2009 Conference USA ... Week
12
East
UAB |
UCF
|
East
Carolina
|
Marshall
|
Memphis
|
Southern
Miss
West
Houston |
Rice
|
SMU
|
Tulane
|
Tulsa
|
UTEP
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Week 1
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8 |
Week
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10 |
Week
11
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CFN EXPERT PICKS |
Fiu |
Rich |
Matt |
Michael |
Clucko |
PICK |
|
1:00 |
Mem at Houston -23.5 |
HO* |
HO |
HO |
HO |
HO |
HO* |
|
2:00 |
Tulane at UCF -19.5 |
CF |
CF* |
CF |
CF |
CF |
CF |
|
3:30 |
UAB at ECU -10 |
EC* |
EC* |
EC |
EC |
AB |
EC* |
|
3:30 |
UTEP -7 at Rice |
RU |
UT* |
UT |
UT |
UT |
UT |
|
4:30 |
SMU at Marshall -3.5 |
MU |
SM |
MU |
SM |
MA |
MA |
|
7:00 |
Tulsa at So Miss -7.5 |
SM |
SM |
SM* |
SM |
TU |
SM |
|
|
Straight Up |
62-19 |
60-21 |
60-21 |
61-20 |
43-38 |
63-18 |
|
|
ATS |
34-36-3 |
35-35-3 |
36-34-3 |
34-36-3 |
36-34-3 |
36-34-3 |
| East |
| |
Conf. |
Overall |
| ECU |
5 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
| UCF |
4 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
| So
Miss |
4 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
|
UAB |
4 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
| Marshall
|
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
| Memphis
|
1 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
| West |
| |
Conf. |
Overall |
|
Houston |
4 |
2 |
8 |
2 |
| SMU |
5 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
| Tulsa |
2 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
|
UTEP |
2 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
| Tulane |
1 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
| Rice |
1 |
5 |
1 |
9 |
Players of the Week
11/14 D, Buckram, RB UTEP
11/7 Case Keenum, QB UH
10/31 Case Keenum, QB UH
10/24
D Buckram, RB UTEP
10/17 Dwayne Harris,WR EC
10/10 Case Keenum, QB UH
10/3 Donald Buckram, RB UTEP & Case Keenum, QB UH
9/26 Case Keenum, QB UH
9/19 Albert McClellan, DE MU
9/13 Case Keenum, QB UH
9/5 Joe Webb, QB UAB
Games of the Week
11/14 UCF 37, UH 32
11/7 UH 46, Tulsa 45
10/31 UH 50, USM 43
10/24
UTEP 28, Tulsa 24
10/17 Navy 38, SMU 35 OT
10/10 UH 31, Miss St 24
10/3 UTEP 58, UH 41
9/26 UH 29, TTech 28
9/19 USM 37, Virginia 34
9/13 UH 45, Ok St 35
9/5 ECU 29, App. St 24
Scoreboard
at UCF 37
Houston 32
-
UCF almost perfect in win over Cougars
-
Houston fizzled in loss to the Knights
CFN Prediction: Houston 34-24
Line: Houston -5
Southern Miss 27
at
Marshall 20
-
Southern Miss comes up short in loss to UH
-
Marshall blows late lead in loss to UCF
CFN Prediction: Marshall 27-23
Line: Southern
Miss -3
UAB 31
at Memphis 21
-
UAB stays alive for East with win over Tigers
-
Memphis fights hard in loss to Blazers
CFN Prediction: UAB 36-28
Line: UAB -1.5
at Rice 28
Tulane 20
-
Rice & Fanuzzi get first win over Green Wave
-
Tulane's offense gets moving in loss to Owls
CFN Prediction: Tulane 34-28
Line: Rice -2.5
at SMU 35
UTEP 31
-
SMU stays alive for West in win over UTEP
-
UTEP & Buckram go wild in loss to SMU
CFN Prediction: SMU 34-28
Line: SMU -8
Sunday, November 15
East Carolina 44
at Tulsa 17
-
East Carolina sharp in win over Tulsa
-
Tulsa's D awful in loss to the Pirates
CFN Prediction: East Carolina 24-21
Line: Tulsa
-5.5 |
GAME OF THE WEEK
at UCF 37 … Houston 32
UCF overcame a 17-3 deficit with Brynn Harvey touchdown runs from one, 41, and seven yards out, and got a 21-of-25 passing day from Brett Hodges including a 24-yard scoring play to Quincy McDuffie. Houston got up early on a 51-yard touchdown catch from Tyron Carrier and a 100-yard kickoff return from Devin Mays, the UCF outscored the Cougars 34 to 3 until a 31-yard Carrier touchdown catch in the final minutes.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In a losing cause, UTEP RB Donald Buckram ran 33 time for 241 yards and a score, and he caught five passes for 66 yards and a score against SMU.
CONFERENCE ROUNDUP
East Carolina… East Carolina 44 ... at Tulsa 17 ... Coming off the loss to Virginia Tech, the Pirates played as well as they could possibly play offensively in the first half, and as well as they could possibly play defensively in the fourth quarter. Dominique Lindsay ran extremely well, and Patrick Pinkney had one of his best passing games of the season. With two home games to finish up, ECU has to beat UAB and Southern Miss to play for the Conference USA title. But for all the dominance against Tulsa, the game got too close in the third quarter. Southern Miss won’t make the same mistakes the Golden Hurricane did.
