SMU was experiencing their second consecutive winning season, and their third one since returning from the "death penalty" in 1989.

The 2009 Conference USA Football Championship Game on December 5, 2009, consisted of the East Carolina Pirates, the champion of Conference USA's East Division, beating the West Division champion Houston Cougars at Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina by a score of 38 to 32.

This was the third time the UCF Knights and the SMU Mustangs met on the football field.

The previous to match-up proved UCF victorious at home by a score of 31–17 in the regular season.

[1] Under conference rules, the game was held at the home field of the team with the best record in conference play; since UCF finished C-USA play at 7–1, better than SMU's 6–2, the game was held at the Knights' home field.