Scout.com: C-USA Conference Roundup

Click on each team for game recaps, thoughts, schedules and more and scroll down for the games, results, players of the week and the conference roundup.

East UAB | UCF | East Carolina | Marshall | Memphis | Southern Miss
West Houston | Rice | SMU | Tulane | Tulsa | UTEP

Conference USA Game of the Week
UTEP 48 ... Tulsa 47
In a wild games with 1,218 yards of total offense, UTEP came through with a 14-yard Joe West touchdown catch with 58 seconds to play to tie it, and then Jose Martinez hit the extra point to take the lead. It wasn't over. Tulsa got a big kickoff return from Trae Johnson, who later caught a 14-yard pass on fourth and one, to set up a 53-yard field goal attempt, but Jarod Tracy missed wide left to give UTEP the win. Marcus Thomas ran for three touchdowns for the Miners, scoring from three, 11 and 38 yards out, while Tulsa got a huge day from Paul Smith, who threw two touchdown passes to Johnson, and ran for two more.

Conference USA Player of the Week
East Carolina RB Chris Johnson ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, caught five passes for 89 yards and another score, and handled four kickoffs for 194 yards and a touchdown.

Conference Roundup

East Carolina … While the ECU defense continues to have major problems, it was able to force five UCF turnovers, and the offense took advantage of every shot in the great second half run to pull away and win in a walk. Rob Kass got hot, Chris Johnson was unstoppable in all phases, and now, ECU is in a great spot to be in the Conference USA title hunt. Now comes the big showdown, needing to beat UTEP in El Paso to firmly establish itself as the league's main player.
Houston … For the second straight week, Houston lost late when it had chances to win. The 2-3 record could easily be 4-1, but that's what happens when it takes a while to get going. This is a big-play team that can explode from anywhere on the field, and was able to work its way into the game against Alabama, but it's going to have to learn how to play a full sixty minutes against the better teams. You can't spot 23 to the Tide in the first quarter and expect to win.
Marshall … Despite all the injuries and all the consistency issues, the Herd came up with a decent game in the loss to Memphis. This was a game it had to have, and now it's still winless with Tulsa and Southern Miss to follow. Bernard Morris was accurate, but he didn't get enough long passes, and things didn't open up for the ground game. Against almost everyone on the schedule the rest of the way, MU has to win the turnover battle and has to come up with more big plays. That hasn't happened so far.
Memphis … Obviously playing with a heavy heart, after the death of a teammate, Memphis came up with a fine performance under the circumstances. With Martin Hankins still suffering from a hip injury, Will Hudgens picked a great time to play a tight, efficient game against Marshall, bombing away all game long. With no running attack to help him out, the offense was all on the passing game. With Middle Tennessee, Rice and Tulane ahead, now is the time to go on a winning streak and get the season started.
Rice … It doesn't matter if it wasn't pretty. It doesn't matter if the offense couldn't move the ball outside of one big run. It doesn't matter how it happened. Rice beat Southern Miss for the first win in the David Bailiff era, and while it wasn't the type of game that'll suddenly turn the team and the program into a Conference USA player, it does allow everyone to exhale. The defense is going to have to come up with big plays game after game after game until the offense finds something that works. But for now, Rice can hang its hat on beating one of the league's favorites.
Southern Miss … Could the loss of Jeremy Young to a sprained ankle really mean that much? It's not fair to pin the Rice disaster on Stephen Reaves, but he couldn't stop turning the ball over, and the Owls took advantage of almost all of them. Needless to say, this is the ultimate disaster for USM. In a tight race, it couldn't afford to come out sloppy, and while it showed it was obviously the more talented team, it didn't matter. The hole was dug too deep. Now come two other league lightweights, SMU and Marshall. Focus shouldn't be a problem.
SMU … Didn’t Play This Week
Tulane … Tulane can't afford to giveaway games, especially to lousy teams like Army. The offense dominated, the defense got in the backfield all game long, and the Black Knights couldn't move the ball until the final two minutes. Everything should've been in place, but the Green Wave couldn't close. The penalties have to stop, with 11 for 101 yards turning into killers as the game went on. This isn't a good enough team to get away with too many mistakes.
Tulsa … The offense keeps working, but the defense isn't coming close to stopping anyone. Paul Smith and the high-octane attack were able to overcome the problems in earlier games, but this time, against UTEP, it didn't work, as the Miners moved too easily and too quickly when they had to. Even so, the Golden Hurricane was a missed field goal away from pulling this off and still being the main team in the Conference USA race, and now it has to take advantage of a favorable next month to overcome this loss and stay in the hunt.
UAB … The defense did a fantastic job against Mississippi State overall, but couldn't handle Anthony Dixon and the running game late. The UAB offense couldn't run the ball on the Bulldog D, and didn't do nearly enough to move the chains, but the real problems were the penalties, committing ten, and the time of possession. UAB couldn't stop the run, couldn't get enough third downs, and allowed MSU to have the ball for over 21 minutes in the second half. The D wore down.
UCF … UCF all but gave away the loss to East Carolina, losing five turnovers, not getting any takeaways, and not coming up with a stop in the second half when things began to fall apart. Kevin Smith was Kevin Smith, and Kyle Israel had a good day throwing the ball, but the mistakes on offense, and the struggles to stop the big plays on defense, made it a laugher the other way. Can the offense be sharper and more productive for 60 minutes against the ball-hawking South Florida defense next week? Focusing on the Conference USA showdowns against Tulsa and Southern Miss ahead will be more important.
UTEP… With one offensive explosion against Tulsa, coming on the heels of a thriller against SMU, UTEP has found itself in the lead in the Conference USA race, but there aren't many league breathers coming up with East Carolina and Houston next. The defense might not even be close, but all the parts are working on offense, with Marcus Thomas finally running like the star he was supposed to be a few years ago, and Trevor Vittatoe maturing as a passer in each game. It's not a stretch to call this the biggest win in the Mike Price era, and now the momentum has to continue against the Pirates.

Tuesday, October 2
8:00 PM	at Memphis 24 ... Marshall 21 CFN Prediction: Marshall 33-30 Mem. -2.5

Wednesday, October 3
8:00 PM	Rice 31 ... at Southern Miss 29 CFN Prediction: USM 41-16 USM -20

Saturday, October 6
2:30 PM	at Mississippi State 30 ... UAB 13 CFN Prediction: MSU 31-16 MSU -19
3:00 PM	at Alabama 30 ... Houston 24 CFN Prediction: Bama 36-23 Bama -11
7:00 PM	at Army 20 ... Tulane 17 OT CFN Prediction: Army 22-20 Army -6.5
7:30 PM	at East Carolina 52 ... UCF 38 CFN Prediction: UCF 28-24 UCF -3.5
9:05 PM	at UTEP 48 ... Tulsa 47 CFN Prediction: Tulsa 41-35 Tulsa -3.5

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