College Football Saturday: C-USA Bowl eligibility edition
So, both Tulsa and Rice won again this week. Tulsa is now bowl-eligible at 6-1 while Rice is still only 3-5, but as my friend Albert reminds me daily, both still have a chance at a bowl birth.
In an attempt to see this logic I decided to break down the C-USA bowl tie-ins and the chances of respective teams. C-USA has 5 bowl tie-ins this year (Yes, there would be a 6th if the Pac-10 didn't have 6 bowl eligible teans but they will so this will assume only 5 bowls.)
Standings as of this posting
C-USA East Conference Overall
Southern Miss 2-1 4-3
East Carolina 2-2 3-4
UAB 2-2 3-5
Marshall 1-2 2-5
UCF 1-2 2-5
Memphis 0-3 1-6
C-USA West Conference Overall
Tulsa 3-0 6-1
Houston 3-1 5-3
UTEP 2-1 4-3
SMU 2-2 4-4
Rice 2-2 3-5
Tulane 1-3 2-5
Already bowl eligible: Tulsa
The Golden Hurricane gained bowl eligibility with a 35-14 win at Memphis Saturday night. Paul Smith had another efficient day 17-20 for 209 1 TD and 1 INT. Courtney Tennial had 97 yards and 3 TDs. Right now the Hurricane has the inside track to the Liberty Bowl against an SEC team; however the two key games in the western division still remain. UTEP visits Skelly on Friday (watch the game on ESPN2) and then Tulsa will visit Houston on 11/4. Other remaining games include home games with Rice and Tulane and a road voyage to SMU.
Will reach a bowl game: Houston, UTEP, Southern Miss
Houston at 5-3 needs 1 more win to reach the bowl eligible plateau. with games against UCF, SMU, and Memphis, a bowl game is virtually assured. Kevin Kolb and Vincent Marshall lead the strong Cougar offense; however, this team has been inconsistent struggling against Rice and losing to Louisiana-Lafayette. Conference USA west will be decided on November 4th at Robertson Stadium. I will be in attendance.
UTEP will go as far as Jordan Palmer's decision making will carry them. The schedule sets up favorably for a bowl trip with home games versus Rice and Memphis and Road trips to Tulsa, UAB, and Marshall. The Miners will likely be favored in all of the contests except the Tulsa game. I suspect the Miners will finish at 7-5 because despite their talent they will play down to the competition in at least one game they should win.
Southern Miss could very easily run the table and win C-USA's eastern division. While their record is only 4-3, the three losses are at Florida, at Va Tech, and at Tulsa. The remaining schedule features less challenging road trips to Memphis and Tulane while ECU, UAB, and Marshall will visit "The Rock" in Hattiesburg.
Needing a lot of help: UAB, SMU, and Rice
With four spots occupied, that leaves one spot for the 3 teams here. Each will need a lot of help and to win a game they shouldn't. UAB needs to win 3 of 4 but their schedule doesn't bode well. SMU and UAB will play on the Halloween in Dallas in a game that will simplify this picture. Other than SMU, the Blazers will host UTEP and make trips to UCF and Southern Miss. Only one of those three would be a win on paper.
SMU will host UAB and travel to Rice both of which will help stabilize this picture. The Mustangs only need two wins out of their final four but with the other two being home games against Houston and Tulsa, it's likely that the UAB and Rice games will be critical.
For the Owls the situation is simple. Home games against the ECU Pirates and SMU will follow a two-game road trip to UTEP and Tulsa. Their offense is clicking behind Junior quarterback Chase Clement and super Sophomore wideout Jarret Dillard; however, the rush defense is still very suspect and the Owls have still only won C-USA road game so asking them to hold serve at home and pull off an upset against one of the better teams in the league is likely asking too much.
So there's the breakdown My opinions as of today as to how the bowl bids will go on paper is as follows taking into account both records and geography:
Liberty Bowl (Memphis, TN) -- Tulsa
GMAC Bowl (Mobile AL)-- Southern Miss
Fort Worth Bowl (Fort Worth, TX)-- Houston
Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, AL)-- UTEP
New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans, LA) -- SMU (My heart and my fandom wants Rice in this spot but I'm just looking at easiest roads.)
In honor of tonight's concert festivities...
