Conference USA Football Week Five Recap - 9/30/06

Southern Miss 19 - UCF 14 (September 26th)

Take nothing away from Southern Miss because it went on the road and did what was necessary in order to win the Conference USA opener in Orlando; however, the Golden Knights have to be kicking themselves over the way they lost this one as their miscues on offense and special teams led to all of the Golden Eagles’ nineteen points.

UCF, who had struggled in its first three games, was hoping for a big game versus USM. Star running back Kevin Smith was returning to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension and the Golden Knights had an opportunity to garner some positive national television exposure with a win over the Golden Eagles.

UCF moved the ball well in the first half, but squandered scoring opportunities. Their biggest missed opportunity was when they came up empty-handed following a 16-play, 85-yard drive that consumed over seven minutes of the clock. Torres’ 23-yard field goal attempt hit the right upright.

It didn’t take USM long to capitalize, as they would be in the end zone three plays and 1:26 later. The 80-yard drive culminated with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Jeremy Young to Chris Johnson, who made an excellent run after the catch to get into the end zone.

Southern Miss led 10-0 at the half following a 19-yard McCaleb field goal. This was setup when USM blocked a UCF punt, which was the result of a high snap that the Golden Knights’ punter Aaron Horne had to kick on the run after chasing the errant snap down.

UCF cut it to 10-7 on its first possession of the second half. The scoring drive was fueled by 36 and 29 yards completions from Moffett to star receiver Mike Walker.

It appeared that UCF was going to take a 14-10 lead, but Smith fumbled the football on the one-yard line. USM recovered in the end zone for a touchback. The Golden Eagles proceeded to make the score 13-7, driving to the UCF 23 in 12 plays before capping the drive with a 30-yard McCaleb field goal.

The hole got deeper for the Golden Knights after USM’s Jerome Lyons sunk under an attempted slant pass by Moffett and returned the interception four yards for a score, making it 19-7 with nearly ten and a half minutes remaining.

UCF would trim the lead to 19-14 with just less than six minutes left, but Moffett would get sacked three times on UCF’s last gasp drive. USM proceeded to run out the clock.

Southern Miss’ Jeremy Young threw for a career-high 184 yards, while freshman Damion Fletcher finished with 106 yards, giving him his third straight 100-yard game.

Kevin Smith ran for 130 yards in his return to the UCF lineup, but his solid performance will be overshadowed by his costly fumble inside the USM two.

Miami (FL) 14 - Houston 13

The Houston Cougars came into the game as a 16-point underdog despite being off to their best start since 1990 at 4-0. Miami entered desperately seeking a win following a disappointing 1-2 start, which left them doing a little soul-searching during their off week last week.

The Canes jumped on top, 7-0, only three and a half minutes into the game, and held that lead through the first quarter. However, the Cougars took advantage of two Kyle Wright interceptions, converting them into ten, second quarter points. UH took a 10-7 lead into the locker room at the Orange Bowl, where the natives were restless as they booed Coach Coker and the Canes as they went off the field.

Houston, leading 13-7 with a little over four minutes left in the third, appeared as though it would extend the lead to either 16-7 or 20-7, but the momentum took a huge turn toward Miami. Jackie Battle fumbled the football and the Miami defender at the Canes eight-yard line caught it. The Canes would convert the turnover into a touchdown and a ten to fourteen point swing took place.

The “U” began to wear down Houston toward the end of third quarter and took a 14-13 lead with 1:24 left in the period. This domination of the line of scrimmage and clock would carryover into the final quarter, as Houston had the ball for only 3:25 in the fourth. The Canes ran 27 plays and gained 127 yards in their two, ball-controlling fourth quarter possessions.

#15 Tennessee 41 - Memphis 7

After having played their in-state rival well in recent years, Tommy West and the Memphis Tigers had no answer for the No. 15 Volunteers on Saturday at the Liberty Bowl in their 41-7 blowout loss.

Memphis’ running back Joseph Doss was suspended for the first half due to being late to a pre-game meeting. Doss said that he normally uses his cell phone for an alarm clock, but was unable to do so after dropping it in the toilet.

Perhaps this was foreshadowing of how the Vols would flush Doss and the Tigers.

The Tennessee offense continued its resurgence. Quarterback Erik Ainge was nearly perfect, completing 23 of 27 attempts for 324 yards and four touchdowns in slightly over three quarters of work.

It is never a good sign when the highlight of the game for you is your punter pinning your opponent inside their five-yard line three times and this was the case for Tigers.

The Vols totaled 566 yards of offense, while holding Memphis to only 121 yards. UT converted an amazing 11 of 16 third downs.

Tennessee also did it with their rushing attack and was led by LaMarcus Coker, who ran for 125 yards on 26 carries while making his first career start for the Vols.

UAB 21 - Troy 3

The Blazers played without nine starters, including five on the offensive side of the ball, but they produced a gutsy effort in improving to 2-3 with a 21-3 victory over Troy at Legion Field on Saturday.

