Conference USA Football Week Six (10/04 - 10/07/06) Preview

Due to time demands, we were unable to include a preview of the Tuesday night game between Tulsa and Southern Miss. We apologize, but there will be a recap of this game included in the weekly conference recap that will be posted on Sunday night or Monday morning. Thanks for visiting CUSA-Fans.com!

UCF @ Marshall - Wednesday @ 7:30 pm on ESPN2

Both teams enter this mid-week, nationally televised contest with 1-3 records and in desperate need of a win to get the ball rollin’ in the right direction for the rest of the season. UCF might even need it a little more at this point, considering they are already 0-1 in CUSA after dropping last week’s Tuesday night game to East division foe Southern Miss at the Citrus Bowl.

Although the teams have identical records, the way they got there is a lot different. You have Marshall who has faced a very difficult schedule that has included road trips to West Virginia, Kansas State and Tennessee. Their lone win was at home over I-AA Hofstra.

On the other hand, UCF has suffered two of its three losses at home. There was also the loss at “The Swamp” where the Golden Knights were annihilated by the Gators.

Marshall, who has had ten days to prepare for UCF, will be trying to get their running game going. They have a good back in Ahmad Bradshaw, but have not been able to establish much of a ground attack thus far this season. This has forced Bernie Morris and company to try and make plays in the passing game, which for the most hasn’t happened.

The Thundering Herd has to find a way shore up the running game, offensively and defensively, while finding an effective vertical passing attack.

UCF, who shot itself in the foot with four turnovers at home last week versus Southern Miss, will be looking to take advantage of their opportunities when they present themselves while developing some consistency. The Golden Knights moved the ball well last week against the Golden Eagles, but were plagued by the aforementioned turnovers.

Offensively, coach George O’Leary has accused quarterback Steven Moffett of having tunnel vision and focusing too much on star receiver Mike Walker. Against USM, Moffett began to spread the ball around some. The offensive line play also improved, as running back Kevin Smith rushed for 129 yards on 30 carries following his return from a one-game suspension.

Both teams are hungry for a win and Marshall is never an easy place to get one as they have great fan support. However, I think UCF is the better football team and this is the week they develop more consistency and pull through with a win.

Virginia @ East Carolina - Saturday @ 6 pm

Following an open date, East Carolina will welcome Al Groh’s Virginia Cavaliers into Greenville. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since East Carolina won 61-10 at UVA in 1975.

The Pirates played pretty well in their last outing against No. 4 West Virginia, but they definitely are not taking any “moral” victory from that game. They want to win, and now!

UVA, who had struggled to a 1-3 start, is coming in at 2-3 following a 37-0 win last Saturday at Duke. They held Duke to around 100 yards of total offense and were the beneficiary of a lot of Blue Devil turnovers. It was exactly what the Cavaliers, who have struggled offensively this season, needed.

The East Carolina offense is still trying to develop consistency in the running game to take some heat off of quarterback James Pinkney and the passing game. This lack of a consistent running presence has caused the Pirates to be poor red zone team this year, as they have only scored touchdowns on six of 13 trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line. The Pirates are really only averaging 16.5 points per game because 14 of their 80 points were scored on interception returns.

Defensively, ECU has improved every week, particularly at stopping the run. Statistics are often misleading, and they are if you’re using them to judge the Pirates’ ability to slow down the run. Their numbers against the run are skewed from having played Navy in the opener. Since then, ECU has held opponents to around 125 or so yards on the ground. This included holding No. 4 West Virginia and Heisman candidate Steve Slaton to 153 yards, which was 195 below their average.

The Pirates have done excellent job of forcing turnovers, having seized 14 through four games.

UVA seems to have found itself a starting quarterback in freshman Jameel Sewell. Sewell made his first start at Georgia Tech and went 14 of 20 for 105 yards against Duke. He was, however, sacked five times against the Blue Devils.

The Cavalier defense has played pretty well and continued to do so last week as they sacked Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis an astounding eight times. They also scored a defensive touchdown.

UVA now has some confidence, but East Carolina is at home and tired of being close. I foresee the Pirates winning a close, fairly low-scoring game (24-13, 23-17, something like that).

Virginia @ East Carolina detailed preview

Louisiana-Lafayette @ Houston

Houston, who was off to a 4-0 start, lost a heartbreaker in the Orange Bowl to Miami last weekend, 14-13. The Cougars will be looking to rebound as the Ragin’ Cajuns come to Robertson Stadium. Ricky Bustle’s team is 2-2 after back-to-back wins over North Carolina A&T and Eastern Michigan. Their two losses were at LSU (45-3) and Texas (51-7).

