Conference USA Week 13 Recap

SCORES

Houston 48, Tulsa 16

Central Florida 31, UTEP 14

SMU 27, Rice 24

Marshall 34, East Carolina 27 (OT)

Florida Atlantic 38, UAB 35

Southern Mississippi 44, Memphis 7

Hawaii 35, Tulane 23

The big story of week 13 in Conference USA was, without a doubt, the five-star performance of the Houston Cougars. It’s true that Houston entered Friday morning’s game with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (the contest began just after 11:10 a.m., local time in Oklahoma) as the owner of an 11-0 record, but the fact that needed to be kept in mind was that coach Kevin Sumlin’s crew had not tested itself outside Conference USA. Tulsa claimed an 8-3 record, but the Golden Hurricane’s three losses came against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Boise State, three teams ranked in the nation’s top 15. Tulsa figured to have more strength and heft in the trenches. More specifically, coach Bill Blankenship’s boys were supposed to be able to run the ball – not only in traditional handoffs, but with the scrambling ability of quarterback G.J. Kinne. Houston quarterback Case Keenum is an elite gunslinger, but he does not have the ability to run for big plays. Tulsa had more options at its disposal plus the advantage of playing at home. In many ways, Tulsa entered this game as the tougher and more tested team; it was quite reasonable to say that if these teams’ schedules had been reversed, the Golden Hurricane would have been 11-0 and Houston would have been 8-3 (not even 9-2). It was therefore reasonable to not necessarily doubt Houston, but to trust Tulsa. Houston did need to come up with a high-level performance in order to win this game and take home the Conference USA West Division title for just the second time in Keenum’s remarkable collegiate career.

How fully Houston matched the moment in the land where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

First and foremost, Houston’s defense – so often a source of defeat for the Cougars in the recent past, delivered the goods in a big way on Friday, particularly in the third quarter. Despite playing almost all of the first 11 minutes of that quarter on its own half of the field, Houston’s defense – thrown into a sudden-change situation by a Cougar fumble in UH territory – allowed just two field goals to a Tulsa offense that never landed the knockout blow. Tulsa had the wind in the third quarter, so the Golden Hurricane needed to accumulate touchdowns in order to play the fourth quarter with a lead (and against the wind). When Houston continued to stuff Tulsa’s running game due to unexpectedly strong performances a determined front four, the Cougars passed through the darkest storms and lived to tell about them. UH’s ability to stop so many promising Tulsa drives enabled the Cougars to stay in front on the scoreboard, and that’s what allowed this team to perform so well in the clutch. This was especially the case for Keenum himself.

Keenum had already delivered one third-quarter touchdown for his team on a fourth- down play. His 4th-and-10 strike to teammate Patrick Edwards enabled Houston to grab the 20-10 lead which became 20-16 later in the third quarter. Still in possession of the lead thanks to his defense, Keenum felt he and his coaching staff could take risks against Tulsa’s defense. During a timeout late in the third, Keenum and Sumlin conferred about their best play-selection options on 4th and 1 from the Tulsa 38. Sumlin told Keenum he could bet big, and when Keenum threw a perfect pass to Edwards for a 38-yard touchdown, Tulsa’s will was broken. Houston took a 27-16 lead and then added 21 fourth-quarter points to run away and hide. The Cougars won back their division after SMU took it away from them in 2010. Now, Houston will host the C-USA Championship Game for the first time since 2006.

In other news, Southern Mississippi – as expected – formally clinched C-USA’s East Division title by putting away Memphis. The Golden Eagles will travel to Houston to play for the league title next Saturday in the Lone Star State.

Marshall attained bowl eligibility, earning the right to claim a successful regular season in the process. The Thundering Herd fought off East Carolina in overtime to knock the Pirates out of bowl contention. Central Florida can’t go to a bowl this season, but the Golden Knights kept UTEP out of a bowl game by ripping the Miners, who finished with a 5-7 record.

CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW

Southern Mississippi at Houston – Noon Eastern time, ABC

It’s really rather simple: If Houston wins this game, the Cougars – as the highest-ranked champion from a non-automatic-qualifying FBS conference – will go to a BCS bowl. That bowl game will certainly be the Sugar Bowl. Standing in UH’s way is Southern Mississippi, which stumbled against Marshall and UAB but ripped Southern Methodist this season and also won at 8-4 Virginia. The key to this contest is as simple as Houston’s BCS bowl outlook: If Houston’s defense plays the way it did against SMU and Tulsa over the past two weeks, the Cougars will not be denied. Defense was a liability for Houston the past several seasons; the “other” side of the ball prevented Case Keenum’s offense from feeling comfortable in big games. The Heisman Trophy candidate always felt that he had to score 42, 49 or 56 points to have a reasonable chance of winning. Now that Houston’s defense is holding foes to under 20 points per game, the Cougars are playing with more confidence than ever before. Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis is a prolific passer who could light up the Houston secondary, but if the Cougars can contain Davis and hold USM to anything under 30 points, you might see some sugar cubes fly near the end of this game in H-town’s Robertson Stadium.