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C-USA Roundup - Week Seven Standings & More

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Oct 12, 2008

Conference USA 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.

Conference Roundups
- ACC | Big East | Big 12 | Big Ten | C-USA | Ind.
- MAC | M-West | Pac 10 | SEC | Sun Belt | WAC


East 
UAB | UCF | East Carolina | Marshall | Memphis | Southern Miss
West  Houston | Rice | SMU | Tulane | Tulsa | UTEP
- Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
 

Conference USA Game of the Week

UTEP 24 … Tulane 21
UTEP got ten second half points and help Tulane scoreless for the comeback win. Trevor Vittatoe threw three touchdown passes with a 68-yard play to Jeff Moturi with just over four minutes to play to take the lead, and the D was able to hold on. The comeback overshadowed a huge day from Tulane RB Andre Anderson, who ran for a 72-yard score and a one-yard touchdown to go along with a 28-yard touchdown catch.


Conference USA Player of the Week
Houston QB Case Keenum completed 24-of-36 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for a score in the win over UAB.

Standings Conference Overall
East W-L PF PA W-L PF PA STK
Marshall 2-0 51 43 3-3 113 164 L2
E Carolina 1-1 52 65 3-3 147 155 L3
UCF 1-1 44 75 2-4 106 160 L1
Memphis 1-2 84 89 3-4 196 192 L1
So Miss 0-2 64 74 2-4 162 170 L3
UAB 0-3 72 123 1-6 167 243 L3
Standings Conference Overall
West W-L PF PA W-L PF PA STK
Tulsa 3-0 145 81 6-0 319 155 W6
UTEP 3-0 122 71 3-3 185 189 W3
Houston 2-0 86 44 3-3 231 162 W2
Rice 2-1 126 125 3-3 234 235 L1
Tulane 1-2 79 79 2-4 122 153 L2
SMU 0-4 102 158 1-6 163 285 L5
Thursday, October 9

at Houston 45 ... UAB 20
CFN Prediction:
UH 44-24  UH -17
UH gets down 20-3 ... | ... UAB Gives Up 42

Friday, October 10
Louisville 35 ... at Memphis 28
CFN Prediction: UL 34-24  UL -7
-
Memphis Outplays Louisville In Loss
Saturday, October 11
at Virginia 35 ... East Carolina 20
CFN Prediction:
ECU 24-21  ECU -5
- UVa's Peerman runs wild | ECU gets sacked
at Miami 20 ... UCF 14
CFN Prediction:
Miami 35-14  Miami -15
- UCF gaines just 74 yards in loss
Tulsa 37 ... at SMU 31
CFN Prediction: Tulsa 63-21  Tulsa -26
-
Tulsa comes back to win | SMU O improving
Boise State 24 ... at Southern Miss 7
CFN Prediction:
BSU 31-23  BSU -12
-
Southern Miss O gets stuffed by Boise
at UTEP 24 ... Tulane 21
CFN Prediction: UTEP 33-24  UTEP -5.5
-
UTEP keeps winning | Tulane's Anderson
rolls
Games of the Week
Aug. 30 - ECU 27- VT 22
Sep. 6 - Rice 42 - Memp 35
Sep 13 - AF 31 - UH 28
Sep 20 -NC St 30 - ECU 24 OT
Sep 27 - UH 41 - ECU 24
Oct 4 - UTEP 40 - USM 37 OT
Oct 11 - UTEP 24  - Tulane 21
Players of the Week
Aug. 30 - Pat Pinkney, ECU
Sep. 6 - Chase Clement, Rice
Sep 13 - Chico Hunter, USM
Sep 20 - David Johnson, Tulsa
Sep 27 - Chase Clement & Jarett Dillard, Rice
Oct 4 - Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP & Damion Fletcher, USM
Oct 11 - Case Keenum, UH

