Conference USA Shit: Part 2, Predictions

Conference USA is a difficult conference to call this season. There are some very intirguing teams in the conference this season. For all intents and purposes Southern Mississippi is the team to beat in the Eastern division, that is if you hold fast to the consensus amoung professional prognosticators. I happen to be one of those people as well. But the East is not what makes the conference hard to call; the west is a crap shoot to be sure. I think that any one of four teams could end up representing the West, Houston, Tulsa, UTEP and SMU. UTEP is one of the more interesting stories in the country over the last few years. Aside from the fact that UTEP has been at the center of Mike Price’s redemption after the Alabama fiasco. It is perenialy one of the more talented teams in the Conference, if the recruiting services are to be beleived, I leave that decision to your discretion. Price has battled health concerns this year, but will be on the sidelines for the season opener. He is one of the best coaches, or rather he should be one of the best coaches in the conference, UTEP’s perenial failuers to secure even a division title, coupled with last season let downs would say other wise. However his knowledge of the game is beyond many of his peers in the conference, which are, for the most part, young, inexperienced men charged with their first real head coaching job. That makes the failures of the minors even more puzzeling. It should be an interesting year in the conference. Plenty is going on, pertaining to the national scene, not the least of which is the Southern Miss game at Boise State late in September. The Golden Eagles have more than enough ability to pull off that upset and end Boise’s repeat BCS dream before Hawaii does. There are few things that can be taken for granted in this conference, and it deserves your attention for no other reason than it will be nearly impossible to read and wildly entertaining all year long.

Standings

East

1. Southern Mississippi
2. Eastern Carolina
3. Central Florida
4. Memphis
5. Marshall
6. University of Alabama – Birmingham

West

1. Houston
2. UTEP
3. SMU
4. Tulsa
5. Rice
6. Tulane

Game of the Year – UTEP AT Southern Mississippi – Novermber 17th

This is probably not the game that anyone else would pick as the conference game of the year, seeing as no one else thinks that UTEP will be even remotly good. I am the disent on that issue I guess. But I really do think that UTEP will come into this game with just 2 losses, maybe just 1 if they can sneak out with a win at SMU. I tend to think that the abundance of talent at receiver is going to make a huge difference for the team once the QB, be it Trevor Vittitoe or Brandis Dew, gets acclimated. Southern Miss is going to be the team to beat in the conference for the same reason they are always a hard team to play. They play defense well and they run the ball well. The interior of the line is going to need time to gel before conference play begins. The early game against East Carolina, who beat them last season, will be rough but the Eagles will ride the defense to win that game. As for this game it will be interesting to say the least, it will match Thomas Howard and Damien Fletcher who are, in my mind, the best two running backs in the conferene, all due respect to Joseph Doss and Kevin Smith. I think that UTEP will come into this game leading the West and needing a win to all but wrap up the West. It should be a good game, both teams match up very well athleticly. Southern Miss has the only secondary in the conference that can match up well with UTEP’s fleet of sleek, fast, and slippery receivers. In the end though the defensive line of the Golden Eagles will be too good for the front of the Miners, and that will be the difference in the game.

Conference Notes

Central Florida is making a major commitment to the Football program, opening a brand new 60 Million Dollar stadium this season. The opening game will see a rare site, an elite program travelling to a Non BCS team to play an away game. That team? None other than the Longhorns of Texas…Bob Toledo has taken as strange path to his current location. The former head man at UCLA, the man best known for taking UCLA within striking distance really close to playing for a national title in 1998 if it were not for a freshly resurgent, still slightly probation riddled, Butch Davis led Miami Hurricanes team. Bob now finds himself in one of the toughest jobs in the country at this time, the head of the Tulane Green Wave…Goerge O’leary is one of the best coaches in the conference, were it not for Mike Price he would be the best. His teams however have not played to their potential. Being in Florida has its advantages, like more talent that you could ever imagine, but his teams have been perenial head cases, never taking adavantage of their athletic advantage…Call this the end of the Tommy West era. I don’t see him escaping this season with his job intact. Phil Steele thinks other wise but I can’t make it out. Doss is a tremendous talent but I don’t see a lot of people around him…Marshall made the move to C-USA in 2005. They haven’t taken to the new conference in anything remotely similar to the way they took to the MAC in 1997. They have a pair of NFL ready talents in end Albert McClellan and Center Doug Legursky but are still below par at the other spots…Rice is in for a struggle. Despite the fact that they have Jarrett Dillard back as well as Chase Clement throwing to him. What they don’t have back is their head coach who has migrated back to Tulsa, or their offensive coordinator, Major Applewhite, who was lured to Alabama by the promise of Sabanmania…Tulsa is a threat to win the conference right now. But will they continue to be in the future without Steve Kragthorpe? That is a question that will be awnsered in time, I tend to think they won’t be.