Song Lyrics of the Day
Fear is only in our minds
But it's taking over all the time
Evanescence -- "Sweet Sacrifice"
In an attempt to see this logic I decided to break down the C-USA bowl tie-ins and the chances of respective teams. C-USA has 5 bowl tie-ins this year (Yes, there would be a 6th if the Pac-10 didn't have 6 bowl eligible teans but they will so this will assume only 5 bowls.)
Standings as of this posting
C-USA East Conference Overall
Southern Miss 2-1 4-3
East Carolina 2-2 3-4
UAB 2-2 3-5
Marshall 1-2 2-5
UCF 1-2 2-5
Memphis 0-3 1-6
C-USA West Conference Overall
Tulsa 3-0 6-1
Houston 3-1 5-3
UTEP 2-1 4-3
SMU 2-2 4-4
Rice 2-2 3-5
Tulane 1-3 2-5
Already bowl eligible: Tulsa
The Golden Hurricane gained bowl eligibility with a 35-14 win at Memphis Saturday night. Paul Smith had another efficient day 17-20 for 209 1 TD and 1 INT. Courtney Tennial had 97 yards and 3 TDs. Right now the Hurricane has the inside track to the Liberty Bowl against an SEC team; however the two key games in the western division still remain. UTEP visits Skelly on Friday (watch the game on ESPN2) and then Tulsa will visit Houston on 11/4. Other remaining games include home games with Rice and Tulane and a road voyage to SMU.
Will reach a bowl game: Houston, UTEP, Southern Miss
Houston at 5-3 needs 1 more win to reach the bowl eligible plateau. with games against UCF, SMU, and Memphis, a bowl game is virtually assured. Kevin Kolb and Vincent Marshall lead the strong Cougar offense; however, this team has been inconsistent struggling against Rice and losing to Louisiana-Lafayette. Conference USA west will be decided on November 4th at Robertson Stadium. I will be in attendance.
UTEP will go as far as Jordan Palmer's decision making will carry them. The schedule sets up favorably for a bowl trip with home games versus Rice and Memphis and Road trips to Tulsa, UAB, and Marshall. The Miners will likely be favored in all of the contests except the Tulsa game. I suspect the Miners will finish at 7-5 because despite their talent they will play down to the competition in at least one game they should win.
Southern Miss could very easily run the table and win C-USA's eastern division. While their record is only 4-3, the three losses are at Florida, at Va Tech, and at Tulsa. The remaining schedule features less challenging road trips to Memphis and Tulane while ECU, UAB, and Marshall will visit "The Rock" in Hattiesburg.
Needing a lot of help: UAB, SMU, and Rice
With four spots occupied, that leaves one spot for the 3 teams here. Each will need a lot of help and to win a game they shouldn't. UAB needs to win 3 of 4 but their schedule doesn't bode well. SMU and UAB will play on the Halloween in Dallas in a game that will simplify this picture. Other than SMU, the Blazers will host UTEP and make trips to UCF and Southern Miss. Only one of those three would be a win on paper.
SMU will host UAB and travel to Rice both of which will help stabilize this picture. The Mustangs only need two wins out of their final four but with the other two being home games against Houston and Tulsa, it's likely that the UAB and Rice games will be critical.
For the Owls the situation is simple. Home games against the ECU Pirates and SMU will follow a two-game road trip to UTEP and Tulsa. Their offense is clicking behind Junior quarterback Chase Clement and super Sophomore wideout Jarret Dillard; however, the rush defense is still very suspect and the Owls have still only won C-USA road game so asking them to hold serve at home and pull off an upset against one of the better teams in the league is likely asking too much.
So there's the breakdown My opinions as of today as to how the bowl bids will go on paper is as follows taking into account both records and geography:
Liberty Bowl (Memphis, TN) -- Tulsa
GMAC Bowl (Mobile AL)-- Southern Miss
Fort Worth Bowl (Fort Worth, TX)-- Houston
Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, AL)-- UTEP
New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans, LA) -- SMU (My heart and my fandom wants Rice in this spot but I'm just looking at easiest roads.)
In honor of tonight's concert festivities...
Song Lyrics of the Day
Fear is only in our minds
But it's taking over all the time
Evanescence -- "Sweet Sacrifice"
posted by Aaron at 3:52 AM
1 Comments:
This post should be subtitled "Aaron inserts his thumb into the open wound that is Vandy's humiliating loss to S.C. and virtual end of potential bowl eligibility."
Just kidding. Congrats to the 'Cane, and good luck to the Owls.
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