2016 Conference USA Football Championship Game

The 2016 Conference USA Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 3, 2016, at Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and determined the 2016 football champion of Conference USA (C-USA). The game featured the West Division champion Louisiana Tech visiting the East Division champion Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (WKU), with the Hilltoppers winning 58–44. The game was broadcast nationally by ESPN for the 5th consecutive year.[2] The title sponsor was Dynacraft BSC.[3]

2016 Dynacraft Conference USA Football Championship Game
Conference Championship
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs WKU Hilltoppers (8–4) (9–3) 44 58 Head coach:  Skip Holtz Head coach:  Jeff Brohm
1 2 3 4 Total Louisiana Tech 17 10 14 3 44 WKU 24 14 10 10 58
Date	December 3, 2016
Season	2016
Stadium	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium
Location	Bowling Green, Kentucky
MVP	RB Anthony Wales (WKU)
Referee	Rodney Burnette[1]
Attendance	13,213[1]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/TuneIn
Announcers	Dave Pasch, Tom Luginbill, Quint Kessenich (ESPN) TJ Rives, Kelly Holcomb (Tag Sports Group on TuneIn)

2016 Conference USA football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Western Kentucky xy$		7	–	1					11	–	3
Old Dominion x		7	–	1					10	–	3
Middle Tennessee		5	–	3					8	–	5
FIU		4	–	4					4	–	8
Charlotte		3	–	5					4	–	8
Marshall		2	–	6					3	–	9
Florida Atlantic		2	–	6					3	–	9
West Division
Louisiana Tech xy		6	–	2					9	–	5
UTSA		5	–	3					6	–	7
Southern Miss		4	–	4					7	–	6
North Texas		3	–	5					5	–	8
Rice		2	–	6					3	–	9
UTEP		2	–	6					4	–	8
Championship: Western Kentucky 58, Louisiana Tech 44
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

If winner of the C-USA Championship Game is one of highest ranked in the rankings of the "Group of Five" conferences, the team could be placed in the playoffs if not then the Cotton Bowl. The conference champion if not selected would then pick a bowl game of their choosing to attend that has ties to the conference.

The 2016 championship game was the 12th game in the championship series. In the 2015 championship game, also hosted by WKU, the Hilltoppers defeated Southern Miss, 45–28.

The game proved to be the last for Jeff Brohm as WKU's head coach; two days later, he was hired to fill the head coaching vacancy at Purdue.[4]

Teams

Louisiana Tech

The Bulldogs got off to a rough start at 1-2 before going into conference play with a close 21–20 loss to Arkansas. Louisiana Tech lost its first conference game against Middle Tennessee in which the Bulldogs lost the game in the last quarter when the Blue Raiders scored 21 points to win 38–34. The Bulldogs then went undefeated in conference play before losing their regular-season finale 39–24 to Southern Miss on November 26. They had already clinched the West Division title on November 12 by defeating UTSA, winning the division title for the second time in school history.[5][6] The previous time the Bulldogs won the West Division was back in 2014, which resulted in the Bulldogs losing by 3 points to Marshall.[7]

Western Kentucky

WKU opened the season with a conference win over Rice, and then went 2–2 in its nonconference schedule, with both losses to Southeastern Conference teams. WKU then resumed its conference schedule at Louisiana Tech, losing 55–52, before winning its final six regular-season games, finishing C-USA play as East Division co-champions along with Old Dominion. Both teams finished 7–1 in C-USA play, with WKU holding the tiebreaker with a 59–24 win over Old Dominion on October 22. Entering the final weekend of conference play, the Hilltoppers could have been beaten out for hosting rights by Louisiana Tech, which entered that weekend 6–1 in the conference and held the head-to-head tiebreaker with its win over WKU. However, the Bulldogs lost on November 26 to Southern Miss, leaving them at 6–2 in C-USA play. WKU hosted the championship for the second consecutive season, making it the first C-USA school to ever do so.

Game summary

WKU hosted the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech at Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky at noon Eastern Time on December 3, 2016 and was broadcast on ESPN. Louisiana Tech held the overall series record over the Hilltoppers 4–2 before the matchup. The Bulldogs defeated the Hilltoppers in the last meeting back in the beginning of the season on October 6, 55–52.

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP LATECH WKU 1 11:56 8 54 3:04 WKU 32-yard field goal by Skyler Simcox 0 3 1 10:18 5 76 1:38 LATECH 25-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 3 3 1 7:40 7 70 2:38 WKU Anthony Wales 15-yard touchdown run, Skyler Simcox kick good 3 10 1 5:43 LATECH Interception returned 48 yards for touchdown by L'Jarius Sneed, Jonathan Barnes kick good 10 10 1 3:38 6 75 2:05 WKU Anthony Wales 26-yard touchdown run, Skyler Simcox kick good 10 17 1 1:34 7 63 2:04 LATECH Carlos Henderson 6-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Higgins, Jonathan Barnes kick good 17 17 1 0:00 3 63 1:34 WKU Anthony Wales 10-yard touchdown reception from Mike White, Skyler Simcox kick good 17 24 2 11:06 8 79 3:54 LATECH Jarred Craft 5-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Higgins, Jonathan Barnes kick good 24 24 2 10:17 2 72 0:49 WKU Taywan Taylor 45-yard touchdown reception from Mike White, Skyler Simcox kick good 24 31 2 8:26 7 72 1:51 LATECH 36-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 27 31 2 5:05 7 23 3:21 WKU Taywan Taylor 4-yard touchdown reception from Mike White, Skyler Simcox kick good 27 38 3 13:15 5 65 1:45 LATECH Kameron McKnight 53-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Higgins, Jonathan Barnes kick good 34 38 3 10:17 7 29 2:58 LATECH Kameron McKnight 1-yard touchdown run, Jonathan Barnes kick good 41 38 3 4:05 10 55 4:32 WKU 28-yard field goal by Skyler Simcox 41 41 3 4:05 2 40 0:48 WKU Anthony Wales 15-yard touchdown run, Skyler Simcox kick good 41 48 4 14:08 15 72 4:57 LATECH 24-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 44 48 4 7:19 9 63 4:57 WKU 34-yard field goal by Skyler Simcox 44 51 4 0:58 9 83 4:57 WKU Anthony Wales 13-yard touchdown run, Skyler Simcox kick good 44 58 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 44 58

Source: [1]

Statistics

Statistics[1]	LA Tech	WKU
First downs	26	31
Plays–yards	79–507	72–656
Rushes–yards	22–5	41–235
Passing yards	421	502
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	35–57–1	21–31–1
Time of possession	28:24	31:36

References

1. "C-USA Championship: Louisiana Tech vs. Western Kentucky". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
2. "2016 Conference USA Football TV Schedule Announced". FBS Schedule.
3. "C-USA Rolls Out Dynacraft as Football Championship Title Sponsor". Conference USA. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
4. "Jeff Brohm moving from Western Kentucky to Purdue". ESPN.com. December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
5. "Tech wraps up C-USA West title with seventh straight win". The News Star.
6. "LA Tech clinches West Division with 63-35 Victory". KTAL.
7. "Louisiana Tech Bulldogs vs. Marshall Thundering Herd". ESPN. 2014-12-06. Retrieved 2016-11-14.