Showing posts with label Conference USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conference USA. Show all posts
Credit: @katielentz on Twitter
Don't really know what else to put here. A strong effort on the mound allowed Tulane baseball to topple the #3 LSU Tigers 3-2 after 11 innings of baseball.

This is, without a doubt, the biggest upset that comes to mind since I started following the Green Wave. The LSU baseball powerhouse was unable to manufacture a run late in the game, the Wave ultimately capitalized with a two-out double followed by a game winning RBI by Richard Carthon.

That was the dagger, for sure. In a weird bit of cosmic irony though, it was former Tulane pitcher and LSU transfer Nate Fury who gave up the game winning run.

Kyle McKenzie, who entered the game as a closer, pitched four dominant, scoreless innings to keep the Green Wave's upset hopes alive. In the top of the 11th, he downed the final two batters on strikeouts to finish his outing.

This game was an absolute battle for the Green Wave. We didn't produce a single hit from the 4th until the 11th inning. However, the team stood strong, the pitching held up, and the Green Wave hung around long enough to pull out a momentous victory.

And for the first time since 2010, the Bayou Bengals will head back on I-10 without a win.
See you at the Box on April 22nd for round two.

Last night, the Green Wave managed to pull away from the UTSA Roadrunners en route to 68-56 victory at Devlin Fieldhouse.

While the Roadrunners led at the half, the Green Wave picked up the pace in the second and ultimately notched their seventh Conference USA win of the year.

This marks the first time in the Ed Conroy era that Tulane has had 7 or more wins in-conference, and the Green Wave are on the inside track to a first round bye in the Conference USA tournament.

To top it off, Jay Hook, who was 4-4 from three point land against UTEP, continued his hot streak while putting up 25 points on the Roadrunners.

Tulane picks it up again with a home matchup against Florida Atlantic, who we have at 9th in our power rankings, on Feb. 26.

This also marks another game in Tulane's streak of seven consecutive wins against C-USA teams with a worse record (matched by an 0-6 streak when facing teams with a superior record).

Tulane hosted the conference-leading UTEP Miners at Devlin Fieldhouse tonight. Of course, Miners' coach Tim Floyd brought some New Orleans roots (as a former coach of UNO) in the final in-conference, regular season matchup between these two teams.

It had the potential to be a big game, with UTEP leading our league and Tulane in 6th position in-conference. As a result, Coach Ed Conroy brought out his marketing "A game," offering up free pizzas and dollar drinks to the students in attendance:
The Green Wave has struggled with similar top in-conference talent, so the ability of the Green Wave to stick with UTEP for the first half and much of the second half was a bit of a shock.

However, late in the second half, UTEP managed to build its lead to 20 points as Tulane's three pointers slowed down. Throughout the matchup, the Green Wave was unable to establish any kind of inside game against a much bigger UTEP team.

The Green Wave finished with a 72-54 loss at the Miners' hands.

As Guerry Smith highlights below, this game will be added to the "Tale of Two Teams" year for Tulane:
On one hand, the Green Wave has accumulated a .500 C-USA record, a big feat in light of past years' struggles this time of year.

On the other hand, one can't deny that the team has not been able to show up against better teams, which is highlighted by beatdowns at the hands of UTEP, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, and Kansas State.

The Green Wave is still very much in the hunt for a bye in the C-USA tournament, but unless it can play up to a higher level of basketball, it remains to be seen whether the team can do anything with it.


Conference USA is starting to come down to the wire, and it just keeps getting weirder. Southern Mississippi, easily the most dominant team in the league, took two losses in the past week.

The UTEP Miners were on a similar hot streak but fell to the Florida Atlantic Owls this week, as well. So now the question is open: were these teams just due for a loss, or is the middle of the pack closer to the top than it appears.

Here are the Conference USA Power Rankings for Week 16. Click here if you want to see our last edition.

16. Rice Owls (7-17 / 2-9 CUSA) [16th] 
Notes: Stink, stank, stunk. The Owls can't catch a break, and they are tied for last with equally hapless East Carolina.

15. East Carolina Pirates (13-13 / 2-9 CUSA) [15th] 

14. University of North Texas Mean Green (12-13 / 3-8 CUSA) [13th] 

13. Marshall Thundering Herd (9-17 / 3-8 CUSA) [14th]
Notes: The Thundering Herd had only one road win on the entire season. So it would be tough to pick them when they came to Charlotte this week to face the 49ers. However, the struggling Marshall grinded out a victory against Charlotte, who is in a free fall at this point.

12. UT San Antonio  Roadrunners (8-16 / 4-7 CUSA) [12th] 

 11. Florida International Panthers (13-13 / 5-6 CUSA) [11th]
Notes: Honestly, it's kind of lazy to put FIU at 11th again this week. But this team oozes boring. They won on the road against the UTSA Roadrunners but then followed it up with a loss to UTEP. They are definitely above UTSA at this point, but even some of these teams with quirky losses have some fairly exciting wins (see Charlotte). So I will leave FIU a step below this next part of the list, I guess.

10. Charlotte 49ers (14-10 / 5-6 CUSA) [5th] 
Notes: Yeah, this is a huge drop. But the 49ers are falling apart. For starters, they are on a three game losing streak. A 23 point loss on the road to USM is whatever, but they also dropped to Tulane and the struggling Marshall. Yikes. They also have in-conference losses to Rice (the league's worst team) and UTSA. After this nightmare, I am not giving the 49ers the benefit of the doubt until they can turn things around on the court again this year. Did I mention they beat the Michigan Wolverines too? What?

