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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 7 C-USA Roundup

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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 7.

Team Week 7 Result Week 8
Charlotte vs FIU PPD vs UTEP
FAU — OFF —  – at Marshall
FIU at Charlotte PPD — OFF —
LA Tech vs Marshall L, 35-17 at UTSA
Marshall at LA Tech W, 35-17 vs FAU
MTSU vs North Texas L, 52-35 at Rice
North Texas at MTSU W, 52-35 — OFF —
Rice — OFF —  — vs MTSU
Southern Miss at UTEP PPD at Liberty
UAB vs WKU w, 37-14 vs Louisianna
UTEP vs USM PPD at Charlotte
UTSA vs Army L, 28-16 vs LA Tech
WKU at UAB L, 37-14 vs Chattanooga

Notable Week 7 results – Standings

Medic!

What UTSA was able to accomplish to start its season is praiseworthy. Going 3-0 with a first time head coach with the offseason as challenging as it was proves something is in the works in San Antonio. What the new staff couldn’t do is predict the quarterback carousel. UTSA lost Lowell Narcissa against Army, after losing Josh Adkins earlier in the season. Previously injured Frank Harris replaced him. That’s a lot of injuries in a short span of time, which somewhat explains the backstep to 3-3.

If you can’t play defense…

North Texas can’t play defense. Regardless of who is available on any given Saturday, the Mean Green are just going to have to outscore their opponents. It worked this week. North Texas gained 768 yards, a season-high, and tallied 52 points, the most the team has scored against a Conference USA opponent since beating UTEP at home last November,

Sitting at home on Saturday

Two Conference USA games were postponed this week, bringing the total up to 14 conference games postponed since the season began. Some schools have been hit harder than others and only two schools (Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee) have avoided any postponements to this point.

Week 8 storylines

Rice Football is back!

After delaying its season on several occasions, Rice football returns to the gridiron in Week 8. The Owls host Middle Tennessee next weekend with no fans permitted inside the stadium. Rice is trending upwards and has high expectations for the year, making a win in their home opener an important first step.

Those extra weekends could come in handy

Conference USA announced a delay to its conference championship game this week. Rather than playing it on Dec. 5, the game was moved to Dec. 18, giving two more weekends of buffer at the end of the year. FAU already has a game that weekend and could need the other weekend soon. The Owls are working through an outbreak and have already postponed multiple games this season.

Sun Belt showdown

UAB has proven itself to be the creme of the crop in Conference USA. Their coming test against Louisiana could be another feather in the Blazers’ cap. For the most part, nonconference play hasn’t treated C-USA well this year. A UAB win would help ease a few lopsided losses the conference has suffered so far.

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Conference USA Football: 2020 Postponements Tracker – October update

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Conference USA football has been noticeably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some schools have been hit harder than others.

Since August 26, roughly the start of the 2020 season, at least 33 games featuring FBS opponents have been canceled or postponed. Conference USA football represented at least one part in 14 of those games.

Rice football announced its intention to delay its season until Oct. 24, but the rest of the conference (excluding Old Dominion) has been trying to play for more than a month. So, how’s it going?

In total, 11 conference schools have had at least one game impacted by COVID-19.  To this point, Western Kentucky and MTSU have not had a game canceled since the season began. MTSU actually added a game, sliding into an open date against UTSA when the Roadrunners’ original opponent (Memphis) had to back out.

Excluding Rice, Charlotte and FAU are the only schools to have more games postponed than games played through seven weeks. This assumes all games scheduled to be played as of Saturday morning are still played.

Conference USA

Here is the list of games that were not played as scheduled for each Conference USA team, including the reason for the postponement/cancelation. The count to the right of the school name (2 – 1/1) represents the total number of games postponed. The number in the middle represents games postponed by the school (2 – 1/1) and their opponent on the right (2 – 1/1).

