Green Wave fans, Homecoming is upon us. In 48 hours, the 6-3 Memphis Tigers will be entering Yulman Stadium with the hopes of spoiling a Tulane Homecoming. 

Here to break it down in "Know Your Enemy" is John Martin, a columnist for ESPN 92.9 who specializes in all things Memphis Tigers. 

He was cool enough to take some questions over email after covering the Memphis Tigers' big matchup with Christian Brothers University on the hardwood last night.

Give John a follow on Twitter, and you can read his column on Memphis here.

Let's see what the Tigers are thinking.

Q: This season has certainly shaped up to be an interesting year for the Tigers. For one, they haven't been to a bowl game since 2008. On top of that, they were picked to finish 7th -- behind UConn, SMU, and USF -- in the preseason media poll. What were the expectations of Memphis fans coming into this year? 

This being Justin Fuente’s third year, I think Memphis fans expected to see more wins this season. There wasn’t a quarterback competition — Paxton Lynch locked it up — and the defense, particularly stout last season, was returning mostly everyone. Maybe a portion talked themselves into six wins, with home games against UConn and South Florida to end the year. But nobody expected this. 

Nobody expected to go toe-to-toe with UCLA and Ole Miss for three quarters. Nobody expected to have the chance to win nine games and the American Athletic Conference championship. In a Tiger fan’s wildest of dreams, that scenario wasn’t on the table.

Q: Memphis is on a nice run since their bye, obliterating SMU and Tulsa by a combined score of 88-30, and then following with a solid win on the road at Temple. How much fire do the Tigers have right now after those wins and gaining bowl eligibility? 

It’s a huge deal to be bowl eligible at Memphis, as you know. That hasn’t happened since 2008. Even Justin Fuente, a notoriously understated fellow, let himself celebrate after Jake Elliott’s game-winning field goal went through. People don’t realize how bad a shape the program was in when Fuente took over; they were low on scholarships, low on talent, low on attendance and low on hope. 


But Fuente, by way of not missing in recruiting and sharp evaluating, has this thing rolling, and Memphis is gonna have to find the resources to keep him from bolting in the offseason. With the AAC title still mathematically possible, the key for Memphis is to obviously not be satisfied with six wins.

Q: Senior running back Brandon Hayes has been very solid with a 200 yard and three touchdown game against Tulsa and a 5.1 YPC average on the season. With Tulane's defensive strength in producing turnovers, what do you envision the Tigers' offensive game plan will look like?

 I don’t really expect Memphis to change its game plan; the Tigers have been pretty balanced all season long. They’re reasonably better at running the ball, with Hayes and possibly Sam Craft returning from injury this weekend, but Lynch has accounted for 18 total touchdowns this season, too. So I suspect it’ll be, as it has all season long, a healthy mix of run and pass.

Q: Rick Ross made an appearance at the FedEx Forum for Josh Pastner at Memphis Madness. Has the football program thought about bringing in the big guns for this road trip?

 I think Rick Ross took up their entertainer budget for the year.

 Q: Tulane's offense has been inconsistent at times due to a dangerous combination of youth as well as injuries at quarterback, running back, and receiver. How do you think Memphis will stack up on defense to Tanner Lee's offense?

Memphis’ defense, when at full strength, is tough to handle. The Tigers have ball-hawking defensive backs like Bobby McCain and Chris Morley and they’ve got a havoc-wreaking defensive lineman in Martin Ifedi. There just aren’t many weak links in the Memphis defense, and they thrive off of causing mistakes.

Q: While I am sure Tigers fans are gearing up for those heralded Memphis vs. Tulane matchups in basketball, do you see a strong contingent of Tigers making the drip down to Yulman? 

 You know, that’s an interesting question. It’d all depend on the hotel availability, which doesn’t seem ideal this weekend with the Saints in town. Maybe a few hundred?

