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
Tulane 41 ... SMU 34 OT
Matt Forte ran for 342 yards and touchdowns from 77, nine, five yards out, and then in overtime, he scored for a fourth time on a nine-yard dash. SMU's overtime possession went nowhere, as Reggie Scott sacked Justin Willis on the first play, forcing a fumble recovered by the Green Wave. Willis had a huge day, throwing for 354 yards and three touchdowns, with a seven-yard strike to Zack Sledge with eight seconds to play to force overtime. The Green Wave outgained the Mustangs 521 yards to 438.

Conference USA Player of the Week
Tulane RB Matt Forte ran 39 times for 342 yards and four touchdowns in the win over SMU.

Conference Roundup

East Carolina … It's not like ECU didn't have its chances to come back and beat NC State. It got within one, and then couldn't seem to get back on track in the second half to get over the hump. After a thrilling win over UTEP, this was going to be the statement week when it beat a lousy Wolfpack team as part of a big run. It didn't happen, mainly because the secondary didn't show up yet again. Fortunately, UAB, Memphis, Marshall and Tulane close things out. Anything less than 8-4 will have to be seen as a disappointment.
Houston … The Cougars picked a great time to come up with its best game of the year, rolling over UAB without a problem. The defense forced turnovers, Anthony Alridge and the running game did whatever it wanted to, and it was an easy road win going into the showdown against UTEP. As long as the offense is this effective, this is the favorite to repeat as C-USA champions. The O is coming into its own.
Marshall … Marshall has to stop getting behind early. It's done a great job mounting comebacks over the last two weeks, but it doesn't have enough firepower to get over the hump. This isn't a good enough team to keep making mistakes, like the turnovers it kept giving up against Southern Miss, but it's so close to pulling off a win, it seems like one big play could finally turn things around. This is a better team than the 0-7 record.
Memphis … Memphis got a near perfect offensive day against Rice, held the ball for 13:22 in the second quarter, and 37:32 for the game, and still had to fight to the finish. Joe Doss ran as well as he had all season long, and Martin Hankins was on fire, mainly because he had ten days to throw the ball. The lost season could quickly turn around against East Carolina next week, but the defense has to be far tighter and the offense has to keep exploding. This isn't a good enough team to make a slew of mistakes and not get big offensive numbers.
Rice … The Owls had no prayer of slowing down the Memphis offense, couldn't get the running game going at all, and struggled at times to keep pace, but they were in the shootout until the end with a big day from Chase Clement and a monster three touchdown day from Jarett Dillard. Unfortunately, for the second straight week, the Owls lost in a wind shootout, and now it's going to have to figure out how to come up with a defensive stop in the fourth quarter. With a date against winless Marshall next week, a win is a must.
Southern Miss … The coaching staff can't be happy with the way Marshall got back in the game and had its chances to pull off the stunner, but when the offense absolutely needed a key drive at the end, it got it. Damion Fletcher might be the best back no one's heard of, and he deserves to be the front-runner for Conference USA Player of the Year. If he outduels UCF's Kevin Smith next week, he might be.
SMU … The Mustangs can't seem to buy a big defensive play. The running game, outside of anything Justin Willis does, continues to be non-existent, and while that's fine against Southern Miss, it's unacceptable against a defense like Tulane's. The Mustang defensive front was awful, getting ripped apart by Matt Forte for the biggest rushing day so far this year, 342 yards. It you liked this shootout, you'll love the next few weeks against Tulsa and Houston. Watch out for SMU to allow well over 1,000 yards in two games.
Tulane … Where would Tulane be without Matt Forte? He's carrying the team over the last few weeks, and was incredible against SMU as the workhorse yet again. The defense was awful until the one big play in overtime to end the game, but this day was all about Forte. Now he needs help. Anthony Scelfo and the passing game must start pushing the ball down the field a little bit more to take advantage of the awful Conference USA secondaries.
Tulsa … The defense isn't getting any better. UCF's Kevin Smith is going to run on everyone, but for the Golden Hurricane to struggle so much against Kyle Israel and the passing game shows just how bad things are. If the offense isn't humming, the results will be disastrous. Winning out is a must to have any hopes of navigating through the traffic and win the West, and to do that, the D has to come up with at least one stop at some point. Just one.
UAB … The Blazer run defense is having major problems, but right now Houston is putting up big yards on everyone. For the first time since the season opening day loss to Michigan State, the team wasn't even close to being in the game, with the Cougar offense moving the ball at will. Four interceptions proved to be way too costly, while there wasn't a hint of a running game. Now comes a trip against an angry East Carolina team coming off a loss to NC State. The UAB offense has to start getting more consistent production to have any hope of winning the rest of the way.
UCF … There was some question whether or not UCF was a bit overhyped after playing well in a loss to Texas so early in the year and beating NC State. Stopping the Tulsa offense, and getting yet another All-America day from Kevin Smith, but the Golden Knights back in the East title hunt, even with the loss to East Carolina a few weeks ago. Now that the pressure is on, a win at Southern Miss becomes a must. Win that, and the championship hopes can really start to grow with an easy finishing kick. If Kyle Israel throws like he did this week, there won't be many problems.
UTEP… Didn’t Play This Week

Saturday, October 20
3:00 PM	Memphis 38 ... at Rice 35 CFN Prediction: Memphis 37-31 Rice -2.5
4:00 PM	at UCF 44 ... Tulsa 23 CFN Prediction: Tulsa 38-34 UCF -3
4:30 PM	NC State 34 ... at East Carolina 20 CFN Prediction: ECU 33-21 ECU -5.5
7:00 PM	Houston 49 ... at UAB 10 CFN Prediction: UH 35-23 UH -13.5
8:00 PM	Tulane 41 ... at SMU 34 OT CFN Prediction: SMU 30-23 SMU -6

Sunday, October 21
8:00 PM	Southern Miss 33 ... at Marshall 24 CFN Prediction: USM 31-21 USM -4

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