The 2005 season for the "New" 12-team C*USA was supposed to be opened this weekend with Tulane vs. Southern Miss. Obviously Katrina got in the way of that. There are no conference games next week and only one (HOU/UTEP) the next week. The conference schedule doesn't get into swing until Sept. 24th.

With 12 teams the conference now has two divisions and a conference championship game. Even with TCU, Army, Louisville , USF and Cincinnati leaving, they picked up UCF and Marshall from the MAC and UTEP, Tulsa, Rice and Houston from the WAC to create a good regionally sound conference.

Looking at the divisions:

EAST: UAB, Memphis, Southern Miss, East Carolina, UCF, Marshall

Before Katrina I would have picked Southern Miss as a favorite to win the division. Both they and Tulane have had an unprecedented pre-season which leads one to wonder how they will recover. USM should be back on campus right after their game at Bama as the campus is reopening Sept 9th and starting classes Sept. 12th. Kudos to Memphis for giving the Golden Eagles a home. The Tigers looked pretty good against Ole Miss despite losing their starting QB on the first drive and having to go to a redshirt freshman. UCF looked better in their loss to USC than in any of their games last year. Granted they lost all of them, but they looked awful. UAB was the surprise this weekend taking Tennessee down to the wire. Now I know why many are picking them to win the division. Two years ago I saw them play UCF and they were not very good. Things have changed in B-ham. Marshall needed a rally to beat 1-AA William and Mary. Huh? This is the team the went into the MAC and made them all the Herd's bitches? East Carolina gained the conference's only win over a BCS team, but it was Duke, so that barely counts.

WEST: Houston, Rice, Tulane, SMU, UTEP, Tulsa

Tulane will be the big story in this division all season. No word yet where they'll be playing all their home games, but word is the football team will be moving in at LaTech for the semester. There would be three weekends where both teams have home games on the schedule so that will have to be settled.

Rice was the only team besides Tulane and USM that was idle the first weekend. We won't know much about them until they face UCLA next week. Houston started out strong against Oregon but faded, Tulsa never really looked good against the Gophers, and SMU lost to Baylor. The strongest performance from this division came from UTEP who didn't let NMState score until they had put the second stringers in.

A Tulane/USM championship game would be the biggest media story of the season (the only one that would top their rescheduled game), but I don't envision that happening.

My picks for the first C*USA Championship game:
UTEP over UAB.

Now the big question is.....

Are there any other C*USA'ers out there?????

Jim

[ September 05, 2005, 10:36 PM: Message edited by: BikeJocks ]

Okay, maybe there aren't any other C*USA'ers out there, but I'll keep this thread going.

Which was the bigger story in Week 2? Marshall's idiocy or SMU's triumph?

Marshall was in field goal position to beat K-State for the second time in Manhattan with just seconds to play. KICK THE DAMN FIELD GOAL! But nooooo.... they wanted a few more yards. Maybe they don't have faith in their kicker. Whatever. The pass gets tipped at the line and falls into Wildcat hands. Game over.

TCU thought it could move to bigger and better things by leaving C*USA and going to the Mountain West. They became the media's Cinderella choice after playing above themselves and beating Oklahoma. So next comes lowly SMU (3-8 and 0-12 the past two years) - a former conference rival and DFW metroplex foe. No question on how this game was ending up. I mean, SMU lost to BAYLOR last week. Ah, how quickly the glass slipper shatters. Final score: SMU 21 - TCU 10. The Mustangs get the Iron Skillet, and the Frogs get shards.

Decision: SMU is the bigger story.

Or maybe it was Southern Miss getting on the field at Alabama after having to relocate to Memphis after Katrina came through. While they didn't face the situation Tulane is in, they were surely glad to get on the field. Leading 21-17 at the half, Bama's Tyrone Prothro made a sensational catch around the body of the USM defender to set up the go-ahead TD. The Golden Eagles had only 9 yards rushing - that will have to improve.

Meanwhile...

Tulsa gave the Sooner Nation some more palpitations and forced Oklahoma to play its A-game to avoid a second upset.

The UAB Blazers beat in-state rival Troy. Okay, it's no Iron Bowl and probably won't divide the state, but you have to find your rivalries where you can. Maybe they are as good as they seemed against Tennessee.

Houston beat Houston. Well, Sam Houston State.

And last week I couldn't comment on Rice because they hadn't played yet. Well, they played UCLA and got thrashed 63-21. No comments needed.

