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Conference USA Football and COVID-19: Postponements abound in 2020

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Conference USA football struggled in its battle against COVID-19 this fall. Here’s the final total of postponements and cancelations.

The impacts of COVID-19 were ever-present on the 2020 Conference USA football season. No program was immune. From Western Kentucky, which played 12 games and had just one game postponed, to Charlotte, which had NINE games impacted, schedules were adjusted on the fly.

A total of 37 games involving Conference USA football teams were postponed following the start of the season in late August. Compared to the 116 games scheduled, that’s a postponed/cancelation rate of 31.9 percent.

From a national perspective, Conference USA was near the bottom of the barrel when it came to scheduling success. The SEC, which shares somewhat of a similar geographic footprint, had only two scheduled regular season games unplayed at the end of the year.

In comparison, Conference USA had just three weekends in the regular season without any games canceled. The first came in Week 1, which was missing two originally scheduled games (Rice vs Houston and FIU vs Jacksonville State) but those had been postponed indefinitely during the summer. All scheduled games were played in Week 8 and then in Week 15, which included only the conference championship game.

Graph – Postponements and Cancelations by week

Graph – Postponements and Cancelations by team

List – Postponements and Cancelations by team

SchoolOpponentH/AAt FaultReasonWeek
FIUUCFAwaySelfSeason Delay2
LA TechBaylorAwaySelfCOVID2
MarshallECUAwayOppCOVID2
CharlotteNorth CarolinaAwaySelfCOVID3
FAUGeorgia SouthernAwaySelfCOVID3
CharlotteGeorgia StateAwayOppCOVID4
FAUUSFHomeOppCOVID4
North TexasHoustonAwaySelfCOVID4
UTSAMemphisHomeOppCOVID4
MarshallRiceHomeOppSeason Delay5
RiceMashallAwaySelfSeason Delay5
FAUSouthern MissAwaySelfCOVID6
RiceUABHomeSelfSeason Delay6
Southern MissFAUHomeOppCOVID6
UABRiceAwayOppSeason Delay6
CharlotteFIUHomeSelfCOVID7
FIUCharlotteAwayOppCOVID7
Southern MissUTEPAwaySelfCOVID7
UTEPSouthern MissHomeOppCOVID7
FIUMarshallHomeSelfCOVID9
MarshallFIUAwayOppCOVID9
North TexasUTEPAwaySelfCOVID9
UTEPNorth TexasHomeOppCOVID9
CharlotteMiddle TennesseeAwaySelfCOVID10
FIUUTEPAwaySelfCOVID10
LA TechNorth TexasAwayOppCOVID10
Middle TennesseeCharlotteHomeOppCOVID10
North TexasLA TechHomeSelfCOVID10
RiceUTSAHomeOppCOVID10
UTEPFIUHomeOppCOVID10
UTSARiceAwaySelfCOVID10
RiceLA TechAwayOppCOVID11
LA TechRiceHomeSelfCOVID11
North TexasUABAwayOppCOVID11
UABNorth TexasHomeSelfCOVID11
CharlotteGardner-WebbHomeOppCOVID11
LA TechUL MonroeAwayOppCOVID12
UABUTEPAwaySelfCOVID12
UTEPUABHomeOppCOVID12
MarshallCharlotteHomeOppCOVID12
CharlotteMarshallAwaySelfCOVID12
Southern MissUABAwaySelfCOVID13
UABSouthern MissAwaySelfCOVID13
LA TechFIUHomeOppCOVID13
FIULA TechAwaySelfCOVID13
Middle TennesseeFAUHomeSelfCOVID13
FAUMiddle TennesseeAwayOppCOVID13
RiceUTEPHomeOppCOVID13
UTEPRiceAwaySelfCOVID13
CharlotteWKUHomeSelfCOVID13
WKUCharlotteAwayOppCOVID13
Southern MissUTEPAwayOppCOVID14
UTEPSouthern MissHomeSelfCOVID14
UABMTSUAwayOppCOVID14
MTSUUABHomeSelfCOVID14
CharlotteFIUHomeOppCOVID14
FIUCharlotteAwaySelfCOVID14
MarshallFIUAwaySelfC-USA15
FIUMarshallHomeOppC-USA15
MarshallCharlotteHomeSelfCOVID15
CharlotteMarshallAwayOppCOVID15
UABSouth CarolinaAwayOppCOVIDBowl

List – Postponements and Cancelations by week

Week 2

FIU at UCF
LA Tech at Baylor
Marshall at ECU

Week 3

Charlotte at North Carolina
FAU at Georgia Southern

Week 4

Charlotte at Georgia State
FAU vs USF
North Texas at Houston
UTSA vs Memphis

Week 5

Rice at Marshall

Week 6

FAU at Southern Miss
UAB at Rice

Week 7

FIU at Charlotte
Southern Miss at UTEP

Week 9

Marshall at FIU
North Texas at UTEP

Week 10

Charlotte at Middle Tennessee
FIU at UTEP
LA Tech at North Texas
UTSA at Rice

Week 11

Rice at LA Tech
North Texas at UAB
Charlotte vs Gardner-Webb

Week 12

LA Tech at UL Monroe
UAB at UTEP
Charlotte at Marshall

Week 13

Southern Miss at UAB
LA Tech at FIU
FAU at Middle Tennessee
UTEP at Rice
WKU at Charlotte

Week 14

Southern Miss at UTEP
UAB at MTSU
FIU at Charlotte

Week 15

Marshall at FIU
Charlotte at Marshall

Bowls

UAB at South Carolina

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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 15 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 15.

