East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

(09-14-2014 03:34 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

UTSA is not even the best team in their division. I am sorry, but you have to have at least a functional offense. FAU is a terrible defensive team. Lets see if they can even get 28 on the board there.

Best east team - Marshall
Best west team - La Tech (and its not close)

Marshall vs La Tech in cusa championship 12-0 vs 10-2

1. Marshall
2. La Tech
3. MTSU
4. UAB
5. UTSA
6. WKU
7. UTEP
8. Rice
9. ODU
10. UNT
11. FAU
12. USM
13. FIU

Marshall
UTSA
MT
La Tech
UAB
Rice
UTEP
WKY
FAU
ODU
UNT
FIU
USM

(09-14-2014 03:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:34 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

UTSA is not even the best team in their division. I am sorry, but you have to have at least a functional offense. FAU is a terrible defensive team. Lets see if they can even get 28 on the board there.

Best east team - Marshall
Best west team - La Tech (and its not close)

Marshall vs La Tech in cusa championship 12-0 vs 10-2

Offense does not make up an entire team bud. UTSA's defense is still one of the best in CUSA. Even though we have played three ridiculously tough OOC games go take a look the amount of sacks, TFLs, turnovers they caused. Also compare QB stats between our opponents (Houston, Zona, Okie St.) and the other teams they played its pretty telling.

Offense will be effective in conference play just like last year. Its the exact same.

Marshall
La Tech
MTSU
UTSA
WKU
RICE
ODU
FAU
UAB
UTEP
UNT
S.MISS
FIU

(09-14-2014 03:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:34 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

UTSA is not even the best team in their division. I am sorry, but you have to have at least a functional offense. FAU is a terrible defensive team. Lets see if they can even get 28 on the board there.

Best east team - Marshall
Best west team - La Tech (and its not close)

Marshall vs La Tech in cusa championship 12-0 vs 10-2

Based on what?

1. Marshall
2. Middle Tennessee
3. Louisiana Tech
4. UTSA
5. Western Kentucky
6. UAB
7. FAU
8. Rice
9. UTEP
10. Old Dominion
11. North Texas
12. USM
13. FIU

My invalid opinion.

1. Marshall
2. Middle Tennessee
3. Louisiana Tech
4. Western Kentucky
5. UTSA
6. FAU - Only 1 G5 game so far but they looked good.
7. UAB
8. UTEP
9. Rice - Might be much, much higher but can't tell yet.
10. North Texas
11. Old Dominion
12. USM
13. FIU

(09-14-2014 04:38 PM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:34 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

UTSA is not even the best team in their division. I am sorry, but you have to have at least a functional offense. FAU is a terrible defensive team. Lets see if they can even get 28 on the board there.

Best east team - Marshall
Best west team - La Tech (and its not close)

Marshall vs La Tech in cusa championship 12-0 vs 10-2

Based on what?

Bro, like based on FAU having the 11th ranked defense in the nation last year bro, because if you're not first you're last dood.
Also based on FAU's D not playing well without their Jim Thorpe Award watch list corner, entire LB core, and starting QB due to injuries while being the only team in the nation to open against two top 25 teams, bro. Like if you can't compete against the best teams in the world with your second string, then you should drop football. And bro, don't forget based on FAU's defense only giving up 30 more yards to Tulsa than Oklahoma did, because we all know how awful the Sooners are.
Duh bro, are you stupid or like really stupid? FAU's defense is so bad, they're an insult to the game of football. Bro...

This is getting harder, not easier. I see a lot of parity now, so I'll do groups based on just 3 weeks of play:

Top tier:
- Marshall, UTSA, La Tech, MTSU, WKU

Middle tier:
- UAB, UTEP, Rice, North Texas, FAU, ODU

Bottom tier:
- FIU, USM

* I think everyone trended up a little bit this week except for North Texas.

I would definitely say UAB is more middle tier right now. While we looked pretty decent against Miss State, the other 2 teams we played are downright terrible so it is hard to gauge. I feel like we are very inconsistent right now with our offense and committing special teams miscues every game that result in points. We gave up some real unnecessary points in the MSU and Alabama A&M game. Our 3rd down efficiency hasn't been good at all either. 7-16 vs a SWAC defense and 3-16 vs MSU.

The good news is if Marshall goes undefeated with the conference so strong this year, they should be a lock for the Access Bowl. The bad news for Marshall is its a lot harder to go undefeated this season.

(09-14-2014 08:33 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  This is getting harder, not easier. I see a lot of parity now, so I'll do groups based on just 3 weeks of play:

Top tier:
- Marshall, UTSA, La Tech, MTSU, WKU

Middle tier:
- UAB, UTEP, Rice, North Texas, FAU, ODU

Bottom tier:
- FIU, USM

* I think everyone trended up a little bit this week except for North Texas.