QB: Paul Smith, Tulsa

RB: Marcus Thomas, UTEP

RB: Damien Fletcher, Southern Miss

WR: Fred Rouse, UTEP

WR: Jarrett Dillard, Rice

WR: Emmanuel Sanders, SMU

TE: Shawn Nelson, Southern Miss

C: Doug Legursky, Marshall

G: Robby Heos, Rice

G: David Ziegler, Marshall

T: Dustin Dickson, Houston

T: Chris Clark, Southern Miss

DE: Albert McClellan, Marshall

DT: Sean Merrill, Southern Miss

DT: Martavius Prince, Southern Miss

DE: Marcus Hands, ECU

LB: Josh Johnson, Marshall

LB: Nelson Coleman, Tulsa

LB: Trent Allen, Houston

CB: Johnell Neal, UCF

FS: Quintin Demps, UTEP

SS: Brandon Sumrall, Southern Miss

CB: Joe Burnett, UCF

K: Jarod Tracy, Tulsa

P: Thomas Morstead, SMU

KR: Jessie Henderson, SMU

PR: Joe Burnett, UCF 

Conference USA Shit: Part 1, The Void Within

When it comes to the oversight of entire Conferences, I am no match for the prodigious skill and work ethic of SMQ. I lack the depth of knowledge that he has in spades. That being said I still do find the need to voice my opinion on all 11 conferences in the Division 1A. And I have acted accordingly begining with the Sun Belt, and the Midwestern Athletic Conference. I will continue from here, moving in a generally upward direction, expanding in depth and perceptions on given groupings of schools, as the schools themselves begin to merit in-depth musings, and begin to cast the perception of relevence on myself. With that in mind I present part 1 of 2 for Conference USA.

The history of C-USA is an interesting one to myself. It has endured quite a few membership changes, most recently in 2005 when most every school east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains was effected, directly or indirectly, by the massive changes sparked  by the raiding of the Big East by the ACC. What started out as a simple six team conference in 1996 has grown to a membership of 12. I would think that the intention of the conference would be clear. In my mind the goal was to create a “super conference” among those in the non BCS ranks. With such a broad geographic base, the thought had to be that C-USA would rise to the top of the Non BCS conferences and begin to knock on the door of the BCS, in much the way Utah did before the conference, as we know it today was formed. It has only been two years but the dividends don’t look promising from where I sit. The Mountain West is clearly the strongest, and deepest non BCS league. Few people whould dispute that, and those that would are unrequited fools in my estimation. Next I would place the WAC, for this season at the very least, riding high as they are on the crest of the Boise State Fiesta Magic. That is not to say that there isn’t more to the WAC, quite the opposite in fact, but the WAC, as a conference, will benifit immensly from the massive ground swell of goodwill induced in all but the most cynical of fans. It has only been two years but the gap between the MWC and the WAC has perceptibly widened from C-USA.

The problem from where I sit, is that the conference main breadwinner of the past has moved on to bigger and better things. I am refering, of course, to the Louisville Cardinals. They were the bellcow for the conference early in this millenium, prior to that it was Southern Mississippi. That is not to slight Southern Miss, they never really stopped carrying the load, but they were left alone when Louisville left, without an equal. The unfortunate reality is that when the Big East came calling, Louisville was the easy first choice, they had the greater potential. The power vacuum that effected C-USA was not nearly as large as the one that struck the Big East, but the Big East fixed its problem at a much faster pace than C-USA did. The fact that Louisville is one of the schools to fill that vacum can not be a comforting thought to those in the C-USA offices. It is clear that the Golden Eagles have taken up the flag of the East.

