Our weekly trip around Conference USA, summarizing the games with stories from hometown papers. As always, click on the links to go to the actual stories:

MEMPHIS 28, TULANE 27: Facing perhaps the best running back in the nation — and the best in Conference USA since that DeAngelo fella was breaking every other run — the Tigers gave up a lot of yards, but pulled out a victory. That puts the Tigers at 3-1 in the conference with a big showdown this week with East Carolina. Forte busted through the Tiger defense for 278 yards, sending him over 1,000 FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER!

How good is this guy? I asked Phil Stukenborg, who saw every single DeAngelo run in his job of reporting on Tiger football for The Commercial Appeal. Here’s what he said: “It’s easy to see why Forte leads the nation in rushing. He possesses great vision, patience and footwork and is difficult for one man — or in Memphis’s case Saturday, two or three men — to bring down. All those qualities make up for his lack of outstanding speed. Think DeAngelo Williams without DeAngelo’s ability to beat people on the outside.” Some are noticing in New Orleans, as well.

HOUSTON 34, UTEP 31: On a night of great offense, the Houston defense made the big play. And the defending conference champion Cougars never lost their cool.

EAST CAROLINA 41, UAB 6: The Pirates have won their share of close games. Against UAB, ECU had a chance to breathe easy. For Neil Callaway’s Blazers, the season is rapidly deteriorating.

TULSA 29, SMU 23: The Mustangs were poised at the 1 to score the game-breaking touchdown with 2 minutes left. Instead, the Golden Hurricane held, then drove 99 yards to win. Apparently, that was the last straw for SMU administration, which reportedly fired Phil Bennett.

MARSHALL 34, RICE 21: The Thundering Herd is in pure celebration mode after beating Rice for victory No. 1. Not so much in Houston for the Owls.

The injury news was positive Sunday for the University of Memphis basketball team, which lost two starters during Saturday’s closed-door scrimmage with Saint Louis. Freshman point guard Derrick Rose strained his right knee, but he has already been cleared to practice and is on schedule to play in the Tigers’ season opener next Monday against Tennessee-Martin, head athletic trainer Chris Simmons said. Senior forward Joey Dorsey suffered a right shoulder sprain and is listed as day-to-day, but Simmons said he expects Dorsey to be ready for opening night. Sophomore forward Shawn Taggart sprained his left ankle late last week, but he is not expected to miss any practice time.

Congratulations to the girls soccer teams that won today and advance to Chattanooga for the state tournament. In Class AAA both Houston and Collierville won. Houston (18-5) won 4-0 at Arlington and Collierville (18-0-5) defeated Liberty at home, 5-0. Both have the ability to win it all, but will need the breaks it takes to win the state title.

In Division 2-AA, last year’s champion St. Agnes was defeated by Girls Preparatory School from Chattanooga 4-2 on penalty kicks. Neither team could score in regular time or OT.

Hutchison the third-seed from West Tennessee had to travel to Chattanooga Baylor and lost 5-0.

The only D2-AA team to win was the ECS Lady Eagles. They went into double overtime before prevailing 2-1 over Brentwood Academy on two goals by sophomore Abi Sanvee.

The D2-A sub-state was dominated by Memphis teams. Three of state’s final four teams are local teams. Top seed St. George’s beat IC 14-0; second seed Harding won 6-0 over St. Andrew’s-Sewanee and Lausanne outscored Davidson Academy 8-6. Only TRA lost, losing 7-0 to Univ. School of Nashville.

Division 1 play begins Wednesday and D2 starts on Thursday.