Another eventful weekend in C-USA, as we now have the league championship game set, while at least one team saw their bowl hopes go up in smoke and another stumbled across the finish line, lucky that the league has a lot of bowl ties.
| East | ||
| Conf | Overall | |
| East Carolina | 7-1 | 8-4 |
| UCF | 6-2 | 8-4 |
| Southern Miss | 5-3 | 7-5 |
| Marshall | 4-4 | 6-6 |
| UAB | 4-4 | 5-7 |
| Memphis | 1-7 | 2-10 |
| West | ||
| Conf | Overall | |
| Houston | 6-2 | 10-2 |
| Southern Methodist | 6-2 | 7-5 |
| UTEP | 3-5 | 4-8 |
| Tulsa | 3-5 | 5-7 |
| Rice | 2-6 | 2-10 |
| Tulane | 1-7 | 3-9 |
Week 13 Results
UCF 35, UAB 27- UCF jumped all over the Blazers, and there wasn’t enough time for UAB to complete their comeback. UAB falls to 5-7 and can only wonder what if, since they would have been tied with Marshall for the last bowl spot with a win, and have better geography on their side.
East Carolina 25, Southern Miss 20- The fate of the East division changed on a blocked extra point. The game was tied briefly at 20, with Southern Miss having scored a TD and needing the extra point to take the lead with 7 minutes left in the game. ECU blocked the kick, then ran it back 90+ the other way for the safety. USM then had to kick off short, leading to an ECU field goal on the next drive, and that was the difference. At 7-1 in league play, ECU will host the championship game Saturday.
Southern Methodist 26, Tulane 21- This one went back and forth all day, with SMU needing a TD late in the 4th to keep from handing Houston the division outright before they kicked off. With the win, SMU did tie UH on record, but the loss head-to-head will send the Cougars on to Greenville.
UTEP 52, Marshall 21- Observers criticized Marshall for looking flat and uninspired, some of which may be the incredibly long trip to El Paso, but considering that UAB still had a chance to jump them for a bowl bid, one would have expected more from the Herd. UTEP can only imagine what it might have been like to have a little consistency this year, knocking off teams like Houston and Marshall while losing to the Rices of the league.
Houston 73, Rice 14- Houston led by 59 at the half and coasted to another division title. This one could have been a trap game, but the Cougars weren’t falling for that one again, and get their cross-Houston Bayou Bucket back after Rice won it last year.
Conference USA Power Rankings
- East Carolina
- UCF
- Houston
- Southern Miss
- SMU
- Marshall
- UAB
- Tulsa
- Rice
- UTEP
- Tulane
- Memphis
The Conference-USA Championship game is Saturday at Noon. We’ll preview it later this week and then try our hand at a season-in-review before the bowls kick off.