2026 College Football Preview Part XVI- CUSA

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Welcome Back!

Today I begin my conference previews. These previews will attempt to predict how each conference finishes, but realize that doing so is extremely difficult, especially since no conference has a balanced schedule. Also, whatever the conferences come up with in the form of tiebreakers will make a huge difference, as all but the Sun Belt have done away with divisions. In addition, these predictions aren't my personal opinion; they are the result of the formula/model/statistical analysis/whatever. I will sometimes mention my thoughts in the narratives below the predictions. Also, the formula for my predictions here is different than for my Power Rankings. In other words, for a particular conference, one team may appear higher than another team here, but be ranked behind that same team in the PR.

The list of records for 3-years, 6-years, and 10 years are conference records only, and do not include any results for the conference championship games. You will notice that the teams haven't all played the same number of games, especially when considering they should have. This is because that teams played a varied number of games in 2020, and that sometimes games get cancelled (see Virginia in 2022, for example). In the case of teams switching conferences, I counted the record from their previous conference. Independent teams joining a conference were counted with their full record (UMass last year), but FCS teams moving up enter with 0-0 records.

In case you are interested, I get all of my information from various sources. I use the 4 main preview magazines (Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon, and Sporting News), but I also use many different websites, including (but not limited to): Google, Winsipedia, sports-reference.com, ESPN.com, TeamRankings.com, NCAA.com, and, of course, individual school websites.

I don't have a staff- it's just me- so all of the research is my own from these various sources (it doesn't help when they contradict each other...), so any mistakes are mine. I also don't have an editor/proofreader, so you are likely to find several (many? I hope not) typos, such as commas where periods should be (or vice versa), a misspelled or missing word, doubled words ("the the" in the middle of a sentence, for example), etc. 

Finally, feel free to leave a comment. Interacting is much of the fun! Of course, if you know me personally, feel free to just text. I'll get that a lot quicker.

So, on with the previews!


CUSA


3-Year History


JSU 20-4/.833/1st

WKU 17-7/.708/2nd

Liberty 16-8/.667/3rd

Missouri State 5-3/.625/4th

KSU 9-7/.563/5th

Delaware 4-4/.500/6th

NMSU 11-13/.458/7th

FIU 9-15/.375/8th

SHS 9-15/.375/9th

MTSU 7-17/.292/10th



6-Year History


Liberty 42-19/.689/1st

WKU 24-13/.649/2nd

NMSU 21-30/.412/3rd

MTSU 17-29/.370/4th

FIU 11-32/.256/5th

Del N/A

JSU N/A

KSU N/A

MSU N/A

Sam Hou N/A


10-Year History


Liberty 56-30/.651/1st

WKU 43-26/.623/2nd 

Mid Tenn 36-42/.462/3rd

FIU 29-46/.387/4th

NMSU 32-64/.333/5th

Del N/A

JSU N/A

KSU N/A

MSU N/A

Sam Hou N/A


Predicted Finish:


  1. Jacksonville State

  2. WKU

  3. Liberty

  4. Kennesaw State

  5. Delaware

  6. FIU

  7. Missouri State

  8. New Mexico State

  9. Middle Tennessee

  10. Sam Houston



Conference Champion: Jacksonville State


Chances to make the playoffs: There is almost no way a CUSA team can make the CFP this year. That may seem like a bold statement, but even if any team went undefeated, they wouldn’t have the strength of schedule needed, as Delaware and Missouri State are the only CUSA teams to play 2 P4 opponents.


Don’t be surprised if… FIU finishes in the top half of the conference. HC Willie Simmons had a fantastic debut, and it’s possible the Panthers could challenge for 2nd or 3rd place.


I’m not convinced… Kennesaw State will finish as low as 4th. They had a huge 2nd season in FBS, and they may just continue to roll.



Make sure you come back tomorrow as I continue my previews!


Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed! 

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