Watch a lot of C-USA football? Well, you should this year, because this league has fun teams and outstanding players all throughout, along with a new face or two.
LA Tech looks for new life
John Rieger-USA TODAY SportsConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
The last six seasons for Louisiana Tech have been ... confusing. We use recent history to determine the health of a program; it tells us a lot more than simply looking at last year’s results. But what do you make of a program that...
Read Article >Marshall is the C-USA’s top dog
Rob CarrConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
Okay, so technically Marshall didn’t win Conference USA in 2013, so there’s a bit more breaking through to be done. But I capped my “Your future overlords” preview last year by asking for a bit more from Marshall, and to say the least, the Thundering Herd provided it last fall.
Read Article >Southern Miss still picking up the pieces
Chuck Cook-USA TODAY SportsConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
We say it a lot when we’re talking about projections in college football: the biggest clue for how you will play in the future is how you’ve played in the past. That’s not exactly profound, and it’s more or less the case for any sport, but status doesn’t change much in college football. And when it does, it tends to revert to form pretty quickly.
Read Article >UTSA is loaded (and let’s hear it for Larry Coker)
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY SportsConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
In 2010, UTSA football was a theory.
Read Article >North Texas tries to do it again
Sarah GlennConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
Yes, it was only a New Year’s Day bowl via technicality. No, the Heart of Dallas Bowl doesn’t exactly have the stature of the Capital One Bowl, and no, UNLV wasn’t exactly LSU or Michigan State. But North Texas’ 36-14 win over UNLV in the Cotton Bowl early on January 1 was significant nonetheless.
Read Article >WKU’s trajectory post-Petrino
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In last year’s WKU preview, I professed appreciation for the Hilltoppers hiring Bobby Petrino as basically a minor-league rehabilitation stint before he inevitably (and quickly) left for a major-conference program. Granted, I didn’t have any idea that he would end up back at Louisville, a program he cheated on and broke up with less than a decade ago, but I still liked the idea of a Petrino rental as long as WKU had a plan in place to succeed him.
Read Article >MTSU’s two big questions
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In the business of coaching, you rarely get a chance to rebound at the same school at which you collapsed.
Read Article >Rice looks for new stars
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Last year, I opened my Rice preview by saying that “Whatever Rice’s ceiling is under David Bailiff, we’ll probably see it in 2013.” The idea was simple; most of the talent responsible for Rice’s stunning surge over the last half of 2012 was returning, and a large percentage of that talent was entering its senior season. 2013 was going to represent a peak, and then the Owls would have to undergo a bit of a rebuild.
Read Article >FIU completely fell apart
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FIU faded a bit, losing three Sun Belt Conference games (two by a combined six points) and falling out of the conference title race. Marshall would pull an upset of the Golden Panthers in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, and FIU would finish a disappointing 8-5.
Read Article >ODU won’t struggle to score
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY SportConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
There’s obviously no guarantee that Old Dominion’s move to FBS -- in its first complete, official season in 2014 -- will pay off in the long-term. There’s no assurance that head coach Bobby Wilder’s defense will ever get up to speed against FBS offenses. There’s no certainty that the program, planted in the middle of Norfolk, Va., with minimal room for growth, will be able to accommodate the growing demands (financial and otherwise) of big-time (well, mid-major) football. Obviously.
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