Before the UCF Knights upset the Georgia Bulldogs in the Liberty Bowl last year, they knocked off the SMU Mustangs in the Conference USA Championship Game in a battle between the two best defenses in the conference. Well, it looks like those two teams have the two best defenses again, so even with the Houston Cougars being improved with Case Keenum back, look for a rematch.
After previewing the Big 12 and the SEC earlier on, we now shift away from the major conferences in our 2011 College Football Previews by taking our first look at a minor conference, Conference USA.
This is not to say that Conference-USA cannot compete with major conferences, as evidenced by the defending conference champions, the UCF Knights, knocking of the Georgia Bulldogs out of the SEC on the college football odds in the Liberty Bowl last season. UCF figures to be tough again this season, as does their opponents in last year’s Conference UCA Championship Game, the SMU Mustangs, as well as the Houston Cougars with Case Keenum back under center.
All of that said, those teams are three of only five Conference-USA teams that are listed on the latest college football future betting odds at 5 Dimes, meaning that the other seven teams in the conference are so lightly regarded that they do not merit having odds posted.
Sadly, we tend to think along those same lines, but that does not mean that the five teams listed on the college football betting futures, the three we mentioned along with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, cannot pull an upset or two along the way over the big boys.
http://www.sbrforum.com/college-footbal ... s-a-20028/