September 21, 2004

Conference USA Skinny Posts

Last Saturday's action saw TCU, UAB, and South Florida fall from the ranks of the unbeatens, all in losses to BCS conference foes. Memphis survived a scare, but lost its AP #25 ranking. Houston claimed its first victory of 2004, but it appears Hurrican Ivan was the big winner last week, causing postponement of the Louisville/Tulane game and what was to be a nationally televised Thursday night tilt between Southern Miss and Cal.

Here's a brief rundown of the teams and their upcoming matchups:

Memphis (3-0)
The high-flying Tigers trailed Arkansas State 35-26 with 4:01 left to play in the game before surging to a 47-35 win. Pundits will debate whether such a game is a sign that Memphis may not as good as advertised or if it is a sign of a team of character that can surge back from an off night to win. Regardless, the normally stingy Tigers defense will need to recapture its swagger against a better-than-advertised UAB club this Saturday night.

Louisville (2-0)
The big storm forced the Cards into a weekend off, but the club still picked up two spots in the Coaches Poll to move to #22 (UL remains #24 in the AP Poll). Up next is a Saturday trip to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina. UNC is coming off an impressive 34-13 win over Georgia Tech, so this game won't be a gimme for Bob Petrino's club.

Southern Miss (1-0)
C-USA's third unbeaten team has one only win thus far, but it was the impressive upset over Nebraska in Lincoln two weeks ago. It's hard to get a good read on USM, but the Golden Eagles should triumph over Tulane on Saturday.

TCU (2-1)
The Horned Frogs had visions last week of a signature win over in-state foe Texas Tech of the Big XII. The game was tied at half before Tech outscored TCU 49-14 in the second half en route to a 70-35 romp. Gary Patterson's Frogs must rebound against a South Florida team they barely beat (13-10) last season.

Tulane (1-1)
This team hasn't accomplished much this season, having beaten only a Division 1AA squad (Florida A&M) and losing to a team (Mississippi State) that lost to Division 1AA Maine. The Wave can be thankful that the hurricane left its campus standing and it granted some extra time to prepare for a tough test Saturday against Southern Miss.

UAB (1-1)
Nobody expected much against Florida State last weekend, but hopes are high for this Saturday as Memphis comes to town. The Blazers have won four straight over the Tigers, but Watson Brown's team hasn't ever faced a Memphis squad as good as the one they'll see this time.

USF (1-1)
Don't let Saturday's 34-3 blowout loss to South Carolina fool you. Jim Leavitt's troops will come to Fort Worth ready to play and will give TCU a real battle.

Cincinnati (1-2)
Some folks would have you believe Cincinnati is one of the best 1-2 teams in America. After this Saturday's game with East Carolina, they should be a pretty good 2-2 team.

Houston (1-2)
The Cougars won their conference opener against Army in pretty easy fashion, 35-21. There's nothing easy about the upcoming Thursday night matchup against Miam (FL) in Reliant Stadium. Sell a bunch of tickets, try to remain injury-free, deposit the check from ESPN2, and move on.

Army (0-2)
Coach Bobby Ross deserves combat pay for the poundings the Knights are taking. Don't look now, but a solid UConn squad will be the next club to keep Ross from earning first Army win this Saturday.

East Carolina (0-2)
Wake Forest beat ECU by 16 points last season. Wake Forest beat them by ONLY 14 points this season. Sounds like improvement to me, but John Thompson's squad will still be a longshot against Cincy this week.

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