Quarterback Sam Hunt and wide receiver Sylvester Mencer led the UAB offensive attack. Hunt did it with his arm and legs. He completed 11 of 16 for 145 yards, while also being the Blazers’ leading rusher with 69 yards on 21 carries. Five of those completions were to Mencer, who finished with 96 receiving yards in the game. The biggest was a 29-yard touchdown at the end of the third quarter that extended the lead to 21-3.

Defensively, UAB used a solid pass rush to keep the Trojans’ spread attack in check for the majority of the night. The Blazers’ defense held Troy to 202 yards of total offense, including only 58 on the ground.

Coach Watson Brown emphasized that this was a great team win for his club and a game that they couldn’t have won had they not played well as a team due to having so many players out with injuries.

Rice 48 - Army 14

The Rice football program suffered the tragic loss of 19-year old freshman defensive back Dale Lloyd on Monday. Give Todd Graham, his staff, and the Owls’ players a tremendous amount of credit for finding a way to focus and pick up a huge road win, 48-14, over what appeared to be an upstart Army team.

Dale Lloyd would have been proud of the performance that his team produced on Saturday, and don’t be so sure that he wasn’t watching what took place in West Point.

His team hung his no. 39 jersey in their locker room at Army’ Michie Stadium, and also wore a no.39 decal on their helmets above the mascot head and between its outstretched wings.

A inspired performance by the Owls resulted in new coach Todd Graham’s first victory.

Chase Clement completed 29 of 39 passes for 299 yards and a Rice-record five touchdown passes. It marked the first time since 1981 that a Rice quarterback had thrown four or more touchdown passes in a game. Clement also led the Owls in rushing, finishing with 64 yards on 11 carries.
Clement’s top target was Jarett Dillard. Dillard caught an amazing 11 balls for 171 yards and three touchdowns.

Quinton Smith ended the day with 51 yards on 13 carries.

SMU 33 - Tulane 28

Tulane was playing at the Louisiana Superdome for the first time in nearly 22 months, but SMU was able to survive a furious, second half Green Wave rally to win 33-28.

Chris Scelfo’s club started slowly and the Mustangs took a 17-0 lead into the locker room.

The Green Wave still trailed a little over halfway through the third quarter when they got the spark they needed when David Skehan picked off a Justin Willis pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, cutting the SMU lead to 17-7.

The score was 17-7 heading into the final quarter, which needless to say, was a wild one. After SMU took a 20-7 lead only 11 seconds in, Tulane began its offensive assault on the strength of the arm of quarterback Lester Ricard.

Ricard threw touchdown passes of 35 and 11 yards over the next seven minutes to give TU a 21-20 lead with just under eight minutes left.

SMU answered immediately, returning the ensuing kickoff 100 yards and retaking the lead at 26-21. The Mustangs built their lead to 33-21 with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Justin Willis to Emmanuel Sanders.

Tulane, much like its home city, didn’t have any quit. The Green Wave trimmed the lead to 33-28 with just over two and a half minutes remaining, but SMU ran out the clock after Tulane’s onsides kick attempt failed.

UTEP 44 - New Mexico State 38

If you prefer a defensive struggle, then I hope you weren’t in El Paso, Texas and the Sun Bowl on Saturday night.

This was expected to be a shootout and needless to say, it was. Consider some of these mind boggling offensive numbers: 149 offensive plays, 82 points, 1110 total yards, 920 passing yards, and 99 passing attempts (73 by NMSU). In the end, UTEP won this wild shootout despite only running 53 plays compared to New Mexico State’s 96.

UTEP used a career day by Johnnie Lee Higgins, Jr. to defeat New Mexico State, 44-38, and win the Interstate 10 battle for a third consecutive year. The Miners, who won despite allowing over 500 yards passing to the Aggies, jumped out to a 17-0 lead before withstanding a strong New Mexico State rally.

UTEP took a 17-0 lead into the second quarter, following a strong first quarter performance that was highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Palmer to Johnnie Lee Higgins, Jr.

There were 34 points scored in the second quarter, including 20 by Mumme’s Aggies, which resulted in a 31-20 halftime lead for the Miners.

NMSU used an 11-point third quarter to force a 31-31 tie headed into the final quarter, but UTEP would respond with 10 unaswered points, which included the third touchdown reception by Higgins, Jr. that made the score 41-31.

The Aggies kept airing it out and cut the lead to 41-38 with 5:43 left when Chase Holbrook hooked up with Derek Dubois.

UTEP tacked on a Reagan Schneider 28-yard field goal with just over two minutes remaining to make it a 44-38 game.

The Miners clinched it when they intercepted the Aggies’ Chase Holbrook with 52 seconds left.

Holbrook finished the day 48 of 73 for 506 yards and four touchdowns, and only one interception. His number one target was A.J. Harris is pulled in ten receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown.

Jordan Palmer, while throwing the ball only 29 times, threw for 414 yards. He completed 18 of 26 for three touchdowns, but did throw two interceptions.