9. Florida Atlantic Owls (10-16 / 5-6 CUSA) [9th] 
Notes: A home win over UAB with a crazy, upset of the UTEP Miners on the road had the Owls stock moving up. Unfortunately for them, they killed their momentum with a 13-point loss to mediocre UTSA.

8. UAB Blazers (15-10 / 4-7 CUSA) [8th] 
Notes: UAB picked up its second win over an NCAA tournament team this week after thoroughly crushing the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi (their previous tourney quality win was over UNC, by the way). So what gives? This seemingly helps you overlook the 1-4 run they are on. Who would have guessed that against Tulane, Florida Atlantic, East Carolina, Florida International, and USM, USM would be the lone win in the bunch?

7. Tulane Green Wave (14-12 / 6-5 CUSA) [10th] 
Notes: The Green Wave has positioned itself in a tie for sixth place with Old Dominion. The big victory came against UAB, the first win at their court since 2007, actually. Tulane is 3-1 in its last 4 games and 6-5 in the league this year. They have a shot at a decent seed in the conference tournament, and I don't think many folks expected that. However, another major loss to a decent team (this time against Middle Tennessee State) forces us to limit our expectations for the team. Until they can hang with the Big Dogs, it's tough to see them challenging too much down the stretch. They will get a chance in this next game against the UTEP Miners on Feb. 20.

6. Old Dominion Monarchs (12-14 / 6-5 CUSA) [6th] 

 5. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-12 / 8-3 CUSA) [7th] 
Notes: I am really liking this Tulsa team. They literally just crossed the .500 threshold on the season, but they are crushing teams in Conference USA. They are 4-1 in their last 5, and they just beat 6th place Old Dominion 76-37. That isn't a typo. When Tulsa is shooting well, they put up points. Fast.

4. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (21-5 / 8-3 CUSA) [1st] 
Notes: This is a pretty extreme drop, but the Golden Eagles had a pretty extreme week. A 24 point beatdown loss to UAB (in the midst of a huge slump) isn't all that damning, but failing to get it together and taking a second loss really hurts. The second defeat came at the hands of Middle Tennessee State, which puts the Blue Raiders a game above USM with a short season remaining. Moreover, the Golden Eagles likely have let their bubble burst and will need to win the conference to get in, given their lack of solid non-conference wins.

3. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (21-6 / 9-2 CUSA) [3rd] 
Notes: With these next three teams tied at 9-2, it's pretty tough to split them up at this point. Louisiana Tech gets the short straw. They have been winning, but they definitely drew the easiest schedule of the bunch. With only one above .500 team left for the year though, you have to expect the Bulldogs to be a serious threat for the top seed.

2. UTEP Miners (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [2nd] 
Notes: I continue to think the Miners are a better team than Middle Tennessee State. However, UTEP lost to Florida Atlantic, while Middle Tennessee wrecked both Tulane and USM (both above .500 teams). So I will give the Blue Raiders a nod this week, but I expect UTEP to be the better team in the end.

1. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [4th] 
Notes: This is the first week that I have picked MTSU. They are riding a seven game winning streak, and they took care of business against the Golden Eagles. They will get a chance to defend their right to be at the top with a road matchup against Louisiana Tech on the horizon.

Make sure to follow FearTheWave.com on Facebook, too. 

Winning on the road in Conference USA has never been a strong suit of the the Green Wave. Last season, armed with all-conference players like Josh Davis and Ricky Tarrant, they only managed the feat a grand total of two times.

On Saturday night, the Green Wave held on for a clutch 86-80 victory against UAB to find its first win in Alabama since 2007. Additionally, they managed to hold the lead for much of the game and ultimately grind out a victory with several players in foul trouble.

Tre Drye had a breakout game, highlighted by 21 points at 7-9 from the field (he also grabbed 9 rebounds and 3 steals). Louis Dabney nearly matched him with 20 points. Freshman Cameron Reynolds even came off the bench to add another 11.

This marked a solid all-around performance for the team after a disappointing 27-point loss to Middle Tennessee State.

It also brought the Green Wave back into sixth place in Conference USA at 6-5 on the season. Their next matchup will bring a strong UTEP Miners squad back to Devlin on Feb. 20.

As Tulane has beaten every team with a worse record (6 victories) so far this year, the Green Wave should be able to handle the UTSA, Florida Atlantic, and FIU games that follow. However, the regular season will end with another matchup against the dreaded Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

UAB has shown flashes of greatness this year, upsetting the UNC Tar Heels while they were still ranked and most recently crushing USM by 24 points. While UAB isn't a contender in the conference, this was definitely a needed boost after some tough defeats.

For tonight, great work to the team, and roll wave.

Also, check out the sick UAB locker room in the picture above... just a side note. But yeah, go Tulane!

The Marshall Thundering Herd are in town today for a 1 PM matchup against Tulane. The Green Wave will look to seize an opportunity to boost their 4-4 in-conference record above .500 on the year.

Of course, Tulane is coming off of a great home win against the Charlotte 49ers, perhaps the most erratic squad in the conference this season.

