Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 5.

Team	Week 5	Result	Week 6
Charlotte	at Illinois	L, 24-14	at FIU
FAU	vs FIU	W, 58-21	at UAB
FIU	at FAU	L, 58-21	vs Charlotte
LA Tech	— OFF —	L 34-27	— OFF —
Marshall	at MTSU	L, 34-28	vs Old Dominion
MTSU	vs Marshall	W, 34-28	at Liberty
North Texas	— OFF —	—	at Missouri
Old Dominion	at UTEP	L 28-21	at Marshall
Rice	vs Southern Miss	W, 24-19	— OFF —
Southern Miss	at Rice	L, 24-19	vs UTEP
UAB	vs Liberty	L, 36-12	vs FAU
UTEP	vs Old Dominion	W, 28-21	at Southern Miss
UTSA	vs UNLV	W, 24-17	at WKU
WKU	at Michigan St.	L, 48-31	vs UTSA

Notable Week 5 results – Standings

Marshall takes third straight L

Marshall was a popular pick to win the Eastern division. Through the Herd’s first five games, they’ve beaten just one FBS team and dropped their three most recent contests. Saturday’s loss to Middle Tennessee was particularly disheartening. They outgained MTSU 493 to 314 but committed six turnovers.

Louisiana Tech, masters of heartbreak

You couldn’t make this up if you wanted to. Once more, Louisiana Tech has found a way to lose in the most painful of ways. Trailing by seven with three minutes to play, Austin Kendall marched the offense the length of the field into the redzone only to be intercepted in the endzone on the final play of regulation with the clock expiring. Ouch.

Honorable mention: UAB opened Protective Stadium with a loss to Liberty. It was a tough outing, but at least there was no fourth-quarter dagger to amp up the pain even further.

Hot rice

Rice football dropped its first three games in non-conference play to Arkansas, Houston and Texas. Then Jake Constantine took over at quarterback and the Owls rattled off two consecutive home wins, capped off with their first conference win of the season over Southern Miss. They enter the bye week tied for first place in Conference USA West, righting the ship after a rocky opening stanza.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Cross-divisional fireworks

Two of the most significant divisional crossover games of the season are set to take place in Week 6. Frontrunners in the West, UAB and UTSA, are set to take on FAU and Western Kentucky, respectively. It wouldn’t be stunning to see one or possibly two of these four teams represented in the conference championship game, making these matchups some of the best we’ll see in the conference this year.

Way-too-early bowl watch

UTEP is off to one of its better starts in recent history and the Miners’ aspirations of postseason play seem more believable now than perhaps any other time in Dana Dimel’s tenure. Southern Miss is far from the top-dog in the West, making this a key matchup for UTEP if they want to stay on track and reach that coveted six-win (or more) season.

Nonconference nightcaps

Week 5 marks a notable shift toward conference play, but there are a handful of programs that won’t face a Conference USA foe. North Texas will have their work cut out for them against Missouri, while Middle Tennesee will make their best efforts to knock off a feisty Liberty squad that faced off with UAB the weekend prior.

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 4.

Team	Week 4	Result	Week 5
Charlotte	vs MTSU	W, 42-39	at Illinois
FAU	at Air Force	L, 31-7	vs FIU
FIU	at Central Michigan	L, 31-27	at FAU
LA Tech	vs North Texas	W, 24-17	— OFF —
Marshall	at App St.	L, 31-30	at MTSU
MTSU	at Charlotte	L, 42-39	vs Marshall
North Texas	at LA Tech	L, 24-17	— OFF —
Old Dominion	vs Buffalo	L, 35-34	at UTEP
Rice	vs Texas Southern	W, 43-34	vs Southern Miss
Southern Miss	at Alabama	L, 63-14	at Rice
UAB	at Tulane	W, 28-21	vs Liberty
UTEP	vs New Mexico	W, 20-13	vs Old Dominion
UTSA	— OFF —	W, 31-28	vs UNLV
WKU	vs Indiana	L, 33-31	at Michigan St.

