Conference USA Football Week Six Recap - 10/03 - 10/07/06

Tulsa 20 - Southern Miss 6 (October 3rd)

The passing and running of junior quarterback Paul Smith propelled Tulsa to a 20-6 win over Southern Miss in the Conference USA opener before a national television audience on ESPN2 on Tuesday night. Smith went 16 of 25 while throwing for 201 yards. He also ran for 69 yards.

The Golden Hurricane also got a strong performance by running back Courtney Tennial, an Oklahoma transfer, who made his first career start. Tennial finished with 120 yards on 21 carries.

The first half featured a lot of offense as Tulsa gained 213 yards and Southern Miss posted 184; however, neither team was able to put many points on the board and Tulsa went into the locker room with a 7-6 lead.

In the second quarter, Jeff Bower opted to replace starting quarterback Jeremy Young with back-up Stephen Reaves. Reaves provided the spark that Bower and the Golden Eagles were looking for, as he engineered a 71-yard drive that resulted in a 29-yard Darren McCaleb field goal. Reaves was very sharp in the drive, getting the ball out of his hand quickly and throwing with great precision in the short to intermediate passing game.

The second half was much different than the first, as USM could not establish the run with Fletcher. Fletcher, who had rushed for nearly 100 yards in the first half, ran for only 17 in the second half. This forced the Golden Eagles to go to the air more than they would prefer. Reaves and company did not operate with the same precision as they had in the opening half. Southern Miss would finish with only 59 total yards in the half.

USM’s inability to put anything together offensively resulted in Tulsa controlling the ball for nearly 11 minutes of the third quarter. This would show in the fourth quarter as Tulsa went on two touchdown drives that would go along way toward sealing the win. The second of the two scoring drives was fueled by a spectacular 50-yard reception by Idris Moss, who tipped the ball before making a diving catch.

Defending CUSA Tulsa improves to 4-1 overall with the win, and is off to a good start in trying to defend its title. Southern Miss falls to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in CUSA. Expect the Golden Eagles to be there to the end in the East Division race.

UCF 23 - Marshall 22 (October 4th)

Matthew McConaughey, who stars in the film “We Are Marshall”’ that will be released on December 22 nd, was in Huntington on Wednesday night for the Thundering Herd’s nationally televised ESPN2 game versus Central Florida. The movie’s director, McG, was also present for Marshall’s conference opener. They nearly witnessed a dramatic win for the Thundering Herd; however, the MU defense couldn’t stop UCF, which was the case for the majority of the night.

The UCF offense racked up 488 yards of offense, which included 275 on the ground. Starting quarterback Stephen Moffett was pulled for Kyle Israel early in the game, but Moffett would return in the second half to lead the Golden Knights’ attack. Moffett completed 13 of 19 for 165 yards and a touchdown. Kevin Smith led UCF’s big ground performance, rushing for 166 yards on 26 carries. Mike Walker and Javid James had five receptions each, totaling 81 and 86 yards, respectively.

The Thundering Herd offense gained 366 yards on the night. Quarterback Bernie Morris went 14 of 22 with one touchdown and one interception. MU’s leading receiver was Hiram Moore, who hauled in seven passes for 62 yards.

The Marshall offense finally established a rushing attack, as Ahmad Bradshaw racked up 181 yards on only 18 carries. Bradshaw’s biggest run was a 32-yard touchdown about midway through the third quarter, which cut the UCF lead to 20-16. UCF, who had a 13-9 lead at the half, had extended their lead to 20-9 with just under ten minutes to play in the third quarter when Moffett hooked up with Walker for a 28-yard touchdown.

Anthony Binswanger put the Herd in the lead at 22-20 with three minutes left, drilling a career long 50-yard field goal.

O’Leary’s Golden Knights, who were in danger of falling to 0-2 in the league, responded with a clutch drive that setup Michael Torres’ game winning 22-yard field goal with seven seconds left.

UCF improves to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in CUSA, while Marshall falls to 1-4 and 0-1 in the league.

East Carolina 31 - Virginia 21

East Carolina, who had players suffering from the flu earlier in the week, turned in a healthy performance on Saturday night. The Pirates used 24 first half points and a newfound rushing attack to defeat the Cavaliers, 31-21, at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

During their open date, the Pirates made some adjustments along the offensive line in an effort to improve their rushing attack that had averaged only slightly less than 100 yards per game. Their work paid off, and it didn’t take long for them to see the fruit of their labor. East Carolina went 87 yards in eight plays, taking only 2:09 off the clock. The drive, which featured big runs by Pinkney and Fractious, was capped on a five-yard touchdown run by walk-on Brandon Simmons.

Trailing 10-0 following a 32-yard Robert Lee field goal, UVA answered with a quick two-play, 66-yard scoring drive that was capped with a 22-yard reverse pass from Emmanuel Byers to Deyon Williams.

The Pirates added two, second quarter touchdowns and took a 24-7 lead into the locker room.

UVA was able to trim the lead to 24-14 less than two minutes into the second half. The Cavs were the beneficiaries of a short field after the defense forced a three and out before blocking the Pirates’ punt.

