By Al Myatt, Special to CNNSI.com
Offense sells tickets and defense wins championships.
That old adage came to mind when the score of Southern Miss' win
over UAB -- 3-0 -- was displayed on the bottom of the television screen on
Saturday night.
The Golden Eagles have won or shared three of the five Conference USA
championships since the league started, and solid defense has generally
been a characteristic of coach Jeff Bower's program. USM has allowed
just 19 points in a 3-0 start this season and remains the only C-USA
team without a loss.
The only points for Southern Miss came on a 25-yard field goal by Brant
Hanna early in the second quarter. UAB's usually-reliable kicker, Rhett
Gallego, had missed a 25-yarder in the first quarter. An ineligible
receiver negated a UAB score in the third quarter and the Blazers were
forced to resort to Gallego for a tying attempt from 28 yards. That try
was blocked by Terrell Paul of the Golden Eagles.
"Special teams really stepped up and made some plays." Bower said. "The
blocked field goal was a huge play in the ball game. We had a great push
from a number of guys."
USM lost possession on a fumble on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line
in the fourth quarter.
Golden Eagles punter Mark Haulman helped keep UAB pinned deep as he had
an average of 42.4 yards, including a career-best 62-yarder. He was
named the league's special teams player of the week.
"That was key in the game in providing us with good field position,"
Bower said. "Most of the time when they had the football, they had to go
a long way. That is something we have done a real good job on."
Another phase that Southern Miss has done a good job on is turnover
margin where the Eagles are a plus seven for the season, a plus 2.33 per game.
"When you look at the turnover margin, we're tied for second
[nationally]," Bower said.
And how valuable is that?
"The combined record of the top 10 teams in turnover margin is 34-2,"
Bower noted. "The importance of taking care of the football and making
people go a long way are pretty significant."
Louisville, the defending league champion, bounced back from a 34-10
loss at Illinois to win its C-USA opener 38-21 at home over Memphis.
Cardinals coach John L. Smith was pleased to see a productive ground
game against a Tigers team that had six starters back from the nation's
top rushing defense in 2000.
"We were embarrassed at Illinois," Smith said. "We have to be a better
rushing team than we were a week ago and we did a good job running the
ball. We have to build on that. It takes a lot of heat off of David [Ragone] ."
Tony Stallings rushed for a career-high 155 yards and Ragone threw two
touchdown passes to Deion Branch.
 |
|---|
|
TCU sophomore Corey Connally, a third-string tailback, had just seven carries
for eight yards prior to drawing a starting assignment at Houston
because of injuries to other Horned Frogs personnel. The 5-foot-11,
187-pounder from Crowley, Texas responded with 30 carries for 199 yards
and a touchdown in a 34-17 win over the Cougars.
His score came on an 80-yard run.
"He reminded me of another running back we used to have here," said TCU
coach Gary Patterson, who was referring to LaDainian Tomlinson, now with
the San Diego Chargers.
"He got his opportunity and he knew what to do when he got it,"
commented Cougars coach Dana Dimel.
Connally was named C-USA's offensive player of the week.
|
|
|
|
 |
|---|
|
HOT:
ECU RB Leonard Henry
Leads C-USA and ranks fifth nationally in rushing yards per game with
137.5.
NOT:
Memphis defense
Aallowed an average of 111 yards rushing in
three previous games before giving up more than double that -- 235 --
to a Louisville team that had averaged just 106 going in.
HOT:
Tulane K Seth Marler
He kicked four field goals last week and is
9-for-9 for the season with two from 50 yards or more.
NOT:
Army
The Cadets have been outscored 86-13 in their last two losses
to UAB and Boston College.
|
|
|
| |
 |
|---|
|
East Carolina hoped to catch Syracuse by surprise with an onside kick
after the Pirates had taken a 30-29 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The ploy failed, and the Orangemen got the ball at the ECU 46-yard line.
Syracuse scored four plays later to take the lead for keeps.
Pirates
coach Steve Logan defended the move, saying ECU had to take such risks
to win and that they were prepared to respond to the
consequences. He said the move would have taken the Carrier Dome
crowd out of the game.
|
|
|
|
 |
|---|
|
 TCU safety Charlie Owens
He nabbed his second C-USA defensive player of the
week honor after forcing three fumbles that led to 13 points at Houston.
He also had five tackles.
Tulane QB Patrick Ramsey
He completed 18 of 36 for 269 yards and two
touchdowns without an interception.
Southern Miss CB Greg Brooks
The sophomore had two interceptions against UAB.
|
|
|
| |
 |
|---|
|
East Carolina hasn't played at North Carolina in 20 years. After an 0-3
start, the Tar Heels have been rejuvenated by wins over Florida State
and N.C. State. Each program has 54 wins and just one losing season
going back to the 1994 season.
ECU has 67 players in its program from North Carolina and 39 from other states.
"Basically our whole team is from North Carolina," said ECU defensive
end John Williamson. "The emotion is going to be real high but we've
just got to take it as the next game. We're not going to let what
happened last year against Virginia Tech happen to us again."
Pirates coach Steve Logan felt his team was too high emotionally in a
45-28 loss to the Hokies last season.
Logan said some signals and audibles would have to be changed because of
former ECU personnel now at UNC.
ECU inside linebacker Pernell Griffin, the team's leading tackler with
69 stops, is among several Pirates who have played in high school state
championship games at 60,000-seat Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, which is
sold out. He doesn't plan to restrain his emotion.
"Offensive players may have to do that to an extent because they have to
remember their assignments and execute," Griffin said. "There's going to
be a lot of junk talking and a lot of hard hitting."
Pirates split end Torey Morris broke a bone in his foot at Syracuse and
may be out for the season. He had eight catches for a team-high 192
yards with two touchdowns.
In league games, Houston is at Army, Tulane visits Cincinnati, and
Southern Miss is at Memphis.
Louisville gets national exposure when its hosts Colorado State in an
ESPN Thursday night game.
|
|
|
| |
 |
|---|
|
Mewelde Moore became the first Tulane back since 1970 to rush for over
200 yards in a game and is currently seventh nationally in rushing yards
per game (136.6). ... Cincinnati's LaDaris Vann is third nationally in
receptions per game with 9.0. ... Louisville's Deion Branch leads
Division I-A in total receiving yards with 592. ... Southern Miss'
scoring defense of 6.3 points per game is second nationally. The Golden
Eagles are third in rushing defense at 47.0 yards per game. ...
Louisville is third nationally in turnovers gained with 13. ... Army
hosts Houston, which edged the Cadets 31-30 last season after Emile
White blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the
game. ... Tulane is 4-0 in C-USA games against Cincinnati and leads the
series, 10-2. The Green Wave and Bearcats played the very first league
game in 1996. ... Houston's Kelly Robertson leads C-USA in passing yards
per game with 276.0. Cougars safety Hanik Milligan had 22 tackles
against TCU. ... Dante Brown of Memphis ran for 119 yards at Louisville.
... UAB's 3-0 loss to Southern Miss was the lowest scoring league game
ever.
|
|
|