Let's put it this way... Charlotte (now 5-4 in CUSA) has wins over Kansas State, UTEP, and the top-10 Michigan Wolverines. The flip side: their losses on the road now include both Tulane and Rice.

The Green Wave definitely established some momentum against a competent opponent in that game, capped off by Jay Hook nailing two go-ahead free throws for the win. Although, it should be noted that the 49ers almost hit a crazy buzzer beater. Check out the fan video below.


So turning to the Marshall Thundering Herd, here is the breakdown.

1. Marshall isn't very good this year. Their record of 8-16 is pretty reflective of the season they have been having. They have only two wins in-conference so far, over the struggling Rice Owls as well as Florida International. We had them ranked 14th coming into this week in our Power Rankings.

2. Senior forward Elijah Pittman is a prolific scorer. His 21.1 points per game makes him the biggest threat on this squad, hands down.

3. Marshall has only won one game on the road this season (a Jan. 23 victory over Rice). Other than that, they have not had success away from West Virginia.

4. That said, the Thundering Herd are coming off perhaps the best game they've played this year... They took the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles to the wire in Hattiesburg, ultimately falling 60-57. As you probably remember, USM mauled Tulane in Devlin last week.

This should be a good opportunity for Coach Conroy to notch another win with several tougher games coming down the road. Roll wave.

It might just be that our Tulane Green Wave suffered a pretty dramatic smackdown on its trip to Hattiesburg this week... but has anyone considered that there are too many teams in this conference?

On the real. Just remembering who is in Conference USA at this point is a feat in itself.

But more importantly, Conference USA has to be one of the more interesting non-major, non-mid major conferences around. Why? Well, it's weird. There are four pretty clearly divided and totally different tiers of teams in this Frankenstein of a league:

Tier Four: The Young and the Hopeless: Rice, ECU, Marshall, and probably North Texas are just getting practice time at this point. Winning 4+ games in conference is probably a goal for these squads.

Tier Three: The Three Win Wonders: Next up, there is a huge group of teams that are almost identically shaky: Tulane, UTSA, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and UAB. They win against each other and then typically suffer pretty catastrophic drubbings against the next two tiers.

Tier Two: Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Tulsa, Old Dominion, and Charlotte all could be contenders in this type of conference in the future. But not yet. They are a pain in the neck for the better in-conference opponents, but they are all saddled by stupid losses, either out of conference or to lesser squads in the good ol' C-USA.

Tier One: Sure, every conference has this. I truly think this is a three horse race, at best, but you can make the argument that Middle Tennessee could be a Cinderella in the league tourney.

Every conference is going to have a spread of teams; I just find it funky that C-USA has this eclectic bunch of teams either just joining a superior or conference or desperately fleeing it for greener pastures in the AAC.

Here are the rankings. Last week's ranking is next to each.
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16. Rice (6-15 / 1-7 CUSA) [15th] 
Notes: Started from the bottom, now we're here. The Owls are in an all-out fight for last place with the Pirates of East Carolina. The bowl of sadness between the two teams will be on Feb. 22. 

15. East Carolina (12-10 / 1-6 CUSA) [16th]  

14. Marshall (8-15 / 2-6 CUSA) [14th]  
Notes: The Thundering Herd have not been a threat against any competent team so far this year.

13. North Texas (11-10 / 2-5 CUSA) [11th] 
Notes: Two losses this week. Plus, they suffered a 31 point drubbing at the hands of Tulsa. Stock falling.  

12. UT San Antonio (7-13 / CUSA 3-4) [13th] 
Notes: Snapped a 3-game losing streak with a win over Rice. They get to move up one, but at least they have the tough part of their schedule in the books.  

11. Florida International (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [9th] 

10. Tulane (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [10th] 
Notes: Probably should defense this, since the Green Wave took a beating from Southern Mississippi this weekend. Like a big one. Very similar to what we saw against Louisiana Tech earlier this year. So why keep them in the same place? None of the teams below in the rankings would have fared better, and FIU took two weaker losses. So hey, we aren't moving backwards.   

9. Florida Atlantic University (8-14 / CUSA 3-4) [12th] 
Notes: Whatever happened with their football coach? I kind of blocked that part of the football season out of my mind immediately afterward. FAU beat Marshall and stuck around a better Charlotte team. Stock rising slightly above the rest of these teams.  

8. UAB (14-7 / CUSA 3-4) [7th]  

7. Tulsa (10-11 / CUSA 5-2) [8th] 
Notes: If you want a deep sleeper pick in this conference, it should be Tulsa. They are using in-conference games to pad their winning column. They even have a win over a tourney team (home vs. Southern Miss). Good start to this half of the season. Let's see if they can keep it up.  

6. Old Dominion (10-12 / CUSA 4-3) [5th] 
Notes: Last week, I said Old Dominion's descent was about to commence. And it did. They suffered double digit losses against both Middle Tennessee and UAB. Their stock is starting to fall.

5. Charlotte (14-7 / CUSA 5-3) [6th] 

4. Middle Tennessee State (15-7 / CUSA 5-2) [4th]  

3. Louisiana Tech (18-5 / CUSA 6-2) [2nd] 
Notes: This is where I draw the line of contenders and pretenders. Louisiana Tech is a quality team, but they had a big test against UTEP, and the Miners finished the job. Only two tough games left are Tulsa and Middle Tennessee. The bigger dogs are all out of the way.  

