Used to determine the college football champion of the Conference USA, the Conference USA Championship Game is played each year in December between the top team in the East Division and the top team in the West Division of the Conference USA. The location of the annual game rotates each year and is played at the home stadium of the participating team with the better regular-season record. The team that wins the Conference USA Championship generally earns an college bowl game automatic bid to play in the Liberty Bowl.http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/championships/10-m-footbl-format.html The game has been played each season since 2005 when the conference expanded to include 12 teams. Prior to 2005, the champion was determined by regular-season record.http://www.drivedigitalmedia.com/c-usa/fb10/

In the 2010 NCAA Football season, the Conference USA Championship Game featured the Southern Methodist Mustangs being defeated by the Central Florida Golden Knights 17-1.http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=303382116 As Central Florida entered with the better record, going 9-3 overall and 7-1 in conference play as compared to the 7-5 overall and 6-2 conference record of Southern Methodist, the Golden Knights hosted the game at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 2010 Conference USA Championship Game took place at noon EST on Saturday, December 4, 2010, and aired on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.http://espn.go.com/ncf/preview?gameId=303382116

• 2009: East Carolina Pirateshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2008: East Carolina Pirateshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2007: Central Florida Golden Knightshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2006: Houston Cougarshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2005: Tulsa Golden Hurricanehttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2004: Louisville Cardinalshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2003: Southern Miss Golden Eagleshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2002: Cincinnati Bearcats and TCU Horned Frogshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2001: Louisville Cardinalshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 2000: Louisville Cardinalshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 1999: Southern Miss Golden Eagleshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 1998: Tulane Green Wavehttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 1997: Southern Miss Golden Eagleshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43
• 1996: Houston Cougars and Southern Miss Golden Eagleshttp://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=43

Representing the Conference USA West Division, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs brought a 7-5 overall record into the title game, the second-best tally the team has seen since 1984.http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/conferenceusa/southern_methodist/yearly_totals.php http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/2567/southern-methodist-mustangs Their 2010 season began with a loss, falling 35-27 to the Texas Tech Red Raiders before they Mustangs saw back-to-back wins over Alabama-Brimingham and Washington State. Their first conference loss came on September 24, 2010, against the TCU Horned Frogs, while other losses came against Navy, Houston and Texas-El Paso. The Mustangs also recorded wins against Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, Marshall and East Carolina.http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/2567/southern-methodist-mustangs

Coming in with a 9-3 record to lead the East Division of the Conference USA, the Central Florida Golden Knights split their first four games of the 2010 season. They defeated South Dakota, fell to North Carolina State, defeated Buffalo and lost to Kansas State. Starting on October 6, 2010, the Golden Knights went on a five-game win streak, defeating Alabama-Birmingham, Marshall, Rice, East Carolina and Houston. In their final three games of the year, Central Florida fell to Southern Miss and defeated Tulane and Memphis.http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/2116/ucf-knights