Conference USA Week #3 Football Recap

North Carolina 31, East Carolina 17

The Pirates are stuck in second gear, and haven't been able to rev up the engines the way they did in 2008. Quarterback Patrick Pinkney was solid in his third outing of the season, hitting 19 of his 30 passes without an interception, but those 19 completions covered just 157 yards of real estate. ECU lacked the big-play potency needed to keep up with the more high-octane Tar Heels, who rolled up 433 yards behind the passing of sharp signal caller T.J. Yates. After struggling the previous week at Connecticut, Yates flourished on Saturday against Skip Holtz's defense, completing 19-of-24 passes for 227 yards and two scores, with no interceptions. ECU scored huge wins last season in games played before partisan crowds, but this season, the Pirates have played big-time teams on the road. That could be the only difference between 2008 and 2009, but on the field, the fact remains that Holtz's horses need a little ghitty-up in the stretch run of Saturday showdowns.

Oklahoma 45, Tulsa 0

Tulsa's not as bad as this score indicated. Oklahoma's simply as good as the numbers reveal. The Sooners virtually doubled the Golden Hurricanes' total yardage (529-269), and OU quarterback Landry Jones, getting the hang of coordinator Kevin Wilson's offense after filling in for Sam Bradford two weeks ago against BYU, threw six touchdown passes for Bob Stoops' squad. OU hit big plays in the passing game, but accompanied that finesse with some manly muscle flexing in the trenches. Tulsa will beat many teams in 2009, but Oklahoma simply exists in another league. The two teams might occupy the same state, but they're miles apart in terms of depth, talent and pedigree. That's not a negative commentary on Todd Graham's group; it's a reflection of the staying power of the Oklahoma colossus.

Oklahoma State 41, Rice 24

Falling to 0-3 has rarely felt so good for a football team. Rice might have dropped a 17-point decision in Stillwater, but the Owls competed bravely against a far more credentialed opponent. After falling behind, 28-3, early in the third quarter, David Bailiff's bunch rallied 'round the flag, reducing the Oklahoma State lead to 11 points on two straight occasions and making the Cowboys sweat a bit down the stretch. Platooning quarterbacks Nick Fanuzzi and John Thomas Shepherd combined to complete 28 passes for 301 yards with only one interception, while Rice converted 7-of-16 third downs to keep OSU's offense off the field longer than coach Mike Gundy would have wanted.

Southern Miss 37, Virginia 34

Desperate times call for huge plays, and when the outlook for the Southern Miss football team was darker than the dead of night, Freddie Parham answered the call.

With his Golden Eagles trailing winless Virginia, 34-17, midway through the third quarter of Saturday afternoon's encounter in Hattiesburg, Miss., Parham took a kickoff 100 yards to the house. Just seconds after the Cavs had acquired a 17-point bulge, Parham's dash to paydirt immediately reversed momentum and put the visitors on the defensive. Virginia has a penchant for underachieving, so when Parham flipped the script, the Cavs began to worry about blowing another game, and sure enough, the Golden Eagles pounced at just the right time. Coach Larry Fedora's forces finally bottled up UVA quarterback Jameel Sewell, who riddled the USM secondary in the first two and a half quarters. Meanwhile, USM strung together a pair of touchdowns to pull out the win.

The game-breaker in this up-and-down affair came when USM running back Tory Harrison galloped 57 yards for a score, giving the Golden Eagles a lead they would never relinquish. Harrison deserved his fair share of accolades for putting his team over the top, but everyone on the winning sideline had to think Freddie Parham for swinging the pendulum in a wild and wacky ballgame.

Troy 27, UAB 14

How can a team go 4-for-12 on third downs, commit 15 penalties for 142 yards, cough up two turnovers, and still win by 13? If you're the Troy Trojans, and you have Levi Brown pitching the ball around the field.

Brown dissected UAB's secondary for 413 yards in Saturday's all-Alabama battle, as Larry Blakeney's Sun Belt squad knocked off Neil Callaway's crew from Conference USA. Troy's receivers ran wild, as Brown completed two passes of more than 60 yards, and six passes of more than 20 yards. Even with a boatload of mistakes, Troy was able to outpace the Blazers for most of the afternoon. UAB pulled within 10 (24-14) in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Trojans bottled up Blazer quarterback Joe Webb the rest of the way. Webb was only able to throw for 114 yards, as UAB couldn't create more drama in the game's final minutes.

Washington State 30, Southern Methodist 27 (OT)

The Southern Methodist football team taketh, and the Southern Methodist football team giveth away.