Big games next week:

SMU at Texas A&M (probably won't be pretty)
Rice at Texas (definitely won't be pretty)
UCF at USF (the war on I-4 moves to the college ranks)

and the game that SHOULD (imo) get more attention than LSU's game at ASU - Tulane opens their season at Independence Stadium in Shreveport against Mississippi State. As the world of college sports continues to rally around the teams affected by Katrina, MSU stepped up to the plate by waiving its $200,000 game guarantee and encouraging its own fans who are unable to attend the game because of the move to forgo refund requests. The City of Shreveport is encouraging its citizens to attend the game to help support Tulane athletics. There is no word if this will be Tulane's home field for the whole season, but it is a good situation for everyone involved. Tulane's football team is all set up at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, just about 70 miles away. There is no collegiate football in Shreveport other than the Independence Bowl, so they aren't "sharing" someone else's stadium. Having six Tulane "home" games in Shreveport could stir up interest in college football amongst the locals which would help attendance at the Independence Bowl which has never had a sell-out.

Jim

Poor UCF

Glad my BLAZERS have an off week. They didn't look too spiffy against 1-AA Jax St.

Dude, you're 2-1, gave Tennessee a scare and are picked to win the conference. Don't worry. Just be kind to my Knights when we come visiting in November. We'll probably be 0-9 by then.

We start our conference schedule tomorrow with a game against fellow ex-MACer Marshall. This is our fourth conference meeting in a row, so it won't feel like an entrance into C*USA for two weeks when Memphis comes into town.

Jim

If there is anyne you can beat, it is UAB

They always seem to play down (or up) to the level of their competition. Watson Brown just doesn't like to have big leads.

I will hold you to that prediction.

Jim

as a USM grad, I strongly disagree with your predictions.

In the East, it will be USM, UAB, Memphis, Marshall, East Carolina, UCF

As for the West, it will be UTEP, Houston, Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, Rice

UAB is going for 6 consecutive losses to USM (actually the all-time series is 5-0) wink

Marshall should be 2-0, damn it. It is quite frustrating that they are not. I was hoping to be able to go see them tonight play UCF, but UCF naturally wouldn't want more fans in their stadium buying concessions and such and are only honoring 2 tickets for Marshall players (I'm friends with their backup punter). Oh well... it's not like the outcome of the game isn't predetermined.

I'll jump on the Marshall bandwaggon next year, though. They're pretty young, and the coach needs some more experience apparently!

What am I, chopped liver down here? I'd've bought you a ticket into the game. They aren't expensive and available seats is never a problem. I'll give a report on the game.

Jim

no that'll be 1-8, UCF takes out Marshall

THE STREAK IS OVER! UCF WINS!!!!!!

Breeser, you beat me to it, but only because I stayed to watch the students frolicking around the field parading the goalposts. Not only did nobody leave when the win was assured, but it didn't look like anyone was leaving for several minutes after the game as we were soaking in the exuberant atmosphere.

It wasn't always a pretty game, but it was a WIN after all. I was impressed at the attendance. I don't know the official number, but it was much more than I anticipated with a 17 game losing streak playing a team that has beat us three years in a row.

"I know some high school teams that could have beat us tonight." That from a nice lady "of a certain age" from Huntington on the way back to parking lot T. There was a good sized contingent in green, but they were quiet most of the night. Being a good sport she concluded with saying "we'll see you next year in Huntington, I hope you come up for the game."

This was a big game for UCF on three levels:
1) Of course it ended the nation's longest non-winning streak. Now we have a winning streak of 1.
2) It was a conference win. We're 1-0 in C*USA now.
3) As mentioned before, it was a win over Marshall, who beat us three in a row in the MAC.

I'm surprised that Marshall didn't exploit UCF's obvious lack of deep pass coverage. But whenever pressured, their quarterback got shaky. I don't have the final stats, but the Herd outgained the Knights by well over 100 yards, but only managed two TD's. The UCF defense bent a little, but didn't break, stopping the Herd on two 4th downs and a 2-point conversion, the first of the former probably the most important play of the game, and the latter sealing the victory.

Next week we are supposed to go to Lafayette, LA pending the status of the campus after Rita. On the radio O'Leary was stressing (as coaches always do) about taking the good out of this game, working on the problems (tackling practice on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) and seeing how they can take this momentum on the road before returning home and to conference play with Memphis.