Charlotte (4 – 2/2)

  • at UNC (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)
  • at Georgia State (COVID-related postponement by Georgia State, later admittedly an error)
  • vs FAU (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • vs FIU (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)

FAU (3 – 2/1)

  • at Georgia Southern (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • vs USF (COVID-related postponement by USF)
  • at Southern Miss (COVID-related postponement by FAU)

FIU (1 – 1/0)

  • at Charlotte (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)

Louisiana Tech (1 – 1/0)

  • at Baylor (COVID-related postponement by Louisana Tech)

Marshall (2 – 0/2)

  • at ECU (COVID-related postponement by ECU)
  • vs Rice (Rice delays start of its season)

North Texas (1 – 1/0)

  • at Houston (COVID-related postponement by North Texas)

Rice (2 – 2/0)

  • at Marshall (Rice delays start of its season)
  • vs UAB (Rice delays start of its season)

Southern Miss (2 – 1/1)

  • vs FAU (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • at UTEP (COVID-related postponement by Southern Miss)

UAB (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Rice (Rice delays start of its season)

UTSA (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Memphis (COVID-related postponement by Memphis)

UTEP (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Southern Miss (COVID-related postponement by Southern Miss)
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Conference USA Football: Championship game moved to Dec. 18

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The 2020 Conference USA Football championship game has been moved to Dec. 18, a two-week delay to allow the conference scheduling flexibility.

In an announcement that seemed several weeks in the making, the Conference USA football championship game will be delayed two weeks. The game was initially scheduled to take place on Dec. 5, but will now take place on Dec. 18. Per the league office, it will be televised at 6 p.m. CT and be hosted by the team with the highest league winning percentage.

In their release, Conference USA cited scheduling flexibility as a driving force for the change.

The shift of the Championship Game from its originally scheduled December 5th date will create two additional weeks to schedule games that were postponed due to COVID-19-related issues.  Dates and matchups for those re-scheduled games will be announced at a later date.

More: Week 6 Conference USA Football Roundup

It should be noted the conference opted to delay the game two weeks rather than one. This gives two additional weekends to play games. There have been multiple league games already postponed and one team, FAU, had already scheduled a game for Dec. 5 prior to the conference formally moving the championship game. The Owls are slated to take on Georgia Southern on that date, a makeup of a game postponed earlier in the year.

For Rice Football, this move allows for two additional weeks on the back end of the current schedule. I expect a rescheduling of the UAB to be among the Owls’ most pressing items, completing a full C-USA West schedule.

There’s also a chance the Bayou Bucket game against Houston is rescheduled later in the year. Houston is tentatively free on Dec. 5. One would assume conference games would be the priority, but if those are played as scheduled don’t rule an intra-city matchup between the Owls and Cougars this fall.

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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 6 C-USA Roundup

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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 6.

Team Week 6 Result Week 7
Charlotte at North Texas W, 49-21 vs FIU
FAU at USM CANCELED — OFF —
FIU vs MTSU L, 31-28 at Charlotte
LA Tech vs UTEP W, 21-17 vs Marshall
Marshall at WKU W, 38-14 at LA Tech
MTSU at FIU W, 31-28 vs North Texas
North Texas vs Charlotte L, 49-21 at MTSU
Rice — OFF —  — — OFF —
Southern Miss vs FAU CANCELED at UTEP
UAB — OFF —  — vs WKU
UTEP at LA Tech L, 21-17 vs USM
UTSA at BYU L, 27-20 vs Army
WKU vs Marshall L, 38-14 at UAB

Notable Week 6 results – Standings

This moral victory counts

UTSA football has lost two straight after starting their season 3-0, but we might have learned more about the Roadrunners in their two losses than their hot start. UTSA hung with UAB last week and came within one score of BYU this week — the same BYU team that beat Louisiana Tech by 31, Troy by 41 and Navy by 52. Against a juggernaut opponent, UTSA held its own.

Winless no more

Middle Tennessee joined the ranks of the victors on Saturday, earning a 31-28 win over FIU. O’Hara was the entirety of the offense once more for the Blue Raiders, but it was the defense that did enough to keep this game alive, keeping FIU contained outside of two 60+ yard breakaway scores.

Louisiana Tech survives … against UTEP

UTEP has moved into the “pesky” range of Conference USA opponents. The Miners probably don’t have the top-end talent to beat the majority of their foes, but they’ve proven a worth adversary capable of tripping teams up if they look too far past the Miners. Bulldogs quarterback Luke Anthony was not good on Saturday, throwing for only 85 yards on 20 attempts. The Louisiana Tech running game was kept in check too.

