Conference USA is beginning to see the contenders and pretenders divide as we move into the late part of the season.
For reference, here is our last set of Power Rankings. Short Story: Rice and Tulane are currently surging, while Marshall and Tulsa saw their stock fall. ECU and Marshall are now tied in the East division heading into the conference race.
---
14. Southern Mississippi (0-7 Record // 0-3 in Conference // L to UNT) [14th]
Notes: USM's 2013 campaign continues to sink deeper and deeper. Last week, they were blown out by an angry East Carolina program, and they followed this week with a stomping at the hands of UNT. The team's only hope to avoid a winless year may be Nov. 16th's home matchup with Florida Atlantic.
13. UTEP (1-6 Record // 0-4 in Conference // L to Rice) [12th]
12. Florida International (1-6 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to LT) [13th]
11. UAB (2-5 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to UT-SA) [10th]
Notes: UAB has been one of those teams that I've been curious about. However, after trailing at halftime 38-10 to UT San Antonio, it became overwhelmingly clear that UAB is headed for a hopeless 2013 season.
10. Florida Atlantic (2-6 Record // 1-4 in Conference // L to Auburn) [12th]
Notes: Florida Atlantic had the "honor" of playing one of those late season cupcake non-conference games beloved by the SEC. Auburn handed FAU a 45-10 beatdown, not unexpectedly. FAU will look to refocus for an in-conference home game against Tulane.
9. Tulsa (2-5 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to Tulane) [6th]
Notes: Tulsa had never lost to Tulane in the history of Conference USA. In fact, the last Green Wave victory over the Golden Hurricanes was in 1968. Richard Nixon defeated Humphrey in the Presidential election that fall. It's been a while. Tulsa is now unable to defend its conference championship with a 1-2 record.
8. Louisiana Tech (3-5 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W @ FIU) [7th]
7. UT San Antonio (3-5 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W against UAB) [9th]
Notes: Nothing special to say about San Antonio's Roadrunners. They picked up a big win over a bad UAB team, but they have dropped games to both Marshall and Rice pretty heavily. UTSA doesn't have the strength or the record to contend this year.
6. Middle Tennessee State (4-4 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W against Marshall) [8th]
5. Marshall (4-3 Record // 2-1 in Conference // L @ MTSU) [1st]
Notes: Marshall took a damning road loss against Middle Tennessee State, a team that has struggled with consistency throughout 2013. The damage is substantial, as they forfeited their one game lead in the Conference USA East division. East Carolina will have an equal change to duke it out for a trip to the conference championship.
4. North Texas (5-3 Record // 3-1 in Conference // W @ Southern Miss) [5th]
Notes: UNT took care of business by smoking a terrible Southern Miss team. That said, their 3-1 record in conference leaves the Mean Green on the outside looking in. In the West division, both Tulane and Rice hold 4-0 records at this point without many opportunities to falter ahead.
3. East Carolina (5-2 Record // 3-1 in Conference // Bye) [4th]
2. Tulane (6-2 Record // 4-0 in Conference // W against Tulsa) [2nd]
Notes: Objectively the strongest the program has been since 2002. Getting the Tulsa monkey off of the Green Wave's back (wave?) is a huge step in the right direction. That said, the offense is still shaky until the Nick Montana injury is fully resolved. Luckily, Devin Powell continues to put in his best effort, and the team is 2-0 without Montana under center.
1. Rice (6-2 Record // 4-0 in Conference // W against UTEP [3rd]
Notes: Rice's season has equaled Tulane's thus far. The deciding factor in this week's ranking? Rice throttled UTEP 45-7, playing lockdown defense and firing on all cylinders on offense. At this stage of the season, the West division is a two horse race, and all signs point to the regular season finale between Rice and Tulane as a can't miss game.
Thoughts on the Week 10 Power Rankings? Sound off on Twitter @fearthewaveblog.
0 comments:
Post a Comment