Useful Notes / Conference USA Football Programs

Following

Conference USA

^{Click here to see a map of CUSA's schools in 2026.} In 2026, Louisiana Tech returned to the Sun Belt Conference after a 25-year absence, and UTEP left for the Mountain West Conference. Both replaced schools lost to the Pac-12 rebuilding.

Year Established: 1995
Current schools: 10; Delaware, FIU^note Florida International, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, Western Kentucky
Headquarters: Dallas, TX
Current commissioner: Judy MacLeod
Past commissioner of note: Mike Slive
Reigning champion: Kennesaw State
Website: conferenceusa.com

Conference USA (or just CUSA; it got rid of its former "C-USA" branding in 2023) is one of the newer conferences, formed in 1995 by a merger of the Metro^note not to be confused with the current Metro Conference, formerly the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Great Midwest Conferences, two non-football leagues; competition began immediately except in football, which started in 1996. They had been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent conference. However, they were raided by the then-Big East once that conference started losing members to other leagues in the early 2010s. Houston, Memphis, SMU, and UCF all left CUSA in 2013 for what would become The American. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa made the same move in 2014, while Western Kentucky joined CUSA from the Sun Belt at that time. The following year, CUSA senior executive Judy MacLeod was promoted to commissioner, making her the first woman to head an FBS conference. Old Dominion, a former FCS (see below) school, joined CUSA in 2013 and joined the conference's football side in 2014; it became a full FBS member in 2015. Also becoming a full FBS member at that time was Charlotte, which began football in 2013 in the FCS.^note The NCAA requires all newly created D-I football programs to play in the FCS for at least two years, even if the school is already in a FBS conference. As of the 2023 season, probably the highest-profile member is newcomer Liberty. In 2021, the young program of UTSA broke out and earned consecutive conference championships, though it left the conference right after the second championship (see immediately below). Also of note: Old Dominion, which left in 2022, was one of three FBS schools that didn't play in the COVID-affected 2020 season and the only non-independent team among them.

In fall 2021, CUSA was on the brink of collapse due to massive raids by two other conferences. First, The American announced that Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA would move to that league in 2023. Soon after The American's raid, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss accepted invitations to the Sun Belt Conference and left immediately in 2022. CUSA responded by announcing that then-current FBS independents Liberty and New Mexico State, plus FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and Sam Houston, would join in 2023, with another FCS upgrader, Atlanta-area school Kennesaw State, joining in 2024. CUSA continued its raid of the FCS ranks by bringing in Delaware and Missouri State for 2025. During this time, UTEP announced it would leave for the Mountain West Conference in 2026 as part of the conference's rebuilding saga after their own raid by the Pac-12. Speaking of which, Louisiana Tech became the prime candidate for a Sun Belt invite following Texas State's impending move to the reconfigured Pac-12; that shoe dropped in July 2025, as they announced plans to leave CUSA no later than 2027–28; after a months-long dispute, LA Tech and CUSA reached a buyout agreement that let Tech leave for the SBC in 2026. In turn, CUSA has been evaluating candidates for a potential replacement, with yet another FCS program, Tarleton State, seen as the frontrunner.

With all of the membership turnover, most dramatically in the 2020s, an ESPN writer said in 2025 that "Conference USA's purpose is to serve as the official FBS welcome mat," and also called CUSA "the Ellis Island of FBS". Nearly one-fourth of all FBS teams have been full CUSA members at one time or another, and eight of the 12 teams that moved up from FCS from 2014–2025 made CUSA their initial FBS conference home.^note The exceptions are Appalachian State (2014), Georgia Southern (2014), Coastal Carolina (2017), and James Madison (2022), which joined (and are still in) the Sun Belt Conference. Liberty is a borderline example; it transitioned as an FBS independent, but CUSA is the first FBS conference it joined. The two most recent FCS upgraders, North Dakota State and Sacramento State (both 2026), respectively joined the Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference, both as football-only members.

