This Date in College Football History

December 19, 2001: With the biggest comeback in bowl history, Marshall outlasts East Carolina 64-61 at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Trailing ECU 38-8 in the first half, QB standout Byron Leftwich rallies the Herd to a 51-51 tie at the end of regulation. Leftwich secures the win with a touchdown pass in double overtime, highlighting the highest scoring game in bowl history.

Credit: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

This Date in College Football History

Dec. 3, 1999: Marshall beats Western Michigan 34-30 in the MAC Championship Game in Huntington. Down 30-27 with 0:04 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Thundering Herd quarterback Chad Pennington (1999 Draddy winner) throws his 100th career touchdown pass to Eric Pinkerton as time expires claiming Marshall's third consecutive MAC title.

Credit: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

BCS Busters - Players of the Week

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

QB Brian Brunner, Central Michigan
Not your average backup, Brunner stepped in and set a school-record with his 485 passing yards. The senior threw four touchdown passes and ran for the game-winning score in the Chippewas’ 37-34 win over Indiana.

Honorable Mention: Devin Moore, RB, Wyoming: 234 yards, three touchdowns

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

LB Maurice Kitchens, Marshall
Kitchens made big plays all game long in the Thundering Herd’s win over Houston. Kitchens recorded eight tackles (1.5 TFLs), a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery, which he returned 80 yards, setting up a touchdown.

Honorable Mention: Jerry Hughes, LB, TCU: four tackles, two sacks, one pass defensed

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

K/P Louie Sakoda, Utah
With Utah clinging to a 13-10 lead, Sakoda pinned New Mexico at their own one-yard line with 1:58 remaining in the game, his fourth punt inside the Lobos’ 20-yard line. He also made two field goals (38 & 43 yards) in the Utes’ win.

Honorable Mention: Phillip Livas, KR/PR, La. Tech: 81-yard punt return for touchdown

Photo Credit: Robert Barclay, Central Michigan University

This Date in College Football History

Aug. 30, 1997: In Morgantown, West Virginia defeats Marshall 42-31 in the first meeting between the intrastate rivals since 1923. The Thundering Herd, led by future Heisman trophy finalists Randy Moss and Chad Pennington (1999 NFF Draddy Trophy winner) are turned away in the team's return to Division I-A.

Credit: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

Fletcher runs for 152 yards, 3 TDs to help Southern Miss beat Marshall

By JOHN RABY
AP Sports Writer

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Damion Fletcher ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns to lead Southern Miss to a 33-24 victory over Marshall on Sunday night.

Southern Miss (4-3, 3-1 Conference USA) jumped ahead 20-0 and withstood a second-half rally by Marshall to move into a tie for first place with East Carolina in the East Division.

Marshall (0-7, 0-3) once was virtually unbeatable at home, but has lost three games in a season at Joan C. Edwards Stadium for the second time in three years. The Thundering Herd are on pace for their worst season since going 1-10 in 1979. Marshall hasn't had a winless season since 1968.

Justin Estes kicked field goals on consecutive drives to put Southern Miss ahead 26-10 midway through the third quarter, but the Golden Eagles punted on their next three possessions and Marshall drew closer.

Darius Marshall's 8-yard TD run capped a 79-yard drive and Bernard Morris found Darius Passmore with a 47-yard TD toss that pulled Marshall to 26-24 midway through the fourth.

Marshall's Maurice Kitchens was called for pass interference that kept alive a drive that ended with Fletcher's 2-yard TD run with a minute left in the game.

Fletcher, who rushed for 151 yards against Marshall as a freshman a year ago, had another big game against one of the nation's worst defenses. Southern Miss started drives in Marshall territory on both of its first-quarter TDs, runs of 36 and 2 yards by Fletcher.

Golden Eagles quarterback Stephen Reaves was effective in his third game since taking over for injured starter Jeremy Young. Reaves completed 23 of 30 passes for 310 yards.

