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Two years ago after the tectonic plates of the college football world was done shifting, and teams were done moving from conference to conference, many pegged Conference USA as a major loser.
But after two years in their currently configured conference - UAB leaving and Charlotte joining this year aside - this bowl season proved once again that C-USA won't be falling into the abyss that many believed the conference was destined to reside.
Conference USA: 3-2
Best Win: Western Kentucky over South Florida
Biggest Disappointment: Middle Tennessee State
Stock Market: Rising
For the second straight season the Conference USA champion won their bowl game as WKU defeated USF in the Miami Beach Bowl. For a conference still looking to gain credibility nationally having its champion do well during bowl season is a major plus.
Marshall won its fifth straight bowl by defeating UCONN to make Conference USA 2-0 against the AAC this bowl season and in turn, gave the conference two teams with at least 10 wins.
Add in the fact that Louisiana Tech became the fourth nine-win team in C-USA and bowl season was a success. The only thing that could have made it better is if Southern Miss was able to take down P5 opponent Washington or if Middle Tennessee was able to beat Western Michigan to make C-USA undefeated against other G5 conferences.
Having Middle Tennessee listed in the biggest disappointment category is not an indictment on the Blue Raiders as much as they had a more winnable game than Southern Miss.
After going 4-1 last bowl season the league is continuing to rise after posting another winning record this bowl season as they are the only G5 conference to finish bowl season with two straight winning records.
With the re-emergence of Southern Miss, and Western Kentucky solidifying itself alongside Marshall the conference is as healthy as its been in years.
With Western Kentucky appearing to take a step back as they have to replace the best quarterback in school history in Brandon Doughty, the conference appears to be just fine if Southern Miss, Marshall, or even Middle Tennessee have to take the baton from Western Kentucky and be the team in C-USA.