2009 Conference Champion: East Carolina Pirates 9-5 (7-1 C-USA)
2009 Conference Runner-Up: Houston Cougars 10-4 (6-2 C-USA)
2009 Bowl Record: 2-4
Bold Prediction for 2010: Houston goes undefeated, but gets left out of the BCS.
Team Rankings. Conference USA was thoroughly mediocre in 2009. Houston showed promise in upsets of Oklahoma State (in Stillwater, OK) and Texas Tech (in Houston), but followed up its flashy performance with a loss to UTEP. East Carolina won the title in a wild game against the Cougars, but beyond those top two teams, the conference simply did not pull its weight. Granted, SMU had its first bowl win since receiving the "Death Penalty" and appears to be on its way back up, but inexcusable disappointments from Tulsa and not nearly as many wins for Southern Miss as previous years really hurt the perception of the conference. Look for Houston and SMU to be the powers in the West this year, and the winner of UH-SMU to face UCF in the 2010 championship game.
1. | Houston | 0.6417 | 10 - 4 | #26 |
2. | East Carolina | 0.6075 | 9 - 5 | #34 |
3. | Southern Methodist | 0.5685 | 8 - 5 | #51 |
4. | Central Florida | 0.5684 | 8 - 5 | #52 |
5. | Marshall | 0.5229 | 7 - 6 | #59 |
6. | Southern Mississippi | 0.5083 | 7 - 6 | #63 |
7. | Alabama-Birmingham | 0.4041 | 5 - 7 | #78 |
8. | Tulsa | 0.3721 | 5 - 7 | #86 |
9. | Texas-El Paso | 0.3049 | 4 - 8 | #98 |
10. | Tulane | 0.2226 | 3 - 9 | #107 |
11. | Memphis | 0.1635 | 2 - 10 | #109 |
12. | Rice | 0.1594 | 2 - 10 | #113 |
Conference USA, compared to the FBS conference average in total points, by intra-conference ranking. (1st to last)
Awards!
Best Showing in an Out-of-Conference Game:
Houston 45, Oklahoma State 35. Houston took it to the 5th-ranked Cowboys, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter, including the clincher, a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:30 left in the game.
Worst Showing in an Out-of-Conference Game:
Washington State 30, Southern Methodist 27 (OT). Yes, Washington State is BCS and SMU is not. Yes, it did go into overtime. Yes, SMU still hasn't recovered from the NCAA Death Penalty. But there is simply no excuse to lose to WASU, which has won exactly 3 games the last two years. And in 2009, SMU was the Cougars' only win. And the way it happened... the Ponies outgained State by almost double, held the ball for twice as long, and led the game for the first 59:32. And lost. Ouch.
Best Conference Game:
Houston 50, Southern Mississippi 43. In one of the highest-scoring affairs this year, Southern Miss, hanging with the Cougars all game long, tied the score with 57 seconds to play. Just 36 seconds later, Houston drove the length of the field to score a 28-yard touchdown pass to put them up for good. Case Keenum had 559 yards passing, and the two teams combined for an incredible 1358 total yards.
Best Showing in a Bowl Game:
Southern Methodist 45, Nevada 10. SMU was a 12 point underdog coming into the game. They would cover that in the first quarter, racing out to a 31-0 lead at halftime. Mustangs freshman QB Kyle Padron was 32 of 41 for 460 yards in the rout.
Worst Showing in a Bowl Game:
Air Force 47, Houston 20. Houston QB Case Keenum threw just 6 interceptions in the regular season. He threw another 6 in this game. Air Force dominated both sides of the ball, racking up 402 rushing yards against the Cougars' hapless D.
Best Scoring Offense: Houston
Best Passing Offense: Houston
Best Rushing Offense: UAB
Best Scoring Defense: East Carolina
Best Passing Defense: Southern Mississippi
Best Rushing Defense: UCF
Least Penalized Team: Tulane
Best Turnover Ratio: East Carolina
Week 1 Matchups / Prediction of the Week
Thursday, September 2
Marshall at Ohio State
Southern Miss at South Carolina
Florida Atlantic at UAB
Southeastern Louisiana at Tulane
Saturday, September 4
Memphis at Mississippi State
South Dakota at UCF
Texas at Rice (at Reliant Stadium in Houston)
Texas State at Houston
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at UTEP
Sunday, September 5
Tulsa at East Carolina
Southern Methodist at Texas Tech - POTW!
The Mustangs regain their once-great heritage and put a real scare into the Red Raiders in Coach Tommy Tuberville's first game in Lubbock. Texas Tech 34, SMU 30.
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