This page lays out the conference programs as of the 2026 season. Win-loss records are (mostly) accurate as of the end of the 2025 season.^note Disclaimer: Listing win-loss numbers and even national championships is complicated, to say the least. College programs (and even colleges themselves) frequently dissolve and re-form, change divisions and conferences, play in games not recognized by the NCAA, have wins officially rescinded due to rule violations, and do other things that make it hard to judge schools' true performance. Since the NCAA doesn't even officially recognize a national champion at the FBS level, teams are often inconsistent with what titles they acknowledge, sometimes leaving them unclaimed even if picked by numerous selectors and other times jumping on a title given by a random panel that no other school takes seriously. We try to provide context and qualifications when possible, but this isn't The Other Wiki.

Delaware Blue Hens

Location: Newark, DE
School Established: 1743^note As the "Free School", though it didn't receive a charter until 1789, by which time it was 'Newark Academy". Received authority to grant degrees in 1833 as "Newark College". Became "Delaware College" in 1843, with a coordinate "Women's College of Delaware" opening in 1914; the two merged under the current name in 1921.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1889–1945, small-college 1947–55, College Division 1956–57, 1970–72, D-II 1973–78, I-AA 1979–85),^note Did not play from 1943–45. Mason-Dixon (1946), Middle Atlantic Conference (1958–69), Yankee/A-10/CAA (1986–2024), CUSA (2025–)
Overall Win Record: 748–491–44 (.600)
Bowl Record: 1–0 (1.000)^note 8–3 (.727) in small-college/Division II bowls
Playoff Record: D-II: 7–4 (.636), FCS: 26–18 (.591)
Colors: Royal blue and gold
Stadium: Delaware Stadium (capacity 18,500)^note Renovations in 2019, including adding chairback seats and boxes, reduced the capacity from 22,000, but additional temporary seating is sometimes added. Record attendance is over 23,000, and crowds of over 20K are commonplace.
Current Head Coach: Ryan Carty
Notable Historic Coaches: David Nelson, Tubby Raymond, K.C. Keeler
Notable Historic Players: K.C. Keeler, Rich Gannon, Joe Flacco
National Championships: 6 (1 small-college – 1946; 3 College Division/D-II – 1963, 1971–72; 2 I-AA/FCS – 1979, 2003)
Conference Championships: 18 (1 Mason-Dixon – 1946; 6 Middle Atlantic – 1959, 1962–63, 1966, 1968–69; 10 Yankee/A-10/CAA – 1986, 1988, 1991–92, 1995, 2000, 2003–04, 2010, 2020)

The first of two schools to join CUSA in 2025 is the University of Delaware (also "UD" and "UDel"), one of the country's older schools by founding date (though it didn't grant degrees until nearly a century later). The university is notable for its unusual governance—it's defined in state law as "privately governed, state-assisted".^note The state's other public university, Delaware State, also has this status. Other institutions with a similar status include Penn State, Pitt, and Temple. The Blue Hens (sometimes preceded by the word "Fightin'") have been one of the East Coast's stronger teams in college football's lower ranks for decades, especially after David Nelson became HC in 1951. Nelson was directly responsible for two of the program's major trademarks: the very familiar looking yellow-on-blue winged helmet, cribbed directly off Michigan by former Wolverine tailback Nelson, and the "Delaware Wing-T" (which Nelson developed in his previous job at Maine), an influential option offense that's still run by quite a few high school teams. Delaware emerged as a small-college, D-II, and I-AA/FCS power under the very long tenure of Nelson's successor Harold "Tubby" Raymond (1966–2001), who perfected the Wing-T and won exactly 300 games, becoming the namesake of UDel's playing surface. His successor K.C. Keeler, a former Blue Hens player under Raymond and now HC at Temple, won another I-AA natty in 2003. Since that title, they've been mostly competitive but not quite as consistent. With the Blue Hens regularly filling their stadium (one of the few FCS programs to do so), they had long been reported to be exploring an FBS upgrade, which would come when UD was announced in late 2023 to be joining CUSA in 2025. They were able to go to a bowl in Year One due to a lack of full FBS members eligible to fill all the available berths.

