2012 Conference USA football season

2012 Conference USA football season
League	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport	Football
Duration	August 30, 2012 through December 31, 2012
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, CSS, CST
2013 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	CB D. J. Hayden, Houston
Picked by	Oakland Raiders, 12th overall
Regular Season
Season MVP	QB Rakeem Cato, Marshall
East champions	UCF & East Carolina (co-champions)
West champions	Tulsa
Championship Game
Champions	Tulsa
Runners-up	UCF
Finals MVP	RB Trey Watts, Tulsa
Football seasons
← 2011 2013 →

2012 Conference USA football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
UCF xy		7	–	1					10	–	4
East Carolina x		7	–	1					8	–	5
Marshall		4	–	4					5	–	7
Memphis		4	–	4					4	–	8
UAB		2	–	6					3	–	9
Southern Miss		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
Tulsa xy$		7	–	1					11	–	3
SMU		5	–	3					7	–	6
Rice		4	–	4					7	–	6
Houston		4	–	4					5	–	7
UTEP		2	–	6					3	–	9
Tulane		2	–	6					2	–	10
Championship: Tulsa 33, UCF 27
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2012 Conference USA football season was an NCAA football season that was from August 2012 through January 2013. Conference USA consists of 12 football members separated into 2 divisions: East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB, UCF make up the eastern division, while Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTEP comprise the western division.

The 2012 football season marks the 18th season of the conference's existence and 17th of football competition; although C-USA was established in 1995, it did not begin football competition until 1996. In addition, the season will be the last to feature participation from Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF, as the four schools intend to leave the conference for the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2013.

UCF will be eligible to compete for both the Conference USA championship and a bowl game this season with its appeal of a one-year football postseason ban not scheduled to be heard until next year. The NCAA has set the hearing for late January. Should UCF lose its appeal, it would serve its football ban in 2013 when it enters the Big East.^[1]

Southern Miss won the conference championship for the first time, defeating the Houston Cougars 49–28.

Index to colors and formatting
Conference USA member won
Conference USA member lost
Conference USA teams in bold