 Q: If you were given the choice for a world where Coach Calipari stays for the 2009 Memphis season but Memphis football could not reach bowl eligibility until 2025, do you take the deal? 

 2025 is a long time, man. And that season would’ve been vacated anyway, probably.

 Q: Prediction for the game on Saturday? 

 Let’s go 31-14, Memphis. (Sorry, Tulane. New day.)

The Tulane Green Wave is coming off a remarkable 31-24 victory over Houston last weekend with a big-time matchup against the Memphis Tigers on the way.

I'll be publishing an interview with an expert on Memphis football tomorrow for my "Know Your Enemy" piece, but with three games remaining this season, I couldn't help but think: what is this year going to look like?

Saturday will be a big factor. Memphis -- like Houston -- is fighting for the top spot in the American Conference. Tulane will be an 11 point underdog, which will shock no one, when they enter Yulman Stadium on Saturday.

Thinking about our chances, I have been getting really into the Football Outsiders website, which specializes in advanced stats for college football. If you're into that sort of think, you'll probably dig this post. If math isn't your thing, I'd probably use this as a jumping off point.

Memphis at Tulane: 

While the conventional wisdom was that this season would come down to UCF vs. Cincinnati vs. East Carolina, that has not been the case. Memphis has already thrown a wrench in that dynamic with a single in-conference loss so far this year.

Memphis is a damn good football team. They took UCLA to the wire on the Bruins' field, and then hung with a very talented Ole Miss team into the fourth quarter in the Liberty Bowl. But how good are they?

Using the F/+ formula of Football Outsiders, which rates teams on the basis of offensive, defensive, and special teams performance excluding garbage time and garbage drives, here's a quick preview of Saturday:

Tulane Green Wave [3-6]: 

1. Ranking: 99th out of 128 in FBS 
2. Offensive Ranking: 92nd 
3. Defensive Ranking: 63rd 
4. Special Teams: 126th 
5. F/+ Rating: -14.5% 

Memphis Tigers [6-3]: 

1. Ranking: 45th out of 128 in FBS 
2. Offensive Ranking: 75th 
3. Defensive Ranking: 46th 
4. Special Teams: 2nd 
5. F/+ Rating: 6.1% 

A couple things pop out immediately. For one, as you can see in the full ranking, Memphis is the highest rated team in the American Conference. The Tigers, through this week, have been on par with the likes of Texas A&M, Texas, and the University of Florida. That is a big time college football team. 

While both teams boast a serious strength on defensive with relatively low-ranked offenses through this week, you will notice the discrepancy at special teams: Memphis being ranked second in the country to Tulane, ranked second to last. 

Interesting, but still 6.1% vs. -14.5% in a F/+ rating? What does that actually mean in terms of the football game that is about to be played. 

An Underdog Story: 

SB Nation writer Bill Connelly writes a pretty cool blog called Football Study Hall, which is worth checking out if you like this sort of thing. 

Unfortunately, they do awesome projections for the power conferences but the AAC doesn't get any love. 

My question this week was how meaningful the difference between Memphis and Tulane in their play so far this year should be as a factor in projecting who wins this game. After tweeting at Bill, they do not publish their algorithm for how they turn the F/+ ratings into pretty impressive predictions for win probabilities, so I decided to try to do it myself. 

Using this college football season as a data set, in games so far between teams with a margin of F/+ ratings between 19 and 20 points, the favorite won about 96.8% of the time. If we played a game like that 100 times, you would expect the underdog to win about three of those times. 

Does It Matter? 

Depends who you ask. The ratings tend to be pretty solid. If you are picking games straight up using the F/+ ratings, you would be right about 78% of the time (it's a little tougher in projecting beating the spread, so that's a whole other conversation). 

A relevant factor that we don't pick up from these numbers is that a team trending upward is obviously desirable when you need one to beat the odds, even if the chance of victory is fairly small. 

I think Tulane fits that profile as much as any team can. For one, reports from practice this week indicate that not only has Tulane seen a couple key components coming back online after injury, but quarterback Tanner Lee is starting to hit his peak. 