FIU Panthers

Location: Miami, FL^note The campus mailing address is Miami, but it's just outside the Miami city limits.
School Established: 1965
Conference Affiliations: FCS Ind. (2002–04), Sun Belt (2005–12), CUSA (2013–)
Overall Win Record: 100–183 (.353)
Bowl Record: 2–4 (.333)
Colors: Blue and gold
Stadium: Pitbull Stadium (capacity 20,000)
Current Head Coach: Willie Simmons
Notable Historic Coaches: Mario Cristobal, Butch Davis
Notable Historic Players: T.Y. Hilton
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 1 in Sun Belt (2010)

The Panthers of Florida International University merit a mention on this page as currently the second worst FBS team^note Charlotte currently has the #1 spot. in terms of program win record. It's also second to UTSA (by one year) as the youngest FBS school as measured by start of instruction; FIU didn't start classes until 1972, and freshmen and sophomores weren't admitted until 1981. The public university in Miami (and they're fond of reminding everyone that they're the only D-I school actually located in Miami, since the University of Miami is in Coral Gables–even though the FIU campus is also outside the Miami city limits in unincorporated Miami-Dade County) is relatively young itself, and its football program is even younger, only starting play in 2002. They fast-tracked their move to the FBS level in just three years but bottomed out with a winless 2006 season most memorable for a bench-clearing brawl during their first meeting with crosstown foes Miami. The following year, the school hired the first Cuban-American HC in D-I history, Mario Cristobal, reflecting its predominantly Cuban-American student body. Cristobal built the program up to its first winning seasons and a conference championship but was fired after a backslide. The program has been unstable and generally losing ever since, with the optimistic omens of three consecutive bowl appearances from 2017-19 and a 2019 upset of Miami giving way to a collapse, winning just one game across the 2020 and '21 seasons. The Panthers' most recent claim to fame is striking a deal with Miami-based rapper Pitbull to rename their stadium after him starting in 2024. Their biggest competition is the similarly named and young South Florida-based program at Florida Atlantic.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Location: Jacksonville, AL
School Established: 1883^note As Jacksonville State Normal School, then Jacksonville State Teachers College in 1930, Jacksonville State College in 1957, and Jacksonville State University in 1966.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1904–37), SIAA (1938–40), AIC^*Alabama Intercollegiate Conference (1938–49),^note Did not play from 1941–44. Ind. (small college, 1950–59), Alabama Collegiate Conference (1960–69), Mid-South/Gulf South (1970–92), Ind. (D-II, 1993–95), SLC (1996–2002), OVC (2003–20), ASUN–WAC^*predecessor to the current FCS United Athletic Conference (2021), ASUN (2022), CUSA (2023–)
Overall Win Record: 582–410–40 (.583)
Bowl Record: 2–1 (.667)^note 5–1 (.833) in small-college/Division II bowls
Playoff Record: D-II: 15–9 (.625), FCS: 7–10 (.412)
Colors: Red and white
Stadium: AmFirst Stadium (capacity 24,000)
Current Head Coach: Charles Kelly
Notable Historic Coaches: Charley Pell, Bill Clark, Rich Rodriguez
Notable Historic Players: Dieter Brock, Ryan Perrilloux
National Championships: 1 (D-II, 1992)
Conference Championships: 26 (5 Alabama Collegiate – 1962–66; 10 Mid-South/Gulf South – 1970, 1974, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1991–92; 9 OVC - 2003–04, 2011, 2014–18, 2020; 1 ASUN – 2022; 1 CUSA – 2024)

The football team of Jacksonville State University (located in a small town in Alabama, not the much larger city in Florida) has been active for over a century, working its way up through the myriad ranks of college football through decades of mostly good regional football. The Gamecocks reached FBS in 2023, winning a bowl in its first year thanks to a lack of eligible non-transitioning teams, and followed it up with a CUSA championship in 2024; though they lost the HC who got them there when Rich Rodriguez was brought back by West Virginia, the Gamecocks made it back to the CUSA championship game in 2025. Very recently, JSU has been starting to brand its athletic program as "Jax State". Notably, it's one of only two schools to win NCAA championships in baseball, basketball, and football (all during the school's D-II era).^note D-III Wisconsin–Whitewater is the other school to have done so. Also of note is that in the niche sport of women's bowling, Jax State won the 2024 natty in its very first varsity season, and added a second title in 2026 (after finishing second in '25).