The throat is still scratchy from all the yelling, and it was fun watching the students having so much fun on the field with the posts.



Jim

[ September 24, 2005, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: BikeJocks ]

Now for the wrap of up all the C*USA action.

UCF 23 - Marshall 13

Tulane 31 - SMU 10
The Green Wave proved to be rude guests as they returned to their post-Katrina home and put up their first win of the season.

Rita 2 - C*USA 0
Hurricane Rita postponed the USM-Houston and the Navy-Rice games.

Tulsa 37 - Memphis 30
The Golden Hurricane picks up their first C*USA win in an upset.

UTEP 21 - New Mexico 13 - with 4:15 to go in the 4th quarter.

WVU 20 - East Carolina 15
The 'Eers should have won this one by a lot more.

UCF now sits alone atop the Eastern Division. Woo-hoo!

Jim

Great job by UCF! I think they'll be tough to beat the rest of the year.

Hope UAB doesn't take RICE too lightly :/

wow....central Florida won!!!

next up Buffalo!

But first they gotta find the endzone.

I can't believe that UCF beat Marshall. I know that Marshall is a young team with a brand new coach but still. This will be their first losing season in over a decade.

They don't take losing too well in Huntington anymore.

How do you make yourself feel beter about the NEW C-USA?

PITT got beat by Rutgers.. HA!

The Streak Continues!

UCF improves to 2-2 with a road win at LA-Lafayette. After ending a 17 game losing streak last week at home against Marshall, my Golden Knights picked up their first win on the road since November of 2002 with a field-goal as time expired for a 24-21 victory. After scoring on their first three possessions, the Cajuns held them scoreless until the final drive set up the game-winning field goal.

Now it's all C*USA games from here out, with Memphis coming up first. I'll be there cheering loud. Everyone send their karma down south.

Other C*USA scores:

UAB 45 - Rice 21
Okay BamaBlazer, try telling me you guys aren't good this year.

Houston 30 - Tulsa 23

Southern Miss 33 - East Carolina 7

Marshall 16 - SMU 13 (OT)

Tulane 28 - SE Louisiana 21

and Memphis is leading UTEP 17-12 after three quarters.

And now, if hookeminsd will let me borrow it, I'll say this as the Memphis Tigers come to Orlando next... "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

Jim

""UAB 45 - Rice 26
Okay BamaBlazer, try telling me you guys aren't good this year.""

If our defense doesn't improve someone will slaughter us. BUT If BOLT can get his guys on track the championship is ours

Not to put a Vandy-esque jinx on the Knights, but they now have 3 wins in a row and are the only C-USA team with no conference losses! :cool:

Ticket for UF-MSU: free
Ticket for UCF-MEM: $17
Gas for driving to Hogtown and back: $40
Getting to attend TWO college football games, ending with watching your opponent's fans sitting in humiliated silence for the third game in a row: PRICELESS

It's a three game win streak for my UCF Golden Knights after they dominated the Memphis Tigers for a 38-17 victory. Funny as it may sound, the game wasn't that close. Mistakes cost the Knights on more than one drive. Stand-out statistic - Time of possession for UCF: 38:19; TOP for Memphis: 21:41. UCF ran the ball down off right tackle for most of the game gaining 261 yards.

Memphis' DeAngelo Williams, the nation's #1 rusher coming into the game gained 136 yards on 14 carries. But take away a single 76 yard run and he was 60 yards on 13 carries. When he was able to get to the corner, you could see his acceleration. Too bad for Memphis he didn't make it to the corner often enough.

Get this - UCF is now the only team undefeated in C*USA play and sits atop the East Division standings. And the way UAB and USM played today (and ECU has played most of the season) dare I dream that UCF could win the division and maybe even the C*USA title and get their first ever bowl game?

I know how the Penn State fans were leading up to the OSU game... taking a wait and see attitude, not sure if the team is for real. Penn State proved they are for real. Now I'm hoping my Knights are for real - they play at Southern Miss next week.

Go Knights!!!!

Jim

C*USA results

UCF 38 - Memphis 17

SMU 28 - UAB 27
A Hail Mary as time expired gives the Ponies the big upset win. Sorry BamaBlazer. Maybe I should start offering wagers on the Nov. 12th game?