Tanner Lee had his best practice of the year and @teddyencalade was back in action. Good signs. #BeatMemphis http://t.co/uaOq5MnG4c
— Fear the Wave (@FearTheWaveBlog) November 13, 2014

That's a good sign. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the Tulane offensive unit -- which along with the special teams -- really anchors the Green Wave down in such ratings has been forced to evolve in some pretty absurd ways.

Does the trajectory of the offense under Nick Montana, which slowed to a crawl as the team tried to minimize risk against UConn and UCF, have anything to do with where the offense is right now?

Is the fact that 70% of the yardage Tulane has put up offensively has been produced by freshman a factor in that each game is basically multiplying the amount of experience this team has?

It's very possible. Tulane will be able to choose its own fate on Saturday playing in front of a sold-out crowd against the toughest team in its league.

If the Green Wave can survive this one again, it will be a huge statement not only to the development of this team but also to its viability against East Carolina and Temple, which on paper will prove to be easier games.

Predicting the Other AAC Matchups:

Thursday: 

East Carolina at Cincinnati: This one is extremely close on paper. Ranked 57th to 64th respectively, I have East Carolina with a 53% win probability. This is going to be a toss-up.

Saturday: 

Tulsa at UCF: Huge disparity between these two teams. UCF playing at home will have a 98.5% chance of beating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to stay in the AAC contender race.

Temple at Penn State: Temple will head to Penn State after a tough loss by a field goal to Memphis. The Owls should lose this one but have a 31% win probability, so they may be able to find some magic on the road.

USF at SMU: Both of these teams are considered the worst 15 squads in the country, but the Mustangs are putting up some historic numbers in their badness. USF will have an 81% win probability for this one on the road.

This is a new feature I want to update every couple weeks on what Tulane's opponents are doing. As you can see, Georgia Tech and Duke have established strong 4-0 starts after beating the Green Wave.

There is more trouble on the way with Memphis, ECU, and Cincinnati all playing very strong football right now. These next couple games will be critical wins in the Green Wave's effort to get back to bowl season.

1. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-2) [Tulane Loss] 

Tulsa had the week off but will play Texas State next week with a great chance to get back to .500.

2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (4-0) [Tulane Loss] 

The Ramblin' Wreck pulled off a great upset of the Virginia Tech Hokies, handing another loss to the team that previously beat Ohio State on the road.

3. Southeastern Louisiana Lions (2-2) [Tulane Win] 

The Lions, coming into this week ranked #3 in FCS, dropped another game against SE Missouri. They will have to get their season back on track after losing some momentum in this stretch.

4. Duke Blue Devils (4-0) [Tulane Loss] 

Duke's victory over Tulane earned the Blue Devils another appearance in the Top 25. They are now #23 after a convincing 4-0 start.

5. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-1) [Away at Rutgers] 

Rutgers is coming off a victory when they host the Tulane Green Wave next week. They survived a comeback at the hands of the Navy Midshipmen this weekend, but they received news today that Paul James, their star running back with five touchdowns this season, has had season ending surgery.

6. UConn Huskies (1-3) [Home at Yulman] 

If Tulane can pull off a nice game against their Big Ten opponent, they will have a really good chance to get back to .500 when they host the UConn Huskies. UConn dropped another game in a messy matchup with the USF Bulls this week. Their offense has been stagnant, and the defense hasn't been much better.

7. UCF Golden Knights (1-2) [Home at Yulman] 

UCF became the last AAC team to win a game this year after a 41-7 win over Bethune Cookman. They have a week off, and then they will try their hand against a struggling Houston Cougars team to get back to .500.

8. Cincinnati Bearcats (2-0) [Home at Yulman] 

Cinci started this season extremely late (after even the Cincinnati Bengals), but they are off to a 2-0 start after beating the Miami (OH) Wildcats this past weekend 31-24. They will have a tough test against the Ohio State Buckeyes this week, but a win would really galvanize this team.

