CFI PREVIEW: CONFERENCE USA

BY NEIL BISMAN
C-USA INSIDER

With the exception of idle Marshall and Rice, every team will have at least one conference game under their belt after this weekend. And with all due respect to the Thundering Herd and Owls, it’s not as though we need to wait for the two winless squads to start the party. Without further ado, here is your Conference USA Weekend Preview…

LSU at Tulane: If you have never heard of Matt Forte before, don’t feel bad because you are not alone. The Tulane running back ran for five touchdowns and 303 yards on 40 carries in the Green Wave’s victory over Southeastern Louisiana and was named this week’s Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week for the entire nation. Is this a sign of things to come for the Slidell, Louisiana product? Forte averaged an impressive 5.3 yards per carry last year before going down with a left knee injury. This game won’t be close so the only thing to keep an eye out for is how Forte does in a true test, such as going against the LSU defense.
Prediction: LSU 59 – Tulane 14

UTEP at Southern Methodist: It may have been against Texas Southern, but the UTEP offense did show signs of life last week in their 52-12 rout over the Tigers. Southern Methodist put up just seven points a week ago in their loss to TCU but they too showed signs of life on offense. SMU was a dreadful 0-for-3 on fourth down inside the TCU 25 and are going to have to start converting those types of opportunities if they want to make any noise in conference play. In a game like this – where both offenses are question marks, its usually safest to side with the home squad but UTEP has a little bit more talent so now may be a good time to buck that trend.
Prediction: UTEP 24 – SMU 20

Louisiana-Lafayette at UCF: Louisiana-Lafayette has had an extremely tough time stopping the opposition from scoring this season, allowing powers such as Ohio, McNeese State and Troy to put up 31, 38, and 48 points, respectively. In other words, it’s a pretty safe assumption that UCF running back Kevin Smith is going to have a field day.
Prediction: UCF 49 – Louisiana-Lafayette 10

UAB at Tulsa: Plain and simple, Tulsa was just outclassed in their blowout loss to Oklahoma a week ago. The Golden Hurricane offense has yet to find a replacement for running back Courtney Tennial and until they do, the offense will have a giant hole in it. Running backs Tarrion Adams and Jamad Williams get another chance to claim the job all to themselves against a UAB team that appears to be getting better and better with each passing week. Tulsa has way too much talent though for the Blazers to pick up their first conference win of the season on Saturday.
Prediction: Tulsa 37 – UAB 17

East Carolina at Houston: Without question the best game of the week, East Carolina travels to Houston in what could be a possible Conference USA Championship Game preview. Both teams do have their hurdles in the way to make it a reality but it is certainly possible. East Carolina’s brutal stretch of games continues and while they may be just as good as Houston, the losses are going to catch up to them mentally eventually. The Cougars have looked impressive since their season-opening loss to Oregon but that was a game in which they did not have star running back Anthony Aldridge. Expect Aldridge to have a big day and propel Houston to their third straight victory while East Carolina wonders if they will ever see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Prediction: Houston 31 – East Carolina 20

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.