UAB Danny Hrapmann, K Southern Miss.
5 – Oct. 3 Darius Johnson, WR SMU Tyson Gale, LB Marshall Kase Whitehead, P Marshall
6 – Oct. 10 Austin Davis, QB Southern Miss. Phillip Steward, LB Houston Marques Wheaton, DB Southern Miss.
7 – Oct. 17 J.J. McDermott, QB SMU Vinny Curry, DE Marshall Richard Crawford, PR SMU

Rankings[edit]

Legend
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
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
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
Houston
Cougars
AP RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 21 18 14 11 11 6 7 20 18
C RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 20 18 14 11 10 7 6 17 14
HAR Not released 24 22 18 14 11 10 7 6 17
BCS Not released 19 17 13 11 11 8 6 19
Marshall
Thundering Herd
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
Memphis
Tigers
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
Rice
Owls
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
Southern Miss
Golden Eagles
AP RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 22 RV 24 22 20
C RV RV RV RV RV 25 24 23 20 RV 23 21 19
HAR Not released RV RV RV RV 23 20 RV 23 21
BCS Not released 25 22 20 24 21
SMU
Mustangs
AP RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV
HAR Not released RV RV
BCS Not released
Tulane
Green Wave
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
Tulsa
Golden Hurricane
AP RV
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
UAB
Blazers
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
UCF
Knights
AP RV RV RV
C RV RV RV
HAR Not released
BCS Not released
UTEP
Miners
AP
C
HAR Not released
BCS Not released

Records against other conferences[edit]

Conference Wins Losses
ACC 2 4
Big 12 0 5
Big East 1 3
Big Ten 1 1
Independents 2 3
MAC 0 1
Mountain West 2 1
Pac-12 1 0
SEC 0 4
Sun Belt 2 5
WAC 3 1
All FCS 7 0
Overall 21 28

Bowl games[edit]

Bowl Game Date Stadium City Television Matchups/Results Attendance Payout per team (US$)
2011 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl December 20, 2011 Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, Florida ESPN Marshall 20, Florida International 10 20,072 $1,000,000
2011 Hawai'i Bowl December 24, 2011 Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI ESPN #21 Southern Miss 24, Nevada 17 32,630 $750,000
2011 Armed Forces Bowl December 30, 2011 Gerald J. Ford Stadium University Park, Texas ESPN BYU 24, Tulsa 21 30,258 $750,000
2012 TicketCity Bowl January 2, 2012 Cotton Bowl Dallas ESPNU #19 Houston 30, #22 Penn State 14 46,817 $1,200,000
2012 BBVA Compass Bowl January 7, 2012 Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama ESPN SMU 28, Pitt 6 29,726

Bowl Eligibility[edit]

Bowl Eligible (5)[edit]

  • Houston (12–1) became bowl eligible on October 8 after defeating East Carolina.
  • Southern Miss (11–2) became bowl eligible on October 22 after defeating SMU.
  • Tulsa (8–4) became bowl eligible on November 3 after defeating UCF.
  • SMU (7–5) became bowl eligible on November 5 after defeating Tulane.
  • Marshall (6–6) became bowl eligible on November 26 after defeating East Carolina

Bowl Ineligible (7)[edit]

  • UAB (3–9) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to Marshall.
  • Tulane (2–10) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to East Carolina.
  • Memphis (2–10) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 29 after losing to UCF.
  • Rice (4–8) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 13 after losing to Northwestern.
  • UCF (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 19 after losing to East Carolina.
  • UTEP (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 25 after losing to UCF.
  • East Carolina (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 26 after losing to Marshall.

Attendance[edit]

Team Stadium Capacity Gm 1 Gm 2 Gm 3 Gm 4 Gm 5 Gm 6 Gm 7 Total Average % of Capacity
East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium 50,000 49,404 50,023 50,610 49,410 50,345 50,277 300,069 50,012 100%
Houston Robertson Stadium 32,000 31,114 32,005 30,126 32,107 32,112 32,207 32,413 222,084 31,726 99.1%
Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium 38,019 24,247 34,424 27,509 20,735 22,456 129,371 25,874 68.1%
Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 62,380 33,990 18,808 16,748 17,975 17,848 15,101 120,470 20,078 32.2%
Rice Rice Stadium 47,000 25,317 14,179 17,314 14,372 15,461 86,643 17,329 36.9%
Southern Miss M. M. Roberts Stadium 36,000 22,356 27,433 28,656 32,685 32,925 26,347 170,402 28,400 78.9%
SMU Gerald J. Ford Stadium 32,000 26,691 20,083 22,932 20,106 21,080 14,442 125,334 20,889 65.3%
Tulane Louisiana Superdome 72,968 15,912 19,752 23,188 16,690 25,158 17,657 118,627 19,771 27.1%
Tulsa H. A. Chapman Stadium 30,000 24,563 21,240 21,494 21,261 17,672 29,015 135,245 22,541 75.1%
UAB Legion Field 71,594 17,658 28,351 8,872 13,909 14,103 82,893 16,579 23.2%
UCF Bright House Networks Stadium 45,301 39,752 45,671 24,750 37,683 36,712 21,127 205,695 34,283 75.7%
UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium 51,500 28,752 24,111 31,797 24,906 25,571 23,849 158,986 26,948 52.3%

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bill Blankenship named Tulsa coach – ESPN
  2. ^ "Tulane Head Football Coach Bob Toledo Resigns Post". Tulane University Athletics Department. October 18, 2011.