Houston … at UCF 37 ... Houston 32 ... This isn’t the end of the world. The defense continues to be a disaster against the run, while Case Keenum wasn’t able to make up for the problems. There were some decent defensive performances, Marcus McGraw and Brandon Brinkley each made 14 tackles and McGraw came up with two sacks, but to win the Conference USA title, it’s going to be all on Keenum. All the Cougars need to do is beat awful Memphis and Rice teams at home, and get an SMU loss at Marshall or against Tulane, and they’re in.
Marshall … Southern Miss 27 ... at Marshall 20 ... After losing three of its last four games, Marshall keeps on struggling in tight games and it’s struggling to generate enough offense. The Herd outplayed Southern Miss, but three turnovers and only 26 rushing yards allowed the Golden Eagles to stay alive. A bowl bid is still possible with SMU and at UTEP to finish up, but after losing two straight close conference games, the Herd had its chance to be in the mix for the title, and blew it.
Memphis … UAB 31 ...at Memphis 21 ... Head coach Tommy West is gone, but he’s coaching out the string, and his team isn’t quitting even with nothing going right. On a four-game losing streak and with no defense whatsoever, the Tigers need to ramp up the offense even more in a big hurry to have any hope of staying with Houston next week. The loss to UAB closes out the home season, and now it’ll be interesting to see if the team tries in the final two games on the road with massive changes coming next year.
Rice … at Rice 28 ... Tulane 20 ... Finally, Rice busted through its losing streak and showed some offensive pop. Toren Dixon is a playmaking receiver the offense has to work around, but the defense isn’t getting much better and it’s struggling against any passer with a pulse. UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe and Houston’s Case Keenum are up next. The only chance Rice has will be to win the turnover margin in both games by a ton, and the offense has to be prepared to get into a shootout.
Southern Miss … Southern Miss 27 ... at Marshall 20 ... Southern Miss was hardly sharp and hardly pretty, but it came through in the fourth quarter when it had to with Martevious Young throwing well late and the defense coming up with the big stops needed. USM is now bowl eligible with Tulsa and East Carolina coming up, and after winning three of its last four games, it’s on a bit of a roll. The team might not be playing at a high level, but it’s winning.
SMU … at SMU 35 ... UTEP 31 ... SMU is staying alive in the hunt for the West title even though the defense is going into the tank. Kyle Padron continues to make plays scoring twice and throwing for the touchdown pass needed to get the win over the Miners. The Mustangs need to beat Marshall and Tulane to get to the Conference USA title game, even with the loss to Houston, but with the way the defense is playing, there isn’t a lock of a win in the final two. The offense is going to have to keep outslugging its way to close wins.
Tulane … at Rice 28 ... Tulane 20 ... This is a losing season, so while wins would be nice, they’re not as important as the development of key players for next year. RB Andre Anderson is gone, but Ryan Griffin appears to be a nice quarterback to work around coming up with a good game against Rice. But the defense still needs a lot of work with no help from the line and struggles in the secondary. On the road at UCF and Rice, it’s going to take a near-perfect offensive performance to keep up in shootouts.
Tulsa … East Carolina 44 ... at Tulsa 17
... Now there’s a problem. On a five-game losing streak, with the defense getting worse and worse by the week, the once promising season now could be a disaster with a loss in one of the final two games. The turnovers have to stop and the pass defense has to come up with something new in a big hurry to beat both Southern Miss and Memphis to get bowl eligible. The offense struggled, too, with little running game and not enough pop from G.J. Kinne to pick up the slack. The offensive line continues to have problems protecting Kinne.
UAB … UAB 31 ... at Memphis 21 ... Case Keenum will win the Conference USA awards, but Joe Webb might be the MVP. The Blazers wouldn’t be close if Webb wasn’t fantastic game in and game out, and now on a three-game winning streak and at 5-5, a bowl game is there for the taking needing to beat East Carolina and UCF. The Blazers aren’t good enough defensively to win those two games, but with two wins, they’ll be playing for the Conference USA title. Webb might be good enough to carry the team to something special.
UCF … at UCF 37 ... Houston 32 ... UCF beat up Houston. Everyone’s getting fat on the Cougar defense, and the Knight offense was nearly perfect after a shaky start, but it was the defense that dominated the Cougars with great play up front and limiting Case Keenum from connecting on big plays after a long early touchdown pass. Now the Knights are bowl eligible with Tulane and UAB to go. It would take a lot of work to win the East, but UCF can at the very least position itself well for a solid 13th game and a potential nine-win season.
UTEP… at SMU 35 ... UTEP 31 ... It’s November, so UTEP is going into the tank, but at least it’s fun. The offense and Donald Buckram has been terrific, putting up yards and points in bunches to get to second in the league in total offense, but with four losses all by a touchdown or less, it’s going to be hard to play out the string. However, if the attack keeps putting up numbers like it did against SMU, there shouldn’t be a problem beating Rice and Marshall. As disappointing as the season has turned out to be, 5-7 wouldn’t look bad at this point.
Saturday, November 21
UAB at East Carolina
Memphis at Houston
SMU at Marshall
UTEP at
Rice
Tulsa at Southern Miss
Tulane at UCF
Saturday, November 28
Southern Miss at East Carolina
Rice at Houston
Marshall at UTEP
Memphis at Tulsa
Tulane at SMU
UCF at UAB
Saturday, December 5
C-USA Championship Game