Conference USA teams can pull off early stunners

[Harry]

The 2013 season's first games are four weeks from today -- we'll pause a moment to let your tears of joy dry -- and there are numerous early-season opportunities for Conference USA teams to make national noise.

Let's bypass those games where the C-USA team will serve as cannon fodder -- such as UT San Antonio playing host to Oklahoma State (yes, that game really is in San Antonio), UAB at LSU and North Texas at Georgia. Instead, let's focus on games where a C-USA team has a legit shot at a victory over a school from one of the "Big Six" conferences.

Here are five such contests:

Virginia Tech at East Carolina, Sept. 14: This will be the sixth meeting in seven seasons between the teams and the Hokies are 4-1. But the Hokies' offense is a big concern. Will QB Logan Thomas bounce back from a horrible 2012 season? Who is the featured back? Do the Hokies have a go-to receiver? And will two new starting tackles hold up? The Hokies' defense should be fine -- the same goes for ECU's defense, which is headed by LB Jeremy Grove. Can ECU's receivers get open against Tech's solid secondary? That should determine the outcome.

Read more: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000224545/article/conference-usa-teams-can-pull-off-early-stunners

[jdennis82]

Kansas makes the list twice (Rice & LaTech)...I guess the author agrees with Weis's assessment of his roster.

[untjim1995]

Kansas makes the list twice (Rice & LaTech)...I guess the author agrees with Weis's assessment of his roster.

That's really going out on a limb there.