Central Florida, under coach George O’Leary, was last year’s surprise team in Conference USA, rebounding from a winless season to capture the East Division title and play in a bowl game.

While Southern Miss doesn’t have as huge a turnaround to make, the Golden Eagles could be this year’s comeback team.

Going into Tuesday night’s game against, coincidentally, Central Florida, the Golden Eagles are 2-1 with their only loss coming in the opener at nationally ranked Florida. Southern Miss, through three games, has what coaches covet: the combination of the top rushing offense and the top rushing defense in a league.

And like Central Florida a year ago, the Golden Eagles have a freshman running back on pace to rush for 1,000 yards. UCF had Kevin Smith in 2005. USM has Damion Fletcher, a true freshman who leads C-USA with a 127.3 yards-per-game average.

After getting swept in a four-game series at Houston, the Cardinals open up a series with the red-hot San Diego Padres tonight at Busch Stadium. What was once a cushy 7.5 game lead over Houston is now down to 3.5.

Is that a substantial lead?

Yes.

Have stranger things happened than losing a 3.5 lead in the last week of the season?

Also yes.

Ask the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies about what can happen to a lead. Ask the ‘64 world champion Cardinals if they remember the miracle that brought them the NL pennant. The Cardinals trailed Philly by six games with only 12 to play.

So, yes, bad and strange things can happen. There was more Sunday night in Houston when shortstop David Eckstein strained a hamstring. He’ll be out for at least the Padres series, perhaps much longer.

Looks like a good time for Albert the Great to hoist the team onto his back and carry them across the finish line. If he doesn’t, they might not get there unless somebody in that Cardinals bullpen can fool himself into believing he’s Bruce Sutter in his prime.

The Nashville Predators played a preseason game at FedExForum last week. The crowd was small — a little more than 6,000 — but it was energized. Even more impressive, though, was the energy at the practice rink in Nashville the previous week when the Predators had their first scrimmage of training camp.

I’ll grant you that scrimmage was free to the general public, but several hundred fans made the effort to be there on a weekday morning. Some took vacation time from work to be there. All of them seemed “into it,” screaming for great passes and sensational saves. Not in a game, not in a preseason game, but a scrimmage.

And no, not a one of them got free chicken and biscuits.

Thoughts from the SEC football weekend:

Western Division
A week after Auburn beat LSU, 7-3, in a terrific game, both teams practically had exhibition wins over Buffalo and Tulane.

For Auburn, it needed a game as easy as Buffalo, because the Tigers have a short week. They play South Carolina on the Thursday night ESPN game.

For LSU, the resounding win over Tulane was marked by the return of a strong running game for the Bayou Bengals. They should pound Mississippi State this week for a third straight year.

Auburn and LSU are clearly the best teams in the West. Alabama doesn’t have offensive consistency, and it starts up front. The offensive line is still shaky, and often doesn’t give new starting QB John Parker Wilson enough time. The Tide’s defense is pretty good, not in the “great” category along with Auburn and LSU.

Arkansas is 2-0 in the SEC, both wins by the skin of the Hogs’ teeth. True freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain plays a bit too fearless for my taste and still has to learn to make the safe throw. Defensive coordinator Reggie Herring sells out too many time with blitzes.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss are bracketed together, though State may be getting better and Ole Miss may be getting worse. The Rebels haven’t improved one iota, and the decisive loss to Wake Forest was embarrassing.
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GRIZZLIES WORLD HEADQUARTERS –- Dana Davis, director of player development and team travel, is expected to be promoted soon to vice president of basketball operations and team programs.

Davis has served with the organization since majority owner Michael Heisley purchased the team in 2000. He’s worked closely with Heisley and team president Jerry West over the past four seasons, and most recently, helped bring to town a free youth basketball camp that benefited underprivileged youth in FedExForum.

* STRUGGLES REMAIN: Through the first three weeks of the season, Conference USA football teams remain winless (0-8) against Top 25 competition.
UAB has lost to Oklahoma and Georgia. Marshall dropped a 42-10 decision to West Virginia. Southern Miss was trounced by Florida, as was Central Florida. SMU and UTEP lost to Texas Tech. Rice was overwhelmed by Texas.
Saturday, C-USA teams will have four more opportunities, but their chances for upsets will be slim. C-USA teams will find themselves paired against No.4 West Virginia (playing at East Carolina); No. 10 LSU (playing host to Tulane); No. 15 Tennessee (playing host to Marshall) and No. 18 Florida State (playing host to Rice).
Being 0-12 before league play starts will do little to help the conference’s image, one still reeling from the recent losses of programs like Louisville (No. 8) and TCU (No. 16). No C-USA team is ranked, even though Houston is 3-0. Only Southern Miss and UTEP are receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

* A CHANCE FOR NATIONAL PUB: Houston has an opportunity to attract the attention of the AP Poll and USA TODAY Coaches Poll voters.
Behind prolific passer Kevin Kolb, Houston plays host to 3-0 Oklahoma State Saturday in a game carried by CSTV. Kolb surpassed 10,000 career passing yards in a win over Grambling last weekend and has made 40 straight starts in his career. He is the only quarterback in school history to top 10,000 yards.
While a win wouldn’t be over a top 25 program, it would be a respectable victory against a team from a BCS conference and come a week before a nationally televised game at Miami, which is struggling to return to the top 25.

* BAD BREAK: UTEP had an off weekend, but still lost a key player. Senior linebacker Jeremy Jones, the team’s leading tackler, broke his right leg during a drill. Jones had 130 tackles a year ago. He had 15 in an overtime loss to Texas Tech.

1. Auburn may be the highest ranked team, but keep an eye on Georgia. The Bulldogs always seem to sneak up on people, especially when they are supposedly rebuilding at quarterback. I like their defense and believe they have the best kicking game in the league.

2. LSU needs to get over the officiating in the loss at Auburn. That last controversial call didn’t lose the game. LSU must run the ball better. And it certainly needs to manage the clock better. The Tigers were awful in the final minutes against Auburn.

3. Tennessee didn’t play terrible in the 21-20 loss to Florida. And for everyone who wants to criticize David Cutcliffe for continuing to try and run the ball when ahead 17-7, his intent was to keep a tired Tennessee defense off the field. He was trying to shorten the game for those guys, but couldn’t get it done because of an offensive line that couldn’t run or pass block.
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