The West is not so clear, one would figure that one of the Texas schools would be the safe bet. There are problems though, with the Texas thoery. While it is quite clear that the greatest collection of talent, within the boundries of the conference, lies within the bounds of the lonestar state. The schools that share the same ground have been ill disposed to take advantage of that fact. Each has in turn been hampered for various reasons. Rice has academic standards on par with the great institutions in this country. UTEP has struggled against decades of being the definition of medicore. While the program has been revived under Mike Price, he has not been able to claim a title for the Miners. SMU has had to endure the stigma of the death penalty, repercusions for the purchase of the Pony Express. Of all the programs SMU has by far the greatest history and tradition, and tradition and matters in College Football, but there is the stigma of the Death Penalty looming between the present, and their long and storied past. The mantle would seemingly fall to Houston. Houston would indeed be my bet for the school that will eventually become to leader of the conference, filling the departed spot of Louisville. But, at the same time, I am not sure that they alone can handle it.

An arguement could surely be made for Tulsa, but I don’t beleive that the Golden Hurricane will ever reside, for long periods of time, at the top of the West. It is hard to recruit in Oklahoma, it is harder to recruit in Oklahoma when you are the third in line. They also have to get into Texas to be successful. Texas where they have to fend of four conference rivals and the rest of the country to recruit in Texas. Tulsa has done great things with the offense of the now departed Steve Kragthorpe. Todd Graham  is a good coach, no doubt. I didn’t think the spread would work so quick for Rice. It will be interesting to see what he does this year, without his budding star of an offensive coordinator. Graham can coach, but think that we will find his accension to the top of the conference harder at Tulsa. He is taking a step up in terms of talent, but I am convinced that it was the combination of Major Applewhite and Graham that was most crucial to the success at Rice.  

The way I see it is that the western half of the conference is an absolute mess. Chaos will reign supreme in the West for some time to come. Because for the most part, the five schools are, by most accounts, relativly equal. The private schools, Rice Tulsa and SMU, predictibly have the budget constraints that afflict most schools in similar situations that lack a national profile. The two public institutions have greater resources to tap into, specificly UTEP which has the fiscal benefit of being part of the University of Texas System. I don’t think there is much hope of Tulsa keeping pace with the Texas schools in the long run, there is a reason why they were rescued from the abyss by Kragthorpe. I don’t see Rice as being a threat in the long run. However SMU, unlike Rice and Tulsa, has shown in the past that they can be a national player in something resembling this brave, modern world of College Football, the coke and strippers version though, the 80’s for those who don’t know. I think that the West is going to be fought between SMU, Houston and UTEP for some time to come. 

In the East it looks like it is Southern Miss, the school that was close to being the standard upon which all mid major’s have rallied around had Louisville usurp them late in their C-USA term. That is forgotten, sort of, but the Golden Eagles (sidebar: It seems that having two teams from the same conference, both having the same start to their nicknames would be a violation of some, unknown, irrelevent rule buried somwhere within the lexicon of the NCAA. Myles Brand should get on that, so that we don’t all get confused, bless his heart.) are clearly the class of C-USA Eastside. Though it should be noted that there is another potential usurper within the conference. UCF is a large, state funded, institution with a large studant population, and an administration pursing athletics, that is of course, if you beleive that building a 65 Million Dollar stadium shows a commitment to athletics.

This year I think you will see Southern Miss and, well, pretty much anyone of 4 schools from the West in the C-USA title game. In the years to come I think that the void left by Louisville will never be filled in a permentant way. Southern Miss, was one of the best in the conference before the Cards left, and they still are, but the spot Louisville left is crucial, because it will never be filled, with any regularity, by a single program. Because of that, the conference won’t become what it was designed to be. It will never be a super conference below the BCS.