Kennesaw State Owls

Location: Kennesaw, GA^note The campus has a Kennesaw mailing address, but is in unincorporated Cobb County.
School Established: 1963^note As Kennesaw Junior College, with classes starting in 1966. Became a four-year institution in 1976 as Kennesaw College; later Kennesaw State College and finally becoming a "University" in 1996.
Conference Affiliations: Big South (2015–2021), ASUN (2022), Ind. (FCS, 2023), CUSA (2024–)
Overall Win Record: 83–44 (.654)
Bowl Record: 0–1 (.000)
FCS Playoff Record: 5–4 (.556)
Colors: Black and gold
Stadium: Fifth Third Stadium (capacity 10,200)
Current Head Coach: Jerry Mack
Notable Historic Coaches:
Notable Historic Players: Bronson Rechsteiner
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 4 (3 Big South — 2017–18, 2021; 1 CUSA — 2025)

Another relatively new FBS member is Kennesaw State University, which also has one of the youngest overall athletic programs in Division I, only competing at the four-year varsity level since 1983, joining the NCAA in 1994, then moving up to D-I from D-II in 2006, after winning national titles in men's basketball, baseball, softball and women's soccer during its D-II years. It's a fairly large school (over 45K) in Atlanta's northern suburbs that's still in the shadow of the far more storied Georgia Tech and the larger (though still relatively obscure) Georgia State. After exploring adding football for much of the 2000s, KSU pulled the trigger on a program in 2015. The Owls saw surprising success in FCS, with winning records in each of their first seven seasons, plus three conference titles. However, they struggled after leaving the Big South, with losing seasons in each of the next three, and in 2024 HC Brian Bohannon, the only coach the program had ever known, was relieved of his duties under contentious circumstances (the university said he stepped down, Bohannon said he was fired). They managed to snag a CUSA invite when that conference was on life support after being raided by other leagues. However, the Owls greatly improved in 2025 with a 10-win season and a CUSA championship. For now, KSU is most notable for having the smallest stadium in FBS (yes, including the temporary venues at Hawaiʻi and Northwestern).^note It's well below what had been the putative FBS stadium minimum of 15,000, but the NCAA ditched FBS attendance requirements in 2023.

Liberty Flames

Fan the Flames!

Location: Lynchburg, VA
School Established: 1971^note as "Lynchburg Baptist College"; became "Liberty Baptist College" in 1977 and Liberty University in 1985
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (NAIA 1973–80; D-II 1981–87, I-AA 1988–2001, FBS 2018–22), Big South (2002–17), CUSA (2023–)
Overall Win Record: 311–267–4 (.538)
Bowl Record: 3–3 (.500)
FCS Playoff Record: 1–1 (.500)
Colors: Blue, white, and red
Stadium: Williams Stadium (capacity 25,000)^note Longterm options to expand to 40,000 or possibly even 60,000 seats are on the drawing board, but no formal plans have been announced as of yet.
Current Head Coach: Jamey Chadwell
Notable Historic Coaches: Turner Gill, Hugh Freeze
Notable Historic Players:
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 9 (8 Big South – 2007–10, 2012–14, 2016; 1 CUSA – 2023)

One of the more recent additions to FBS football, and also the youngest university in FBS by founding date,^note UTSA is the youngest by start of instruction (1973). Florida Atlantic held its first classes in 1964, but didn't admit its first freshmen until 1984. Liberty University began its life in 1971 as an offshoot of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, home of divisive pastor Jerry Falwell (Sr.). The school immediately developed a reputation as a Strawman U of the St. Jim Jonestown variety and a headquarters for the evangelical branch of conservative politics. Considerable change did come under Falwell's son and successor as president, Jerry Jr., as the university became somewhat less legalistic and dramatically grew to become the largest university in the group conferences, and close to the largest in all of FBS... with a caveat. LU's actual on-campus enrollment is around 16,000, but it has an enormous online operation, pushing its total enrollment over 130,000 (second in FBS to Arizona State). However, the younger Falwell's tenure ended in 2020 after a particularly embarrassing sex scandal and allegations of questionable (though not illegal) financial dealings, leaving the school in an awkward spot.