After Southern Miss' Justin Wilson made his first career interception in the end zone in the first quarter, Reaves found Torris Magee at the Southern Miss 45 and Magee raced the rest of the way for an 85-yard score and a 20-0 lead. It was the longest TD pass in Southern Miss history, breaking the mark of 83 yards from Andrew Anderson to Andrew Mott against Louisville in 1985.

Morris went 20-of-38 for 309 yards and two scores. He also threw three interceptions.

Source: ncaafootball.com; Photo Credit: Southern Mississippi Media Relations

CFI PREVIEW: CONFERENCE USA

BY NEIL BISMAN
CONFERENCE USA INSIDER

State bragging rights are on the line…It’s just that Tulsa doesn’t stand much of a chance. Oklahoma has come out smoking in the early part of the season, blowing out North Texas, Miami and Utah State. Things appear to be working on both sides of the ball for the Sooners, as the defense has given up just 26 points on the season and the offense has scored no less than 51 in any contest. Tulsa’s offense appears to be off and running after a slow first half the first week against Louisiana-Monroe, but the defense has been shaky at times. Shaky will not do it Friday night under the lights at Skelly Stadium. Home field advantage or not, Tulsa just doesn’t have enough to take down the big boys from Norman.
Prediction: Oklahoma 56 – Tulsa 24

Why isn’t Rice on the schedule…Thing’s never seem easy for East Carolina. After opening the season at Virginia Tech, they have had to play North Carolina, Southern Miss and now perhaps their toughest test, a trip to Morgantown to take on West Virginia. There isn’t any light on the other side of the tunnel as after this one they have to travel to Houston and then get UCF at home. At that point, ECU may be the best 1-5 team in America. As you can guess, ECU doesn’t stand much of a chance this week. The Pirates will go out and play hard as they always do, but Steve Slaton, Pat White and freshman sensation Noel Devine are just way too fast and way too talented for the Pirate defense to contain.
Prediction: West Virgnia 44 – East Carolina 21

Second time is a charm…Central Florida gets its second shot at winning its first ever home game at Bright House Networks Stadium but should have a much easier time this week as they take on Memphis. The Tigers were able to right the ship a little bit last week in their win over Jacksonville State but the running game, on both sides of the ball, is still an issue for Memphis. With all due respect to Jacksonville State running back and one time second-stringer Cedric Johnson, UCF running back Kevin Smith is just a little bit better and should have a field day against the Tigers’ defense.
Prediction: Central Florida 31- Memphis 13

Battle of the underrateds…Don’t let the records fool you when Colorado State travels to Houston to take on the Cougars. Both teams have had tough early slates. As a matter of fact – look for the Rams to steal one on the road.
Prediction: Colorado State 27 – Houston 24

It’s kind of like a bye week…Rice gets rewarded for its brutal early season start by winning a trip to Austin to take on Texas. Yes, the Longhorns haven’t looked that strong thus far but that should not be an issue on Saturday. Rice wide receiver Jarrett Dillard deserves better than this.
Prediction: Texas 56 – Rice 7

If you can’t beat New Hampshire…Following last week’s embarrassing loss to New Hampshire, Marshall has to shake the cobwebs and play a red-hot Cincinnati Bearcats squad. Don’t expect Cincy to cool off this week, either.
Prediction: Cincinnati 38 – Marshall 14

Somebody in the conference has to win, right?...Tulane and UTEP both represent the conference’s best chance at avoiding an unacceptable winless week for the conference. The Green Wave and Miners get Football Champion Subdivision teams Southeastern Louisiana and Texas Southern, respectively.
Prediction: Tulane 34 – Southeastern Louisiana 14
UTEP 31 – Texas Southern 10

DFW Duel Sponsored By Statefarm…Don’t look at me, that’s what they call it when TCU takes on SMU.
Prediction: TCU 41 – SMU 13

THE C-USA REPORT

BY NEIL BISMAN
CONFERENCE USA INSIDER

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains. Those aren’t just the words of Tim Robbins’ character in the movie “Bull Durham,” it’s a perfect summary for the conference this week. There were good wins, there were bad losses and a game was canceled due to unplayable weather conditions.