9. Houston Cougars (2-2) [Away at Houston] 

The Cougars had a fairly disastrous start to this season, which included a loss to a very good BYU. They showed some signs that things are back on track when they wrecked the UNLV Rebels 47-14. Their offense can be potent when it's clicking, and they will look to build momentum.

10. Memphis Tigers (2-1) [Home at Yulman, Homecoming] 

Wow. The Memphis Tigers are by far the biggest surprise in the AAC so far this year. They are 2-1 after a nice home win over Middle Tennessee. The Tigers even packed the Liberty Bowl for the game. Their lone loss was a near upset to #10 UCLA while on the road. Memphis is playing tough football right now.

11. #24 East Carolina Pirates (3-1) [Away at ECU]

East Carolina is looking like the best team in the AAC. A week after beating Virginia Tech, East Carolina took down #24 UNC in absolute beatdown, the kind where QB Shane Carden puts 70 points on the board against the Tar Heels. The Pirates are a very solid football team right now, and they will be ranked #24 this week.

12. Temple Owls (2-1) [Home at Yulman] 

The Owls put up a 59-0 victory against an undermatched Delaware State squad this week. That warmup game should give the Owls a good look when they face a middling UConn next week.

Week Two is officially in the books, and we have some movement in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Power Rankings.

Below, you will see a listing of the teams in rank order, their rank last week, and the most recent result.

Sound off @fearthewaveblog on Twitter.

AAC Power Rankings - Week Two: 


11. SMU Mustangs - LW #7, 0-2 Record, L to U. OF NORTH TEXAS 

SMU suffered a big drop this week. After getting shellacked by Baylor, we thought they might just be rusty. A 43-6 beatdown by the hands of UNT (a team Tulane beat last year) led to the resignation of their coach and shaky waters ahead. Likely moving down further with time.

10. Tulane Green Wave - LW #10, 0-2 Record, L to GEORGIA TECH 

This kills you, but Tulane has a lot to prove after a monumental week in the program's history. In front of a sellout crowd at the brand new Yulman Stadium, Royce LaFrance opened the game with a fumble recovery to get the fans fired up. Unfortunately, on an extremely hot and humid Louisiana Saturday, things slipped away, and ultimately standout QB Tanner Lee was benched. The second half allowed the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech to break it open, and Tulane was left winless once again. They will get another chance with Southeastern Louisiana coming to Yulman for the first ever night game.

9. Tulsa Golden Hurricane - LW #9, 1-1 Record, L to OKLAHOMA 

Well, reality came back to Tulsa 52-7 beatdown at home by the Oklahoma Sooners.

8. UConn Huskies - LW #10, 1-1 Record, W against STONY BROOK 

Not going to give them much credit for beating Stony Brook of the CAA. Let's see what else they will do down the stretch.

7. USF Bulls - LW #8, 1-1 Record, L against MARYLAND 

USF gave up a fourth quarter lead to almost secure another victory for the American Conference against the Power Five.

6. Temple Owls - LW #5, 1-1 Record, L against NAVY 

Temple could not complete a comeback against future conference rival Navy. The Owls are back to .500.

5. Memphis Tigers - LW #6, 1-1 Record, L against #11 UCLA 

I hate to move a team up after a loss, but no one in the rear made a move. And everyone lost. So what are you going to do? Furthermore, who saw the Tigers going punch-for-punch with the #11 UCLA Bruins on the road? Tough to judge the Tigers by this performance alone, but things seem to be turning around in Memphis.

4. Houston Cougars - LW #4, 1-1 Record, W against GRAMBLING STATE 

47-0 win against Grambling State after a beatdown suffered against UTSA last week. Moving on.

3. East Carolina Pirates - LW #2, 1-1 Record, L against #21 SOUTH CAROLINA 

The Pirates led going into the second quarter. Pretty sure South Carolina would have imploded if Shane Carden and the gang had stuck this one out.