Notable Week 4 results – Standings

Not enough gas

For the second time in as many weeks, Marshall has seen a fourth quarter lead disappear. ESPN projections gave the Herd as much as a 98.8 percent chance to beat East Carolina in Week 3, but that was before ECU scored 21 unanswered to win it in the fourth quarter. The Appalachian State was much closer, but Marshall was unable to hold their nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. If Marshall wants to contend for a C-USA East title, they’ll have to figure out how to close out ballgames.

Welcome to the win column

Rice football was heavily favored against Texas Southern at home and took care of business, exploding for 48 points on offense, twice the point total they’d accrued through the prior three games. The Owls enter conference play next week fresh off their best offensive performance of the season.

The real deal

It’s hard to discount what Jeff Traylor has done at UTSA in such a short time. Perhaps it should be lauded even more considering the additional challenges poised by taking over a program in the midst of a pandemic. Nevertheless, the Roadrunners just keep winning. At this moment, they’re on a collision course with UAB for best in the West.

 

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Shula Bowl showdown

Butch Davis has never beaten Florida Atlantic in four tries as FIU’s head coach. Not only does this rivaly game career have slightly more importance for the fan base, but it’s also the first conference game for either team this season. FIU is looking to prove 2020 was a speed bump, not the norm. FAU could put themselves in pole position after watching Marshall suffer successive nonconference losses. There’s a lot on the line in this one.

Looking different in 2021

The upcoming game between Old Dominion and UTEP pits programs with nonexistent or disappointing 2020 seasons against each other in what could be one of the more winnable games on either teams schedule this fall. If this opportunity is wasted, the schedules suddenly seem even more daunting than they did at the onset of the year. Will either team prove they’re in a much better place than they were at this point last year?

Give us Liberty

With the understandable exception of a listless blowout at the hands of No. 2 Georgia, UAB has looked every bit the C-USA heavyweight many expected them to be. At this point, the Blazers have one of the conference’s best chances at a national ranking. Holding serve in conference play will be crucial to that end, but getting things started with a resume-boosting win over Malik Willis and Liberty would certainly garner national attention. Blazers, the ball is in your court.

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 3.

Team	Week 3	Result	Week 4
Charlotte	at Georgia St	L, 20-9	vs MTSU
FAU	vs Fordham	W, 45-14	at Air Force
FIU	at Texas Tech	L 54-21	at Central Michigan
LA Tech	vs SMU	L, 39-37	vs North Texas
Marshall	vs East Carolina	L, 42-28	at App St.
MTSU	at UTSA	L 27-13	at Charlotte
North Texas	vs UAB	L, 6-40	at LA Tech
Old Dominion	at Liberty	L, 45-17	vs Buffalo
Rice	at Texas	L, 58-0	vs Texas Southern
Southern Miss	vs Troy	L, 21-9	at Alabama
UAB	at North Texas	W, 40-6	at Tulane
UTEP	— OFF —	—	vs New Mexico
UTSA	vs MTSU	W, 27-13	— OFF —
WKU	— OFF —	—	vs Indiana

Notable Week 3 results – Standings

Heartbreak for some

No team has seemingly cup up short in one score games as often as the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in recent years. Skip Holtz and Co. lost on the final possession of the game against SMU:

AS CALLED ON SMU RADIO: https://t.co/1oK4Q9rOQx

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 18, 2021

Marshall also lost a second half lead, falling to East Carolina who scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.

The cream of the crop

Meanwhile, UTSA and UAB have looked every bit as advertised. With a brief interruption to be drubbed by national power Georgia, UAB resumed their collision course with UTSA for the top of C-USA West, blasting North Texas in a game that felt more one-sided than the final score indicated. UTSA did their part too, jumping out to an early lead over Middle Tennessee and coasting home.