As for football, Falwell Sr. was very outspoken about his grandiose plans for the program when it joined D-I toward the end of The '80s, saying that he intended Liberty to become the "Evangelical Notre Dame", and it got some attention when it hired former Cleveland Browns coach Sam Rutigliano as HC in 1989 (he stayed until 1999). After a slow and steady climb to moderate FCS success (capped by a playoff appearance in 2014), they finally pulled the trigger on their long-expected move to the FBS level by joining the independent ranks in 2018 (after lobbying heavily for an invite from the Sun Belt). The NCAA gave Liberty a waiver from its transition rules, which normally require that a school have an invitation from an FBS conference before starting the transition. 2019 was the Flames' first season as full FBS members, and they won bowls in each of their first three seasons of eligibility, joining Appalachian State as the only other school to have done so. With Conference USA having been raided to within an inch of its life in 2021, Liberty became attractive to that league, and it joined in 2023; the Flames immediately posted their first-ever undefeated regular season, won the conference title game, and picked up the G5 New Year's Six bid. This wasn't without criticism however, as it has been pointed out that Liberty faced a historically weak schedule thanks in part to CUSA's decimation, not helped by the fact they got smoked 45-6 by Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl to end their season.

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

Location: Murfreesboro, TN
School Established: 1911^note Established via a 1909 Tennessee state legislative bill that also established Memphis of the American Athletic Conference and, on the FCS level, East Tennessee State and Tennessee State. The school opened as Middle Tennessee State Normal School; the last words became "Teachers College" in 1925, with "Teachers" dropped in 1943. Became a university in 1965.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1911–51),^note Did not play in the war years of 1918 or 1943–45. OVC (1952–1998), Ind. (I-A, 1999–2000), Sun Belt (2001–12), CUSA (2013–)
Overall Win Record: 568–444–28 (.560)
Bowl Record: 6–8 (.429)^note FBS bowl record: 4–6 (.400)
FCS Playoff Record: 6–7 (.462)
Colors: Royal blue and white
Stadium: Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (capacity 30,788)
Current Head Coach: Derek Mason
Notable Historic Coaches:
Notable Historic Players: Kevin Byard
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 13 (11 OVC – 1956–59, 1962, 1964–65, 1985, 1989–90, 1992; 2 Sun Belt – 2001, 2006)

Located about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, Middle Tennessee State University, like Jacksonville State, is a former teachers college that morphed over time to a comprehensive university and has worked its way through the sport's ranks through mostly good regional football—though it transitioned to I-A/FBS more than two decades before Jax State. The Blue Raiders had strong runs in the OVC in the late '50s–early '60s and late '80s before making the jump to I-A near the turn of the millennium. They've since had a reasonably good run, with frequent bowl appearances since the late Oughts.

Missouri State Bears

Location: Springfield, MO
School Established: 1905^note As the "Fourth District Normal School"; became "Southwest Missouri State Teachers College" in 1919, with "Teachers" dropped in 1943. "College" replaced by "University" in 1972, and "Southwest" dropped in 2005.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1909–23), MIAA (1924–80),^note Did not play in 1943–44. Mid-Con (1981–84), MVFC (1985–2024), CUSA (2025–)
Overall Win Record: 499–538–39 (.482)
Bowl Record: 0-1 (.000)^note 0–4 in small-college/Division II bowls
FCS Playoff Record: 1–4 (.250)
Colors: Maroon and white
Stadium: Robert W. Plaster Stadium (capacity 17,500)
Current Head Coach: Casey Woods
Notable Historic Coaches: Rich Johanningmeier, Bobby Petrino
Notable Historic Players: Rich Johanningmeier
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 10 (7 MIAA – 1926, 1940, 1948, 1951, 1963, 1976; 3 MVFC – 1989–90, 2020)

The second team to join CUSA in 2025 is the Bears of Missouri State University; like several of its new CUSA mates, it's a former teachers college turned comprehensive university. Unlike Delaware, it's mostly just existed in football, with occasional good and bad seasons in a sea of mediocrity. It's historically more of a basketball school, in which it's enjoyed moderate success on the men's side and even more so on the women's, especially when the Lady Bears^note All women's teams still use "Lady Bears" except beach volleyball, which goes by "Beach Bears". had one-time Division I career scoring leader Jackie Stiles on the roster around the turn of the millennium. With the university's growth in recent decades, it had been rumored to be seeking an FBS upgrade as early as the 2010s, and it pulled the trigger on the transition in 2024 when it got an invite from CUSA. Like their fellow 2025 arrivals Delaware, the Bears got to play in a bowl game in Year One due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams.

New Mexico State Aggies

Aggie Up!