2. UCF Knights - LW #3, 0-1 Record, No Action 

Snooze. Getting a break after the weird Ireland trip. What are we hoping to do with that gimmick?

1. Cincinnati Bearcats - LW #1, 0-0 Record, No Action 

The Bearcats will start their regular season after the Cinci Bengals in the NFL. Who made this schedule up?

Let me know what you think about the American Athletic Conference Power Rankings: Week Two. 

Tulane's Tarrant (from nola.com)

Conference USA teams are now wrapping up their non-conference schedules, so things are about to get much more interesting in the rankings.

At the very least, we are starting to see the conference begin to separate a bit in these last few games of conference play. So without further adieu, we begin with...

12. Rice (3-9; W10 - 12th) - I've been waiting to use this since Christmas, but "Stink... Stank... Stunk..." pretty much describes what is happening with the Owls. They haven't won a game in almost a month. No sign that things will get any better once they open in-conference against Southern Mississippi.

11. Marshall (7-7; W10 - 7th) - Marshall suffered the biggest drop in the rankings. Once upon a time, the Thundering Herd were expected to challenge Memphis for an NCAA berth. Things have changed. Star DeAndre Kane is out, and the team has failed to figure out a game plan in his absence. A loss to Kentucky won't kill you, but getting smacked down by the Delaware State Hornets will. Marshall is looking like a falling star.

10. Tulsa (8-6; W10 - 11th) - Tulsa gets a slight bump because Marshall looks worse, but nothing much to say here. They took a drubbing at the hands of both Creighton and FSU. They added a close win against Buffalo (a 5-9 MAC team) to their resume. I'm guessing Tulsa's record will start to plummet once they hit the conference.

9. UAB (8-6; W10 - 10th) - UAB hasn't really done anything to hurt its case over the last couple of weeks... but it hasn't helped itself either. UAB captured an additional two victories over some bad competition: Northeastern and Georgia Southern. I'm not ready to move UAB up, really, in light of six pretty deserved losses. While UAB has played some competition, it has failed to show that it can contend against a competent team. That will end up hurting them.

8. East Carolina (8-4; W10 - 5th) - ECU's stock is also falling. After a solid start, they are starting to drop some ugly games, and there's no sign of stopping in conference play. Here's my personal favorite: an overtime home loss to the Campbell State Fighting Camels. Boom. ECU doesn't seem to have a lot under the hood, and I expect them to pay for it once they hit the better in-conference teams.

7. Southern Methodist (10-5; W10 - 6th) - After a 10-1 start, Larry Brown's Mustangs have come back to earth. Or Conference USA. Or somewhere. They took a loss to Wyoming, a team that is on the cusp of being ranked, so that's not terrible. A 2-4 record since Dec. 15 doesn't look very strong, however. Losses to Wagner and Rhode Island seem to be indicative of this team's problems.

6. Houston (10-2; W10 - 9th) - Houston, Houston, Houston... They boast a rare distinction of holding the best C-USA record and also being the second worst team in Ken Pomeroy's rankings (at 192...). What gives? They've played nobody. And they have been challenged by weak competition (Texas Southern, Prairie Valley, etc.). I expect Houston to follow Tulane's 2011 trajectory: great non-conference play followed by a bunch of early losses in January. Then again... they keep winning, so it's tough to demote them.

5. UTEP (6-6; W10 - 8th) - UTEP is still moving on up. After taking a ranked UNLV to the wire and beating a rock solid Oregon team, UTEP hasn't stopped their resurgence. They smoked a Nebraska team that beat Tulane earlier this year. The down side? UTEP took an ugly loss to Colorado State this week that hurts their case a bit. Still a strong team that has some upside in conference play.