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
August 30	6:30 pm	UCLA	Rice	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX	CBSSN	L UCLA 49-24	23,105
August 30	7:00 pm	UCF	Akron	InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field • Akron, OH	ESPN3	W UCF 56-14	12,616
September 1	11:00 am	UAB	Troy	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	FCS	L Troy 39-29	28,612
September 1	12:00 pm	Appalachian State	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	FSN	W ECU 35-13	49,203	[2]
September 1	12:00 pm	Marshall	No. 11 West Virginia	Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV	FX	L WV 69-34	59,120
September 1	2:30 pm	Southern Miss	No. 16 Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	ABC	L UN 49-20	85,425
September 1	2:30 pm	Tulsa	Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium • Ames, IA	FSN	L ISU 38-23	54,931
September 1	6:00 pm	Tennessee–Martin	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN		L UTM 20-17	39,076
September 1	7:00 pm	Texas State	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CSS	L TSU 30-13	32,207	[3]
September 1	7:00 pm	Rutgers	Tulane	Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA	CBSSN	L RU 24-12	26,059
September 1	8:30 pm	No. 4 Oklahoma	UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX	FSN	L OU 24-7	40,137
September 2	5:30 pm	SMU	Baylor	Floyd Casey Stadium • Waco, TX	FSN	L UB 59-24	43,514
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 8	12:21 pm	Louisiana Tech	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CBSSN	L LT 56-49	29,142	[4]
September 8	7:00 pm	East Carolina	South Carolina	Williams–Brice Stadium • Columbia, SC	SECN	L SCAR 48-10	77,006	[5]
September 8	7:00 pm	Marshall	Western Carolina	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	FCS	W MU 52-24	25,317
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 15	3:30 pm	East Carolina	Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	CBSSN	ECU 24-14	34,140	[6]
September 15	3:30 pm	Houston	UCLA	Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA	Pac-12 Network	L UCLA 6-37	53,723
September 15	6:30 pm	Ohio	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV		L Ohio 27-24	33,436
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 22	3:30 pm	East Carolina	North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC	ESPNU	L NC 27-6	59,500	[7]
September 22	3:30 pm	Marshall	Rice	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX]	CSS	MU 54-21	14,204
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 29	3:15 pm	Marshall	Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, LA	BTN	L PU 51-41	45,481
September 29	7:00 pm	UTEP	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	WITN	ECU 28-18	47,817	[8]
September 29	7:00 pm	Houston	Rice	Reliant Stadium • Houston, TX (rivalry)	FSN	UH 35-14	32,718
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 4	8:00 pm	East Carolina	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL	CBSSN	UCF 40-20	32,181	[9]
October 6	3:30 pm	Tulsa	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	CBSSN	TU 45-38	27,189
October 6	6:00 pm	North Texas	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	FSN	UH 44-21	25,476	[10]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 13	11:00 a.m.	UAB	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CSNH	UH 39-17	25,242	[11]
October 13	4:30 pm	Memphis	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	WITN	ECU 41-7	45,137	[12]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 18	7:00 pm	Houston	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX (rivalry)	FSN	SMU 72-42	16,459	[13]
October 20	7:00 pm	East Carolina	UAB	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	FCS	ECU 42-35	12,403	[14]
October 20	7:00 pm	Marshall	Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	CBSSN	MU 59-24	24,093
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 27	11:00 a.m.	UTEP	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CSS/CSNH	UH 45-35	27,433	[15]
October 27	3:30 pm	Navy	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	FSN	Navy 56-28	48,327	[16]
October 27	3:30 pm	UCF	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	CBSSN	UCF 54-17	22,563
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 3	12:00 pm	Houston	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	FSN	ECU 48-28	45,455	[17]
November 3	2:00 pm	Memphis	Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV		MU 38-28	22,041
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 10	4:00 pm	Tulsa	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CBSSN	UT 41-7	25,827	[18]
November 10	4:30	Marshall	UAB	Legion Field] • Birmingham, AL	CSS/CSNH	UAB 38-31	11,981
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 17	3:30 pm	East Carolina	Tulane	Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA	WITN	ECU 28-23	14,041	[19]
November 17	11:00 pm	Houston	Mashall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV	CSS/CSNH	MU 44-41	18,831	[20]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 23	2:00 pm	Marshall	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	CBSSN	ECU 65-59	46,317	[21]
November 24	2:30 pm	Tulane	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	FSN	UH 40-17	-	[22]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week	Offensive		Defensive		Special teams
	Player	Team	Player	Team	Player	Team
1 – Sep. 3	Nathan Jeffery, RB	UTEP	Jeremy Grove, LB	East Carolina	Cameron Nwosu, LB	Rice
2 – Sep. 10	David Piland, QB	Houston	Kenneth Acker,DB	SMU	Chris Boswell, K	Rice
3 – Sep. 17	Nick Lamaison, QB	UTEP	Montese Overton, LB	East Carolina	Trent Tignor, P	East Carolina
4 – Sep. 24	Taylor McHargue, QB	Rice	Dexter McCoil, DB	Tulsa	Tyler Williams, P	Marshall
5 – Oct. 1	Tommy Shuler, WR	Marshall	Chip Thompson,S	East Carolina	Autrey Golden, KR	UTEP
6 – Oct. 8	Charles Sims, RB	Houston	Randall Joyner, LB	SMU	Quincy McDuffie, KR	UCF
7 – Oct. 15	Shane Carden, QB	East Carolina	DeAundre Brown, LB	Tulsa	Matt Hogan, K	Houston
8 – Oct. 22	Latavius Murray, RB	UCF	A. J. Bouye, DB	UCF	Kevin Pope, LB,	SMU
9 – Oct. 29	Ryan Griffin, QB	Tulane	D. J. Hayden, DB	Houston	Quincy McDuffie, KR	UCF
10 – Nov. 5	Shane Carden, QB Rakeem Cato, QB	East Carolina Marshall	Troy Davis, LB	UCF	Cairo Santos, K	Tulane
11 – Nov. 12	Darrin Reaves, RB	UAB	Cory Dorris, DE	Tulsa	Jackie Williams, PR	UAB
12 – Nov. 19	Keyarris Garrett, WR	Tulsa	DeAundre Brown, LB	Tulsa	Chris Boswell, K	Rice

