C-USA/Best of the Rest

[50's PONY]

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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Sports

Aug. 2, 2005, 12:07AM



CONFERENCE USA MEDIA DAYS
Best-of-rest C-USA is eager to prove itself
It may not belong to the BCS, but its members believe they are closer to being elite than the handful of other have-not conferences in college football
By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
HOW THEY COMPARE
A look at the non-BCS conferences:
Conference USA
• Studs: UTEP (8-4 in the WAC), Memphis (8-4).
• Duds: UCF (0-11), East Carolina (2-9), Rice (3-8), SMU (3-8), Houston (3-8).
• Biggest positive: Geographical rivalries, NFL-quality talent.
• Biggest negative: If ever there was a conference that needed a name change, this is the one. Nothing says Mickey Mouse quite like "Conference USA."
Mountain West
• Stud: Utah (12-0).
• Duds: UNLV (2-9), San Diego State (4-7), Colorado State (4-7).
• Biggest positive: Football-crazy fans.
• Biggest negative: Pull aside 10 casual football fans and see how many can correctly name all eight members without confusing them with the WAC.
Western Athletic
• Studs: Boise State (11-1), Fresno State (9-3), Hawaii (8-5).
• Duds: San Jose State (2-9), New Mexico State (5-7), Nevada (5-7).
• Biggest positive: A trip to the islands.
• Biggest negative: Way too many time zones, which means not much of what you could quite call "geographical" rivalries.
Mid-American
• Studs: Toledo (9-4), Northern Illinois (9-3), Bowling Green (9-3).
• Duds: Western Michigan (1-10), Buffalo (2-9), Ball State (2-9), Ohio U. (4-7), Central Michigan (4-7), Eastern Michigan (4-7).
• Biggest positive: Located in the heart of the football belt.
• Biggest negative: More compass directions than your nearest atlas. Also, far too top-heavy, with almost no middle class.
Sun Belt
• Studs: None.
• Duds: Arkansas State (2-9), Louisiana-Monroe (2-9), Louisiana-Lafayette (3-8), Florida International (3-7).
• Biggest positive: There are some athletes, and the Sun Belt will play anyone.
• Biggest negative: Even in this age of media over-saturation, how many Sun Belt football games have you ever seen? Ever?
-- MICHAEL MURPHY

MEMPHIS, TENN. - Conference USA might have its nose pressed up against the window, gazing longingly at the BCS conferences, but at least it is able to look down upon its other non-BCS brethren.

The Mountain West Conference? The WAC? The Sun Belt? The Mid-America Conference? All poor relations. Or poorer, as it were.

At least that's the consensus in Memphis, where the C-USA schools have gathered to kick off a new football season in a new-look conference with a new divisional layout and brand-new, TV-friendly conference-championship game.

"I think we're right there with the Big East. I really think we've separated ourselves from conferences like the Mountain West and the WAC," said Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson. "I think that in this day and age of 85 scholarships, the whole terrain has changed.

"Teams like Texas and Oklahoma are always going to be strong, but there's a general impression that just because a school is in (a) BCS (conference) that it can't be beaten by a non-BCS school, and that's not the case at all."


Bring on the big boys
And several C-USA schools will be trying to prove that point by scheduling at least two pre-conference games against BCS-affiliated schools.

Houston will play Oregon (Pac-10) and Mississippi State (SEC); Rice will play UCLA (Pac-10) and Texas (Big 12), Memphis has Ole Miss and Tennessee (both from the SEC); SMU has Baylor and Texas A&M (Big 12); Tulsa has Minnesota (Big Ten) and Oklahoma (Big 12); and Southern Miss has Alabama (SEC) and North Carolina State and Wake Forest from the ACC and West Virginia from the Big East.

But that leads to the inevitable question — are the C-USA schools scheduling the big boys, or are the BCS schools scheduling C-USA teams, which they don't view as much of a threat?


Higher aspirations
It doesn't matter, said UH athletic director Dave Maggard. All the C-USA schools want is a shot to prove themselves with an eye on perhaps eventually being absorbed into the BCS mix.

"I think that Conference USA is going to turn out to be a much stronger conference than people thought a year or two ago," Maggard said. "Is it the next-best thing to BCS? I think that no one in Conference USA would say that we're next-best. I think that what they would say is that we want an opportunity to be a BCS school.

"What does that mean? It means that we have to prove ourselves. We have to earn our way. We have to show some people that we belong and that we can play with people in the BCS. If you look at some of the scheduling around the conference, people are scheduling BCS schools — scheduling BCS schools."

As if to prove his point, Maggard and the Cougars have signed a three-game deal to play Oklahoma State, a series that starts next year in Houston and then goes to Stillwater in 2008 and 2009.

"That's a good, solid program from the Big 12 that travels well," said Maggard of OSU. "I think that's a game we can get on TV, too. I want to schedule teams like that every year, if possible. I want to play a team from the Big 12 or a national-type team. I think that's good for our program."


TV exposure
Another item the league has addressed is a national TV package. The league will have games televised by ESPN, CSTV and Pax (or I TV).

The Cougars will have a school-record seven nationally televised games — two on ESPN2 (Oregon and UTEP), two on CSTV (Memphis and Rice) and three on Pax (road games at Tulane and Central Florida and home against SMU).

"For a Division I-A conference, it (a national-TV package) is very important," said C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky. "It's a way to showcase yourself and sell your story to an expanding audience."

Everything C-USA has done in its reorganization was done with an eye on fan interest. The East and West divisions emphasize geographical rivalries, which is something people around the league feel separates them from far-flung conferences such as the Mountain West and the WAC.

"For us, beyond the competitive aspects of it, the geography of this conference really makes sense," said SMU athletic director Jim Copeland. "That's really important. We're going to be playing mainly in Texas, with (trips to) adjoining states in Tulsa (Okla.) and Tulane (La.).

"We've been fortunate over the years that we've started to build a rivalry with UTEP and with Tulsa. We've had that rivalry in years past with Houston and Rice, so it's worked out really well for us."


michael.murphy@chron.com

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