2017 CUSA football snap hunches

Weak #CUSAEast and room for regime change in #CUSAWest
Ganes to watch: Oct 7 #usm /#utsa . Nov 18 #fau /#fiu  Nov 25 #utsa /#louisianatech


EAST
W. Kentucky-  A ton of changes but the East appears weak
M. Tenn. St.- If Stocksill stays healthy , they topple #wku.
Old Dominion- Monarchs slide back a little
FIU-Butch Davis will rile these lads up
FAU- Kiffin has ex FSU QB Singletary
Marshall- #herd lines need shoring up
Charlotte- 49ers need to find a little gold.

WEST
Louisiana Tech- Holtz' guys should prevail but #utsa may turn the tables this season
UTSA- Solid recruiting will finally reap some rewards
Southern Miss- Consistency ?????
North Texas- #meangreen did go bowling last season-keep your eyes on them
UTEP opens at #oklahoma- brutal
Rice- new logo
UAB- slow recovery from no football in two years

Aug 17, 2017 : #DaltonSturm - #utsa is betting a lot on his improvement. just six interceptions over his 13 starts last season.
Aug 25, 2017:#kiffin  hired #briles son, and #butchdavis wants #jimmyjohnson to visit his squad. #FAU and #FIU are getting plenty of ink

2016 Week 1 can O5 take down Big 5 teams

   SunBelt: Appalachian St  went to and won it's first bowl game last season and the Mountaineers march into Knoxville as a 22 point dog. Maybe Marcus Cox, a tailback on the Doak Walker watchlist, can keep them in the game I don't see them  duplicating their  2007 upset of Michigan @ Ann Arbor.
MWC: Hawaii  host Cal in August then travels to Michigan where the Rainbows will be lucky to score ten points. Fresno St may put a scare in the slow starting Nebraska Cornhuskers
MAC: Bowling Green Linebacker Austin Valdez may need to make ten tackles in the first half half to keep the Falcons competitive  @ Ohio St. Miami (Ohio) decent D-Line will keep them in the game until the third quarter @ Iowa. Western Michigan won the MAC West last season  and has Corey Davis a great WR. Look for a  mild upset @Northwestern.
AAC: Houston hosts Oklahoma- now this could be a good game between two pre-season top 10 teams. Two transfers , Duke Catalon, an RB from Texas, and Ra'Shaad Samples, WR from OK St, could help the Cougars pull off an upset of the Sooners.
CUSA- Louisiana Tech will struggle against the rising Arkansas Razorbacks. I'm curious if Southern Miss has improved enough to give Kentucky a hard time. Charlotte will be overwhelmed at Louisville

8/7/16

 Louisiana Tech starting quarterback Ryan Higgins was arrested early Friday in Ruston on a DWI charge. If Holtz suspends him for Game 1 , Arkansas  should cruise.

CUSA Tee is on

The top four CUSA teams get a double bye .
#1 UAB has proven they can win close ones and is the only CUSA squad that deserve a look for an at large if they fail to win the the CUSAT.UAB's two excellent shot blockers ,Mehinti & Lee, protect the  rim well
#2 MTSU should handle the winner of  #7 Charlotte/#10 Rice. Hats off to Charlotte for improved play during the season. Reggie Upshaw has spurred MTSU in the last few weeks.
#3 Marshall faces the winner of #6 UTEP/#11FIU.  The #herd will be rooting for FIU because UTEP is playing like a late season Cinderella.The Herd D is shaky as they barely survived a weak USM squad  yesterday. MU 108 USM 106
#4 Louisina Tech plays the winner of #5ODU/#9North Texas. . La Tech's loss to WKU yesterday cost them the 2 seed.and they look pprimed for an upset loss.

scanning the south Feb 26

SunBelt: Arkansas -Little Rock has the regular season crown locked up but the question is who can  upset them in the  conference tourney and get the Dance ticket.. ULL has been playing well and got a monster night  (29 points, 20 reb) from  Shawn Long last night.. ULM has a balanced squad who've won six straight.
CUSA
 Dirk Williams hit four treys in UAB(13-2,23-5) win over Marshall (11-4,15-13)
Louisiana Tech(10-5,21-7) beat North Texas
Middle Tennessee(10-5,18-9) collapsed in the final minute and lost to WKU.
Charlotte(11-17,7-8) may be the most improved team in the CUSA, and got 21 points each from Uchebo & Davis in a high scoring 114-108 win over UTSA.

Aug 15, 2023

While leafing through some stat books I discovered that John Matusak(Oilers rd1-1973) played at Tampa U, which played 4 years(1971-74). as a 1a Independent. Freddy Solomon was also on those teams. December 29, 1972 Tangerine Bowl TU  21– Kent St 18. Head coaches in the game : Earle Bruce (TU). Don James (Kent St).BTW, Jack Lambert was on the Kent St team that lost to Tampa U and Tooz in the Tangerine Bowl.

The school ended football in 1974 due to an overall enrollment of only1300 students.

It's had a highly successful 1AA baseball team for a long time.

August 17, 2023

Completely forgot that Noah Jackson (Tampa U)  was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1975 and played 8 seasons with the Bears.

March 10, 2024

Cecil Howell Travis played his entire career in MLB as a shortstop and third baseman for the Washington Senators from 1933 to 1947, The frostbite he suffered during his stint as a soldier WW2 weakened him on his return to the MLB. He led the AL in hits in 1941 and his career BA of .314 ranks third among all shortstops behind Honus Wagner (.327) and Arky Vaughan (.318).

He declined a scholarship to Georgia Tech to attend a baseball training school. I can't find much info on this.

May 11, 2024

Missouri St moves up to 1A football to CUSA in 2025. In 2024 they face only one 1A team, Ball St(MAC).  Bobby Petrino was the HC there from 2020 to 2022. 

Of course, I'd love to see Missouri St get Mizzou on the schedule, and Delaware get Maryland on its schedule.

Famous sports alumni: Clay Harbor, TE for Eagles (NFL), Curtis Perry (NBA) played with Lew Alcindor(Bucks).