Location: Las Cruces, NM
School Established: 1888^note Founded as "Las Cruces College"; became "New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts" (aka New Mexico A&M) the next year before adopting the current name in 1960.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1893–1930, 1962–70, 2013, 2018–22),^note Did not play in 1918... Border (1931–61),^note ...or 1944–45. MVC (1971–82), Big West (1983–2000), Sun Belt (2001–04, 2014–17), WAC (2005–12), CUSA (2023–)
Overall Win Record: 463–687–30 (.405)
Bowl Record: 4–1–1 (.750)
Colors: Crimson and white
Stadium: Aggie Memorial Stadium (capacity 30,343)
Current Head Coach: Tony Sanchez
Notable Historic Coaches: Warren B. Woodson, Charley Johnson, Hal Mumme
Notable Historic Players: Charley Johnson, Diego Pavia
National Championships: 0
Conference Championships: 4 (2 Border – 1938, 1960; 2 Missouri Valley – 1976, 1978)

New Mexico State University is another example of a school with a strong men's basketball program that struggles to find relevance in football. The undisputed peak of the program came in 1960, when they went undefeated under Hall of Fame coach Warren B. Woodson and QB Charley Johnson.^note The program went undefeated several times before then... in an era where they had truly terrible competition and played half their games against high schools. However, the Aggies (represented in mascot form by a pistol-wielding cowboy) have fallen off hard since Woodson's departure in 1967, with only seven winning seasons and two completely winless ones in that half-century-plus span that saw them struggle to find a steady conference home. They're a frequent member of ESPN's "Bottom 10" as "Whew Mexico State", living mostly in the shadow of New Mexico in their own state and even UTEP (a team bad enough to also frequently appear in the Bottom 10 as "UTEPid") in their immediate region. The Aggies failed to reach a bowl from 1960 to 2017 and even chose not to play in 2020 (though they pieced together two games against FCS teams in spring 2021, making them the only FBS team to play in the spring).

With NMSU's then-current all-sports home of the Western Athletic Conference^note now known as the United Athletic Conference relaunching FCS football in 2021 with visions of returning the conference to FBS, it was thought that NMSU would stay put in that league. However, with CUSA suddenly depleted after the 2021 realignment shuffle, NMSU became an attractive option (even for UTEP, which had reportedly been reluctant to share a conference with NMSU), so the Aggies moved there in 2023. Despite their overall historic futility, the Aggies entered the 2023 season as the only current FBS team to have never lost in a bowl appearance, and were finally looking like a real football team; in their first year in CUSA, the Aggies posted their first 10-win season since their 1960 peak and competed in the conference title game (but suffered their first-ever bowl loss). However, after that season, the Aggies became a prime example of the perils of the transfer portal in modern college sports, as no fewer than 50 players transferred out, with starting QB Diego Pavia moving to Vanderbilt, where he rejoined his former HC Jerry Kill (who initially retired before becoming a consultant to the Commodores), plus four other members of the Aggie coaching staff. The Las Cruces-to-Nashville connection would lead Vandy to the best performances in that program's modern history; see Vandy's folder in the SEC page for more.

Sam Houston Bearkats

Location: Huntsville, TX
School Established: 1879^note Originally Sam Houston Normal Institute; became Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1923, dropping the word "Teachers" in 1965 and becoming a "University" in 1969.
Conference Affiliations: Independent (1912–1923), TIAA (1924–1930), Lone Star (1931–1983),^note Did not play in the war years of 1943–45. Gulf Star (1984–1986), Southland (1987–2020), WAC (2021–2022), CUSA (2023–)
Overall Win Record: 562–485–35 (.536)
Bowl Record: 1–0 (1.000) ^note 3–1–1 (.700) in small college bowls
Playoff Record: NAIA: 1–0–1 (.750), FCS: 24–12 (.667)
Colors: Orange and white
Stadium: Bowers Stadium (capacity 14,000)
Current Head Coach: Phil Longo
Notable Historic Coaches: Willie Fritz, K.C. Keeler
Notable Historic Players: Josh McCown^*played one season at SH after three at SMU
National Championships: 2 (NAIA: 1964,^note shared with Concordia–Moorhead; their title game ended in a tie FCS: 2020^note Played in spring 2021 thanks to COVID.)
Conference Championships: 15 (1 TIAA – 1930; 4 Lone Star – 1955–56, 1961, 1964; 2 Gulf Star – 1985–86; 7 Southland – 2001, 2004, 2011–12, 2014, 2016, 2020; 1 WAC – 2021)

