C-USA Conference Roundup - Week 12

Conference USA conference roundup, standings, player and game of the week

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
Houston 35 ... Marshall 28
Anthony Alridge scored on a three-yard run and took a pass 26 yards for a score, and Case Keenum ran for a touchdown and threw two touchdown passes including a 62-yard play to Mark Hafner for a touchdown to stay two steps ahead of the Herd. Marshall made it close late on a one-yard Kelvin Turner run, but the onside kick failed and the Cougars were able to run out the clock. The Herd got touchdown runs from Darius Marshall and Chubb Small, and a 32-yard scoring grab from Emmanuel Spann.

Conference USA Player of the Week
Tulane RB Matt Forte ran 39 times for 194 yards and five touchdowns, and caught a pass for 51 yards in the win over Rice. He went over the 2,000-yard mark on the year

Conference Roundup

East Carolina … Didn’t Play This Week
Houston … The Cougars got back on track after the laying an egg against Tulsa, but the defense struggled a bit too much with a lousy Marshall offense. Now that they've got the second seed in the West and are assured a decent bowl slot, it's time to flex a little muscle and blow away Texas Southern. As long as Case Keenum is efficient and doesn't make mistakes, there shouldn't be any problems.
Marshall … The Herd couldn't capitalize on the win over East Carolina with Houston able to move the ball far too easily. It wasn't a bad overall performance in the loss, but there weren't many big stops on third downs and the offense failed to get the chains moving. With a home game against UAB to close out, there's no excuse for not winning in a walk. The Blazer offense isn't doing much of anything, and the Herd can't go into the off-season with yet another loss and a 2-10 record.
Memphis … Now that Memphis is bowl eligible, it's time to make a statement with a win over SMU. The offense is cranking out yards in chunks, moving the ball at will on UAB, but it needs to finish off drives better than it did this week. Doing more on third downs will be a must in a bowl game, which the Tigers will get to as long as they don't mail it in against the Mustangs.
Rice … The bombings continue on with the defense giving them up faster than the offense canes score them. It's all about Chase Clement and hot he's rolling, while Jarett Dillard has been on fire with two touchdown catches in each of the last three games. Now the offense has to be more effective early, but it's productive enough to blow up on Tulsa's awful secondary next week. Getting more than 23 yards rushing, which the Owls got this week, would be nice.
Southern Miss … The Southern Miss offense obliterated UTEP in the second half with a brilliant performance from the offensive line paving the way for big gain after big gain. Jeremy Young wasn't accurate, but he connected on the two big pass plays to blow the game wide open. Cutting down on the penalties, with 12 for 114 yards, will be a must to close out. The run defense needs to stuff Arkansas State next week to close out with a streak of three wins in the final four games, but if the offense plays like it did this week, a win won't be a problem.
SMU … The lousy year just won't end. After coming so close to getting a win over Rice, the Mustangs stunk it up in a blowout loss to UCF with the big problem being the lack of consistent offensive pop. Justin Willis was so effective earlier in his career, and now he can't see to connect on the most basic passes. Playing a pumped up Memphis next week, who needs the win, won't help end the Phil Bennett era on a positive note.
Tulane … Matt Forte needs to start getting a little bit of Heisman consideration now that he hit the 2,000-yard mark. After blowing up on Rice, he should be able to crank out at least another 200 yards next week on East Carolina, and in the final game of his career, head coach Bob Toledo could run him into the ground. Watch out for 40 carries, but to have any hope of winning, the passing game has a little bit effective and has to take what the D is giving the QBs.
Tulsa … A week after the defense was so dominant in the win over Houston, it couldn't slow down the anemic Army offense and needs a late score to finally put the game away. The offense keeps on humming with QB Paul Smith dialed in and playing as well as he ever has in his great career, while Tarrion Adams added good balance with 118 yards after not getting much work last week. Now Tulsa needs to get by Rice to play for the Conference USA championship, and with the way the team is playing on both sides of the ball, it'll be yet another mega-shootout.
UAB … All the good things that started to happen with the offense last week went away in the loss to Memphis. The running game still isn't finding any sort of a groove, and the passing game isn't picking up the slack. Meanwhile, the run defense got ripped apart yet again, allowing the Tigers to control the game from the start. Against Marshall to close out the year, the team needs something it can hang its hat on, and could use a special performance from QB Sam Hunt.
UCF … Kevin Smith keeps on running as he's now just 55 yards away from hitting the 2,000-yard mark. He should have that in the first half against UTEP, but more importantly, a win should mean an East title and a chance to finally win the Conference USA championship. Kyle Israel has to stay sharp throwing the ball with the defenses struggling a bit giving up yards. However, the D did a nice job of getting to the quarterback and screwing up the Mustang passing game. At the very least, the win sealed a bowl bid.
UTEP… The UTEP run defense has decided to take the rest of the season off. Southern Miss ripped apart the Miners in the second half with none of the adjustments working. The two big USM pass plays helped to open things up, and the run defense couldn't get enough safety help. The offense cranked out yards, but at this point in the season. Trevor Vittatoe has to be more accurate and more consistent.