2. UTEP (16-6 / CUSA 6-1) [3rd] 
Notes: Time to believe in the Miners of UTEP. They are riding a 6 game winning streak with victories of Louisiana Tech, UAB, and Middle Tennessee State. The matchup with Southern Mississippi on Feb. 22 is going to be a great game.  

1. Southern Mississippi (19-3 / 6-1 CUSA)
Notes: The team from Hattiesburg continues to control their own fate. They rocked our Tulane Green Wave by a margin of 31 points. They outrebound you. They outshoot you. They outplay you. One more week of this, and USM should have a chance to cracking the Top 25.

 That's all for now. Follow FearTheWave.com on Facebook too.  

Hope everyone back in New Orleans is enjoying the snow day... It's -10 in Michigan right now. Every day is a snow day.

Anyway, we are getting deeper into the Conference USA season, and the contenders and pretenders are starting to separate. The clear surprise of the season so far has been Old Dominion, but the Monarchs are about to come back to earth.

The bigger mover, in my opinion, is the UTEP Miner squad. They are starting to make a case for a "group of three" sitting atop the league.

Here are my power rankings for Week 13 of the college basketball season. You can see last week's rank next to each listing.
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16. East Carolina (11-9 // 0-5 CUSA) [10th] 
Notes: According to Twitter, some World Wrestling event referred to East Carolina as the "Harvard of the South." Sadly for the Pirates, they don't even stack up to Harvard's basketball team this year.

15. Rice Owls (6-13 // 1-5 CUSA) [16th] 

14. Marshall Thundering Herd (7-14 // 1-5 CUSA) [15th] 

13. UT San Antonio (6-12 // 2-3 CUSA) [14th] 
Notes: The Roadrunners are on a three game losing streak. They luckily will place the Rice Owls on Jan. 30 in a bottomfeeder frenzy. Something's gotta give.

12. Florida Atlantic (7-13 // 2-3 CUSA) [13th] 

 11. North Texas (11-9 // 2-4 CUSA) [9th] 
Notes: UNT will probably move up a bit, as they are coming off losses to Charlotte and Middle Tennessee, two of the better team in-conference. At 1-5 so far though, the Mean Green will be most irrelevant this year.

10. Tulane (11-10 // 3-3 CUSA) [12th] 
Notes: The good? Tulane picked up some needed momentum with a home win against Rice followed by a road win against ECU. The bad news? They couldn't pull out a comeback over Old Dominion, and they head to Southern Mississippi next. The Green Wave will have to stay strong in their weaker games if they want to reach .500 in-conference.

9. Florida International (11-9 // 3-2) [11th] 

8. Tulsa (9-11 // 4-2 CUSA) [7th] 
Notes: What a crazy team. Their stock fell after a home loss to UAB, but they have wins over Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss... and an overtime loss to Charlotte wasn't bad. Tulsa doesn't have the consistency to go for the title, but they are dangerous when they're on.

7. UAB (13-6 // 2-3 CUSA) [6th] 

6. Charlotte (12-7 // 3-3 CUSA) [3rd] 
Notes: The 49ers are another team that makes no sense this year. They took down a Michigan team that later toppled an extremely talented Michigan State this past weekend. Would they throw down in-conference? Not looking like it. They suffered a loss to a good Louisiana Tech team... but then they inexplicably dropped to the Rice Owls this week. Yikes.

5. Old Dominion (10-10 // 4-1 CUSA) [8th] 
Notes: My prediction is that this will be the highest I rank Old Dominion this year, as they continue to exceed all reasonable expectations. They take care of business against weak teams, and their only loss is to USM. My guess is that they don't have the talent to handle any of the top tier in this league but will pad their record against the bottom two thirds of the conference. No disrespect, but the Monarchs just don't seem to be a contender team right now.

4. Middle Tennessee State (13-7 // 3-2 CUSA) [5th] 

3. UTEP (14-6 // 4-1 CUSA) [4th] 
Notes: The Miners' stock is rising. They have usurped Charlotte as the scrappy dark horse this week with the 49ers various failings. That said, the Miners have done some good in their own right. Four game winning streak? Check. But Louisiana Tech is next for their first big test in-conference.

2. Louisiana Tech (17-4 // 5-1 CUSA) [2nd] 
Notes: Laid a 20 point smackdown on Charlotte. Lousiana Tech basically has a road trip to El Paso followed by a whole lot of nothing after that. If they get past UTEP, it wouldn't be a shocker to see the Bulldogs run the table.

1. Southern Mississippi (18-3 // 5-1 CUSA) [1st] 
Notes: The Golden Eagles are in "don't shoot ourselves in the foot" mode. They already beat Louisiana Tech, so they just need to take care of business this week against Tulane and Marshall. USM is still the clear front runner for the top seed going into the conference tournament.

Follow fearthewave.com on Facebook too. 

Tulane's two-game win streak was snapped last night by the Old Dominion Monarchs on a road trip to Norfolk.

For virtually the entire game, the Monarchs possessed a solid lead over the Green Wave, yet Tulane managed to make it a two-possession game in the last 60 seconds following a Jonathan Stark three pointer.

The magic wasn't there, however, and the Monarchs were able to make enough free throws to escape the Green Wave's comeback attempt. The conclusion was a 70-64 loss on the Monarchs' court.

