CUSA 2021 Football Schedules Released

February 18, 2021 by conferenceusa.com

DALLAS – Conference USA has announced its football schedule for the 2021 season.  The 14-team alignment for the 2021 campaign will again feature each team playing eight conference games, along with four non-league contests.  A total of 168 games are featured over 13 regular season playing weeks, plus two week zero contests.

The 2021 alignment will feature seven teams in the East Division and seven teams in the West Division.  Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion and WKU comprise the East Division, while Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP and UTSA make up the West Division.

Each school will play every team in its division once for six games, while playing two cross-over opponents from the opposite division.  Each team will reverse the location of its 2020 games against division opponents and will rotate in new cross-division opponents to begin a two-year intra-division cycle.  The conference is in the fifth year of a rotation between cross-division opponents that will rotate every two years until 2024, when each school has played every opponent in the opposite division once home and away.

The 2021 schedule complies with C-USA scheduling policies as approved by the Board of Directors.  In addition, the schedule provides the following:

• All teams finish their Conference schedule with two games of one at home and one away.
• All 14 teams have two home games and two away games in the first half of the Conference schedule as well as the second half of the Conference schedule; and
• There is at least one conference game in 11 of the 13 playing weeks.
• Each school has one bye week during the 13-week playing season with the exception of UTEP, which has two byes due to playing a non-conference game in week zero that has NCAA exemption.

It is important to note that all games are subject to date changes and some dates are expected to move in the coming weeks in order to accommodate national television.  A schedule of televised games will be released at a later date.

Conference USA’s 17th annual Championship Game, pitting the champions of the East and West Divisions, is scheduled for Saturday, December 4.

Composite 2021

Each week’s games ranking from most interesting to least.

Week 0

Saturday, August 28
UTEP at New Mexico State

Week 1

Wednesday, September 1
UAB vs. Jacksonville State (in Montgomery)

Thursday, September 2
Long Island at FIU

Saturday, September 4
Florida Atlantic at Florida
Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State
Marshall at Navy
Rice at Arkansas
UTSA at Illinois
Duke at Charlotte
Southern Miss at South Alabama
Old Dominion at Wake Forest
Northwestern State at North Texas
Bethune-Cookman at UTEP
UT-Martin at WKU
Monmouth at Middle Tennessee

Week 2

Saturday, September 11
Georgia Southern at Florida Atlantic
UAB at Georgia
WKU at Army
Houston at Rice
Middle Tennessee at Virginia Tech
North Texas at SMU
Texas State at FIU
UTEP at Boise State
Grambling at Southern Miss
SE Louisiana at Louisiana Tech
Hampton at Old Dominion
Lamar at UTSA
NC Central at Marshall
Gardner-Webb at Charlotte

Week 3

Saturday, September 18
Rice at Texas
SMU at Louisiana Tech
FIU at Texas Tech
East Carolina at Marshall
UAB at North Texas
Middle Tennessee at UTSA
Troy at Southern Miss
Charlotte at Georgia State
Old Dominion at Liberty
Fordham at Florida Atlantic

Week 4

Saturday, September 25
Marshall at Appalachian State
Indiana at WKU
Florida Atlantic at Air Force
UAB at Tulane
North Texas at Louisiana Tech
Middle Tennessee at Charlotte
UTSA at Memphis
New Mexico at UTEP
FIU at Central Michigan
Southern Miss at Alabama
Buffalo at Old Dominion
Texas Southern at Rice

Week 5

Saturday, October 2
FIU at Florida Atlantic
Liberty at UAB
Louisiana Tech at NC State
WKU at Michigan State
Marshall at Middle Tennessee
Southern Miss at Rice
Charlotte at Illinois
UNLV at UTSA
Old Dominion at UTEP

Week 6

Saturday, October 9
Florida Atlantic at UAB
UTSA at WKU
North Texas at Missouri
UTEP at Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee at Liberty
Charlotte at FIU
Old Dominion at Marshall

Week 7

Saturday, October 16
Marshall at North Texas
Rice at UTSA
UAB at Southern Miss
Louisiana Tech at UTEP
WKU at Old Dominion

Week 8

Saturday, October 23
WKU at FIU
Rice at UAB
Florida Atlantic at Charlotte
Liberty at North Texas
UTSA at Louisiana Tech
Middle Tennessee at UConn

Week 9

Saturday, October 30
FIU at Marshall
North Texas at Rice
Charlotte at WKU
Southern Miss at Middle Tennessee
UTEP at Florida Atlantic
Louisiana Tech at Old Dominion

Week 10

Saturday, November 6
Marshall at Florida Atlantic
Louisiana Tech at UAB
Middle Tennessee at WKU
Louisiana Tech at UAB
Middle Tennessee at WKU
North Texas at Southern Miss
Rice at Charlotte
Old Dominion at FIU
UTSA at UTEP

Week 11

Saturday, November 13
UAB at Marshall
Southern Miss at UTSA
WKU at Rice
UTEP at North Texas
Charlotte at Louisiana Tech
FIU at Middle Tennessee
Florida Atlantic at Old Dominion

Week 12

Saturday, November 20
Florida Atlantic at WKU
Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech
UAB at UTSA
Marshall at Charlotte
North Texas at FIU
Rice at UTEP
Old Dominion at Middle Tennessee

Week 13

Saturday, November 27
WKU at Marshall
Middle Tennessee at Florida Atlantic
Louisiana Tech at Rice
UTSA at North Texas
FIU at Southern Miss
UTEP at UAB
Charlotte at Old Dominion

Saturday, December 4
C-USA Championship Game (at top team’s home field)