C-USA Review: Week Five

Another exciting week featured a lot of scoring, with 8 of 10 C-USA teams scoring 30 points or more, and 3 of the 7 contests featuring C-USA teams decided by 4 points or less. Let’ s see how it shaped up:

Game of the Week:

East Carolina 37, Houston 35 – A wild game in Houston saw 55 points in the middle two quarters, and only 7 scored in the first and fourth. Sophomore Robert Kass made a big push for the ECU starting QB job, leading a couple late drives and throwing 6 of 12 for 110 yards and a score. The real star for the Pirates was senior RB Chris Johnson, who had the biggest game of his career since a freshman year 158 yard performance against Tulane, getting 147 yards on 24 carries. On the other hand, the real, real star for ECU might be Houston PK TJ Lawrence: the senior was 0-3 on field goals, including misses with 2 minutes and three seconds to play.

Best of the Rest:

UTEP 48, SMU 45 (OT) – SMU twice gave away multi-touchdown leads to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the second straight week. The Ponies led 28-7 in the second quarter and 41-27 with ten minutes to play, but couldn’t get a crucial stop, and gave up a 9 yard TD pass by Trevor Vittatoe with just 7 seconds left to send the game to OT. This makes two in two weeks that SMU dominated most of the game and didn’t win. The defense totally rolled over in the fourth quarter after really manhandling TCU last week. UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe didn’t sparkle the entire night, but he led two late scoring drives with the help of the game’s star, the Miners’ Marcus Thomas (35 cars, 207 yards, 3 TD).

Tulsa 38, UAB 30 – The scoreboard at the end didn’t necessarily show it, but the Golden Hurricane rolled over the Blazers, dominating in total yardage, 695-403, and building a 38-16 lead midway through the 4^th period before the defense fell asleep at the wheel and let the game get close. Paul Smith threw for 333 with 3 TD; Tulsa could do without his 2 INT, but the offense was in fine form, including RB Tarrion Adams, who blew up for a season-high 183 yards on 24 carries. UAB has kind of a strange offensive attack, with QB Sam Hunt in the game to throw, and Joseph Webb in the game to run, mostly. The attack worked…kind of.

Arkansas State 35, Memphis 31 – The Indians were getting totally manhandled at halftime, and came out of the locker room spitting fire, getting four scores in 16 minutes to seize the lead at the 8 minute mark of the fourth quarter. Indian QB Corey Leonard didn’t throw too many completions (16-37, 255 yards, 3 TD), but when he did, they went for big yardage. QB Martin Hankins had his second straight subpar game, completing just 47% of his passes, and getting 56 of his 119 passing yards on one play. Going forward, the Tiger running game must improve, with key backs Joseph Doss and TJ Pitts combining for just 99 yards on 28 carries.

Ho-Hum:

Boise State 38, Southern Miss 16 – Boise State rolled the Eagles Thursday night in a game that was never really close. This game kind of defines the term “ho-hum.” Southern Miss got 190 passing yards from Jeremy Young and 83 yards on the ground from Damion Fletcher, but couldn’t stop Bronco RB Ian Johnson (22 cars, 111 yards, 3 TDs) or QB Taylor Tharp, who completed 70% of his passes for 307 yards. Southern Miss got outgained by almost 200 yards (506-318) and were fairly fortunate in completing 9 of 18 third downs. This one could have been uglier than it was, and the Eagles would benefit from another run option to share the load with Damion Fletcher.

LSU 34, Tulane 9 – The Green Wave were stunning LSU at halftime, trailing just 10-9 after a Colt David FG gave the Bayou Bengals the lead with 3 seconds left in the half. Tulane wasn’t really out of this game until 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, when LSU put it away with a 35 yard Charles Scott run. Still, Tulane has to get respect for staying in it that long against the team that is now the nation’s top ranked unit. They didn’t muster much on offense, with Anthony Scelfo having absolutely no time to throw, but Matt Forte put up a respectable 73 yards on 16 carries. You think there are no moral victories? Wrong – this was one.

Booooooooooooooooring:

UCF 37, Louisiana-Lafayette 19 – The UCF juggernaut kept rolling, with Kevin Smith reclaiming the national rushing lead with a 3 TD, 223 yard performance. The entire UCF attack looked sharp, with backup Curtis Francis tallying 71 yards on just 9 carries, and QB Kyle Israel leaping to the head of the two-headed quarterback system, completing 11-20 passes for 153 yards and a score. Where’s the weakness on this Knight squad? They’re at the top of the C-USA in most offensive categories, including 1st rushing, scoring, scoring D and pass efficiency D.