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Conference USA now has enough teams to fill its six bowl positions. It’s a decided East slant, as four of the six are UCF, East Carolina, Memphis and Southern Miss. In the West, just Houston and Tulsa will play in the postseason. Here’s a look at Saturday’s action. Click on the link to go to the hometown paper stories.

MEMPHIS 25, UAB 9: In recent years, the Tigers have had problems with Southern Miss and UAB. Last week, the Golden Eagles fell in Hattiesburg. This week, the Blazers went down, giving Memphis six wins, enough for one of Conference USA’s bowl berths. UAB coach Neil Callaway couldn’t find the right formation to stop the Tigers’ running game.

TULANE 45, RICE 31: Matt Forte didn’t quite get to 200 yards, but he surpassed 2,000 for the season for the winners. Penalties and mistakes cost the Owls again.

HOUSTON 35, MARSHALL 28: The Cougars need some help from Rice this coming week. Houston returns to the C-USA championship game if the Owls can beat Tulsa. Thundering Herd coach Mark Snyder knows this one could have gone the other way.

UCF 49, SMU 20: Only UTEP stands in the way of the Golden Knights reaching their second C-USA title game. Kevin Smith caused all kinds of trouble for the Mustangs.

SOUTHERN MISS 56, UTEP 30: What would Conference USA football be like without an 80-point game? It was wild for the Golden Eagles. The loss was the fifth straight for the struggling Miners.

TULSA 49, ARMY 39: The Golden Hurricane was unfocused, but victorious.

A recap of what hometown newspapers are saying about Conference USA teams. As always, click on the link to go to the actual story in the actual newspaper.

Before we get started, a note about the conference. It’s a good thing it’s not called Division USA. There is no “D” to be seen. Bah-dum-bum. The five winning teams Saturday averaged … AVERAGED … 49 points. The five losing teams Saturday averaged 26.6 points. That means, the losing teams lost by nearly 23 points per game!

The ECU-Memphis game finished 56-40. Nearly 100 points. And it wasn’t even the highest score of the weekend! That badge of honor goes to Rice 56, UTEP 48. Anyway, on to the games:

ECU 56, MEMPHIS 40: The Tigers gave up 600-plus yards for the second time this year. The lack of tackling is frustrating Tommy West. He even called it pathetic. Chris Johnson’s 301 yards rushing and four TDs were credited to an improved offensive line.

UCF 47, MARSHALL 13: After a tough 4-8 season last year, the Golden Knights have won three straight and are bowl eligible now. A slow start was the problem for the Thundering Herd … again.

RICE 56, UTEP 48: Down 20 in the fourth quarter, Chase Clement and the Owls made the big comeback. Mike Price called it “horrible” after his Miners gathered seven turnovers against a 1-7 team … and STILL lost.

SOUTHERN MISS 37, UAB 7: Thirty first-half points allowed the Eagles to have an easy time with UAB. After seven close losses to USM, the eighth wasn’t close … and few were there to watch.

TULSA 49, TULANE 25: The Golden Hurricane’s victory sets up a big West Division game next week against Houston.

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.

Take a spin around Conference USA and what happened over the weekend. Click on the link to go to the full story.

MEMPHIS 38, RICE 35: Look who’s back for the Tigers. It’s Martin Hankins and Joe Doss. For Rice, the Owls got close, but couldn’t stop the Tigers when it counted.

HOUSTON 49, UAB 10: The Cougars put up 49 points, but everybody was talking about the defense. A leaky defense and four interceptions didn’t help the Blazers at all.

TULANE 41, SMU 34 (OT): Things are looking bleak in Mustang land after SMU gave up 342 yards and four touchdowns to Matt Forte.

UCF 44, TULSA 23: Hammered by South Florida, the Golden Knights started building for this win on Monday. Mistakes plagued Tulsa’s second straight conference loss.

NORTH CAROLINA 34, EAST CAROLINA 20: The Pirates fell behind 21-0, rallied to 21-17, but then lost momentum again in this loss.