One week after stealing an unexpected win at UAB, the Mustangs--favored to beat lowly Washington State--gave back a game they had in their hip pocket. Leading 24-7 with just over one minute remaining in the third quarter at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., the Ponies ponied up to the WSU coffers, handing out touchdowns left and right. SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw two pick-sixes that enabled Wazzu to pull within seven points (27-20) midway through the fourth quarter. Given a pair of lifelines by Mitchell's balky throwing arm, the Cougars scored their second offensive touchdown of the day on a seven-yard scoring strike by quarterback Marshall Lobbestael with just 28 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, Mitchell fittingly threw one more interception, and when Cougar kicker Nico Grasu banged in a 39-yard boot on WSU's ensuing possession just moments later, SMU's collapse was complete. Mustangs coach June Jones still has his club sitting at 2-1 for the season, but there's no denying that SMU should be standing at 3-0 right now.

Marshall 17, Bowling Green 10

Marshall led Marshall to a win on a day when the Thundering Herd marshalled their resources in a very effective manner.

Running back Darius Marshall romped for 186 yards on 21 carries, including an 80-yard scoring gallop early in the fourth quarter, to lift the Herd to a gritty and impressive victory over a Bowling Green group that, just one week earlier, nearly upset Missouri. Marshall's been groping for an identity and a sense of strength on the gridiron, and in this game, coach Mark Snyder's team might have found the tonic it needed. Behind Darius Marshall--a running back who shared the name of his school--the Herd rolled up 246 rushing yards to keep the Falcons at bay. On the other side of the ball, the Herd allowed 383 passing yards on 43 completions from Bowling Green quarterback Tyler Sheehan, but Marshall never allowed big plays and forced Sheehan to dink and dunk the ball down the field. With BGSU kicker Jerry Phillips missing two field goals, and the Falcons coughing up a key fumble as well, Marshall was able to keep the score low despite Sheehan's prolific numbers.

Marshall hasn't maxed out in the Mark Snyder era, but after this gutsy triumph against Bowling Green, perhaps the Thundering Herd are on the verge of catching some lightning.

UCF 23, Buffalo 17

The University of Central Florida football team has scaled the heights under coach George O'Leary, only to fall from grace last season. Now, as a wounded program seeks healing, the up-and-down O'Leary era might have finally stopped the bleeding.

Buffalo, the defending MAC champions, produced an authoritative second quarter, smoking the Golden Knights to the tune of a 17-0 score. Punched in the mouth by the rampaging Bulls of coach Turner Gill, O'Leary's lads had to regroup at halftime, but it was hard to expect that UCF would find the formula needed to regain the magic of the 2007 C- USA champions.

Maybe now expectations will change.

UCF smothered Buffalo in the second half, shutting out the Bulls while slowly but steadily tacking on scores. Kicker Nick Cattoi nailed three second-half field goals--two of them over 40 yards--to provide the winning points for UCF. But while Cattoi was clutch for the home team in Orlando, the heroes of this contest resided on the defensive side of the ball. Buffalo thrives on a positive turnover differential, but on this night, it was the Golden Knights who scooped up four UB turnovers. With more steely showings like this, UCF will rise up the ranks in C-USA, and restore status to a program that fell off the map in 2008.


UTEP 38, New Mexico State 12

The Miners didn't play a big-league foe this week, but they notched the win they absolutely had to have. UTEP wasn't playing Kansas anymore, a godsend for a struggling squad that brightened its outlook in Las Cruces, N.M. Coach Mike Price's roster rolled to a 31-0 lead after three quarters behind a stifling defense that forced three turnovers while limiting the homestanding Aggies to just 97 passing yards. UTEP wore down New Mexico State as the second half progressed, posting a 17-0 third quarter and exerting its will on the ground. The Miners accumulated 156 rushing yards to go along with 182 passing yards. Running back Donald Buckram rolled for 113 yards on just 14 carries (good for an average of eight yards a pop) with two touchdowns for UTEP, which moves to 1-2 on the season.

Memphis 41, Tennessee-Martin 14

The Tigers committed three turnovers and converted just two third downs against their FCS opponent, but Memphis rolled anyway at the Liberty Bowl. Tommy West's club scored 24 unanswered points in the second quarter on the way to its first win of 2009. Memphis quarterback Tyler Bass--gaining the starting nod instead of Arkelon Hall--completed 22-of-28 passes against the visiting Skyhawks, hitting receiver Duke Calhoun on an 85-yard scoring strike late in the second quarter. On defense, Memphis's secondary proved to be a tough nut to crack, as the Skyhawks' rotation of three separate quarterbacks could only combine to compete 15-of-36 passes on the evening. As is the case with UTEP, Memphis moves to 1-2 after stumbling out of the gate.