Conference
Roundup

East Carolina … This is hardly the same team that started out the season playing so well on defense. The line is struggling to make plays in the backfield, while the offense isn’t getting much out of the running game. Against Virginia, the Pirates struggled to keep things moving mainly because Patrick Pinkney was under pressure all game long. Against Memphis next week, job one will be pass protection.
Houston If you're going to get off to a lousy start, it helps to have the type of team that can throw up 42 points on the board in a half. It also helps to play UAB. The Cougars were breathtaking in the second half against the Blazers, but they sputtered, coughed, and didn't show up in the first half. Defensively, Phillip Hunt was unstoppable with eight tackles and three sacks, and if he keeps getting into the backfield on a regular basis, the Cougars won't have any problem over the next few weeks before dealing with Tulsa.
Marshall … Didn’t Play This Week
Memphis … Memphis stunk it up on special teams against Louisville and couldn't quick giving up weird, big plays, but it might have turned out to be a step forward for the team this year. Offensive coordinator Clay Helton pulled out all the stops with various trick plays and various formations to cross the Cards up, and it almost all worked .However, the mistakes didn't stop in the fourth quarter. If the offense can keep producing 481 yards per game, it'll crank out a few key wins to get to a bowl.
Rice … Didn’t Play This Week
Southern Miss … On a three-game losing streak, the Southern Miss season is quickly slipping away. The Boise State game was a chance to show on a national basis that USM might still be one of the kings of the non-BCS programs, but the loss emphatically showed how things have slipped a bit. The running game couldn’t get going, and the passing game, thanks to a lousy day from Austin Davis, struggled. When the team needed the really hard yards, it couldn’t get them. Now the offense has to crank it up a notch with a trip to Rice up next.
SMU … SMU is getting better. Bo Levi Mitchell bombed away against Tulsa and hung toe-to-toe with the nation’s most productive offense. Emmanuel Sanders continues to be a devastating deep threat, while the defense, while giving up over 600 yards, did a good job of stiffening up time and again to give the team the lead going into the fourth quarter. A more experienced team would’ve found a way to close; that’ll come. Now the offense has to keep cranking with Houston and Navy up next.
Tulane … Who doesn’t want to be Bob Toledo’s running back? Matt Forte ran for over 2,000 yards last year, and now Andre Anderson is the star of the offense as both a runner and a receiver. The UTEP loss was crushing because it was set up well. Tulane had the lead and should’ve been able to run Anderson in the second half on the way to a few scores, but it didn’t happen. Now on a two-game losing streak and 1-2 in conference play, the Green Wave faces a must-win against Rice next week.
Tulsa … The win over SMU showed just how fine a line it is for Tulsa. The offense cranked out 602 yards and moved the ball at will, but three turnovers and too many stalls that led to field goals kept the Mustangs in the game. The defense held up when it had to in the fourth quarter, but the Golden Hurricane has to be even better to beat UTEP next week and Houston down the road. The D isn’t good enough to stop anyone cold; the O can’t make a slew of mistakes.
UAB … UAB is finding new and even more painful ways to lose. There was the close battle with South Carolina, the last second field goal loss to Memphis, and now, the complete and utter collapse. Once Houston got on a second half roll, finishing with 42 unanswered points, UAB was helpless to stop the run. The offense couldn't move the ball, the defense wasn't even close to generating any pressure, and it was yet another loss. Joe Webb did what he could, once again being a one-man gang, but he was off meaning the offense didn't have a prayer.
UCF … This is a night-and-day different team than last year’s Conference USA champion. The secondary is still tremendous, and Joe Burnett is a special all-around player, but the passing game is non-existent meaning there’s no room to move for the ground game. It’s too simplistic to blame QB Rob Calabrese for the problems, he’s not getting much time behind a struggling offensive line, but he’s not playing well. He did what he could against Miami, but UCF ended up with just 78 total yards with four on the ground.
UTEP… UTEP has turned the season around thanks to the big plays from Trevor Vittatoe. The defense got carved up by Andre Anderson and the Tulane offense, but it shut out the Green Wave in the second half and Vittatoe came through with the clutch play needed late to pull out the win. Just as important was his lack of mistakes. He was relatively sharp and didn’t throw a pick. Now the fun really begins with a shootout against Tulsa coming up.

 

 

  



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