Southern Mississippi picked to take conference title over Middle Tennessee, while FAU's Trey Hendrickson and Southern Miss's Nick Mullens were selected as potential defensive and offensive players of the year.
With an explosion of college football rankings and predictions soon to come raining down on the sport's fans in the next few weeks, Athlon Sports recently put out its own projections and predictions for Conference USA and its upcoming season.
In the east, the magazine picked the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders as the projected division winner a year after they finished 7-6 and were bowl eligible for the fourth straight season.