Team of the Week- East Carolina: The Pirates were able to improve to 1-1 against ACC foes this season with a 34-31 victory at home against the University of North Carolina. East Carolina gave Virginia Tech quite the scare last week but was able to walk away with a victory following a game-winning 39-yard field goal off the foot of Ben Hartman as time expired. East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney turned in a monster game in his first career start, throwing for 406-yards and three touchdowns. East Carolina gets one more shot against the ACC on October 20th when they get a visit from North Carolina State.

Team of the Weak- Rice: There are two things you never want to do as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision and they are A) lose to a team that plays in the Division formerly known as 1-AA and B) get blown out by Baylor. The season is only two weeks old and Rice has already “accomplished” both.

Player of the Week- (tie) Patrick Pinkney (ECU) and Justin Willis (SMU): This one was too close to call as Justin Willis racked up 435 yards in total offense and three touchdowns in SMU’s victory over North Texas while Patrick Pinkney had 428 yards total offense and three touchdowns in the Pirates’ “upset” of North Carolina. Pinkney, a former third-string quarterback, was making his first career start while Willis set a career high with his efforts.

Player of the Weak- Sam Hunt (UAB): For the second week in a row Sam Hunt was extremely inefficient in a loss for Alabama-Birmingham, completing only 17 of his 35 passes for 226 yards. The Blazers did a great job of putting their blowout loss at the hands of Michigan State behind them and led for most of the day in Tallahassee. Florida State seemed ripe for an upset but UAB just could not put them away. If Hunt cannot right the ship against Alcorn State this coming Saturday, Coach Calloway may want to contemplate other options for the conference opener at Tulsa.

If only…sophomore stud running back Damion Fletcher (pictured above) of Southern Miss were at full strength for their game at Tennessee. Fletcher was plagued by cramps and forced to sit out most of the second half, which coincidentally is when the Southern Miss offense went flat.

At least they didn’t lose…Hopefully Memphis enjoyed their stay in Jonesboro, Arkansas because they get to do it again on September 27th when they will make up their game against Arkansas State. The game was canceled due to lightning in the area.

If only they stopped the game at halftime…West Virginia played at Marshall for the first time since 1915 and for a while it appeared as though the Mountaineers may not want to return for another 92 years. The Thundering Herd defense kept the two-headed monster of Pat White and Steve Slaton in check early on, leading 13-6 at the half, but was unable to contain them after the half as West Virginia exploded for 42 second-half points.

Will the real Miners please stand up? UTEP followed last week’s 10-6 pitcher’s duel of a victory over New Mexico with a 45-31 loss to Texas Tech. The Miners allowed a ton of yardage by the opposition, which was not much of a change from last week, but were able to finally gain some yards themselves. What we do know is that New Mexico State is up next for the Miners, what we don’t know is which offense will show up…

Maybe they should have taken this week off as well…Tulane opened their regular season a week later than most schools and apparently forgot that the NCAA requires that teams play two halves of football. Tulane entered the locker room tied at 17 with Mississippi State but was outscored 21-0 en route to a 38-17 loss. The running game was non-existent and it showed as the Bulldogs held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game. If new head coach Bob Toledo cannot figure out something with the Green Wave running game, it is going to be an awfully long season in New Orleans.

Houston, Tulsa and UCF all had off this past weekend and there were quite a few teams in the conference who wish that they had off as well. With Texas traveling to UCF on Saturday, Conference USA gets a chance to knock off a BCS foe for the third week in a row. Also on the slate are BYU traveling to Tulsa and Southern Miss at East Carolina. It should be a great weekend and we’ll have more on those games and then some later this week.