Daily Campus: "Football what-if's"

[PonyPride]

Football what-ifs

Jordan Hofeditz, Sports Editor, [email protected]

The Mustangs are one win away from bowl eligibility and three wins away from the conference championship game.

The Mustangs still have to play Houston and Tulsa, both at home, and Rice in Houston.

The easiest game on the list appears to be Rice, but the Mustangs have not won in Houston since 1986.

Bowl Game

Conference-USA has five bowl slots, and could have a sixth if the Pac 10 cannot supply six bowl eligible teams. Currently the Pac 10 has five bowl eligible teams and Arizona State is one win away from the sixth.

Leaving C-USA with only five bowls.

Right now in the conference Houston and Tulsa are each already bowl eligible

The teams with five wins are East Carolina, Southern Mississippi and SMU. Marshall, Rice and UTEP each have four wins, and UAB has three.

UAB must win each of their last three games to reach six wins, they have to play ECU, UTEP and Southern Miss, all competing for a bowl spot. UAB will not reach the six wins they need.

Rice must win two of its last three games to reach bowl eligibility. Those three games include ECU, Tulsa and SMU. Rice will not reach bowl eligibility in those three games.

Marshall has to play ECU, UTEP and Southern Miss, and has to win two of them. With that competition and that Marshall is on the road for two of them does not help their chances.

UTEP's last three games do not pose a threat, and the Miners should reach the six wins needed playing UAB, Marshall and Memphis.

East Carolina, Southern Miss and SMU should be able to pick up the one win each of them need to reach six victories for the season.

This would make six C-USA teams bowl eligible, ECU and Southern Miss from the east, and Houston, Tulsa, SMU and UTEP from the west.

The Mustangs may only need six wins, as they might be more desireable than an East Carolina or Southern Miss, but a seventh win would be beneficial and possibly necessary.

Conference USA

SMU must win its last three games to play for the conference championship. The two toughest games are at home, against Houston and Tulsa, and Rice has proven to be a tough opponent on the road for the Mustangs.

Houston is coming off a big win against Tulsa to take the top spot in the western division. They might have a poosiblity of over-looking the Mustangs and forward to a championship game.

Tulsa is coming off a bad loss droping them out of the divisional lead will play Rice next week before coming to Ford Stadium on Nov. 18. Hopefully Tulsa will take out their frustration on Rice and come into the game lackadaisical.

The Rice game is a must win for the Mustangs. It is necessary for a secure sixth win, possibly a seventh and maybe even a conference championship berth.

The Mustangs' destiny is in their own hands, and all they have to do is win.[/b]

[Lefty]

Pretty good breakdown! I just printed that out and hung it up on the desk of every UH fan I work with.
Been a long day, and I'm headed home. Thanks for posting this.

[den2010]

How can we overlook SMU for the championship when that game is a full 3 weeks away? Coogs will not overlook SMU, we remember what happened last year.