Top heavy C-USA needs more depth to succeed in future

Harry · November 20, 2013

During his visit to Huntington for the UAB game, Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky discussed, among other things, his decision not to pursue additional C-USA bowl affiliations with two more football programs joining C-USA in 2015.

“What I don’t want to do is get into a position where we have more bowls than we do teams and I have to pick up the phone and call a bowl and say, ‘I’m sorry I can’t bring you a team.’”

From the looks of C-USA football this season, Banowsky was right to play the bowl scene close to the vest. The conference lacks depth, and the outlook at the bottom does not promise many bowl appearances in the near future.

C-USA will not have any problems filling its current bowl obligations, with five teams having secured the sixth win needed for bowl eligibility. With East Carolina at 8-2, Marshall, North Texas and Rice at 7-3 and Middle Tennessee and Tulane at 6-4, C-USA will have a strong presence this postseason. These six teams are a combined 29-8 in C-USA play and account for 41 of the 61 total wins for C-USA teams this season.

Read more: http://www.marshallparthenon.com/sports/top-heavy-c-usa-needs-more-depth-to-succeed-in-future-1.2847959#.UoxNheKZ-So

GrayEagle · November 20, 2013

I really believe that Conference USA will be a pretty solid conference in a few years. I see ten teams as being in the hunt for bowl eligibility most years. Southern Miss has been the "bell cow" of this conference for years and will eventually return to that pinnacle. Louisiana Tech has a long history of success and just last year was a Top 25 team for part of the season. Rice is among the top teams now and could be a top team annually if they care to spend the money. UTSA was built by Larry Coker the right way and I expect him to stay another five years with his teams becoming even more competitive. Dan McCarney is doing the same thing at North Texas and their situation should only improve. In the East, Marshall has been competitive since their MAC days and may very well become the power team of that division. Middle Tennessee is another with a good winning history that I see staying above average. Florida Atlantic under Howard Schnellenberger had decent success from its origin and after a down year seems to be recovering nicely as they may very well be bowl eligible this year. If they don't mess up their next coaching change (ala USM) they could be annual contenders. Old Dominion has been a powerhouse FCS team and they have the budget and attendance to continue that presence in the FBS. Western Kentucky, long successful in basketball, has had a few bowl-eligible years recently and appears that it can continue the trend.

There are only four that I do not see advancing very far very fast. I like the new UTEP coach but although he has plenty of coaching experience this is his first year as a head coach and the Miners don't have a great football heritage (except in attendance). UAB has to play in a dillapidated old stadium and that causes recruiting difficulties. As I see it, only a "name" coach might be able to overcome recruiting problems. FIU got off to a very slow start and just as it seemed that Mario Cristobal had begun creating a decent program he was inexplicably fired. That may take years to recover. The fourth team must start in the low position because they're new to football but they have a competitive history in other sports and it should be just a matter of time before they become upper tier.

The conference may struggle for a few years but it has some solid schools that want to succeed and probably will. I see the conference being able to fill eight bowls each year.