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Conference USA Roundup
Conference USA Game of the Week
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No. 21 Southern Miss 28, Cincinnati 20 |
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In a game not nearly as close as it looks on the scoreboard, Southern Miss (5-2, 4-0) led 28-0 before pulling the defensive starters and watching Cincinnati (2-5, 0-3) score three late TDs on the janitorial crew. Derrick Nix opened the scoring for the Golden Eagles, pushing the ball across from 5 yards out. Then QB Jeff Kelly took over, hitting Sherrod Gideon on scoring passes of 49 and 12 yards and Todd Pinkston from 41 yards. Lloyd Garden scored on a pair of cosmetic 1-yard runs in the fourth quarter. Things get considerably tougher for the Golden Eagles next week as they head into Tuscaloosa for a non-conference date with Alabama.
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Other Conference USA action
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Army 35, New Mexico State 18 |
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Omari Thompson ran for 108 yards and a touchdown to lead Army past the Aggies. Most of Thompson's yardage came on his 72-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The TD came 23 seconds after New Mexico State (3-4) had cut the deficit to 21-6.
Army (3-4) scored three times following New Mexico State turnovers. The third, Derick McNally's interception at the Cadets 5, set up a 95-yard drive that Michael Wallace finished with a 6-yard run to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter. New Mexico State, 11th nationally with 241.8 rushing yards a game, was held to 115 by Army. Army, the nation's top rushing team at 309 a game, ran for 388.
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Louisville 39, Houston 30 |
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For the third straight week, Louisville (5-3, 2-1) fell behind its opponent early. For the second straight week, the Cardinals came back to pick up the victory, as Chris Redman threw three fourth-quarter TD passes to snuff out the Cougars' upset bid. Redman finished the day with five TD passes, four of them going to Lavell Boyd. The biggest, however, was the one that didn't go to Boyd -- a 4-yarder to Arnold Jackson with just over five minutes to play. It put the Cardinals up by eight points, and when the Cougars (4-3, 1-2) two-point conversion attempt failed a few minutes later, Redman put Louisville in the end zone one last time for good measure.
It was another fine day for Houston RB Ketric Sanford. The senior broke off a 72-yard TD run in the first quarter and later bit paydirt from 5 yards out. Boyd caught TD passes of 18, 75, 7 and 25 yards.
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Wake Forest 47, Alabama-Birmingham 3 |
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Ben Sankey ran for 108 yards and threw for 132 as Wake Forest (4-3) scored 24 points in the first 11½ minutes and held the Blazers (3-4) to 165 yards, only 27
rushing. The margin was Wake Forest's largest since a 66-21 rout of Virginia in 1975.
The loss was UAB's worst since joining Division I-A in 1996. Wake Forest's quick start was aided by a 15 mph wind at its back in the first quarter. UAB's first four possessions ended in a blocked punt, an interception and punts of 34 and 20 yards. Each gave Wake Forest the ball on the Blazers' half of the field and each resulted in points.
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No. 20 East Carolina 52, Tulane 7 |
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Seven players scored TDs for East Carolina (6-1, 2-1), which allowed Tulane ( to hang around in the first half before blasting them back to New Orleans in the second. ECU held a 14-7 lead the half, then went on to outscore the Green Wave 38-0 in the second stanza. ECU's David Garrard ran for a 12-yard TD and threw for a 31-yard score to Corey Floyd. The loss deals a blow to the bowl hopes of Tulane (3-4, 1-2), which now must win three of its last four to even qualify and can pretty much be counted out of the three automatic C-USA spots.
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