Struggle bus

While the top of the conference looks as good as advertised, the bifurcation between the elite and the rest could not be more clear. As UTSA and UAB roll over their foes, this weekend saw programs like Rice, Charlotte, Southern Miss, Old Dominion and FIU lose by multiple scores. Not all of those teams were expected to win those games, but many could have put up a better fight than they did.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Sacrificial lamb

Conference USA owns two Power 5 upsets through three weeks of the 2021 season. They’ll have one opportunity in Week 4, but the odds aren’t very favorable. Southern Miss, who fell to South Alabama 31-7 in their opening game, visits Alabama proper next weekend. Good luck Golden Eagles, you’ll need it.

Upset alert

As far as upsets go, Western Kentucky has an intriguing matchup against an Indiana team that looked particularly mortal in losses to Iowa and Cincinnati. Marshall and Appalachian State could be another interesting showdown.

Creeping into conference play

There were two conference matchups in Week 2. That number inches up to three games in Week 3. The bulk of the conference action is right around the corner, but a few teams like North Texas and Middle Tennesee will get a couple of opportunities to put their best foot forward before the rest of the league catches up.

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 2.

Team	Week 2	Result	Week 3
Charlotte	vs Gardner-Webb	W, 38-10	at Georgia St
FAU	vs Georgia Southern	W, 38-6	vs Fordham
FIU	vs Texas St.	L, 23-17 (OT)	at Texas Tech
LA Tech	vs SE Louisiana	W, 45-42	vs SMU
Marshall	vs NC Central	W, 44-10	vs East Carolina
MTSU	at Virginia Tech	L, 35-14	at UTSA
North Texas	at SMU	L, 35-12	vs UAB
Old Dominion	vs Hampton	W, 47-7	at Liberty
Rice	vs Houston	L, 44-7	at Texas
Southern Miss	vs Grambling	W, 37-0	vs Troy
UAB	at Georgia	L,  56-7	at North Texas
UTEP	at Boise St.	L, 54-13	— OFF —
UTSA	vs Lamar	W, 54-0	vs MTSU
WKU	at Army	L, 38-35	— OFF —

Notable Week 2 results – Standings

Non-conference nonsense

In Week 1, the Texas Longhorns handled Louisiana with ease and Rice came within one quarter of upsetting Arkansas. At the same time, Houston collapses against a Texas Tech team that nearly lost to SFA in Week 2. How then, did Arkansas pummel Texas and Rice get overwhelmed by Houston in their second games? Because this is college football and nothing makes sense.

Second-week snoozers

The seven Conference USA teams that won in Week 2 did so against non-FBS teams. For the most part, those victories were uneventful, save for a too-close-for-comfort escape by Louisiana Tech over in-state foe Southeast Louisiana, who never trailed by more than 10 points at any time in the contest.

Zapped

Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe lit up the boxscore, but it was too little, too late against Army on Saturday. The Black Knights jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter, putting the Hilltoppers in come-back mode early. Zappe went on to throw for 435 yards and three scores, but it was too big of a mounting for even him to overcome.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Let the (conference) games begin

The first Conference USA matchups of the season start next week. Middle Tennessee visits 2-0 UTSA in San Antonio while North Texas hosts UAB in a battle of two programs coming off a Week 2 losss. There’s plenty of season still to be played, but the winners of those matchups can put themselves in favorable position right out of the chute.

More opportunities for marquee wins

FIU and Rice both draw Power 5 opponents this week and Louisiana Tech gets perennial AAC power, SMU. Each of those non-conference foes has struggled early in the season, with Texas coming off a Week 2 loss and neither SMU or Texas Tech looking too mighty following more harrowing wins of their own.

Sneaky, tricky games

Marshall would do well to keep one eye open when they prep for a home contest against East Carolina. The Pirates gave South Carolina a scare in Week 2 and were able to put up some points against Appalachain State the week prior. After consecutive snoozers against Navy and NC Central, this contest might take a bit more focus.

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