The 2020 Conference USA Preview with the top players, biggest games, most important transfers, and thoughts on each team.
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5. Conference USA 2020 Preview: The League Has Found Its Niche
We know what Conference USA is in the college football world.
It’s certainly not going to be like the American Athletic Conference and start inviting itself into a club without the password, and it’s not quite as strong as the Mountain West, but it’s ahead of the MAC and Sun Belt.
And that’s just fine. The league is going to be plenty fun where it is, especially this season.
It proved itself here and there last year – WKU whacked around Arkansas, and Louisiana Tech stunned Miami in the Independence Bowl – but assuming it’ll be a self-contained conference in this craziest of seasons, it’s equipped to stand out from the pack even without all the dates against the Power Fivers.
It’s set up for a good season with the potential for two terrific division races.
The power is mostly in the East with Florida Atlantic, WKU and Marshall all good enough to win it, and with Middle Tennessee and FIU right there with a shot to knocking off the Owls for the top spot. The West has killers up top in UAB, Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss in what should be a whale of a three-way battle.
As always, though, Conference USA has it’s issues with the bottom teams. To get into the discussion to be better than the Mountain West, the league needs UTEP, UTSA and Rice to be more than roadkill for the top teams. It would help if Old Dominion bounced back from a rough year.
There should be around nine, maybe ten teams all good enough play with everyone else. Plenty of teams have a shot, several young and new coaches are joining the fun to go along with the elder statesmen, and most of all, this will be among the competitive and unpredictable leagues going.
CFN Conference USA Preview
Teams: Surprise, Disappointments | Top Games
Players To Watch | One Thought On Each Team
– CFN Preview 2020: All 130 Team Previews
NEXT: Conference USA Teams That Will Surprise, Disappoint
4. Conference USA Surprise, Disappointment
Conference USA Team That Will Surprise
Rice Owls
They came on at the end of last season with three wins after an 0-9 start, and they were at least competitive in most of the early defeats with four of them by eight points or fewer.
It’s the third year under Mike Bloomgren after needing time to build up the program, and now he has a quietly strong receiving corps and a defense loaded with veterans. The Owls aren’t going to take the Conference USA title, but they’ll be a whole lot peskier.
2020 Conference USA Previews
East Charlotte | Florida Atlantic | FIU | Marshall
Middle Tennessee | Old Dominion | WKU
West Louisiana Tech | North Texas | Rice
Southern Miss | UAB | UTEP | UTSA
CFN Preview 2020: All 130 Team Previews
Conference USA Team That Will Disappoint
WKU Hilltoppers
This is more about potential schedule issues than any team concerns. There’s a ton to like about the Hilltoppers coming off a huge 9-4 season with four straight wins and a bowl victory to close things out – they’re good enough to win it all – but at the immediate moment, they’re missing Rice, UTEP and UTSA.
Throw in not having North Texas – who’s coming off a rough season – and with road dates currently set up at Florida Atlantic and UAB, and it’s the roughest slate in the East. Add to the mix – again, at the moment – six Conference USA bowl teams from last year in the last seven games, and they’re not catching any breaks.
NEXT: Conference USA Game of the Year, Hot Seat Coaches
3. Conference USA Games, Hot Seat Coaches
Conference USA Game Of The Year
Florida Atlantic at Marshall, Oct. 24
FAU rolled through the Conference USA season and lost just one game out of its last 12 after opening up against Ohio State and UCF. That one game was at home to Marshall – the sixth loss in seven years to the Herd. It didn’t end up making any difference as the Owls went on to win the Conference USA title anyway, but this year it should make or break the East.
5 Other Interesting Conference USA Games
This is all very, very fluid, but at the moment if the Conference USA slate stays relatively close to the original version …
1. UAB at Louisiana Tech, Oct. 31
2. WKU at Florida Atlantic, Nov. 7
3. Marshall at WKU, Oct. 10
4. Southern Miss at WKU, Nov. 14
5. Florida Atlantic at Southern Miss, Oct. 10
– 2020 CFN Conference USA 5-Year Program Rankings
5 Conference USA Coaches On The Hot Seat
It’s not necessarily about who’s about to get fired – especially this year.
Think of it this way – who has the most pressure to win, either because of expectations, or to possibly move on to something bigger, or for some, to keep the gig?
1. Dana Dimel, UTEP
2. Mike Bloomgren, Rice
3. Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic
4. Jay Hopson, Southern Miss
5. Seth Littrell, North Texas
NEXT: Conference USA Key Players To Know
2. Conference USA Key Players To Know
5 Conference USA Transfers Who Will Matter
Five players who deserve to be known and loved on a national level, but should rise up and be among the season’s best players.