That's exactly how I would rank them too. That said, my biggest disappointment this past weekend was with UTSA's performance. I had the Roadrunners picked to compete much better than they did.

OSU is NOT a good football team this year, and had to play backup QB Daxx Garmen, because starter JW Walsh was out with an injury. This was Garmen's first start since his Junior year of high school in 2009. That's right, 5 years. Yet UTSA made him look like Joe Montana.

(09-14-2014 08:33 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  This is getting harder, not easier. I see a lot of parity now, so I'll do groups based on just 3 weeks of play:

Top tier:
- Marshall, UTSA, La Tech, MTSU, WKU

Middle tier:
- UAB, UTEP, Rice, North Texas, FAU, ODU

Bottom tier:
- FIU, USM

* I think everyone trended up a little bit this week except for North Texas.

That's fair. I think it's hard to get too much of a read on Rice right now, having played two top 10 teams. But I will say I've been pretty happy with our qb play, which was one of our biggest question marks coming into the season.

(09-14-2014 04:38 PM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 03:34 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  East
1 - Marshall: Team to beat until proven otherwise.
2 - MTSU: Gutted out tough conference win.
3 - WKU: Nearly gutted out tough conference win on the road.
4 - UAB: Need to see how they play against an evenly matched team.
5 - FAU: Like UAB, I want to see how they look in conference.
6 - Old Dominion: Looked good against NC State, could be underrated.
7 - FIU: Are they getting better after leading Pitt for most of the game?

West
1 - UTSA: My #1 overall team in the conference.
2 - La Tech: Good division road win separates them from the middle.
3 - Rice: Waiting on ODU game to get a good reading on this team.
4 - UTEP: TCOB against New Mexican teams, played Texas Tech close.
5 - North Texas: Didn't impress me against La Tech. Maybe it was just one game.
6 - Southern Miss: Have looked better each week. Win over Appy is next step.


Bowl eligible teams: Marshall, MTSU, UAB, WKU, La Tech, Rice, UTSA

UTSA is not even the best team in their division. I am sorry, but you have to have at least a functional offense. FAU is a terrible defensive team. Lets see if they can even get 28 on the board there.

Best east team - Marshall
Best west team - La Tech (and its not close)

Marshall vs La Tech in cusa championship 12-0 vs 10-2

Based on what?

Based on you being near the bottom of the fbs in defensive stats. And you giving up 55 vs nebraska when mcneese state almost beat them. You are bad. Complete 180 from last season. I am disappointed in that. You will make utsa's offense look good next week.

(09-14-2014 11:08 PM)07owl Wrote:  

(09-14-2014 08:33 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  This is getting harder, not easier. I see a lot of parity now, so I'll do groups based on just 3 weeks of play:

Top tier:
- Marshall, UTSA, La Tech, MTSU, WKU

Middle tier:
- UAB, UTEP, Rice, North Texas, FAU, ODU

Bottom tier:
- FIU, USM

* I think everyone trended up a little bit this week except for North Texas.

That's fair. I think it's hard to get too much of a read on Rice right now, having played two top 10 teams. But I will say I've been pretty happy with our qb play, which was one of our biggest question marks coming into the season.

And playing Notre Dame and Texas A&M is going to prepare Rice very well for conference play. They are still title contenders at this point, but I can't put them in the top tier yet. They will probably end up there though.

Lots of football to be played and many strong teams. I don't know the outcome of the game but I was impressed with what I saw in Rice against A&M. UTSA, MTSU, La Tech, Rice, UAB playing very well and many others too. WKU can sling the rock. Should be an exciting season.

We'll know if the Herds for real this Saturday. The Zips present a CUSA type challenge in many ways and its on the road. ugh! Not feeling good about this one.

Can't blame anyone on here for dropping UTSA in any ranking. We stunk it up against Okie St. That being said, one bad game will not determine the rest of our season. I would also argue that we started with a very difficult OOC schedule & most thought we would come out of it 0-3 & still have a chance to win CUSA west & get to CCG. So to be 1-2 and give Zona one hell of a battle in the process, I'll take it. We have a bye week to get healthy & get right mentally.

1. Marshall
2. UTSA
3. La. Tech
4. Rice
5. UAB
6. MTSU
7. UTEP
8. WKU
9. FAU
10. Old Dominion
11. Southern Miss
12. FIU
13. North Texas

Bowl eligible teams 7: Marshall, UTSA, La. Tech, Rice, UAB, MTSU, and UTEP....

WIth our defense WKU will be extremely lucky to finish 5 and 7 this season...

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