Team Week 15 Result Postseason
Charlotte at Marshall CANC  N/A
FAU at Southern miss L, 45-31 Montgomery Bowl vs Memphis (Dec. 23)
FIU — OFF —  —  N/A
LA Tech at TCU L, 52-10 New Orleans Bowl vs Georgia Southern (Dec. 23)
Marshall vs Charlotte CANC  TBD
MTSU — OFF —  —  N/A
North Texas vs UTEP W, 45-43 Myrtle Beach Bowl vs App St (Dec. 21)
Rice vs UAB L, 21-16  N/A
Southern Miss vs FAU W, 45-31  N/A
UAB at Rice W, 21-16  TBD
UTEP vs North Texas L, 45-43  N/A
UTSA — OFF —  — Frisco Bowl vs SMU (Dec. 19)
WKU — OFF —  — Lending Tree Bowl vs Georgia st (Dec. 26)

Notable Week 15 results – Standings

Rice wraps up one of nation’s shortest seasons

A five-game slate came to an end Saturday for Rice football, who fell to a beat-up UAB squad at home. The Rice offense couldn’t mount a comeback on the arm of third-string quarterback Wiley Green as the Owls’ bowl hopes came to an abrupt end. Last week’s thrilling upset of a ranked Marshall team should help ease the pain. A lot can happen in the span of five games. Rice certainly proved that.

Interim Sendoff

After announcing Will Hall as their future head coach this week, Southern Miss sent off interim head coach Tim Billings with an upset win. The Golden Eagles won a shootout over FAU, taking a lead on the penultimate play of the first half and keeping it for the remainder of the contest.

UTEP’s almost upset

There were midseason debates about where this game should be played. Eventually, these two teams took the field at Apogee Stadium for what turned into quite the barnburner. North Texas wideout Jaelon Daren scored four times, racking up 173 receiving yards in the process. UTEP trailed by as many as 17 points, but fought back to make things interesting in the fourth quarter on the arms and legs of backup quarterback Calvin Brownholtz.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

C-USA Championship Game

Marshall canceled their game against Charlotte because of COVID-19 concerns, clinching the East in the process. UAB won the West by defeating Rice on the road. That sets up a battle of two one-loss conference teams in Huntington on Friday, Dec. 18 for the conference crown.

UTSA Bowl Game

By virtue of the UAB win, UTSA misses out on a conference championship game appearance by fractions of winning percentage points. Nevertheless, the impressive debut season for head coach Jeff Traylor will continue for at least one more game. UTSA will play SMU in the Frisco Bowl.

Current Bowl Schedule

Five Conference USA teams are bowl bound so far. That number should go up to at seven following the conference championship game. Here’s the current slate:

Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl – Dec. 19

UTSA vs SMU

Montgomery Bowl – Dec. 23

FAU vs Memphis

New Orleans Bowl – Dec. 23

Louisiana Tech vs Georgia Southern

Myrtle Beach Bowl – Dec. 21

North Texas vs Appalachian State

Lending Tree Bowl – Dec. 26

WKU vs Georgia State

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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 14 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 14.

Team Week 14 Result Week 15
Charlotte vs WKU W,27-19 at Marshall
FAU at Georgia Southern L, 20-3 at Southern Miss
FIU — OFF —  — — OFF —
LA Tech at North Texas W, 42-31 at TCU
Marshall vs Rice L, 20-0 vs Charlotte
MTSU — OFF —  — — OFF —
North Texas vs Louisiana Tech L, 42-31 at UTEP
Rice at Marshall W, 20-0 vs UAB
Southern Miss at UTEP PPD vs FAU
UAB — OFF —  — at Rice
UTEP vs Southern Miss PPD vs North Texas
UTSA — OFF —  — — OFF —
WKU at Charlotte L, 37-19 — OFF —

Notable Week 14 results – Standings

Rice, Rice Baby

The Rice Owls made the biggest waves on Saturday, stunning unbeaten Marshall at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in shutout fashion. The win was the Owls’ first win over a ranked team since 1997 and the first shutout of a ranked team since 1960. Mike Bloomgren & Co. made quite the statement.

Third time’s the charm

Western Kentucky at Charlotte were supposed to play last week, on a typical college football Saturday. Then the game was bumped back to Tuesday morning. And then further back to Sunday. Finally, on the third attempt, the teams actually played with Western Kentucky finishing up on top, 37-19.