East	Conference				Overall					Home		Away
	W	L	PF	PA	W	L	PF	PA	STR	W	L	W	L
UCF	6	1	313	176	8	3	419	317	W5	4	1	4	2
East Carolina	5	2	259	215	6	5	327	345	L1	3	2	3	3
Memphis	5	2	204	230	6	5	298	323	W2	3	3	3	2
Southern Miss	5	3	254	183	6	5	324	273	W1	2	3	4	2
Marshall	2	5	177	205	2	9	252	372	L1	2	3	0	6
UAB	1	6	119	256	2	9	196	375	L5	2	3	0	6

West	Conference				Overall					Home		Away
	W	L	PF	PA	W	L	PF	PA	STR	W	L	W	L
Houston	6	2	288	248	7	4	377	353	W1	4	1	3	3
Tulsa	5	2	280	208	8	3	440	373	W4	5	1	3	2
Tulane	3	4	203	221	4	7	281	340	W2	2	5	2	2
Rice	3	4	265	292	3	8	334	467	L1	1	4	2	4
UTEP	2	5	266	317	4	7	383	409	L5	3	3	1	4
SMU	0	7	199	276	1	10	288	422	L9	1	5	0	5

Saturday, November 17
12:00 PM	Tulsa 49 ... at Army 39 CFN Prediction: Tulsa 42-17  TU -14
3:00 PM	Tulane 45 ... at Rice 31 CFN Prediction: Tulane 34-30  Rice -2
3:00 PM	UCF 49 ... at SMU 20 CFN Prediction: UCF 38-24  UCF -13
3:30 PM	at Memphis 25 ... UAB 9 CFN Prediction: Memphis 33-21   MU -11
3:30 PM	at Houston 35 ... Marshall 28 CFN Prediction: Houston 36-24  UH -11
7:30 PM	Southern Miss 56 ... at UTEP 30 CFN Prediction: UTEP 31-30  USM -3.5

Past Conference USA Games of the Week
Sept. 1 - UCF 25 ... at North Carolina State 23
Sept. 8 - East Carolina 34 ... North Carolina 31
Sept. 15 - Tulsa 55 ... BYU 47
Sept. 22 - Tulane 35 ... Southeastern Louisiana 27
Sept. 29 - UTEP 48 ... at SMU 45 OT
Oct. 6 - UTEP 48 ... Tulsa 47
Oct. 13 - East Carolina 45 ... at UTEP 42 OT
Oct. 20 - Tulane 41 ... at SMU 34 OT
Oct. 27 - at Tulsa 29 ... SMU 23
Nov. 3 - at Rice 56 ... UTEP 48
Nov. 10 - Rice 43 ... at SMU 42
Nov. 17 - at Houston 35 ... Marshall 28

Past Conference USA Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - UCF RB Kevin Smith
Sept. 8 - East Carolina QB Patrick Pinkney
Sept. 15 - Tulsa QB Paul Smith
Sept. 22 - Tulane RB Matt Forte
Sept. 29 - UTEP RB Marcus Thomas
Oct. 6 - East Carolina RB Chris Johnson
Oct. 13 - Houston WR Donnie Avery and RB Anthony Alridge
Oct. 20 - Tulane RB Matt Forte
Oct. 27 - UCF RB Kevin Smith
Nov. 3 - Rice QB Chase Clement & East Carolina RB Chris Johnson
Nov. 10 - Rice QB Chase Clement & UCF RB Kevin Smith
Nov. 17 - Tulane RB Matt Forte