C-USA earns early right to be labeled top Group of 5 conference

[Harry]

With a 7-0 record against the other conferences in the Group of 5, Conference USA is surprisingly making a strong case as the best league outside of the Power 5.

On the opening weekend, Texas-San Antonio stunned Houston, 27-7, in the opener of the Cougars' new stadium. That same night, Western Kentucky thumped Bowling Green, the defending MAC champ, by a score of 59-31.

The trend continued last week as North Texas dominated SMU, 43-6, and Louisiana Tech shocked Louisiana-Lafayette, 48-20, on the Cajuns' home field.

ULL and Bowling Green were expected to contend for Sun Belt and MAC titles this season.

While the verdict is still out on how good SMU and Houston are this year, it was a major boost for Conference USA to watch two of its former teams get trounced by the programs brought in to replace them.

North Texas was invited to keep a presence in the Dallas-Forth Worth market following SMU's departure and Texas-San Antonio was intended to offset the loss of a large market program like Houston.

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/09/08/5788083/c-usa-earns-early-right-to-be.html