With the loss, Tulane drops to 3-3 in Conference USA while Old Dominion moves to 4-1 (and 10-10 on the year, weirdly enough).

The Green Wave's shooting struggled throughout the game, nailing only 19 of 49 field goals (38% from the field). In addition to Stark's team-leading 21 points, Jay Hook posted 14 and Louis Dabney put up 17.

Tulane has a short break until its final game of the road trip: a brutal matchup against a strong Southern Mississippi team in Hattiesburg on Feb. 1. The Green Wave is now 11-10 on the year.

Follow Fear the Wave on Facebook. 

Tulane basketball continues its road trip with a stop at Old Dominion today to face the Monarchs. Here's our preview of the game.

Team Records: Tulane (11-9 / 3-2 CUSA) @ Old Dominion (9-10 / 3-1 CUSA)

 Game Time: 6 PM Central

Tulane Storyline: The Green Wave is actually on the upswing. A calamitous non-conference schedule gave way to a decent start in Conference USA at 3-2. Tulane will look to notch another rare road win to keep a two game win streak alive.

Old Dominion Storyline: The Monarchs took a lot of losses in November and December, yet Old Dominion managed to make its C-USA debut with a 3-0 start. A loss to Southern Miss brought them back to earth, as the Monarchs are a middle-of-the-pack team at best.

Rankings (KenPom.com):  Tulane (#269) vs. Old Dominion (#160)

C-USA Ranking (Fear the Wave): Tulane (#12) vs. Old Dominion (#8)

Guys to Watch: Jay Hook drained three huge 3 pointers in the final two minutes to take down East Carolina on the road. Tulane will need to make this a close game on the road and grind in the final minutes to find another victory. On the Monarchs' side, Aaron Bacote is the guy. He leads the team in scoring at 17.6.

Spread: Tulane +8.5
Green Wave fans. It's been about a month since the New Orleans Bowl marked the end of Tulane's football season. So I guess it is about time to jump into this exciting Conference USA basketball season...

I kid, but people liked the power rankings throughout football, so I am going to bring them back for the remainder of the in-conference schedule. Let me know what you think on Twitter (@fearthewaveblog) or in the comments, as always.

WEEK 12 - CONFERENCE USA BASKETBALL POWER RANKINGS 

 16. RICE OWLS (5-12 / 0-4 CUSA) 
Notes: Rice is real bad this year. An 0-4 start in CUSA is disastrous, and a beatdown by Tulane didn't help matters. Rice will remain a bottomfeeder in this conference, even with some new contenders for that title in the mix this year.

15. MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (6-13 / 0-4) 
Notes: Marshall and Rice play next to determine who will sink a bit further for next week's edition.

14. UT SAN ANTONIO (6-11 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: Ken Pomeroy actually has this as the worst team in Conference USA. Remember that newly D1-A football team that broke Tulane's season in football, impressive in its youth and potential. Evidently, that narrative doesn't apply at all for the Roadrunners in basketball. The travesty is that the Roadrunners football team and basketball team will have the same postseason hopes in the 2013-2014 seasons...

13. FLORIDA ATLANTIC OWLS (6-12 / 2-2 CUSA) 

12. TULANE GREEN WAVE (10-9 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: What a weird year. First with the exodus of players back in the spring and then the 8 freshmen Coach Ed Conroy had to prepare for college basketball. Tulane just isn't clicking yet. I don't know how to define it, but this week paints a pretty clear picture: the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs held Tulane to the fewest field goals ever for the team... they respond by shellacking an undermanned Rice squad. I expect 2014 to look very similar: win some games against the other scrappy CUSA teams, and get the youth ready for a move to the AAC.

 11. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (10-9 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: Notched a nice win against East Carolina, but they put up 36 points against Old Dominion. What?

10. EAST CAROLINA (11-7 / 0-3 CUSA) 

 9. NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN (10-8 / 1-3 CUSA) 

 8. OLD DOMINION MONARCHS (9-3 / 3-0 CUSA) 
Notes: Did anyone know that they were called the Monarchs? I pride myself on a fair amount of team name trivia, and this came out of nowhere for me. They are 3-0 in conference so far, but this Monarch will prove to be a pretender going forward.

 7. TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (8-10 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: Tulsa is trying to keep it weird out in Oklahoma. Their non-conference season was easily forgettable, but they have shown some heart in this early conference season. A smackdown of Tulane was pretty unexpected given both teams' records, but Tulsa looks to be a cut above the rest.

6. UAB DRAGONS (12-5 / 1-2 CUSA) 
Notes: UAB still owns a non-conference win over the UNC Tar Heels, which has to be the strongest win in the conference this year. They took a close loss to UTEP this week. That game kind of was a test for me. I am not betting on the Dragons to emerge as a top dog. They will batter the lesser CUSA talent, but I don't thing they can hang with a Louisiana Tech or Southern Miss to contend for the crown in the end.

 5. MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE BLUE RAIDERS (12-6 / 2-1 CUSA) 

 4. UTEP MINERS (13-6 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: Took care of Middle Tennessee State and UTEP, two of the stronger threats in the league. Their lone conference loss is to Charlotte.

 3. CHARLOTTE 49ERS (12-5 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: I know so little about this new CUSA team, but they are probably peaking too early. They survived an overtime scare on the road against Tulsa, and they even managed to beat a reasonably solid UTEP team. Their conference loss? UT San Antonio... No good.

2. LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS (3-1 / 15-4) 

 1. SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES (16-3 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: I had Southern Miss as my top pick in CUSA coming into this season, and they deserve to be near the top. Great overall record, but a loss to Tulsa took some of the wind out of the Hurricane in the early season. They did manage to take care of a very good Louisiana Tech team in a home victory last night. To me, that represents a big momentum shift for this team in a "test" type of game. However, I do think Louisiana Tech is going to end up winning the conference when it's all said and done. The Bulldogs are a much more efficient defense than the Eagles, and their offensive firepower is pretty comparable. They won't meet again until the CUSA Conference Championship.

 Let me know what you think. We'll check in again next week. @fearthewaveblog 

And like that, the Superdome era is over for the Tulane University Green Wave. On Nov. 23, the team completed the very last chapter in its generally un-storied history with the cavernous Superdome.

Of course, it hand to end in the most uncharacteristic way: a 45-3 beatdown against a struggling UTEP Miners squad. In the end, the Green Wave got it done, and they left the Superdome on a rare high note, even still involved in the conference race.

Here are the quick reactions.

1. Wide Receiver Ryan Grant looks like an NFL caliber wide receiver every time this offense is clicking at all. Today, he put up over 100 yards with two touchdowns to boot. Grant is a dominant receiver with next-level talent.

2. Despite the many successes of this 2013 season, Tulane has not really dominated any opponent other than Playoff Division Jackson State. This UTEP game definitely looked like a statement that the team was refocused and ready to finish strong.

3. The Miners put up 39 yards of rushing. For much of the first half, they struggled to put up any type of yardage. The Green Wave defense gave up almost nothing today.

4. Tulane moves to 5-2 in the conference. UT San Antonio, fresh off its win two weeks ago against Tulane, sits at 5-2 with the tiebreaker over the Green Wave. UNT now is 5-2, but loses the tiebreaker to both Tulane and UT San Antonio.

Here are the remaining scenarios as to how the West Division will be decided.

A. Rice beats Tulane. The Owls would finish at 7-1 and would win the division outright. They control their own destiny. RESULT: RICE OWLS: 

B. UT San Antonio beats Louisiana Tech and Tulane beats Rice. Rice and UTSA would tie at 6-2, but Rice controls the tiebreaker with San Antonio by head-to-head victory.

  • UNT Scenario - UNT WINS: If UNT beats Tulsa in this scenario, UNT would be 6-2 as well. This creates a tie at 6-2 among Tulane, San Antonio, UNT, and Rice. Tulane and UTSA are both 2-1 against this group, so they would effectively tie for first. Then, it goes to head-to-head, and UTSA's victory would send the Roadrunners to the title and leave Tulane in second. 
RESULT: UTSA ROADRUNNERS

C. Tulane beats Rice. UTSA loses to Louisiana Tech. UNT outcome does not matter. In this scenario, Tulane, Rice, and UNT finish at 6-2, moving UTSA back to 5-3. Tulane would control the head-to-head with both Rice and UNT. RESULT: TULANE GREEN WAVE 

D. Under no scenario can UNT make it to the conference championship, regardless of the outcome of the Mean Green's game with Tulsa next week. At this point, UNT's stake is simply to figure out seeding and improve its chance to appear in a better bowl game (probably Heart of Dallas would be ideal for Mean Green at this stage).

E. The Louisiana Tech factor. The Bulldogs are playing Tulsa at the moment. If they manage to pick up the win, they will head to UT San Antonio next week with bowl eligibility still on the line. Can't help to think that we should be rooting for LT to have something on the line next week! 

Whew. Altogether, it comes down to this. Rice can win, and they're in. If Tulane wins, it either sends the Green Wave to the championship or propels UT San Antonio to the title game. 

I guess this is what it feels like to have the late season matter? Roll wave. 

No other way to slice it. This was a rough weekend for me as a sports fan. After the shellacking that the Pittsburgh Steelers endured at the hands of the Patriots today, that would be bad enough alone to ruin my sports weekend. However, after a 34-17 meltdown in Boca Raton yesterday, things are pretty rough right now.

That said, the sky hasn't fallen on Tulane yet, as disappointing as Saturday turned out to be. Tulane is still off to its best start in-conference since the otherworldly 1998 season at 4-1. Moreover, they have two great opportunities coming up in UT San Antonio and UTEP before the final dance with the Rice Owls.

Here are the Power Rankings for Conference USA: Week 11. I'll attach last week's rank, in addition to each team's record, for you reference. Weigh in below in the comments or on Twitter @fearthewaveblog.
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14. Southern Mississippi (0-8 Record // 0-4 in CUSA // L to Marshall) [14th]
Notes: Dumpster fire. It shouldn't count as a win unless you put up 50+ on the Golden Eagles this season.

13. Florida International (1-7 Record // 0-3 in CUSA // L to ECU) [12th]

12. UTEP (1-6 Record // 0-4 in CUSA // L to Texas A&M) [13th]
Notes: Moving UTEP up one spot because the Miners played a first quarter of competitive football against a vastly superior team, before Johnny Manziel decided to shift into gear. That was the end of that.

11. UAB (2-6 Record // 1-3 in CUSA // L to MTSU) [11th]
Notes: Played a close game against Middle Tennessee State University, but a good loss won't be good enough to jumpstart their season.

10. Tulsa (2-6 Record // 1-3 in CUSA // L to UTSA) [9th]
Notes: Tulsa's stock continues to freefall. The Golden Hurricanes, one year removed from playing the conference championship, took a beating at the hands of UT San Antonio. This officially is a lost year for the Oklahoma squad.

9. Louisiana Tech (3-5 Record // 2-2 in CUSA // Bye) [8th]

8. Middle Tennessee State (5-4 Record // 3-2 in Conference // W against UAB) [6th]
Notes: Downgrading MTSU after a win doesn't make a lot of sense. However, they showed their vulnerability against UAB, and a couple of other squads produced more firepower in Week 10.

7. Florida Atlantic University (3-6 Record // 2-4 in CUSA // W against Tulane) [10th]
Notes: Bumping FAU after taking down conference-leader Tulane in a convincing fashion. After facing national humiliation at the hands of their coaching staff, this team found a way to get fired up and protect their Homecoming. The FAU Owls could still claw their way into bowl eligibility, especially with a weak schedule in front of them.

6. UT San Antonio (4-5 Record // 3-2 in CUSA // W against Tulsa) [7th]
Notes: UTSA's stock continues to rise. This week, they laid a smackdown on Tulsa's home field that effectively ended the Golden Hurricanes' season. UTSA is working their way into bowl eligibility, and you can expect that they will be fired up for a home matchup against Tulane this weekend.

5. Marshall (5-3 Record // 3-1 in CUSA // W against USM) [5th]

 4. Tulane (6-3 Record // 4-1 in CUSA // L against FAU) [2nd]
Notes: At this level, the top five teams are very tightly bunched, reflecting the final five in both divisions. Here's the deal. The Green Wave is absolutely still in position to control its own destiny over the next three games. The key variable will be Coach CJ's ability to figure out this offense and produce a stable passing game. Without that, UTSA will be a trap game, and Rice could become very challenging as well.

3. Rice (6-3 Record // 4-1 in CUSA // L against UNT) [1st]
Notes: Rice is still ahead of the Green Wave because, simply put, they played better ball on the road against UNT. The Owls still have a great shot to win the conference, as victories against Louisiana Tech and UAB will 100% give Rice a "win-and-you're-in" scenario in the final week of the regular season.

2. UNT (6-3 Record // 4-1 in CUSA // W against Rice) [4th]
Notes: The Mean Green look hungry. The biggest factor working against them is that they would lose the tiebreaker with Tulane due to a head-to-head loss earlier this year. So for that reason, expect the fans in Denton to be pulling hard for the Green Wave's opponents in this final stretch.

1. ECU (6-2 Record // 4-1 in CUSA // W against FIU) [3rd]
Notes: Remember that outlive, outlast, outplay slogan that "Survivor" used to use? That pretty much describes the Pirates' placement this week. They are continuing to take care of business, and they control their own destiny to win the East Division. A final matchup with Marshall could determine the divisional champion if the Thundering Herd remain error free over the next two weeks.
Here is the live game chat from the Tulane @ Florida Atlantic Homecoming matchup. UPDATE: The result is a 34-17 loss for the Tulane Green Wave.

See the live chat below to follow the action. Will try to do more of these in the future, too.

Tulane will meet Florida Atlantic University, a member of Conference USA's East Division, at 4 PM Central time.

Here are the storylines for the day. Also, quick explanation of the picture. FAU made headlines earlier this year when GEO Group, a private prison firm, bought the naming rights to their stadium. So if you didn't love FAU before... their Board of Trustees is partially controlled by the folks who make money keeping people behind bars.

Here's what to look for.

1. Tulane is the only undefeated team left in Conference USA play. Rice tumbled to 4-1 after losing an away matchup against the University of North Texas on Thursday night. That means both the Division title and (let's not get ahead of ourselves, but still...) the Conference Championship homefield advantage are in the Green Wave's hands.

2. The 2-6 FAU Owls have obviously, as we all know, lost their Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator in the last week. As the Charlotte Observer points out, times were already tough for the Owls prior to this controversy. The biggest question is whether the players can find a way to channel a lot of negative energy into something positive on their Homecoming game.

3. Everybody loves CJ. Coach Curtis Johnson got a nice write-up by USA Today Sports yesterday. First one to find a quote from CJ taking credit for success wins. I've never seen an interview where he doesn't immediately credit the assistant coaching staff and players.

4. Tulane kicking rockstar Cairo Santos is familiar with Palm Beach, Florida. He will be back here after the season while in the running for another Lou Groza award after a great 2013 campaign thus far.

5. We have no idea what the Tulane offense is going to look like. Presumed starter Nick Montana took most of the snaps this week in practice. Coach CJ has not ruled out the possibility of utilizing both RS freshman Devin Powell and the banged up Montana in this one.

6. Tulane is the underdog, once again. In the six wins so far this year, the folks in the desert have put Tulane in the doghouse 5 times. So even in spite of all the craziness this week,  we can confidently say that the Green Wave still has a chip on their shoulder.

Lastly, roll damn wave.

At this moment, the University of North Texas is leading the 4-0 Rice Owls in the fourth quarter. While I have learned not to speculate at such moments, it did spark my interest in clarifying Conference USA's tiebreaker formula to determine the divisional champions.

As we all know, in Conference USA West, we currently have the following setup:
1. Tulane: 4-0 in CUSA and 6-2 Overall
1. Rice: 4-0 in CUSA and 6-2 Overall
3. North Texas: 3-1 in CUSA* and 5-3 Overall
* indicates that UNT has already lost to Tulane. More on that.

Now the perplexing thing is that Conference USA does not seem to have an official post establishing their formula for tiebreakers. Here's their "Format" site for 2013, which provides no mention of tiebreakers for the division.

I keep reminding myself that it's the last year for us... Anyway, from what I gathered while cross-referencing past seasons as well as several C-USA message boards, here's the "Fear the Wave somewhat official tiebreaker" for Conference USA football's divisions.

1. The best record in Conference USA-play will advance.
2. If tied, the head-to-head matchup decides who advances
3. If still tied, divisional record would be the next measure (which is weird, as teams in the same division will play each other each year)

So there you have it. Let's say that hypothetically, a school in Denton, TX (3-1) was playing a school in Houston, TX (4-0). That Denton teams wins, making each team 4-1. Then, the Denton U would then control the tiebreaker over Houston.

Now let's say there is an additional team from Louisiana, in this example. They are 4-0 and have not played Houston, but they have already beaten Denton. In other words, they control the tiebreaker with Denton but would lose to Houston if both had the same record in-conference and Houston handed Louisiana its only loss (7-1 and 7-1, Houston advances).

However, if Houston lost to Denton and one additional game, Louisiana would still advance even if it lost to Houston (Louisiana 7-1, Denton 7-1*, Houston 6-2).

Now, for any of these scenarios, let's say that both East and West divisions produced a tied in-conference record. If both teams were 7-1, let's say, the order would be the following to determine the Conference USA Championship host:

1. Record in-conference
2. Head-to-head record, if available
3. Highest ranking under the BCS ranking model

That format is confirmed here by CSTV.

So what does that all mean? It would be stellar if Tulane can win them all coming down the line. But if nothing else, the team absolutely controls its own fate in this final stretch of the season.

**UPDATE on the Results of UNT vs. Rice: 
Shortly after capturing the Conference USA Player of the Week honors for Defense, Tulane Safety Sam Scofield picked up another piece of hardware.

By national selection, Scofield was chosen as the Football Writers Association of America's top defensive player across all of college football.

Scofield recorded 18 tackles in last weekend's matchup against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Not a typo. 18. Scofield was everywhere. He also contributed to the Tulane turnover margin with a nice forced fumble.

Congrats to Scofield and the Green Wave squad, once again.

Coming off of a four game winning streak, Tulane will pack its bags for a trip to Florida Atlantic University with the hope of spoiling their Homecoming game.

Bulletin board material of the week? Tulane is a 4-point underdog to the 2-6 Florida Atlantic. Never fear. In the six wins this season thus far, the Green Wave has played as the dog 5 out of 6 times. The lone exception? The folks out in Vegas did have faith in the Wave to beat the subdivision Jackson State.

Here's the link roundup. Catch up on your Green Wave.
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1. CBS Sports - Tulane is up to 46th in the latest BCS standings, making the Green Wave the highest performing team in C-USA thus far. If you put any value in that, both Rice and ECU are almost equally ranked going into Week 10.

2. The Advocate - The ongoing debate over the Tulane Legislative Scholarship program has now reached Ben Weiner Drive. The Advocate alleges that the baseball team, in particular, has feasted on these scholarships given by legislators across Louisiana.

3. ESPN College Football - ESPN continues to place Tulane in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against UL-Lafayette. While worse snubs have happened, it seems unlikely that Tulane will crumble with FAU, UT-SA, and UTEP left on the schedule. The New Orleans Bowl is the lowest ranked bowl that C-USA currently is tied to.

4. USA Today Sports - In their re-rank of college football, they have elevated Tulane to 40th in the nation. The team was originally predicted to finish 109th on the year.

5. USA Today Sports - A second USA Today piece highlights Tulane and Duke as the "doormat" programs finally taking revenge on college football in 2013. Another nice profile for the squad.

6. Here's a fan video of the celebration after the Tulsa victory. I don't know that the sheer number of fans really reflect the team's progress yet, but the passion definitely seems to be picking up.


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.
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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.


Tulane just beat the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Yes, the same Tulsa that has beaten Tulane every meeting since 1968.

More importantly, Tulane is not only 4-0 in Conference USA, but the Green Wave is bowl eligible for the first since 2002. This is also the first 4 game winning streak since that same year when the team headed to Hawaii.

Congratulations to Coach CJ and the team on a tremendous accomplishment.

Quick Reactions: 

1. Lorenzo Doss picked off another one today. He is currently tied for the most interceptions in college football heading into tonight's games.

2. Tulane was a three point underdog in this matchup. In their six wins, they have been the underdog 5 times (only a favorite against Jackson State).

3. Rice also won today. That brings the Owls to 4-0. I don't think it's too early to assume that this season will come down to the final game of the year when Tulane travels to Houston.

4. This is the second critical win that has come without Nick Montana in the game. Redshirt freshman Devin Powell is 2-0 as starting QB in 2013.

5. Oh. Not only are they bowl eligible. It's October. Next three opponents? Florida Atlantic (2-5), Texas-San Antonio (2-5), and UTEP (1-5). This team is just getting started.

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