1. RB Ricky Slade, Old Dominion from Penn State (if eligible)
2. OG Donavaughn Campbell, Louisiana Tech from LSU
3. RB Tre Harbison, Charlotte from Northern Illinois
4. QB Michael Collins, Rice from TCU
5. RB Amir Rasul, Middle Tennessee from Florida State
5 Big-Time Conference USA Players Who Deserve A Bigger Spotlight
Five players who deserve to be known and loved on a national level, but should rise up and be among the season’s best players.
1. RB Spencer Brown, Sr.
UAB
2. RB Justin Henderson, Sr. Louisiana Tech
3. LB Blaze Alldredge, Sr.
Rice
4. LB Lawrence Garner, Sr.
Old Dominion
5. S Ben DeLuca, Sr.
Charlotte
5 Best Pro Prospects From The Conference USA
1. DE DeAngelo Malone, Sr.
WKU
2. S Reed Blankenship, Sr.
Middle Tennessee
3. S Ky’el Hemby, Sr.
Southern Miss
4. CB Rishard Dames, Sr.
FIU
5. DE Keion White, Jr.
Old Dominion
– 2020 CFN Preseason All-Conference USA Team
5 Biggest Conference USA Shoes To Fill
1. DE Tyriq Harris for Alex Highsmith, Charlotte
2. QB Aaron Allen for J’Mar Smith, Louisiana Tech
3. LB Tyson Maeva for Sage Lewis, FIU
4. WR Tim Jones for Quez Watkins, Southern Miss
5. QB Jason Bean for Mason Fine, North Texas
NEXT: One Honest Thought On Each Conference USA Team
1. One Honest Thought On Each Conference USA Team
Click on each team for the preview, 5 things to know
Conference USA East
Charlotte – How much fun was that first season under Will Healy? After going to a bowl game and coming up with a winning season, depth might be an issue, but this is a young, energetic team with the offensive parts to do even more.
Florida Atlantic – Ohhhhh no. There’s no grace period for Willie Taggart. Lane Kiffin left a loaded cupboard, and for the first time, Taggart is taking over a program he doesn’t have to rebuild. FAU has the talent to win the title again.
FIU – It stinks when the FAU team up the road is doing so much, but the Golden Panthers should be able to win their share of slugfests. The offense, though, is going to be an early concern.
Marshall – Lost in all the fun FAU had was how the Herd had the East there for the taking, but lost to Charlotte late in the year. It’s another terrific Doc Holliday team starting with the league’s best O line.
Middle Tennessee – Who wasn’t banged up for the Blue Raiders? Expect a huge bounce-back season with some of the best high-end talents in the conference. QB Asher O’Hara should be a statistical superstar.
Old Dominion – Former Penn State assistant Ricky Rahne might be able to do some damage right away. The new head man has to rework the parts, but with a few key transfers and some stars in place, this might grow into the proverbial team that no one wants to face.
WKU – FAU is going to be great, Marshall is going to be Marshall, and there won’t be a week off in the division. Even so, with the momentum of last year to build on, Tyson Helton has something great brewing. The O has to start to go.
Conference USA West
Louisiana Tech – Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have seen what last year’s team could’ve done if there weren’t the late season suspensions, but that was 2019. This year’s version is good enough to make up for it and win the West, starting with a special receiving corps.
North Texas – After two straight nine-win seasons, Seth Littrell needs a huge year coming off a 4-8 clunker. He’s a young talent who won’t get fired unless there’s a disaster, but he was a hot star who be back in the mix for bigger gigs if the Mean Green start winning again.
Rice – As stated earlier, this is a team that could surprise with TCU transfer QB Michael Collins getting a strong receiving corps to throw to. However, this team is built around running the ball, even if the parts for the passing game are better.
Southern Miss – A bit overlooked with so many other interesting storylines in the league, USM doesn’t have any major weakness, but it also doesn’t have a whole lot of wow factor. Whatever – don’t be shocked if it’s playing for the Conference USA title.
UAB – Enough with the cute story angle – this is a Conference USA powerhouse under Bill Clark. As good as things have been after the reboot, this year’s team should be the strongest yet. This is the year everything was supposed to come together, but the timetable got moved up a wee bit.
UTEP – No program in America is more overdue to have a little bit of fun. After so much misery and so many losses, the Miners are still building things up under Dana Dimel. The passing game might be okay, but overall, get excited if there are two wins.
UTSA – New head man Jeff Traylor has to find an offense. The secondary is good, the offensive backfield should be okay, but the Miners aren’t going to do much too fast unless the line play is a whole lot better.