They were unable to get any closer though, as the Pirates controlled the football for most of the second half with over 20 minutes of possession time.

East Carolina’s final score came with just a little over two minutes remaining, as Skip Holtz opted to fake the 19-yard field goal. Ryan Dougherty went two yards and the Pirates made it 31-14.

ECU improves to 2-3 overall (1-1 CUSA) and will host defending conference champion Tulsa next week.

UAB 35 - Memphis 29

The inaugural “Battle for the Bones” took place in Birmingham on Saturday night with the Blazers being on the winning end of a wild 35-29 affair and they took home the 100-pound rack of bronze ribs. The game received its name due to its participants being located in cities that are famous for their barbecue.

Two teams, who entered the game struggling offensively, put up over 800 total yards. This offensive explosion happened right away when Memphis’ Martin Hankins hooked up with Ryan Scott for an 82-yard touchdown.

UAB was led offensively by running back Corey White, who rushed for 129 yards on 28 carries and three touchdowns. White’s first score capped an 11-play, 75-yard Blazer drive that knotted the game at seven.

Memphis led 26-21 late in the third quarter, when White scored two more touchdowns to give the Blazers a 35-26 lead that they would not relinquish.

White wasn’t UAB’s only 100-yard rusher in the game, as Marculus Elliot ran for 109 yards on only 11 carries. The Blazers finished the night with 279 yards on the ground.

Martin Hankins led the Memphis offense, completing 22 of 30 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Scott and Duke Calhoun had six receptions each, for 120 and 81 yards, respectively.

With the win, UAB remains in the lead of the CUSA East Division race, as they are now 3-3 overall and 2-0 in CUSA. Memphis falls to 1-4 and 0-2 in CUSA.

UTEP 24 - SMU 21

UTEP notched a 24-21 come from behind win over SMU on Saturday. The Miners led 17-0 at the half, but the Mustangs would rally to take a 21-17 lead; however, UTEP regained the lead with just under eight and a half minutes remaining when Marcus Thomas hooked up with Daniel Robinson for a 27-yard touchdown on a halfback pass.

In the first half, the Miners’ defense dominated the action. They held SMU to only 38 yards of total offense.

SMU’s offense woke up in the second half and quarterback Corey Slater threw touchdown passes to Bobby Chase and Emmanuel Sanders to pull the Mustangs within 17-14 after three quarters of play.

SMU would take the lead at 21-17 with slightly less than 12 minutes to play when Jonathan Lindley returned a fumble 80 yards for a touchdown.

Jordan Palmer led the Miners on a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive on their opening possession, but their next offensive touchdown didn’t come until the game winner in the fourth quarter.

Palmer went 25 of 34 for 271 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Palmer spread the ball around to eight different receivers, while Johnnie Lee Higgins, Jr. led the way with six receptions for 62 yards.

UTEP is now 3-2 and SMU fell to 3-3, as the Miners broke their three game win streak.

UTEP squeaks by SMU

Tulane 38 - Rice 24

Lester Ricard threw for 344 yards and a season-high four touchdowns, while helping Tulane defeat Rice, 38-24.

The Green Wave also did it on the ground, as they rushed for 143 yards. Junior Matt Forte’ ran for 178 yards on only 19 carries, including a long of 64.

Tulane had 487 yards of total offense, while posting their second win of the season.

TU took a 7-0 lead only a little less than two minutes in when Ricard hooked up with Jeremy Williams for a 21-yard touchdown. He would throw two more first half touchdown passes to help the Green Wave to a 24-10 halftime advantage.

The Owls would get within seven on two different occasions in the second half, but could not get any closer. Chase Clement went 25 of 47 for 271 yards and two touchdowns, while throwing one interception. Quinton Smith ran for 86 yards on 19 carries.

Tulane’s defense played very well; as it posted 13 pass break-ups and three sacks. It also recorded a huge number of tackles for loss, ending the day with 13.

A big difference in the game was third down play. The TU defense held Rice to 6 of 16 on third down, while the Green Wave offense was able to convert 8 of 14 attempts.

Louisiana-Lafayette 31 - Houston 28

Houston entered the game at 4-1 after losing a heartbreaker last week at Miami (Florida). It looked as though they would rebound and get to 5-1, as they led 21-0 early in the second quarter.

Ricky Bustle’s Ragin’ Cajuns would not quit though, and eventually came back and beat UH on a touchdown with slightly over a minute left in the game.

ULL gained control of the game in the second half due to its dominant rushing attack. It rushed for 269 yards to only 38 for Houston. Tyrell Fenroy led the Ragin’ Cajuns with 110 yards on 24 attempts. UH’s struggles to run the ball continued in this one.

Houston star quarterback Kevin Kolb completed 24 of 31 for 367 yards and two touchdowns. Jeron Harvey was Kolb’s top target, hauling in six receptions for 118 yards.

ULL completed its large comeback by driving 85 yards in 18 plays for a touchdown, scoring with only 1:02 left. A four-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Belton from Jerry Babb capped the winning drive. Babb was 15 of 29 for 146 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception.