By Al Myatt, Special to CNNSI.com
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, commenting on his team’s drop from No. 6 to No. 18
in the most recent Associated Press rankings following a 41-9 loss at North
Carolina, said, “You usually don’t drop that far.”
That is, unless you’re Louisville.
The Cardinals were ranked No. 25, the only Conference USA team in the
poll, before a 34-10 loss at Illinois, now ranked No. 22. With that
loss, Louisville dropped to No. 43 -— based on the number of points it
received in the AP poll.
FSU lost to an 0-3 team and dropped 12 spots. Louisville lost to an
unbeaten Big Ten team and fell 18 spots. What’s coach Bowden complaining about?
Sure, the Seminoles have a lot more tradition, but the situation embodies
C-USA’s struggle for recognition.
“The coaches in the league understand what we have to do to gain
national recognition,” said Louisville coach John L. Smith. “We have to
step outside the league and win. Not only that but win our bowl games as well.”
Thus far this season, the league has stumbled more than it has stepped up. Last week was no exception. TCU took a step back with a 27-24
overtime loss to Northwestern (La.) State, a Division I-AA program.
Tulane fell to 0-4 with a 36-29 loss to Central Florida. Houston was
outscored 53-26 by Texas.
The losses by Louisville and Houston were both seen on ESPN networks, costing opportunities to make nationwide impressions. But as East
Carolina coach Steve Logan has pointed out, the occasional upset doesn’t
really have an impact across the board. The Sagarin ratings, one of the
components in the Bowl Championship Series standings, support that contention.
C-USA was rated eighth among Division I-A conferences in 1999, the year
that ECU beat Miami and Cincinnati upset Wisconsin. The league was rated
eighth in 1998 and 2000 as well.
Guess where C-USA is this season with
its 11-13 non-conference mark and 0-5 record against Top 25 teams? Eighth again, although its current rating of 65.09 is lower than
it has been at the end of the last three seasons.
Southern Miss is the only team in 10-member C-USA without a loss. The
Golden Eagles beat Louisiana-Lafayette 35-10 last week to move to 2-0.
Even that victory didn’t look as impressive as USM’s last two
performances against the Rajin Cajuns, a 55-0 trouncing in 1998 and a
48-0 pounding in 1999.
Despite missing another shutout, Southern Miss held Louisiana-Lafayette
to just seven net yards rushing.
“I thought we really played well on defense,” said Southern Miss coach
Jeff Bower. “We had the ball over 40 minutes in the game, and that is
really a credit to the defense. They forced a lot of three-and-outs and
they created turnovers.”
Southern Miss won’t miss its opportunity to get a high-profile win for
C-USA. Its game with Alabama, postponed on Sept. 15, has been reset for Thu., Nov. 29. The TCU-Southern Miss game has been
moved from Fri. Nov. 30 to Fri., Dec. 7, as a result
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Freshman Marvin Townes of East Carolina leads the league in kickoff return yardage
(37.0) and punt returns (18.0). Townes is also the second leading rusher
for the Pirates with 65 yards on 13 carries.
Townes, 6-foot and 180
pounds, has exceptional quickness. During a redshirt season last year,
coach Steve Logan occasionally marveled at the difficulty the first unit
defense was having trying to tackle Townes on the scout team.
Townes
played on the high school level at Warren County, a 2-A program near the
Virginia border.
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HOT:
ECU RB Leonard Henry
Ran for 111 yards, caught three passes for 66 yards and scored two TDs in win over William & Mary.
NOT:
Tulane defense
Has allowed 205 points in four games.
HOT:
UAB QB Jeff Aaron
Had 253 yards of total offense against Army.
NOT:
TCU punter Joey Biasatti
Had a second-half punt blocked, the Frogs' first since '98.
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Conference USA officials decided in March 2000 to schedule eight
conference games in 2001 before changing their minds and waiting until 2002 -- when the NCAA will allow a 12-game regular season -- to make the jump from seven.
But many C-USA teams
had to schedule Division I-AA teams to fill the resulting non-conference
void. And the situation burned TCU as it hosted I-AA Northwestern (La.)
State and saw its 11-game home winning streak halted with a 27-24
overtime loss to the Demons.
The Demons had 447 yards of offense and prompted TCU coach
Gary Patterson to say, “If you don’t come ready to play, you’ll get beat.” |
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 Utah's ECU linebacker Greg LeFeve
Had a career-high 13 tackles against William
& Mary, including three for losses. He also forced a fumble that led to
an ECU score and blocked a field goal in earning C-USA defensive player
of the week honors.
UAB kicker Rhett Gallego
Scored 13 points in the Army game and was named
the league’s special teams player of the week. He hit all seven of his
PATs and made field goals of 45 and 34 yards.
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Southern Miss and UAB played for the first time last season, with the
Golden Eagles prevailing 33-30 in two overtimes. They meet again at
Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss. at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“UAB is 2-1 and they are a good football team,” said Golden Eagles coach
Jeff Bower. “They have 10 starters back from a nationally-ranked defense
a year ago. Of 11 starters on defense, 10 are seniors. They are very
experienced guys who played a lot of football. They have two potential
first-round draft picks up front in Eddie Freeman and Brian Thomas.”
Southern Miss quarterback Jeff Kelly completed 25 of 34 passes for 261
yards and two touchdowns against the Blazers last season at Legion Field
in Birmingham.
UAB’s Jegil Dugger, who is also back, had 101 yards rushing on 26
carries and was one of only two ball carriers to gain 100 or more yards
on Southern Miss last season.
Other league games send Memphis to Louisville and TCU to Houston.
Army visits Boston College, East Carolina is at Syracuse, and Tulane
hosts Southern in non-conference matchups.
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Army had four passes intercepted and lost two fumbles at UAB. Omari
Thompson of the Cadets was a bright spot with eight kickoff returns for
193 yards. ... True freshman quarterback Gino Guidugli of Cincinnati
completed 22 of 36 passes for 206 yards with one interception in the
Bearcats’ first loss to Miami of Ohio since 1998. LaDaris Vann of the
Bearcats has 27 catches in three games. Cincy punter Adam Wulfeck
averaged 50.8 yards on five punts. ... ECU quarterback David Garrard
became the program’s career passing yardage leader on Saturday and needs
seven more touchdown passes to match leader Marcus Crandell’s total of
58 in that category. ECU has seven touchdowns and four field goals in
its 11 trips inside the opposition’s 20-yard line this season. ...
Houston junior quarterback Kelly Robertson completed 20 of 33 passes for
364 yards and three touchdowns in a 53-26 loss to Texas. Cougars
receivers Brandon Middleton (117 yards) and Orlando Iglesias (100)
became the first Houston tandem in six seasons to go over the century
mark in reception yardage in the same game. ... Louisville quarterback
Dave Ragone was 22 of 39 for 309 yards and a touchdown at Illinois but
was intercepted three times. Deion Branch of the Cards had nine catches
for 174 yards. ... Memphis’ defense did not allow a touchdown in a 17-9
win over South Florida, which joins C-USA in football in 2003. ...
Converted wide receiver Tim Blackwell of Southern Miss ran for 78 yards
and three touchdowns against Louisiana-Lafayette. USM’s Brant Hanna has
kicked 53 straight PATs. ... TCU had an 11-game home winning streak
stopped. ... Patrick Ramsey passed for 280 yards and Mewelde Moore ran
for 134 in Tulane’s 36-29 loss to Central Florida. ... UAB’s 55 points
were the most since the program moved to Division I-A in 1996. The
Blazers defense
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