September 5, 2004

C-USA Hangs Tough on Opening Weekend

In the final season with its current configuration, Conference USA teams stood tall against foes from BCS conferences this weekend. C-USA squads knocked off teams from the Big Ten, Big XII, and the SEC. Last fall, the MAC was heralded as the giant-killing mid-major conference, but C-USA--a football league that has suffered from an inferiority complex since its inception--appears poised to steal that mantle.

TCU got the ball rolling by knocking off Big Ten opponent and 2003 Motor City Bowl participant Northwestern 48-45 in double overtime. Memphis trekked to Oxford, MS, and emerged victorious by a 20-13 score over Ole Miss of the SEC. Upstart UAB kicked off what Blazer fans hope will be a winning 2004 campaign by crushing Big XII member Baylor 56-14. On Sunday, Louisville continued the winning ways by taking down another SEC squad, Kentucky, in a 28-0 shutout.

Cincinnati was competitive with Ohio State for most of their game, but came up short in a 27-6 loss. Rebuilding East Carolina took a lopsided loss to West Virginia, 56-23, and Tulane faltered against Mississippi State 28-7. Houston suffered a 10-7 loss to Rice in an intrastate battle.

South Florida's home date with Pittsburgh has been postponed until the first weekend of December due to the hurricane in Florida.

TCU, Louisville, and Cincinnati all plan to leave the league after this season for what they hope will be greener pastures. Each would like to end its C-USA membership with a title, but clubs like Memphis, Southern Miss (who travels to Nebraska next Saturday), and UAB are bound to have something to say about that.

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