New Mexico Bowl Preview

After a couple week hiatus, college football and the Fringe are back for bowl season, with short and straightforward looks at the non-BCS bowl teams and how they got to where they are.  Things kick off at 2 PM Eastern today with BYU facing UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl, played in Albuquerque.  The game is [...]

Conference USA Week 11 Wrapup & Championship Scenarios

In a week that offered the chance to finalize a few things in the league, the exact opposite happened, and now nothing will be set in stone until the final whistle on November 27.

Southern Miss 31, UCF 21- USM came in and stunned UCF on their home field, rallying from an early 14-0 deficit to run [...]

Fringe Hangover: ECU Stays Alive

UAB let a 35-27 lead get away in the fourth quarter, as ECU put up four scores to run away and hide at the end, winning 54-42.  The win keeps ECU alive in the conference title hunt, although the Pirates still need two losses from UCF to vault back into things.  Perhaps the best news for [...]

Conference USA Week 11 Preview

Conference USA is hurtling toward its championship game, and the East division could be wrapped up by dinnertime Saturday (but probably not).  The West is still wide open, as the teams over there have plenty of good games coming up, but one this week could alter the course there too.

8:00 PM Thursday- East Carolina at UAB: [...]

Conference USA Week 10 Wrapup & Championship Picture

C-USA had a busy week, with 7 games going on and only 1 of the league’s ‘Big 4′ getting through unscathed.  UCF, meanwhile, has earned its first Top 25 rankings in school history, sitting 23rd in the coaches and 25th in the AP and Harris polls.

UCF 40, Houston 33- UCF survived a shootout with the Cougars, [...]

Conference USA Week 9 Wrapup

The weekend was a good one for Conference USA.  Despite a lack of national TV coverage, the UCF-ECU game lived up to the hype, Tulsa knocked off a big opponent on a national stage, and two other games came down to the wire.

UAB 50, Southern Miss 49- Since getting shelled at UCF a few weeks ago, [...]

Conference USA Week 9 Preview

We’re finally getting into the meat of the conference schedule, although even this week we have C-USA teams going out of conference for games.  Nonetheless, the results of the games tomorrow will have a profound impact on the league championship race.

12:00 PM, CSS- UAB at Southern Miss: Southern Miss has been playing well lately, but UAB [...]

C-USA Mid-Season Report Cards, Part II

Unlike the MAC, plenty of C-USA teams enjoyed bye weeks in the early going, meaning it took  a bit longer to cross the halfway point. Then I didn’t write anything last week, so now most of them have 7 games in the books, but that’s close enough.  Time to catch up with East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Tulane, UAB, and UCF.

East Carolina

Record: 5-2, 3-0 Conference USA
Highlights: Overtime win over NC State, Hail Mary win over Tulsa, #1 pass offense in a pass-happy league, #3 total & scoring offense.
Weak Points: Second half collapses against Virginia Tech and UNC, 10th in the league in pass and total defense.
Grade: A-. Other than two bad halves, ECU has been outstanding this year, vastly outperforming expectations.  The defense is still suspect, but so far the offense has been good enough to escape any close games in the league.
Remaining Games: at UCF, Navy, at UAB, at Rice, SMU
Best Case: 5-0, into the top 25, conference title and another Liberty Bowl berth.
Worst Case: 2-3. With 3 quality opponents left, if someone solves the offensive attack, ECU could be in trouble.
Prediction: 3-2.  I’ll be predicting a UCF win this weekend, and suspect that ECU will split between Navy and SMU. 8-4 on the season, and right now I have them projected to play Clemson in the Eaglebank Bowl in DC.

Houston

Record: 4-3, 1-1 C-USA
Highlights: 25 point win over league leading SMU, #1 scoring offense in C-USA, 9th nationally
Weak Points: loss to cross-town rival Rice, disappointing results against BCS teams, worst rushing defense in the league.
Grade: Read Post

Conference USA Week 8 Wrapup & Power Rankings

More chaos in C-USA West this weekend, as the clear leader steps aside for the pre-season favorite while UTEP appears to be in freefall.  On the East side, everything went according to plan as the Game of the Year of the Week looms this Saturday.

UCF 41, Rice 14- Rice couldn’t sustain any momentum from their win over Houston, as UCF scores touchdowns on it’s first six possessions, including 5 for 5 in the first half.  Next Week: ECU at UCF, Rice is idle.

Houston 45, SMU 20- Read Post

Conference USA Week 8 Preview

This was supposed to be the first of several monster weeks in C-USA, with Houston headed to SMU, ECU – UCF next week, and UCF-Houston after that.  Then Houston had to go and lose to Rice, taking themselves off the unbeaten (in league play) list and taking the edge off this week a little bit.  Instead, [...]