Tulsa 34 - Southern Miss 17

Houston 35 - Tulane 14

East Carolina 41 - Rice 28

Virginia Tech 41 - Marshall 14

Jim

Hope we win a game or two more this year :/

Nice to see SMU FINALLY getting their program back on track. I've followed them on the side, since I was a kid and my older sister went to school there.

[ October 10, 2005, 07:01 AM: Message edited by: MiamiSpartan ]

here's a story about the Marshall/UAB game

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Sports/2005100929

Southern Miss could lose to UCF this week or anyone else for that matter if it ever plays like it did against Tulsa again.

I might be at the USM-UCF game this week (it's Homecoming!), so there had better be some cute-to-hot Orlando boys at the game.

those hot Orlando boys are all refugees from N'Sync or another one of those boy bands

I beg to differ..... with authority!

Jim

I love those train-of-thought connections. By that reasoning, UCF should win out the season! But that's the wonder of conference play - anything can happen. And with C*USA being half familiar opponents and half new strangers, that is more true than ever.

Jim

This will be UCF's first conference game within a reasonable distance. Previous MAC games were a long distance away so not a lot of UCF students/fans made the trips. It will be interesting to see how many go up to Hattiesburg. Hopefully on the heels of three game winning streak and with this being a very important conference game there will be a strong contingent heading up the Turnpike to I75 to I10 to US98. 600 miles is a long way to drive...

Jim

I hope my Blazers don't embarass themselves @ Marshall. If they make mistakes like they did last week this could get ugly.

The past two years it has been 3rd quarters that have been UCF's Achille's Heel. Now apparently it's the 2nd Quarter. Last week we let Memphis tie it up going into the locker room. Today we gift wrapped a homecoming win for Southern Miss by giving up 24 points in the second, making the halftime score 45-7. A decent second half made the final score 52-31.

So now there is a four-way tie in the C*USA Eastern Division with UCF, USM, Marshall and ECU all being 2-1.

And my BLAZERS are bringing up the rear :/

WE SUCK

WE SUCK

WE SUCK

Wonder how we'll do at Memphis :/

I hope you beat Memphis. That will help UCF's standings in the conference with a bowl bid on the line.

UCF beat Tulane on Friday to improve their record to 4-3. With remaining games at East Carolina, Houston, UAB and Rice it is not unlikely that we could finish the season at 8-3.

Yes BamaBlazer, I'm no longer apprehensive about our visit to Legion Field on November 12. Care to make a wager????

Jim
(in now bright, sunny but still a bit breezy Orlando - but this morning was a different story)

I'm as clueless abut UAB football as Watson Brown :/ We are capable of beating everyone left on the schedule... but we won't if the penalties and turnovers don't stop.

Week 9 update:

UCF 30 - ECU 20
UTEP 38 - Rice 31
Marshall 27 - Tulane 26

and in non-conference play
NC State 21 - USM 17

The charmed season for UCF continues - after 0-11 in 2004 we are 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference trailing only USM for the division lead. We are also 3-3 on the road and this week's conference win being on the road (and coming from behind) is huge. With 2 of our remaining 3 games on the road the confidence has to be there now. After two horrible years we are one win from becoming bowl eligible.

Winning out the season is not enough - we need USM to lose a game for us to make it to the championship game. Thanks to the hurricanes, USM has to make up two games still, and will play 4 games in 2 1/2 weeks - Tues 11/8 Marshall, Sunday 11/13 Houston, Saturday 11/19 Memphis, Saturday 11/26 Tulane. Hopefully the short breaks between games will catch up with them.

UCF still has Houston, UAB and Rice. BamaBlazer, I'm still waiting to hear if you want to place any wagers on the UCF-UAB game.

Go Knights!

Jim

Did Rice coach Ken Hatfield announce his retirement at the end of the season? I seem to remember hearing that but I'm unsure. If not, he certainly needs to retire. That team has been horrendous for years and this year's seems to be the worst of the bunch.

I was looking at ricefootball.net and the game story on their loss to UTEP said that the "announced crowd" of 9,000 at Rice Stadium Saturday was actually 200 Rice students, the marching band, cheerleaders and drill team. And that's in a 70,000-seat stadium! Not only that, they were practically giving tickets away with no takers. The school was offering 4 tickets, 4 pizzas and 4 large drinks for a total of $40.

I bet we lose by 2 scores :/

Can you say BOWL ELIGIBLE?!?!?!?!?!

