Looking at the C-USA standings, year-by-year, our upcoming opponent is something of a model of continued success.
Ranked four of their years in the conference.
15 season streak of winning records.
And then the wheels fell off and they went 0-12 in 2012.
(I'm not looking at the "why" for that - I don't know.)
Three horrible years 12-14, then back up to the top of our division, and five more years with a winning record.
The last two years weren't great, and then they jumped/were abandoned to the SBAC.

That might be as close as you get to domination, if there is such a thing, in C-USA.
Those jumping to the AAC back when?
UH had just come off of a 5-7 year.

Was C-USA a stepping-stone conference, and the winningest coaches moved up, and their former teams tumbled?
Probably.