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2017 Conference USA football season
League	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport	Football
Duration	August 26, 2017 through December 27, 2017
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	ESPN, CBS Sports Network, Stadium, beIN Sports, CUSA.tv, FloSports
2018 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	DE Marcus Davenport, UTSA
Picked by	New Orleans Saints, 14th overall
Regular season
Season MVP	RB Devin Singletary, FAU
East champions	Florida Atlantic
West champions	North Texas
Championship Game
Champions	Florida Atlantic
Runners-up	North Texas
Finals MVP	WR Kalib Woods, FAU
Football seasons
← 20162018 →

The 2017 Conference USA football season was the 22nd season of Conference USA football and part of the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 26 with Rice facing Stanford in Sydney, Australia. This season was the third season for C-USA under realignment that took place in 2014, which added the 14th member Charlotte from the Atlantic 10 Conference. C-USA is a "Group of Five" conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the American Athletic Conference, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.

C-USA consists of 14 members: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA, and Western Kentucky; and is divided into the East and West divisions. UAB will begin play for the first time since 2014, after the Blazer football program was dropped from competition.

Preseason

Media predictions

The 2017 preseason media football poll was released on July 18. Western Kentucky was picked to win its third straight East Division title, while Louisiana Tech was picked to repeat as West Division champion.

Preseason awards

The conference preseason awards were released on July 17. WKU senior QB Mike White was selected as the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. Rice senior LB Emmanuel Ellerbee was selected the Defensive Player of the Year, and WKU senior KR Kylen Towner was selected Special Teams Player of the Year honors

• Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Mike White, Senior, QB, WKU
• Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Emmanuel Ellerbee, Senior, LB, Rice
• Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year: Kylen Towner, Senior, KR, WKU

Head coaches

Three Conference USA teams hired new head coaches for the 2017 season. All three were in the East Division, and all three were replacing coaches who had spent at least three seasons at their respective schools.

• FIU hired Butch Davis to replace Ron Turner, who was fired after going 0–4 with the panthers. Ron Cooper was promoted as interim head coach after the fire until the hire of Davis. Davis is coming from a break from coaching football from 2011 to 2016. He was the head coach for many teams in college such as North Carolina and teams in NFL. Littrell was hired on November 14, 2016.
• Florida Atlantic hired Lane Kiffin to replace Charlie Partridge, who was fired after leading the Owls to a 9–27 record during his three-year tenure at Florida Atlantic. Kiffin spent three years prior to Florida Atlantic at Alabama as an offensive coordinator under the head coach, Nick Saban. Lane was hired on December 12, 2016.
• Western Kentucky hired Mike Sanford Jr. to replace Jeff Brohm, who resigned on December 5, 2016, to become the head coach at Purdue. Sanford was a quarterback coach and an offensive coordinator at Notre Dame for two seasons. Sanford was hired on December 14, 2016.

Note: All stats shown are before the beginning of the season.

Records against FBS conferences

Postseason

Postseason awards

• Most Valuable Player: Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic
• Offensive Player of the Year: Mason Fine, QB, North Texas
• Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Davenport, DE, UTSA
• Special Teams Player of the Year: Isaiah Harper, KR, Old Dominion
• Coach of the Year: Bill Clark, UAB
• Freshman of the Year: Spencer Brown, RB, UAB
• Newcomer of the Year: Jalen Guyton, WR, sophomore, North Texas & Teddy Veal, WR, junior, Louisiana Tech

All-Conference Teams

Bowl games

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

Home game attendance

†Played at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL

‡ Conference Championship Game

References

1. "FB: 2017 Schedule Released". Conferenceusa.com. January 26, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
2. "UAB to reinstate football for 2017 season". ESPN.com. July 21, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
3. "FB: Preseason Media Poll". Conference USA. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
4. "FB: 2017 Preseason Awards". Conference USA. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
5. "Weekend Replay: Head Coach Ron Turner relieved of duties". September 26, 2016.
6. "ESPN analyst Davis leaving to be FIU coach". November 14, 2016.
7. "Florida Atlantic fires Charlie Partridge after three seasons". USA Today.
8. Low, Chris; McMurphy, Brett (December 12, 2016). "Alabama OC Lane Kiffin to be next head coach of Florida Atlantic". ESPN. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
9. ^ "FB: 2017 C-USA Individual Awards" (Press release). Conference USA. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
10. "FB: UAB's Bill Clark Named Coach of the Year" (Press release). Conference USA. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
11. "FB: 2017 All-Conference Awards" (Press release). Conference USA. December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
12. "Hurricane Irma 2017: FIU vs. Alcorn State to be played in Birmingham". AL.com. September 7, 2017.

• 2017 Conference USA football season