UCF holds off Houston to stay in the hunt for the C*USA Eastern Division title and a chance at the championship game, but more importantly at 6-3 we are bowl eligible!!!!! And the way the conference standings are sitting right now, there's a damn good chance UCF will go to its first bowl game ever.

Meanwhile, UCF still need Southern Miss to lose a game to have a chance at the division title. USM has that 4-games-in-3-weeks stretch that I mentioned earlier. Ironically, all four teams they have to play (Memphis, Houston, Marshall and Tulane) are the four teams that UCF played at home this season and which UCF BEAT! If the Golden Knights win out, and USM loses just one of those four games, UCF will host the first C*USA Championship game.

CSTV has just announced the will televise the UAB-UCF game next week. Only problem is that the local cable company here doesn't carry CSTV. AAAAARGHHH!!!!!!!!

BamaBlazer, you guys handled Memphis pretty well... sure you don't want to take a bet on Saturday's game in B-ham?

Jim

the C-USA might get four teams into bowls

C*USA has five bowl affiliations. Are you saying that the conference might only have 4 teams that become bowl eligible? UTEP and UCF are there, USM and Tulsa are one win short, and four teams are 4-4. Leading up to this week's game there were questions if a 6-5 record would still get a bowl bid and it was brought up that the SEC might not be able to fill all seven of their slots and C*USA teams would benefit from that.

As many as 6 CUSA teams could be bowl eligible this year. As for Rice, I've heard that the Owls are either pursuing RC Slocum or he is pursuing them. You'll remember RC as the guy who used to coach Texas A&M in the 90s and had a lot of success there, but was forced out of his job when TAMU hit a slump (Franchione has not exactly lifted them from that slump in his third year with the Aggies). Another rumor is that SLocum may end up at SMU, while some people think that USM's president may fire Jeff Bower because the Golden Eagles didn't go atleast 9-2 this year (really foolish idea if he did fire Bower).

Other than that, I think every other coach in the conference is secure in their current jobs (Schelfo won't be fired, Tulane is strapped for cash at this time, thanks to Katrina, and couldn't afford a buyout and couldn't pay a replacement much money at all).

I saw that only 4 teams would probably be eligible

I would love it if 5 or more went

Standings as of Tuesday (before USM-Marshall game)

EAST DIVISION
UCF 6-3
SOUTHERN MISS 4-3
MARSHALL 4-4
MEMPHIS 4-4
UAB 4-4
EAST CAROLINA 3-5

WEST DIVISION
UTEP 7-1
TULSA 5-4
HOUSTON 4-4
SMU 3-6
TULANE 2-6
RICE 0-8

UCF and UTEP are already bowl eligible.

Tulsa needs just one win. They have ECU and Tulane to go. Both are winnable.

Here are the remaining games for the teams which all need more than one win:

East Division:
USM - Memphis, Houston, Marshall, Tulane. Memphis - Tennessee, USM, Marshall
Marshall - USM, ECU, Memphis
UAB - UCF, UTEP, ECU
ECU - Tulsa, Marshall, UAB


West Division:
Houston - USM, SMU, Rice

It is technically possible for 8 teams to become bowl-eligible. But that would require each of those team to win and lose precise games.

I believe UAB will have to win out if they plan on going bowling. A 6-5 UAB team just isn't attractive to a bowl unless no other teams are available.

Marshall put together a fourth-quarter rally, but a blocked field goal put the game into overtime where their freshman kicker (in his first game) doinked one off the upright and Southern Miss's kicker ended the game - USM 27, MU 24

Southern Miss needs one game to become bowl eligible. If they win out, they win the Eastern Division. Marshall now must win against East Carolina and Memphis to become bowl eligible.

I must say that I'm quite pissed at Marshall for putting David in that situation. I would have been pissed even if he had made the field goal. First off, DeFatta is not a place kicker... sure, he kicked PATs in high school but us at Franklin could never figure out why (especially after such performances as going 0/3 on PATs in a crucial region game). Someone at Marshall should have known that. Hell, he's on the roster as a punter! That's why he is there... to eventually be Marshall's punter. Now, they've wasted an entire year (he WAS redshirting) for him.

I wouldn't be so unhappy if Dave wasn't a good friend, but geez.

have to say he's a hottie--sad thing is he was born a year after I graduated high school.

[ November 10, 2005, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: theodoresdaddy ]

I, of course, agree with you. We don't grow 'em much better in Franklin, Tennessee.

So besides being theodoresdaddy, you could be davidsdaddy as well?!