Brad’s 2009 Conference USA Predictions
Posted by deaconcat08 on August 17, 2009
C-USA East
1. East Carolina (41)- Pinkney should lead experienced squad to repeat C-USA championship. However, team has no chance of BCS contention with brutal non-conference slate.
2. Southern Miss (52)- The Eagles built a lot of momentum for ’09 by winning their last 5 games in Fedora’s first year. Still think they’ll get nosed out by ECU in the C-USA East.
3. UAB (80)- Blazers will resurrect themselves after several sub-par seasons and become a surprise bowl team in ’09. QB Webb leads O with all starters coming back.
4. Central Florida (91)- Should be better than last year’s disappointing 4-8 campaign, but still see them falling short of a bowl. If so, it will be interesting to see if O’Leary will be let go.
5. Marshall (103)- Sad to see that this team struggle so much in the post-Pennington years. Brutal non-conference slate featuring WV and VT gives them no chance at a bowl.
6. Memphis (107)- Tommy West is a tremendous coach but I honestly could see this team losing its last 7 games with a brutal schedule and inexperienced offensive line.
C-USA West
1. Houston (54)- Offense will be extremely potent will 8 R.S. including Keenum at QB. Unfortunately, an already suspect defense will be worse with only 4 starters back.
2. Tulsa (64)- Mediocre defense returns, but they won’t be able to outscore everyone with a new QB and only five returning starters. Has to play ECU and at OK too.
3. UTEP (73)- With Vittatoe at QB, the Miners should get back to the wide-open, high-scoring team of old. Should get enough wins to make a bowl game and keep Price’s job.
4. SMU (94)- After going 12-1 at Hawaii and then 1-11 with SMU, June Jones’ team will finish somewhere in between. This squad is experienced and will be more comfortable with the system.
5. Rice (113)- Any experts picking them in the top 100 are forgetting how bad they were prior to Clement and Dillard. Have solid coach but he has nothing to work with in ’09.
6. Tulane (115)- Not really sure if Toledo can get it turned around at Tulane or not. Liked the hire originally but they’ve been awful the last 2 years and the future isn’t very bright.
Champion: East Carolina