Nov. 24, 2008

Nov. 24 C-USA Football Notebook

IRVING, Texas - The race for the 2008 Conference USA Football Championship is starting to clear. East Carolina will be making its first trip to the title game after it won the East Division with Saturday's 17-13 victory at UAB. Houston continues to be in the driver's seat in the West. A win next Saturday will give the Cougars the West Division title and allow them to host the Dec. 6 C-USA Championship. A Houston loss to Rice opens the door for Tulsa to win and host the championship game if it can win at Marshall. If Rice beats Houston and Marshall defeats Tulsa, then Rice will win the West and host the title game.

RECENT RESULTS
Saturday, November 22
UCF 28, Memphis 21
Tulsa 56, Tulane 7
Rice 35, Marshall 10
Houston 42, UTEP 37
East Carolina 17, UAB 13

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, November 28
UTEP at East Carolina (CBS C) 12:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 29
UAB at UCF 12:00 p.m.
Southern Miss at SMU 2:00 p.m.
Tulsa at Marshall 2:30 p.m.
Houston at Rice (CBS C) 2:30 p.m.
Tulane at Memphis (CSS) 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 6
C-USA Championship Game (ESPN/ESPN 2) 11:00 a.m.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
CO-OFFENSE
CASE KEENUM - HOUSTON
QB. So., Abilene, Texas (Wylie)
Keenum passed for a career-high 480 yards and three touchdowns, to rally the Cougars past UTEP, 42-37, in the largest comeback in UH history. Keenum also rushed for two touchdowns, and his one-yard sneak with 41 seconds to play gave the Cougars the five-point win. He completed 41-of-51 of his attempts with no interceptions and led the Cougars on five second-half touchdown drives en route to his school-record 12th straight 300-yard plus passing effort.

TARRION ADAMS - TULSA
RB. Sr., Moore, Okla. (Moore)
Adams ran for a school record 323 yards and one touchdown on 33 carries in a 56-7 win over Tulane. The 323 yards is the second-best mark ever in Conference USA and it’s the third-best rushing performance this year by a football bowl subdivision player. His performance on Saturday broke the previous school record of 312 yards set by Mark Brus in 1990 against New Mexico State.

DEFENSE
TRAVIS BRADSHAW - RICE
DB, Fr., Cypress, Texas (Cy-Fair)
Bradshaw was credited with 11 tackles (his fourth double-digit tackle game in as many starts), recovered a fumble and broke up a pass as the Owls held Marshall to just 85 total yards in the second half and 268 yards overall in a 35-10 Rice victory. The 10 points were the fewest allowed by an Owl defense since 2004 and their best showing in terms of yards allowed since giving up 212 to Houston in 2004.

SPECIAL TEAMS
KYLE PETERSON - UTEP
P, So., Alta Loma, Calif. (South Hills)
Peterson punted five times for 249 yards (49.8 avg.) at Houston, including a career long punt of 60 yards. Two of his punts resulted in touchbacks and one landed inside the 20 yard line. Peterson ranks fourth among all C-USA punters with a 43.4 yard average.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
C-USA names Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week each Monday during the season. The awards are voted on by a media panel with one representative in each league city.

OFFENSE
S2 Patrick Pinkney, QB, East Carolina
S8 James Casey, WR/TE, Rice
S15 Patrick Pinkney, QB, East Carolina
S22 Darius Passmore, WR, Marshall
      David Johnson, QB, Tulsa
S29 Chase Clement, QB, Rice
       Jarett Dillard, WR, Rice
O6 Trevor Vittatoe, QB, UTEP
O13 Case Keenum, QB, Houston
O20 Brennan Marion, WR, Tulsa
O27 Curtis Steele, RB, Memphis
N3 James Casey, WR/TE, Rice
N10 Chase Clement, QB, Rice
N17 Case Keenum, QB, Houston
N24 Case Keenum, QB, Houston
      Tarrion Adams, RB, Tulsa

DEFENSE
S2 Andrew Sendejo, FS, Rice
S8 Van Eskridge, DB, East Carolina
S15 C.J. Wilson, DL, East Carolina
S22 Charles Davis, DB, Tulsa
S29 Clinton McDonald, DL, Memphis
O6 Un’Tavious Scott, DE, Tulsa
O13 Phillip Hunt, DE, Houston
O20 Joe Henderson, LB, UAB
O27 James Lockett, S, Tulsa
N3 Maurice Kitchens, LB, Marshall
N10 Emmanuel Davis, DB, East Carolina
N17 Loyce Means, DB, Houston
N24 Travis Bradshaw, DB, Rice