Conference USA dropped the ball with scheduling

Southern Miss and UAB were both free this past weekend. Neither team had played each other yet and but both had done prep work for each other – with a previous game postponed already this year. Most importantly, neither team had announced any COVID-19 issues. UAB needs as many games as possible to prevent a messy Conference USA West Divisional Title debate. This was an easy fix and the conference just whiffed. View the entire list of C-USA postponements here.

Week 15 storylines

Who’s playing next weekend?

Per Conference USA, “A final determination of the matchups for the last weekend of the regular season (Dec. 10-12) will be made no later than Sunday, Dec. 6.” There have already been adjustments made to next week’s schedule. As of now, there are nine C-USA teams in action next weekend, with these teams open: UTSA, WKU, FIU and Middle Tennessee.

Barnstorming

While the rest of the conference was working to schedule postponed or canceled Conference USA games, Louisiana Tech went rogue and added a nonconference game with TCU. With the West likely out of reach and no clear directives issued by the conference, you can’t really blame the Bulldogs for locking up the best opponent available.

And now we wait…

The West looks like it will come down to next Saturday game between Rice and UAB. The high count of cancelations among C-USA teams makes this game the tipping point for Blazers in overall conference winning percentage, the determining factor in this year’s divisional race. If UAB wins, the Blazers’ 3-1 record would trump UTSA’s 5-2 finish and UAB would win the West Division. If Rice beats UAB, UTSA would represent the West in the championship game. The East will come down to Marshall or FAU.

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What happened to the December Conference USA Football schedule? All-American Q&A

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All-American Level subscribers on Patreon get access to a monthly Q&A with me. The November focuses on the upcoming month of Conference USA football.

Q. How badly did Conference USA bocth the end of season scheduling? Shouldn’t Rice be playing UTSA this weekend instead of Marshall?

A. You could see the writing on the wall when Rice had the Marshall game added back to their schedule the same week the UTSA game was postponed. I understand the impetus from the league office to get as many games back on the schedule as possible, but using hindsight (not a luxury they had at the time) it seems pretty clear that most if not all of those impacting programs were going to have multiple games unplayed by the time the calendar got to December. So, what’s the right answer?

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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 13 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 13.

Team Week 13 Result Week 14
Charlotte vs WKU Tues. vs FIU
FAU at MTSU PPD at Georgia Southern
FIU vs LA Tech PPD at Charlotte
LA Tech at FIU PPD — OFF —
Marshall — OFF —  — vs Rice
MTSU vs FAU PPD — OFF —
North Texas at UTSA L, 49-17 — OFF —
Rice vs UTEP PPD at Marshall
Southern Miss at UAB PPD at UTEP
UAB vs Southern Miss PPD — OFF —
UTEP at Rice PPD vs Southern Miss
UTSA vs North Texas W, 49-17 — OFF —
WKU at Charlotte Tues. — OFF —

Notable Week 13 results – Standings

Tuesday morning football

We’ve seen a lot in 2020, but Tuesday morning football would be a first. That’s the route being taken by Conference USA to ensure a safe playing environment for Western Kentucky and Charlotte, the latter of which required extra time to “clear COVID-19 protocols that would have prevented Charlotte from competing this Saturday.”

Unwanted game day drama

There have been dozens of postponed games in Conference USA so far, but none had been tabled on game day, yet. That changed this week when the game between Rice and UTEP was delayed and soon postponed following testing results at UTEP. View the entire list of C-USA postponements here.

North Texas v UTSA

The only C-USA game played on Saturday as not an exciting contest. UTSA ran all over North Texas, literally. The Roadrunners amassed 443 rushing yards, including 251 from running back Sincere McCormick who continues to impress.

Week 14 storylines

Bonus football

Regular season football in December is a silver lining from this up-and-down season. As of right now, five games involving Conference USA teams are scheduled to take place whereas there would have only been a conference championship game next weekend during a typical year. Bonus football, it’s a good thing.

Will there be more?

There are plenty of scheduling dominos that have yet to be played at the time of this post. UAB hasn’t played since Halloween and isn’t slated to play next weekend. Their most recent postponement (Nov. 27 vs Southern Miss) would have been their last game at Legion Field. Could UAB add a game in Birmingham prior to their season finale at Rice on Dec. 12? It sure would be nice.

Finished?

If Western Kentucky is able to play against Charlotte on Tuesday, they’ll join UTSA as the only teams in Conference USA to play 11 games (so far) during this uneven season. Marshall, who leads the East, has played seven games. UAB, expected to be the frontrunner in the West with a victory over UTSA, has played seven. Rice which hasn’t been the initiating party for a postponement since they started their season on Oct. 24, has played just three.

Rice Football Opponent Scouting Report

A weekly update on who the Owls will be playing this season including updates on key storylines, injuries and more.

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