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
	C	RV
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
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
	C	RV
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
SMU Mustangs	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
Tulane Green Wave	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
Tulsa Golden Hurricane	AP									RV
	C									RV
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
UAB Blazers	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
UCF Knights	AP	RV	RV									RV	RV
	C	RV	RV									RV	RV
	HAR	Not released										RV
	BCS	Not released
UTEP Miners	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released

Conference	Wins	Losses
ACC	0	2
Big 12	1	5
Big East	0	2
Big Ten	0	5
Independents	0	1
MAC	1	1
Mountain West	1	1
Pac-12	0	2
SEC	0	7
Sun Belt	2	6
WAC	2	3
All FCS	5	1
Overall	12	36

(C-USA teams in bold)

Bowl Game	Date	Stadium	City	Television	Time (EST)	Away Team	Home Team	Score	Attendance	Payout (US$)
St. Petersburg Bowl	December 21, 2012	Tropicana Field	St. Petersburg, FL	ESPN	7:30 p.m.	Ball State	UCF	W 17–38
New Orleans Bowl	December 22, 2012	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	New Orleans, LA	ESPN	12:00 p.m.	East Carolina	Louisiana–Lafayette	L 34–43
Hawai'i Bowl	December 24, 2012	Aloha Stadium	Honolulu, HI	ESPN	8:00 p.m.	SMU	Fresno State	W 43–10
Armed Forces Bowl	December 29, 2012	Amon G. Carter Stadium	Fort Worth, TX	ESPN	11:45 a.m.	Rice	Air Force	W 33–14
Liberty Bowl	December 31, 2012	Liberty Bowl	Memphis, TN	ESPN	3:30 p.m.	Iowa State	Tulsa	W 17–31

^[23]

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	49,023	47,817	45,137	48,327	45,455	46,317		282,076	47,013	94.03%
Houston	Robertson Stadium	32,000	32,207	29,142	25,476	25,242	27,433	25,827	25,402	190,729	27,247	85.1%
Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium	38,016	25,317	33,436	27,189	22,563	22,041	18,831		149,377	24,896	65.5%
Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	61,000	39,076	27,112	17,831	22,106	18,796	21,305		146,226	24,371	39.9%
Rice	Rice Stadium	47,000	23,105	14,204	28,677	14,927	20,710			101,623	20,325	43.2%
Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium	36,000	34,140	23,492	25,337	24,093	22,874	23,757		153,693	25,987	71.2%
SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	32,000	20,122	32,016	28,436	16,459	20,330	16,343	15,336	149,042	21,292	66.5%
Tulane	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	76,468	26,059	28,913	18,063	12,531	15,467	11,519	14,041	126,593	18,085	23.7%
Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium	30,000	17,880	19,139	24,236	18,961	22,567	19,725		122,508	20,418	68.1%
UAB	Legion Field	71,594	28,612	13,196	16,212	12,403	11,981	9,219		91,623	15,271	21.3%
UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium	45,323	40,478	35,835	32,181	34,514	36,036	28,602		207,646	34,608	76.4%
UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium	51,500	40,137	32,933	34,073	23,234	25,483	20,384		176,244	29,374	57.04%

• Tulsa (9–3) became bowl eligible on October 11 after defeating UTEP.
• UCF (9–3) became bowl eligible on October 27 after defeating Marshall.
• East Carolina (8–4) became bowl eligible on November 3 after defeating Houston.
• SMU (6–6) became bowl eligible on November 24 after defeating Tulsa.
• Rice (6–6) became bowl eligible on November 24 after defeating UTEP.

• Southern Miss (0–12) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 20 after losing to Marshall.
• Memphis (4–8) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 27 after losing to SMU.
• UAB (3–9) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 27 after losing to Tulane.
• UTEP (3–9) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on October 27 after losing to Houston.
• Tulane (2–10) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 3 after losing to Rice.
• Houston (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 17 after losing to Marshall.
• Marshall (5–7) lost the ability to become bowl eligible on November 23 after losing to East Carolina.

Coaches All-Conference Selections^[24]