Memphis opens 2013 with a win over Tennessee 

4. UCF (9-4; W10 - 4th) - This is the weakest UCF team in recent memory. That said, no one is really making a case from below to take their spot. The Golden Knights took a loss to South Florida, completing the Florida trifecta of defeats against the Florida Gators, Miami Hurricanes, and South Florida Bulls. Not good. Their offensive efficiency is still solid while their defense continues to give up points to bad teams. UCF will need to re-establish itself in conference play if it wants some relevance this year.

3. Southern Mississippi (11-4; W10 - 2nd) - The way I see it, we have the top three teams and everyone else, right now. Since last ranking, USM lost to a good Wichita team and smoked a Morehead State squad that gave Kentucky some trouble, once upon a time. In a quirky scheduling move, Southern Miss finished 2012 with two exhibition games against junior college teams... Southern Miss will open its 2013 against Rice.

2. Tulane (12-3; W10 - 3rd) - This is the highest I have put the Green Wave so far this season. Tulane is riding a five game win streak with two of their best wins of the year to close out non-conference play: a road win at Alabama and a home beatdown of Wofford. Josh Davis is leading the conference in scoring and adding a ton of rebounds on the side. And... even after a slow first half, Davis likes to do stuff like this:

Tulane has a ton of momentum right now. They respond to slow starts with a dominant second halves, consistently finding a way to win. Tulane will have a chance to prove itself with a home opener against UTEP on Wednesday.

1. Memphis (10-3; W10 - 1st). Memphis is still the top dog in the conference. In short, they haven't given up anything in December. The Tigers successfully dominated a slew of mid-majors before capping off its non-conference season with a solid victory over Tennessee on national TV last night. Until Tulane or Southern Miss can show it can beat the Tigers, Memphis will retain its spot in the driver's seat. With early games against ECU, UAB, and Rice, it seems Memphis won't see a big game until its Jan. 22 matchup with the Green Wave. And while Tulane has dominated with Josh Davis at forward, Memphis's Joe Jackson is the best guard in the conference with a knack for coming up big in vital games (23 against Louisville and 21 against Tennessee).

That's what I'm seeing at the moment. Let me know on the Fear the Wave Facebook if you have thoughts/disagreements.

Green Wave fans, unfortunately, I missed a week of new power rankings last weekend while I was taking my finals. My B. Luckily, most teams had a little mid-December break in their schedules anyway, so we didn't really miss much.

Here's what the Conference USA landscape looks like with only a few games left before the conference schedule begins. Short story: the power teams are starting to emerge while some early risers have begun their descent. Here's what I'm thinking. At number 12...

12. Rice (3-8; W6 - 12th) - The Owls aren't having a good year. They are definitely the bottom feeder of the C-USA. No doubt. They took drubbings by the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds (not a joke name) and a team called Hartford. The Owls picked up a rare win against Chicago State, but nothing else to write home about here.

11. Tulsa (6-5; W6 - 10th) - Tulsa took a bit of a beating against a solid (and ranked) Creighton team, so that's not a big deal. Giving up a big loss to U-Arkansas-Little Rock definitely hurts. Consistency has remained an issue with this team, and I don't see much upside yet with Tulsa.

10. UAB (6-6; W6 - 11th) - After a pretty devastating series of losses to start December, they haven't rallied back much. UAB took a loss to Ruters and squeaked out a win against ULouisiana-Monroe. They don't really have a signature win or anything like it that points towards a run in C-USA, so don't expect much from this team moving forward.

9. Houston (8-2; W6 - 8th) - The good news? They boast the best record in the conference right now. The bad news? They don't look good. They took an extra overtime to beat a bad Texas Southern team at home. They took a loss to Prairie View earlier this year, and they have won by two points or less to San Jose State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. I think this team looks worse by the week, and in spite of a great non-conference record, they will see a sharp drop once we get into conference play. Think about Tulane last year after starting off with a 10-0 run. I'm not betting on Houston right now.

