C-USA Roundup - Week 12 Standings & More

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.

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 | Week 7
- Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11
 
Conference USA Game of the Week

Houston 70 … Tulsa 30
Houston jumped out to a 14-0 lead on two four-yard Case Keenum touchdown passes, and the rout was on. The defense came up with two fourth down stops in the first half and took away five turnovers, but it was the offense that was the story as Keenum threw six touchdown passes and Tyron Carrier caught a 66-yard touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score with nine seconds to play in the first half. Keenum added a six-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to get Houston to 70, and the defense even got in the act with a 69-yard interception return for a score from Loyce Means. Tulsa’s offense cranked out 501 yards of total offense with four touchdown passes from David Jonson. Houston LB C.J. Cavness made 16 tackles

Conference USA Player of the Week
Houston QB Case Keenum completed 24-of-37 passes for 402 yards and six touchdowns, and he ran four times for 43 yards and a score in the win over Tulsa

	Conference			Overall
East	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
ECU	4-2	117	122	6-4	212	212	L1
Memphis	3-3	161	175	5-5	273	278	W2
Marshall	3-3	139	138	4-6	201	259	L2
So Miss	3-4	242	178	5-6	340	274	W3
UCF	2-4	109	168	3-7	171	253	W1
UAB	2-4	150	238	3-7	245	358	W1

	Conference			Overall
West	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
Tulsa	5-1	301	205	8-2	498	309	L2
Rice	5-1	262	226	7-3	408	367	W4
Houston	5-1	265	163	6-4	410	281	W2
UTEP	4-2	237	207	5-5	337	349	W2
Tulane	1-5	134	204	2-8	187	313	L6
SMU	0-7	176	269	1-10	244	430	L9

Saturday, November 15

at So Miss 21 ... East Carolina 3
CFN Prediction: ECU 23-17  USM -2.5
- ECU O does nothing | USM gets record pass

UAB 41 ... at Tulane 24
CFN Prediction: Tulane 28-23   Tulane -4.5
- UAB's Webb runs wild | TU picked off 4 times

UCF 30 ... at Marshall 14
CFN Prediction: Marshall 23-13  MU -7.5
- UCF runs over MU | Marshall sloppy in loss

at Houston 70 ... Tulsa 30
CFN Prediction: Tulsa 41-34  Tulsa -5
- UH & Keenan roll | Tulsa can't keep up

at UTEP 36 ... SMU 10
CFN Prediction: UTEP 42-23  UTEP -10
- SMU does nothing | UTEP bombs away

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
Oct 18 - Rice 45 - USM 40
Oct 25 - Memp 36 - USM 30
Nov. 1 - Rice 49 - UTEP 44
Nov. 8 - ECU 19 - Mar 16 OT
Nov. 15 - UH 70 - Tulsa 30

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
Oct 18 - Chase Clement & Jarett Dillard, Rice
Oct 25 - Curtis Steele, Memp.
Nov. 1 - Austin Davis, USM
Nov. 8 - Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP
Nov. 15 - Case Keenum, UH

Conference
Roundup

East Carolina … East Carolina still has the East title there for the taking even after the clunker against Southern Miss, but the offense needs to find something it can count on. Beating UAB shouldn’t be a problem and getting past UTEP won’t be too hard, but the Pirates need to start executing better and they have to start getting more from all phases of the O. The passing game didn’t get anything going deep while the offensive line had a tough time with the USM defensive front that has been mediocre all season long. The eight penalties didn’t help.
Houston … Houston took control of the Conference USA West race. After walloping Tulsa, the Cougars might be tied in the West with Tulsa and Rice, but they still have to face the Owls and could win the division by winning out. While the attention will be paid to Case Keenum and the offense that rolled up 641 yards, the defense did its part despite allowing 501 yards. With five takeaways and the big stops early on to swing all the momentum Houston’s way, the game was never in doubt. Up next is a date with a decent UTEP team before the battle with Rice.
Marshall … What was that? Marshall’s secondary didn’t have to breathe hard against the awful UCF passing game, but the offense couldn’t stop turning the ball over and the run defense struggled way too much against a mediocre ground attack. Now the Herd is really in trouble. A bowl game was there for the taking a few weeks ago, but now the Herd has to beat Rice and Tulsa, two of the three best teams in the league, to be eligible. The offense has to be mistake-free to have a shot.  
Memphis … Didn’t Play This Week
Rice … Didn’t Play This Week
Southern Miss … USM is starting to kick it in at just the right time. With Damion Fletcher back from a hamstring injury and running almost as well as he did before getting hurt, and with decent pop from the passing game with DeAndre Brown having a special year, a bowl bid is likely if the Golden Eagles don’t cool off with two weeks to prepare for SMU. The extra time should help Fletcher get even healthier. The defense came up with three fantastic efforts in a row; head coach Larry Fedora and his staff have had a great November.
SMU … The passing game is getting worse as the season has gone on. It’s not like the UTEP defense is stopping anyone, but it made SMU look like awful as there wasn’t any yards after the catch and it didn’t allow Bo Levi Mitchell to set up and fire. SMU doesn’t have a ground game to rely on with when the passing game isn’t working, so the game was essentially over after the first quarter. With a week off, the Mustangs have to come up with something before dealing with Southern Miss.
Tulane … Tulane can’t make mistakes against anyone, including UAB. The offense isn’t effective enough to overcome big turnovers while the run defense has quickly fallen off the map after a decent start to the season. Kevin Moore put up big yards throwing the ball, but his three interceptions ruined any sort of a groove the Green Wave tried to get into. They were in the game into the third quarter, but the defense couldn’t stop the running of UAB QB Joe Webb, and now comes the trip to Tulsa to face the high-octane Golden Hurricane offense.
Tulsa … As bad as the loss to Houston might be, the Golden Hurricane is still tied for first in the division and it has a win over Rice. The offense sputtered too much in the first half, with the failure to convert on two fourth down chances setting the tone, while the five turnovers were way too much to overcome. The defense wasn’t close to closing down the short to midrange Cougar passing game, but there won’t be similar problems against Tulane and Marshall over the next two weeks. It’ll be a shocker if Tulsa doesn’t win the final two games with ease; the West race might not be over.
UAB … UAB rebounded nicely from the 70-14 blasting from Southern Miss with a good performance from Joe Webb and the offense against Tulane. Even though the overall numbers might not be great, the Blazers have won two of their last three games with East Carolina and UCF to close out. The defense has to keep forcing turnovers and Webb has to keep being Webb. The Blazers are getting help for Webb in the ground game, but he continues to be the one who makes everything go.
UCF … Has anyone ever won a game with a 4-of-17 passing day? The UCF defense saved the day with a great job of taking the ball away, while the running game and Brynn Harvey carried the offense. The season might be all but over with seven losses, but that doesn’t mean the tone can’t be set for next year by beating Memphis and UAB in the final two games. Now is when the team can make some real noise and generate a buzz for the off-season.
UTEP… Everyone expected a passing game and the wrong one showed up. UTEP got a brilliant game from Trevor Vittatoe, who was on target with Kris Adams all game long, while the defense was all over the SMU passing game allowing just 137 yards. The 36-10 final score should’ve been much worse, but there were too many field goals with Jose Martinez hitting five. On a decent two-game winning streak, the Miners have to find a way to beat either Houston or East Carolina on the road to get to a bowl game.