C-USA Power Rankings: Week 13

Here we are. One week to go. Some teams have nothing to play for, and some teams have everything to play for. How would they stack up a neutral field tomorrow?

1. UCF - I keep wiggling back and forth between Tulsa and UCF for the top spot. The Knights are riding a 5-game winning streak which includes wins over Tulsa and Southern Miss in to El Paso this Saturday. You can’t look past the Miners, but if UCF wins and then hosts the C-USA title tilt, that’s a 10-win season. Anything short of a league title is a big disappointment now.
2. Tulsa - The Golden Hurricane looked just vulnerable enough at Michie Stadium for me to yank them from the top spot. I’m not concerned that Tulsa will lose the West, by any means, but 39 points is a lot to surrender, even to an inspired Cadet bunch playing on senior day. That’s the 115th best offense in the country we’re talking about, and it lit up the Tulsa D for 500 yards.
3. East Carolina - The Pirates are still trying to figure out how they lost to Marshall. They can still go bowling, perhaps, with a win over Tulane on senior day. Looking back on the schedule, and seeing how hard they’ll have to fight to get 7 wins, wouldn’t it be nice to trade either VA Tech, W. Virginia or NC State for an easy victory? The difference between 7 and 8 wins is huge come bowl season.
4. Memphis - Without any breakout candidates, Memphis’ Tommy West might be the C-USA coach of the year. After team member Taylor Bradford was slain, the Tigers were 1-3 and looking terrible. Since then, they’re 5-1 in C-USA with only a loss to ECU. Memphis will probably be bowling with a win over SMU on Senior Day. The offense has climbed all the way to 23rd nationally on the arm of Martin Hankins, and the Tigers are one of C-USA best teams in the turnover battle, ranking 17th nationally.
5. Southern Miss - The Golden Eagles are another team on the cusp of bowl eligibility, and will get there with a win over Arkansas State Saturday. What does this say about the league - So. Miss has the C-USA’s best scoring defense, but the unit ranks only 45th nationally. If this team scheduled like Kansas, it would be 8-3.
6. Houston - Call me when the Cougs recover from the Tulsa beat down last Saturday. Houston almost became the third team in a month to fall prey to the upstart Herd, but survived to get to 7-4 and keep their West hopes a live. If they win, it’ll be backdoor style, as their C-USA slate is done, and they have to hope that Tulsa loses to Rice. My gut tells me this a defense that could get exposed in a bowl game.
7. Tulane - Matt Forte will be a victim of Troy Davis syndrome, getting no Heisman love whatsoever because his teammates are so bad. I’m not suggesting Forte should win the award, or even be a finalist, but you haven’t heard his name mentioned at all, despite the fact that 2,000 yards is still a sacred mark in college football. Well, it used to be. Don’t you think of Forte played for Tulsa or Houston, he’d get some votes.
8. Marshall - There’s a big cleft right now between bad C-USA teams that stopped trying and bad C-USA teams that kept fighting. Marshall has kept fighting, and will likely get its third win in the last 5 over UAB this weekend. That’s an admirable turnaround, if only dual threat stud Bernard Morris were going to be around next year. Running back Darius Marshall is the future in Huntington, but he’s got a ways to go, especially without Morris to distract attention next year.
9. Rice - I’ll throw Rice in the “still fighting” camp as well. Ever sine the watershed win in Hattiesburg, the Owls have been in every single game, losing by 8 and 3 to Houston and Memphis and 13 and 14 to Marshall and Tulane. How worried am I that the Owls can spring one on Tulsa? Not terribly, but with the way Chase Clement is throwing the ball right now, who knows what kind of chances will be there against the Tulsa D?
10. SMU - 100 copies of Phil Bennett’s resume from Kinko’s: $99. Season tickets to SMU football: $200. 9 straight losses to end an embattled coach’s regime: Priceless.
11. UTEP - And now we get to the teams that stopped trying. Either El Paso is the biggest home field advantage in football, or UTEP gave up after losing by a FG to ECU and Houston back in October. Since then, the defense has been in offseason mode, giving up 56 to Rice and Southern Miss, while the offense mustered only 19 against Tulane. And still, I wouldn’t be one bit shocked if the Miners laid the wood to UCF this weekend. They’re just that kind of team.
12. UAB - When you’re ranked behind a team on a 9-game cooler and another that hasn’t given a crap since Halloween, you know you really stink up the joint. UAB is the rare C-USA squad: awful on both offense and defense, leaving the Blazers down and out but with hope for the future. Of the big playmakers, only senior QB Sam Hunt won’t be back next year.