CUSA Week 5

While our guys put up a fight against the conference’s best, the rest of CUSA was playing football also. Let’s rank them. 

My ballot last week:

1. MTSU
2. WKU
3. So Miss
4. La Tech
5. ODU
6. Marshall
7. North Texas
8. UTSA
9. UTEP
10. FAU
11. Charlotte
12. Rice
13. FIU

My ballot this week:

1. MTSU 4-1, 2-0
2. SoMiss 4-1, 2-0
3. WKU 3-2, 1-0
4. LaTech 2-3, 1-1
5. ODU 3-2, 2-0
6. Marshall 1-3, 0-0
7. UTSA 1-3, 0-1
8. North Texas 2-3, 1-1
9. FIU 1-4, 1-0
10. FAU 1-4, 0-1
11. UTEP 1-4, 0-2
12. Rice 0-5, 0-3
13. Charlotte 1-4, 0-1

Middle Tennessee came to Denton and got an ugly win. Their offense was stifled by North Texas’ surprising (to some) defense, but managed to take advantage of their own superiority defensively and win the game at the end. A couple of late TDs by both teams made it look a little more high-scoring than it was. MTSU is 2-0 in conference and grabbed an nice road victory in a trap game.

Southern Miss beat an increasingly desperate Rice at home. They are 2-0 in conference play and are looking to shake their offensive woes. Southern Miss always seems to throw against Rice, and Nick Mullens — who had struggled more than we thought this season — threw for 591 and 4 Tds, besting the previous team mark of total offense ( 702, previous 682). His 591 beat Austin Davis 461 against Rice in 2008. Rice is on a much-needed bye before they take on UTSA at home in mid-October.

Western Kentucky played Houston Baptist. They drop here because they haven’t played well, and have only played Rice in conference.

Louisiana Tech beat up on UTEP at home, jumping out early and controlling the game throughout. UTEP is not good. Louisiana Tech should have blown this game open.

ODU looks impressive. Granted, they beat up on UTSA last week, and a bad Charlotte this week. Still, they put up the kinds of performances you are supposed to put up against bad teams. Charlotte were only 9 point dogs at home. They were destroyed 52-17. Charlotte is the worse than Rice, FYI.

Marshall put up a late rally against Pitt. They begin conference play next week on the road against NT. I do not believe in Marshall, but they are favorites (10 points). We will find out a lot about the Herd beginning next week.

UTSA had a bye week. They move up by virtue of not losing, and having lots of potential in CUSA play coming up. They are dogs at home (16.5) against Southern Miss.

Our guys gave a good effort but the hopelessness of the offense past the first drive is concerning. Rice allowed 42 points, but against a good offense they gave up gobs of yardage, so maybe the offensive revolution in #NewDenton is overstated. Or maybe we are seeing the natural volatility of a young offense mid-transition. (I believe the latter with sprinklings of the former)

FIU beat FAU in the battle of Florida. FIU changed coaches and got the usual bump that comes with it. But just barely. FAU was up by 10 late, and blew a lead. FAU has really fallen off.