CUSA Football: State of Conference USA on September 13th
Now that we’re a few weeks into the football season, where does each team stand in Conference USA? Are they where they were expected to be…
Now that we’re a few weeks into the football season, where does each team stand in Conference USA? Are they where they were expected to be? Are they behind schedule? Are they one of the year’s surprises?
We’ll break it all down here, and as basketball starts and any other noteworthy C-USA sports talking points come along, we’ll cover that, too.
Football Standings
Playing the Part
Marshall (1–1) looks like a legit football team. You can’t definitively say that about anyone else in C-USA. They took care of business against VMI, but also the Herd went to Boise and lost by a touchdown in a slugfest to the nationally-ranked Broncos. Picked to finish at or near the top of C-USA, Marshall looks like the real deal. After a few years in the middle of the pack, perhaps Marshall is now poised to make some noise once again.
UAB (2–0) is the conference’s lone undefeated team after two weeks. As the defending champs, let’s show them some love. UAB looked a little shaky against Alabama A & M but backed that up with a double-digit road win against Akron. It’s not the most impressive start, but who else in C-USA actually looks like a beast of a team? Not many. Might as well put them at the top for now until they prove otherwise. To be the champ, you gotta beat the champ, right?
Teams That Should Contend
North Texas (1–1) was fine against Abilene Christian but got blown out by SMU. One thing we do know: Quarterback Mason Fine is an absolute beast. In its first two games, North Texas is averaging 39 points per game. An issue, though, is giving up 38 per and no less than 31. UNT must be decent on defense to achieve its dreams of hoisting a trophy at the end of the year.
FAU (0–2) has faced two ranked teams, so don’t discount them at 0–2 overall. Most Top 25 teams could conceivably play two ranked opponents and lose. FAU is still coached by Lane Kiffin, and they are still one of the favorites. They have scored 17.5 points per game despite getting blown out, but all of their scores have come down at least 21 points. In other words, they’re scoring in garbage time. Who knows where they really are at this point? However, comparable competition in Ball State and a team that should dismantle in Wagner should give us a better idea before they get into conference play on September 28 against Charlotte.
Southern Miss (1–1) had decent performances against Alcorn State and Mississippi State. One thing that stood out last year and seems to be the case this year once again is USM’s defense. The Golden Eagles didn’t allow 400 against Mississippi State and held the fighting Steve McNair’s (Alcorn) to a little over 200 yards. Last season, they gave up less than 300 yards per game, which is incredible at any level of football, especially college.
La Tech (1–1) is still tentatively on this list. Picked at third in the West, they have done nothing yet to deserve to get booted from the list of possible contenders. With what looks like will be a quagmire in C-USA, virtually everyone could make a case as a contender this year. Louisiana Tech is no exception.
MTSU (1–1) showed up fairly well against Michigan and took care of business against Tennessee State. MTSU was in a close battle until they busted it open for a sizable enough victory over their regional foe. Middle seems to have figured out a quarterback with Asher O’Hara, and that certainly was the main question for MTSU to maintain its success from last year.
Exceeding Expectations
Charlotte (1–1) looks like it can finally score. That’s dangerous since they have generally had some pretty good pieces on defense and have never, since joining Conference USA, really mustered a great passing attack. Charlotte took care of Gardner Webb, although they gave up 28 points and competed with Appalachian State, only losing by 15 in an absolute shootout, 56–41. Charlotte begins with a tough run of games to start Conference USA, so this may not be their year. However, they could surprise some people by simply outscoring them. Will Healy has already improved this team from last season. He is a beast of a coach.
About Where They Should Be
WKU (1–1, 1–0 C-USA) looked like a disaster in Week One and a conference contender in Week Two. Who are the real Hilltoppers? No one knows, but ultimately, 1–1 is where they were expected to be after two games. Not one person on our staff had them beating FIU, yet it happened fairly convincingly. Western gets an interesting test Saturday in Nashville against Louisville. WKU almost beat Louisville last year before fading in the second half. Louisville is only favored by 10. Can anyone say Upset Alert?
ODU (1–1) is tentatively on this list, but it certainly could climb into contender status if it plays all year as it did against Virginia Tech. However, the Monarchs also barely beat Norfolk State. (You will notice barely beating FCS teams is a trend around C-USA early this season.) ODU gets a ranked Virginia team on the road this week. Who knows which team will show up?
UTEP (1–1) is already looking to outdo its win total from last season, when it finished 1–11. The year before, the Miners went 0–12. UTEP barely beat Houston Baptist by two to begin the year and then was completely blown out by Texas Tech by 35. UTEP is expected to improve a little bit but is still expected to finish dead last in C-USA. This is about where they should be, but here’s to them pulling off a few upsets the rest of the way. The schedule is soft enough to see them win a few more games.
UTSA (1–1) was convincing against Incarnate Word and received its obligatory Power Five beating of the year against Baylor. Nothing really shocking there. UTSA is thought to be a near middle-of-the-pack player in the West Division. They’re playing about to that level as far as I can tell.
In Trouble
FIU (0–2, 0–1 C-USA) is officially on the back foot the rest of the season. FIU played WKU, who is supposed to finish fifth in the East at home. FIU lost in front of 13,000 invisible fans, and now they must fight for every single game to even stay in contention. In general, few teams go undefeated in conference play, but very few win their divisions outright with two losses. FIU must basically win the rest of their games in conference, and that means running through all of the East contenders and La Tech. At this point, FIU is hoping for bowl eligibility somehow. Starting out 0–2 is not a death sentence, but it is an absolute problem when it includes a conference loss.
Rice (0–2) is really in this spot because of its difficulty of schedule going forward. The Owls lost to Army by seven (very respectable) and Wake Forest by 20 (also fairly respectable). However, Rice gets Texas and Baylor in its next two games. Then the Owls play all of the West and draw Marshall and MTSU for their two East games. That is a disaster of a schedule, on top of being extremely likely to start 0–4 at best and picked second to last in the West to start with.
State of Conference USA Football: Scary Average
I won’t call the state of the conference bad, but losing to or even coming close to losing to FCS schools is not a good thing for a conference that already struggles to stand out. Several teams had near missteps in the first two games, and WKU actually lost to Central Arkansas. This conference race should be fascinating because, besides Marshall, who was expected to win C-USA this season, everyone else seems very average.
In addition, some teams are set up to fail for the next several weeks, and they obviously will beat each other up once they get to the main part of the conference schedule. WKU and FIU are the only teams that have played each other in the conference, and in a real surprise, the preseason East fifth-place team (WKU) beat number two after losing to an FCS school. Let’s savor this while it lasts and WKU will play undefeated UAB in two weeks trying to jump out to a 2–0 start in the league.
Stay tuned as the season unfolds, we’ll continue to update you on the results in the league and where each team is trending. Let’s hope WKU’s stay at the top is more than a blip on the radar.