From MinerRush.com

8. UTEP (4-5; W6 - 9th) - UTEP is one of only two losing teams in C-USA. But it's the same old story. UTEP played a few good teams and were outmanned big time early this year. And as we know, most in-conference teams didn't play anyone yet... ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. BUT. UTEP is starting to show some life. They took the Oregon Ducks to three overtimes a couple nights ago to pick up a hard fought win. They also lost 62-60 to the #21 UNLV Rebels. Make no mistake, UTEP isn't a powerhouse, but they are picking up speed and will look to improve in conference play.

7. Marshall (7-5; W6 - 7th) - Though UTEP will soon overtake Marshall in the power rankings, I'm going to hold them at 7th this week. Since the last rankings, they took care of Coppin State and Savannah State and suffered a loss to a great #11 Cincinnati team. They lost to the team they were supposed to and beat the teams they should beat. So we'll keep them there for now.

6. SMU (8-3; W6 - 3rd) - December hasn't been good to Larry Brown's Mustangs. After starting the season 8-1, they haven't won since Dec. 1. The Mustangs took a beatdown against Rhode Island on the road and lost a relatively close one to Utah. SMU is poised to keep sinking as their schedule gets tougher.

5. East Carolina (7-2; W6 - 6th) - The Pirates get a little bump this week. Since last ranked, they went 1-1. They beat Gardner-Webb at home and also took a struggling but #21 ranked UNC to the wire in a 93-87 loss. That said, we've seen the Tar Heels falter this week against a rough Texas team, so don't get too excited. ECU is playing solid basketball on par with the middle-weights of Conference USA.

4. UCF (7-3; W6 - 2nd) - I'm not liking the Golden Knights right now. They took a 22 point defeat at home to Miami (of 'the U' variety), which is necessarily killer. Miami is a good team. But UCF isn't a bracket buster this year, at this point. That's not really the problem though. They have played a close home game against Bethune-Cookman and barely beat Old Dominion on the road. So far, UCF looks much more vulnerable than in years past, and they haven't shown much spark yet.

Josh Davis in action. From NOLA.com

3. Tulane (9-3 - W6 - 5th) - Tulane is on a bit of a hot streak right now. They smoked a bad Texas Pan-American team but did it in style: the entire bench was able to hit the floor in that game. They followed it up the next night with a 15 point home win against an alright Pepperdine squad. The Green Wave is 9-0 in its new fieldhouse. They are solidly beating middle of the road teams, especially those that can't stack up against the talents of Josh Davis and sharp shooter Jordan Callahan. There are two big questions for the Green Wave as they try to ascend into the upper echelon of C-USA. 1) Can they win on the road? So far, the answer has been no. They are 0-3 after underperforming against Georgia Tech and giving up winnable matchups against San Diego and Nebraska. 2) Can they play tough ball against UCF, Southern Mississippi, and Memphis? Last season, an injury-plagued Green Wave had nothing left for the conference schedule. For Tulane to establish itself as a top-notch program in this conference, it will need to rattle these teams for the first time in years.

2. Southern Mississippi (8-3; W6 - 3rd) - Right now, it's Memphis/Southern Mississippi and then everyone else. They had a tough run with losses against a ranked Arizona team and a solid Louisiana Tech. They battled back with big wins against Grambling and Georgia State. The next two games will show us what kind of team the Golden Eagles are: Wichita State and bracket buster Morehead State.

1. Memphis (7-3; W6 - 1st) - You want to think that Memphis has finally got it. They fell apart at the Atlantis Tournament, looked bad for a bit after that, and then finally got some steam. Then they do something like last night: make a game against the Lipscomb Bisons into a close battle... Even good teams falter, but inconsistency is killing the Tigers. Anyway, the Tigers showed their teeth a bit in a fairly close game against rival Louisville. That said, Conference USA is lacking a powerhouse team this year. Simple as that. Nevertheless, it's still Memphis's conference to win at this point.

That's my breakdown this week. Thoughts? Disagreements? Leave comments on our Facebook or on the post.