Sam Houston State University (which dropped the word "State" from its athletic branding in 2020), named after Texas founding father Sam Houston and located in the town where he settled and is buried, started out as the state's first normal school (i.e. teachers college). It's been moderately competitive for most of its football history, with two periods of extended success—an NAIA run that resulted in four conference titles and a shared national championship, and a period from the early 2010s to 2023 under Willie Fritz, who led the Bearkats to losing FCS title game appearances in 2011 and 2012 before moving on to greater things at the FBS level. Fritz' successor K.C. Keeler continued Sam Houston's rise, leading the Bearkats to regular FCS playoff appearances that culminated in a natty in the COVID-altered 2020–21 season, making him the first and so far only head coach with an FCS natty at two programs.^note The other is incoming CUSA member Delaware. That run proved to be the springboard for their 2023 move to the FBS ranks and CUSA, where they secured a bowl win in their first season of eligibility in 2024 (but lost Keeler before their bowl game when he was hired away by Temple). And yes, their nickname is spelled "Bearkats" and has been spelled that way for over a century (starting in 1923), making them an early adopter of the Xtreme Kool Letterz trope. Several Texas high schools (and even one in Louisiana) have followed their lead with the Bearkat spelling.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Location: Bowling Green, KY
School Established: 1906^note As Western Kentucky State Normal School. The school actually can be traced back to 1876 with the private Glasgow Normal School and Business College (Glasgow being a small town one county over from Bowling Green); 1906 is when it became a public school, and even then went through numerous transformations before settling on the WKU form in 1966.
Conference Affiliations: Ind. (1913–25, 1942–45),^note Did not play in 1917–19 or 1943–45. SIAA (1926–42), Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference^*Now known as the River States Conference; no longer sponsors football, and currently an NAIA league. (1946–47), OVC (1948–81, 1999–2000), I-AA Ind. (1982–88), Gateway (2001–06), FCS Ind. (2007), FBS Ind. (2008), Sun Belt (2009–14), CUSA (2015–)
Overall Win Record: 640–441–30 (.590)
Bowl Record: 12–5 (.706)^note FBS: 8–3 (.727)
Playoff Record: D-II: 4–2 (.667), FCS: 8–7 (.667)
Colors: Red and white
Stadium: Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium (23,776 capacity)
Current Head Coach: Tyson Helton
Notable Historic Coaches: Jack Harbaugh, Willie Taggart, Bobby Petrino
Notable Historic Players: Romeo Crennel, Nate Northington, Willie Taggart, Rod Smart, Bailey Zappe, Jarreth Sterns
National Championships: 1 in FCS (2002)
Conference Championships: 13 (1 SIAA – 1932; 9 OVC – 1952, 1963, 1970–71, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1980, 2000; 1 Gateway – 2002; 2 CUSA – 2015–16)

A longstanding Division I-AA power but historically more of a basketball school,^note The main athletic logo is derived from the red towel that E.A. Diddle, men's basketball coach from 1922–1964 and basketball arena namesake, variously clutched, chewed on, threw, and waved during games. Western Kentucky University rose to football prominence during the long tenure of Jack Harbaugh (Jim and John's dad) through the '90s, culminating in an FCS championship in 2002. The Hilltoppers ("Toppers" for short)^note The central campus is atop a hill overlooking the Barren River valley. transitioned to FBS soon after, but after going winless in 2009, they returned to their past by hiring former star QB Willie Taggart to be HC; his success in reviving their prospects launched his brief sojourn into the major college ranks. Nowadays, WKU is known best for two things: its immensely productive offense that spawned FBS record-holding QB Bailey Zappe in 2021, and its odd mascot, an amorphous red blob known only as "Big Red", who has become the center of a lengthy transatlantic legal dispute, with WKU claiming that the Italian TV character Gabibbo is an unauthorized knockoff of Big Red (something Gabibbo's creator has in fact admitted to). An illustration of the membership churn that CUSA has experienced is that the Toppers entered the 2023 season as the only then-current CUSA member to have won the conference's championship.