Week 7 storylines

Char-lit?

Despite starting the season 0-2, Charlotte could be in the thick of the race for Conference USA East with a win next weekend over FIU. The 49ers won their first conference game against North Texas on Saturday, tying them with Marshall and FAU in the win column in the East. With FAU missing this week, another win would allow Charlotte to keep pace with Marshall.

Who gets their first conference win next?

North Texas and FIU are the only programs who have played a C-USA game without a conference victory. Both have to go on the round in Week 7. ESPN gives North Texas a 59.1 percent chance of beating Middle Tennessee. FIU has only a 34.4 percent chance of upsetting Charlotte.

Is it time for WKU to make a quarterback change?

Western Kentucky lost their presumed starting quarterback to the Transfer Portal this summer before landing former Maryland signal caller Tyrrell Pigrome late in the offseason. Pigrome has ye to throw for 200 yards in four chances, topping out at 188 in a narrow victory over Middle Tennessee. Backup Kevaris Thomas came in midway through the third quarterback against Marshall and more than doubled Pigrome’s yardage and threw WKU’s only touchdown pass.

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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 5 C-USA Roundup

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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 5.

Team Week 5 Result Week 6
Charlotte at FAU L, 21-17 at North Texas
FAU vs Charlotte W, 21-17 at USM
FIU — OFF —  — vs MTSU
LA Tech at BYU L, 45-14 vs UTEP
Marshall — OFF —  — at WKU
MTSU vs WKU L, 20-17 at FIU
North Texas vs USM L, 41-31 vs Charlotte
Rice — OFF —  — — OFF —
Southern Miss at North Texas W, 41-31 vs FAU
UAB vs UTSA W, 21-13 — OFF —
UTEP — OFF —  — at LA Tech
UTSA at UAB L, 21-13 at BYU
WKU at MTSU W, 20-17 vs Marshall

Notable Week 5 results – Standings

Roadrunners red-hot start runs out

UTSA turned heads with a 3-0 start. Victories over Texas State, SFA and a winless Middle Tenneesse shouldn’t be discounted, 3-0 is 3-0, but Saturday’s result proves Jeff Traylor’s work isn’t quite finished in San Antonio. Losing another quarterback, this time Josh Adkins, and still finding a way to stick around against one of C-USA’s should add some positive spin to the loss.

Third quarter explosion powers FAU past Charlotte

It was a rocky start for Willie Taggart in his FAU debut. The Owls were shut out in the first half, trailing Charlotte 10-0 at half time at home. Then Nick Tronti kicked things into gear, springing a 49-yard touchdown run of his own with subsequent touchdown passes to Logan Peterson and T.J. Chase to put FAU ahead for good. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a win.

North Texas has a defense problem

Standout wide receiver Tim Jones was available for Southern Miss against North Texas in Week 5 and quarterback Jack Abraham was limited to 16-of-30 passing, but the Golden Eagles still hung 41 points against a porous North Texas defense that’s allowed at least 31 points in all three games. It won’t matter how good quarterback Austin Aune is if he’s always playing catch up.

Week 6 storylines

On the lookout for win number one

12 Conference USA teams have played and three (FIU, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee) are still looking for their first win. FIU and Middle Tennessee play each other next weekend, meaning one of that pair is guaranteed to exit the ranks of the winless soon.

BYU continues their C-USA tour

BYU posted a rather convincing win over Louisiana Tech in Week 4 in the first of three games against Conference USA opponents. They’ll get UTSA in Week 5 and take on Western Kentucky on Halloween. If the first pairing was any indication, the UTSA defense had best buckle up before the weekend.

Delayed, but not defeated

Rice football would have opened their conference slate next weekend, but the delayed start of fall camp forced the postponement of those games. Rice has returned to practice, holding their first scrimmage this past week. With FAU getting underway this past week, the conference’s other Owls are the only team awaiting their first game.

Rice Football Opponent Scouting Report

A weekly update on who the Owls will be playing this season including updates on key storylines, injuries and more.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

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