C-USA Power Rankings: Week 9

Tulsa is still in West title hunt, but the Golden Hurricane is going to need some help. Four teams in the East, including the Memphis Tigers, are sitting on one loss, leaving that division, well, a big mess. Who would beat who on a neutral field if they played tomorrow? Let’s get to it.

1. East Carolina – The Pirates disappointed me against NC State, losing by a lot to a team that is improving, but still the ACC’s worst team. QB Robert Kass had another nice game, but ECU got next to nothing on the ground, using 34 carries to get just 96 yards. A special game ball to ECU’s punter Matt Dodge, who averaged 43.7 yards a kick while dropping 4 inside the 20. The schedule is awfully easy for here on out, but I think the Pirates could get a scare from either Tulane or Memphis late.
2. Houston – The Cougars are playing great right now, with only a hang up against ECU keeping them from major front runner status in the West. It’s a shame Anthony Aldridge is only the third best running back in the C-USA this year behind Forte and Smith; in any other year he’d getting much more national press. Poor special teams play and penalties hurt the Cougs against ECU. Can they clean up their act and out shoot UTEP?
3. UCF – The Knights got back on the horse with a resounding win over Tulsa this week. Now UCF plays in Hattiesburg on the odd Sunday night slot, facing a Golden Eagle unit that got all they wanted from Marshall last week. Kyle Israel was a machine against the Hurricane, but we’ll see if he can actually put two or three good games together.
4. UTEP – You just know this weekend’s game against Houston is going to be one hell of a shootout, but which side will the Miners be on? UTEP should be plenty rested, with two weeks to prepare for the Cougars; oh yeah, they haven’t had a road date in October. If UTEP wins they become the clear cut West favorite; to do it, they’ll have to stop Aldridge and try to make Houston do pass or run, not both. It’s hard to do against a balanced unit like the Cougars, but don’t count out UTEP until the scoreboard reads triple zeroes.
5. Tulsa – Tulsa took a giant step backward, straight out of the West title picture with the 20-point loss at UCF last weekend. Paul Smith got the yards, but the 4 picks were colossally damaging, and left Tulsa almost no chance to come back, since they were basically allergic to Kevin Smith. From here, its got to be win out and hope the chips fall right; beating Houston would be the only way to get back in the hunt. Tulsa looks great on paper, but if you step back and look at results, they’re just not that impressive: close wins over UAB and Marshall don’t look great now, if they ever did.
6. Southern Miss – The Golden Eagles survived a surprising battle with Marshall Sunday, getting a late TD to put it out of reach (and cover that pesky spread). The defense may be starting to come around, but the secondary is still allowing far too many completions; the front four needs to create more pressure and more opportunities Eddie Hicks and Brandon Sumrall to knock down and intercept passes.
7. Tulane – Forte, Forte, Forte. The Green Wave’s 300-yard kid finally got some ESPN love this week, and it’s about daggone time – Forte leads the nation in rushing by 25 yards per game. DL Reggie Scott is looking like he might be a future star in this league, with a TFL in every game but one, and four solo sacks in 7 games.
8. Memphis – The Tigers are dark horse candidates for an East crown at 2-1 in the league, but that has to be really, really dark, with Memphis boasting just 2 3-point wins over mediocre C-USA squads Marshall and Rice. Who knows how long the emotion created with the big weeknight win over Marshall will last; the nation’s 81^st best rush D is in for it’s biggest test of the year at Tulane this weekend.
9. Rice – The Owls are the C-USA’s new “don’t change the channel” squad, having gone 1-2 the last three weeks with all three contests decided very, very late. The Brian Raines-led defense can’t stop teams, so it has to rely on turnovers (4^th in C-USA in turnover margin). When they’re there, Rice can hang; when they aren’t, it’s curtains for the Owls. This week’s opponent, Marshall, is 113^th nationally in turnover margin, gagging up -1.17 per game.
10. UAB – I was all ready to bump this bunch in to the top 6 or 7 with a great performance against Houston, but the Blazers laid a Blazing egg, losing by 39 points and looking positively awful on both sides of the ball. The offensive line deserves credit for keeping opposing D’s off Sam Hunt’s back (2^nd in C-USA in sacks allowed), but overall the Blazers are now in the bottom 10 nationally in both offensive and defensive yards. That’s bad.
11. SMU – All year, SMU has been the tough luck team, losing games they should win, and without a win over anyone but North Texas. On paper, they’re a lot better than UAB, but I’m starting to doubt their ability to beat anyone in a close game. Can this team cause Tulsa any problems? It wouldn’t seem like it, but after scoring enough to hang with UTEP and Tulane, they’ll probably get the points. That 111^th ranked pass D. Not so nice.
12. Marshall – Over/under on Marshall’s first win: September, 2008. UCF, ECU, Houston and probably UAB are out of reach. It might be this week or bust for the Herd, and coming off a Sunday game with one day’s less rest, it looks bleak. Still, sophomore TE Cody Slate had another nice game against Memphis with 6 snags for 102 yards and a score. We’re looking for positives wherever we can here.