Two games into the second half of the Conference USA season and three teams — Marshall, Rice and SMU — are no longer in contention for the postseason.

The three are 1-7 overall and SMU is 0-4 in league play, making the season’s remaining four games a farewell tour for coach Phil Bennett.

With six bowl tie-ins (Liberty, GMAC, New Orleans, Hawaii, Papa Johns and Texas), the league should fill the openings. Although no team is eligible as of this week, four programs have five wins apiece (East Carolina, UCF, Houston and Tulsa) and all are favored to get their qualifying sixth win this weekend.

That would leave three schools (Memphis, Southern Miss and UTEP) battling for the remaining two spots and entering this weekend with 4-4 marks.

Memphis should be favored in two of its remaining games (UAB and SMU), which would make them eligible. Southern Miss should be favored in three of its remaining four, earning the Golden Eagles their sixth straight postseason trip and 10th in 11 years. And UTEP’s next two games are against Rice and Tulane, which should provide them enough wins for bowl eligibility.

That scenario would create an odd-team out scenario. If Memphis is able to knock off an East Carolina or Southern Miss, it would secure its fourth trip in five years. If Memphis finishes 6-6 by beating UAB and SMU and losing to ECU and Southern Miss, the invitation could be harder to attract.

As impressive as the turnaround from last year’s 2-10 season would be, the Tigers would have no signature wins and no victories over 1-A teams with winning records. And, unlike two years ago, they’d have no marquee national player for ESPN to promote in a mid-December game.

With back-to-back wins moving Memphis into the postseason picture, the next two weekends could determine the U of M’s bowl plans.