2012 Conference USA Conference Preview

Conference USA is made of up 12 schools across the country on the FBS level of college football. They are broken up into the East and West Divisions ,with the two division winners playing the conference championship at the end of the season. Coming into the 2012 college football season, it's the Central Florida Golden Knights who are picked as the favorites to win the conference.

In the preseason rankings, there are no teams from Conference USA which cracked the top-25. But that doesn't mean that there won't be some surprises during the season.

When looking at the betting odds to win Conference USA though, Central Florida is the clear favorite, and really it's not very close. BetOnline sportsbook has set the Golden Knights at +250 on the betting line to win the conference. Contrast that with the Houston Cougars at +450, and you can see the Central Florida is nearly twice the favorite as any other team.

Houston definitely made a big splash on the 2011 season, going undefeated until the Conference USA Championship game, in which they lost to Southern Miss. It was a loss which likely cost them a shot at a BCS Bowl. They aren't expected to be the power they were season ago.

But with Central Florida and Houston in different divisions, that is the odds-on favorite for the match up in the C-USA championship game.

But who are some other contenders in 2012?

SMU and Southern Miss are the next tier below Central Florida and Houston when it comes to the overall odds to win the C-USA Championship, both going off at +475 on the betting line.

There is no question that this looks like it could be a competitive conference in 2012, with Central Florida set as a head above the rest, but by no means are they a sure thing to win.