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A quick trip around Conference USA (click on the links to go to the full stories:

HOUSTON 56, RICE 48: The battle for the Bayou Bucket produced buckets full of points in Houston.

SOUTH FLORIDA 64, UCF 12: The I-4 war was more one-sided than most could imagine. South Florida, the surprise team of 2007 so far, had an easy time.

SOUTHERN MISS 28, SMU 7: A fumble caused by defensive end Robert Henderson changed the momentum in the favor of the Eagles. For the Mustangs, it’s just more of the same.

TULSA 38, MARSHALL 31: The winless Herd didn’t make it easy for the Hurricane, but a win is a win.

UAB 26, TULANE 21: It was Neil Callaway’s first Division 1A victory and he was happy to have it. Tulane’s Matt Forte had another big game. He couldn’t have been unhappier.

EAST CAROLINA 45, UTEP 42 (OT): The best (so far) of the East and the best (so far) of the West met in a shootout in west Texas.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE 21, MEMPHIS 7: You’ve probably already read about this over at commercialappeal.com, but here’s a link anyway.

That leaves the standings looking like this (overall record first)
EAST
East Carolina 4-3, 3-1
Southern Miss 3-3, 2-1
UCF 3-3, 1-1
Memphis 2-4, 1-1
UAB 2-4, 1-1
Marshall 0-6, 0-2

WEST
Tulsa 4-2, 2-1
UTEP 4-3, 2-1
Houston 3-3, 2-1
Rice 1-5, 1-1
SMU 1-5, 0-2
Tulane 1-5, 0-2

Not everything we wrote from Conference USA basketball media day made its way into print this morning. Sure, there was a main story about Tiger dominance. Geoff Calkins weighed in on the talkative big kid, Joey Dorsey. And we had a a good-sized notebook with various odds and ends.

But there was more. And here it is:
Read the rest of this entry »

Taking a tour around Conference USA hometown newspapers. Click on the links to go to the entire stories:

TULANE at UAB: Blazers quarterback Sam Hunt has a shoulder injury, so UAB has simplified its offense. But it’s not the way you think. He’s passing as much as always, but he’s avoiding the quarterback runs. At Tulane, the inability to convert on third-and-short has plagued the Green Wave.

UCF at SOUTH FLORIDA: Knights’ defensive end Lezer Douzable is excited about his team playing a top-5 program, and about going home.

RICE at HOUSTON: Unhappy as a pro baseball player, Rice reserve QB James Casey is ecstatic on the Owls’ football team.

MARSHALL at TULSA: Having been outscored 48-5 in the first quarter this season, the Thundering Herd know they need to change that to find that elusive first victory. At Tulsa, the speed of wideout Trae Johnson is starting to make an impact.

SMU at SOUTHERN MISS: The clock is ticking. The Mustangs need to turn things around, and fast. In Hattiesburg, the news that defensive coordinator Jay Hopson is undergoing tests to determine if he has testicular cancer has everyone concerned.

EAST CAROLINA at UTEP: East Carolina, meet UTEP. UTEP, meet East Carolina. It will be the first meeting between the teams.

It wasn’t the best of weekends for C-USA teams. The schedule-makers made a lot of non-conference games. Here’s how it went. Click on the links to go to stories about the games:

EAST CAROLINA 52, UCF 38: The Pirates trailed by two touchdowns early in the second half. That’s when the turnover fun began. ECU forced five turnovers, scored four touchdowns and jumped into first place in the East Division. The loss left the Knights and their fans shaking their heads.

UTEP 48, TULSA 47: The Miners jumped into first place in the West with a win in this offensive shootout. And for the second time in two weeks, they overcame a two-touchdown deficit to do it. The Hurricane doesn’t like visiting El Paso. In 2005, a field goal at the end of the game beat Tulsa.

ALABAMA 30, HOUSTON 24: The Cougars had a chance to send an Alabama homecoming crowd home in tears, but couldn’t quite pull it off.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 30, UAB 13: The Blazers defense had the answers in the first half. In the second half, they couldn’t solve the riddle of Anthony Dixon.

ARMY 20, TULANE 17: Remember when Army was in Conference USA? The Black Knights didn’t win much. Now that they’re gone, things are different. A late Hail Mary and then an OT field goal cost the Wave.

Snuck over at lunch to watch the Grizzlies’ open scrimmage at FedExForum. A few thoughts:

** Damon Stoudamire looks like he’s regained that step he lost with that leg problem/operation.

** Mike Conley might get lit up defensively but he’s going to cause some major problems in the league.

** Griz announcer Pete Pranica told me he thought the most fun guy to watch this year will be Juan Carlos Navarro.

** Pau Gasol and Darko Milicic, playing on opposite teams, were doing some pretty good bumping under the glass.

** First play, Gasol, from the high post, fed Conley and cut to the basket. Conley drove and then wrapped a pass around a defender back to Gasol for the jam.

** Casey Jacobsen can flat shoot it. In fact, when he shoots it, it IS flat, but it knows where it’s going.

** Rudy Gay was settling for jumpers. Didn’t drive much. But (and this is hard to describe) he seemed to be carrying himself like he knew what he was doing. No more wide-eyed rookie.

The trip to Spain should be a bonding time. We’ll see what they look like when they get back.

UTEP 48, SMU 45 (OT): The Miners were down by three touchdowns early, but found out they had a power running game and a defense able to bounce back. Meanwhile, on the opposite sideline, the Mustangs had hope before the season started, but it’s just about gone now.

ECU 37, HOUSTON 35: The Cougars have something to kick about. Two missed field goals in the closing moments proved costly. The victory for the Pirates was a close one, but will give them a boost.

TULSA 38, UAB 30: Hurricane QB Paul Smith wouldn’t call it an ugly win, but he admitted it wasn’t pretty either. Part of the loss, UAB coach Neil Callaway said, was confusion. Another part was just getting beat.

LSU 34, TULANE 9: The Green Wave shouldn’t be embarrassed. Indeed, Tulane played well against powerful LSU.

UCF 37, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 19: Kevin Smith ran wild, but a fourth-quarter injury silenced Knights’ fans for a bit.