2011 C-USA College Football Prediction

[Freddy Wills]

You might be surprised to hear me say this, but Conference USA may just have the best group or at least the most exciting group of quarterbacks which will lead to many shootouts. Both division’s are wide open for teams and the conference should be in the national spot light for most of the year as Case Keenum who was talked about in 2009 for the Heisman will be back and in the mix again. More on Keenum shortly, as his team is going to make a case (no pun intended) to be the best in the conference. However, many other teams might have something to say about that as the conference is as deep as any year and will be very interesting to watch and handicap and you'll get my in depth analysis on plays by picking up my or 1 year FREE all sports picks! Don’t forget to check out our entire this year as well as all of our league previews which you can find by clicking article titles below:

| | | |


1. Southern Mississippi
2. Central Florida
3. UAB
4. East Carolina
5. Marshall
6. Memphis


1. Houston
2. SMU
3. Tulsa
4. Rice
5. Tulane
6. UTEP


There sure will not be a lack of this in 2011, but it’s up to Houston and Case Keenum to fall out of the #1 spot. They have swagger and are a completely different team when Keenum is healthy. He’s a sixth year senior and brings plenty of experience to the show this year. He has many familiar weapons surrounding him including speedy receivers Tyron Carrier and Patrick Edwards and he’ll be supported with an improved running game behind RB Bryce Beall who had three 100+ yard rushing games inside the conference which is unusual given the % of passing plays this team runs. The challenge will be the offensive line which is in transition as they’ll have 3 new starters and that could be the difference between a conference championship. The Next 5: Tulsa, East Carolina, SMU, Southern Miss, UAB.


We all know Case Keenum is #1 here so I will not dispute that, but the sixth year senior is someone we are already tired of talking about so we will skip to the #2 QB on our list in G.J. Kinne from Tulsa. Back for his senior year after posting a 144.3 QB rating on nearly 60% completion rate 3,650 yards passing 31 TD’s to just 10 interceptions. He’ll have senior WR Damaris Johnson back the 5-8, 170lb electrifying player has more accumulated yards than anyone in history. The Next 3: Dominique Davis (ECU), Kyle Padron (SMU), Austin Davis (SMISS).


1. QB Jeff Godfrey, Sophmore UCF
2. RB Zach Line, Junior SMU
3. S Marci nelson, Sophmore Tulsa
4. LB Sammy Brown, Senior Houston
5. RB Orleans Darkwa, Sophmore Tulane.


We will skip the receivers and running back parts of this preview as it will be a conference full of talent and skip right to the next most important thing to a quarterback, the offensive line. SMU has the best as they have been building for years to get to this point, and I believe they have the premier offensive line that RB Zach Line is going to really enjoy running behind. The Mustangs started 5 Juniors in 2010 and all of them return led by LT Kelvin Beachum. It’s not often that you see 5 starters on the line working together for several years in a row and all of them being Seniors, but SMU has the talent up front to do a lot of damage on offense.


The best defense is Southern Miss led by head coach Larry Fedora who hired defensive coordinator Dan Disch. They’ll have a new alignment you do not see often with a 4-2-5 style that should throw offenses for a loop. They have some nice talent in the front six highlighted by DE Cordarro law and LB Korey Williams which will frustrate offenses all year long. The secondary is the key naturally when you play a quarter style defense and with all the talented passing attacks I believe this alignment will help Southern Miss in 2011. The Next Five: Central Florida, Tulsa, Marshall, SMU, and Houston.


With pass happy teams like Houston secondary has become a very critical part of any defense in the Conference USA. Central Florida gets the nod here despite ECU having possibly the best corner in Emmanuel Davis they got lit up a year ago via the pass. Central Florida kept Georgia out of the end zone in the Liberty Bowl which is pretty impressive considering the talent they had at WR and QB a year ago. They have All-Conference returners in Josh Robinson at corner and Kemal Ishmael at safety. However, they did lose Weams and Boddie, but we are confident replacements are in tact and the coaching staff has the advantage over any other defense in the conference when it comes to developing young players.


1. DE Vinny Curry, Senior (Marshall)
2. CB Emmanuel Davis, Senior (ECU)
3. QB Case Keenum, Senior (Houston)
4. WR Damaris Johnson, Senior (Tulsa)
5. WR Lance Lewis, Senior (ECU)


University of Alabama-Birminghton. Yes the blazers are getting back a lot of talent and they could earn a bowl berth in 2011. Head coach Neil Callaway is on the hot seat and I feel his team will respond they have a very capable QB in Bryan Ellis who showed great signs a year ago when he threw for 373 yards at Tennessee and completed the season with a 25 TD to 12 INT ratio. He’s helped out by RB Pat Shed and with a new coordinator things could be looking up as they did come very close to knocking out two SEC programs a year ago. The key will be bringing that type of feisty play into their own conference something we have yet to see.


Houston, Yes we have them predicted to come in first, but they have been there before and time and time again they disappoint us all. The defense has always been the one thing that has prevented this team to getting over the hump. The last time they allowed less than 300 yards per game was in the late 90’s and stopping the run could be a huge issue along with the pass that has a completely rebuilt secondary. I don’t see them being able to stop many people, but their offense is a top 10 offense nationally and should make up for the defense in most games. Huge question is whether or not this defense can improve.


When Houston goes on the road to face G.J. Kinne and Tulsa it will be a high flying offensive game between the leagues best two QB’s in Keenum and Kinne. A year ago it was a 47-44 battle with 950 yards of total offense that did not get decided until the final minutes. This game could decide the conference champion although SMU could argue a lot of this as we could see them creep into the picture.