ULL has a strong rushing attack and a talented senior quarterback in Jerry Babb. Babb, who was the Sun Belt Conference preseason player of the year, can hurt you with his arm and legs. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the win over Eastern Michigan.

The Cougar defense allowed 400 plus yards of offense at Miami, but did a good job of keeping the Canes off the scoreboard.

Offensively, Kevin Kolb was solid again, completing a good percentage for slightly less than 200 yards. He wasn’t, however, able to get UH into the end zone. The rushing attack still needs improvement. Jackie Battle had 43 yards on nine carries, but also had a costly fumble inside the red zone. Expect them to turn to playmaker Anthony Aldridge some more after only getting him three touches at Miami.

Bustle’s Cajuns are improved, but the Cougars will be too much for ULL. UH takes this one by a minimum of two or three touchdowns.

Memphis @ UAB

UAB is coming off a gutsy 21-3 home win over Troy, while Memphis enters Birmingham after getting beaten handily by Tennessee, 41-7.

UAB was severely banged up and was without numerous starters last week, but it could have some of those back for Memphis. They were able to beat Troy with a dominating defensive performance in which they held the Trojans to only 202 yards of total offense. Offensively, quarterback Sam Hunt played well and the Blazers did enough to win the football game. He completed 11 of 16 passes for 145 yards, while also showing once again that he is a running threat, totaling 69 yards on the ground.

Memphis was dominated by Tennessee, and did very little in any phase of the game. Offensively, they were without running back Joseph Doss, who was suspended for the first half; however, they weren’t any better with him during the second half. On defense, UT racked up over 500 yards of offense as UM tried to transition to its new 4-3 scheme being employed by Tommy West.

Memphis is 1-3 and 0-1 in CUSA, while UAB is 2-3 and 1-0 in the league. The Tigers need this CUSA East Division match-up the most as they can ill afford to fall to 0-2 if they want to contend.

UAB’s defense is undoubtedly the best between the two, while Memphis’ offense is probably a little more potent with the passing of Martin Hankins. I see the Blazers winning a close one at home.

Rice @ Tulane

Both teams are entering this game coming off very emotional games, particularly Rice, who suffered the passing of freshman defensive back Dale Lloyd. The Owls were able to pull together and earn their first win of the season, defeating Army, 48-14, in West Point. The Green Wave played their first home game in nearly 22 months and suffered a close 33-28 loss to SMU. TU fell behind 17-0, but rallied to take a 21-20 lead before falling to the Mustangs.

Offensively, both teams played well last week, particularly in the passing game. Rice threw for 329 yards against Army, while posting 457 yards of total offense. Quarterback Chase Clement returned for the first time since the Houston game, and he played magnificently. Clement completed 29 of 39 passes for a career-high 299 yards and a school-record five touchdown passes. Jarett Dillard had a huge day receiving for the Owls. Clement’s return to quarterback also means the Owls have another receiving threat in back up quarterback Joel Armstrong.

Tulane’s Lester Ricard threw for nearly 400 yards against SMU, going 29 of 48 for 394 yards. He threw three second-half touchdown passes in leading the Green Wave back from a 17-0 halftime deficit.

Defensively, the Green Wave gave up a big day to SMU quarterback Justin Willis. Willis threw for 267 yards in the game.

Coming off the Army win, Rice has newfound confidence and is playing for Dale Lloyd, having dedicated their season to their former teammate. Tulane is looking to stay alive in the CUSA West race, as a loss would make it 0-3 and most likely eliminated from any shot at contending.

Rice will win in a close, reasonably high-scoring affair. I’ll take the Owls by a score of something like 31-27 or 34-24.

SMU @ UTEP

The Mustangs and Miners are both coming off wins in close, high scoring games where they were forced to hang on in the waning seconds. SMU won its third straight by winning an emotional contest, 33-28, over Tulane in the Green Wave’s return to the Louisiana Superdome. Meanwhile, UTEP edged New Mexico State in a 44-38 shootout that featured over 1100 yards of offense.

SMU continued to play well on offense versus Tulane, totaling 359 yards, including 267 through the air. Justin Willis was responsible for three touchdowns, but also threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

The defense held the Green Wave rushing attack to negative 33 yards and was able to sack TU quarterback Lester Ricard six times.

UTEP was finally able to establish a rushing attack, rushing for 123 yards. The Miners threw for 414 yards, totaling 537 yards in offense. The defense did allow 506 yards passing to the nation’s top passing offense, while once again neglecting to protect the football.

UTEP has given up some big numbers on defense, and SMU’s offense is playing pretty well right now; however, UTEP’s offense is also playing well and possesses the better passing offense. I like UTEP to win a close, fairly high-scoring affair at home in the Sun Bowl. I’ll say Miners 34 Mustangs 24.

Detailed SMU @ Tulane preview