SPECIAL TEAMS
S2 T.J. Lee, WR, East Carolina
S8 Joe Burnett, DB, UCF
S15 Quinten Cotton, LB, East Carolina
S22 Wesley Scourten, WR, Houston
S29 Jose Martinez, PK, UTEP
O6 Vinny Zaccario, PK, Memphis
O13 Swayze Waters, PK/P, UAB
O20 Damaris Johnson, WR/KR, Tulsa
O27 Damaris Johnson, WR/KR, Tulsa
N3 Jose Martinez, PK, UTEP
N10 Ben Hartman, PK, East Carolina
N17 Tyron Carrier, WR/KR, Houston
N24 Kyle Peterson, P, UTEP

LAST WEEK’S STARS
Here’s a look at some of the top performers in Conference USA games from Nov. 22:

Rushing Attempts
33 Tarrion Adams, TLS (323 yds.)
24 Darius Marshall, MAR (118 yds.)
19 Bryce Beall, HOU (167 yds.)
19 C.J. Ugokwe, Rice (79 yds.)

Rushing Yards
323 Tarrion Adams, TLS (33 att.)
167 Bryce Beall, HOU (19 att.)
118 Darius Marshall, MAR (24 att.)

Rushing Touchdowns
2 Jamad Williams, TLS
1 Several tied with

Passing Completions
41 Case Keenum, HOU (51 att.)
27 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (45 att.)
25 Chase Clement, Rice (41 att.)
19 Patrick Pinkney, ECU (25 att.)

Passing Yards
480 Case Keenum, HOU (41-of-51)
362 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (27-of-45)
315 Chase Clement, Rice (25-of-41)
222 Patrick Pinkney, ECU (19-of-25)

Passing Touchdowns
4 Chase Clement, Rice
4 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP
3 Case Keenum, HOU
1 Several tied with

Receptions
9 Tyron Carrier, HOU
8 Bryce Beall, HOU
8 Mark Hafner, HOU
8 Chaz Rodriguez, HOU

Receiving Yards
141 Tyron Carrier, HOU (9 rec.)
120 Corbin Smiter, Rice (4 rec.)
111 Kris Adams, UTEP (6 rec.)
96 Bryce Beall, HOU (8 rec.)
95 Davon Drew, ECU (7 rec.)

Receiving Touchdowns
3 Kris Adams, UTEP
2 Jarett Dillard, Rice
2 Damaris Johnson, TLS

All-Purpose
326 Tarrion Adams, TLS (323 rush, 3 rcv.)
265 Tyron Carrier, HOU (32 rush, 141 rcv., 14 pr., 78 kr.)
263 Bryce Beall, HOU(167 rush, 96 rcv.)
188 Darius Marshall, MAR (118 rush, 8 rcv., 62 kr.)
148 Jeff Moturi, UTEP (-6 rush, 81 rcv., 73 kr.)
127 D.A. Griffin, MEM (38 pr., 89 kr.)

PIRATES CLAIM FIRST EAST DIVISION TITLE
With its 17-13 win over UAB in Birmingham on Saturday, East Carolina secured the East Division title and with that, earned its first trip to the C-USA Football Championship game to be played Dec, 6 at a site still to be determined. The Pirates have won nine of their last 13 games and six of their last seven road games against C-USA members.

ECU has also won seven of its last nine games against C-USA East Division foes and has won at least seven games overall in the last three seasons.

RB Brandon Simmons scored on a 2-yard run with 2:20 remaining to seal the victory. Simmons’ touchdown capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive that was aided by a face mask penalty that gave East Carolina a first down at UAB’s 11. Two plays later, Simmons scored to cap the drive, which was led by backup QB Rob Kass.

AIR ATTACK
Of the top eight leaders in touchdown passes this season, four hail from the West Division of Conference USA. Tulsa’s David Johnson is second, trailing Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford by just two TDs. Here’s a look at the NCAA leaders (through games of Nov. 22):

MOST TOUCHDOWN PASSES IN 2008
42 Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
40 David Johnson, Tulsa
39 Graham Harrell, Texas Tech
38 Case Keenum, Houston
36 Chase Clement, Rice
34 Max Hall, BYU
33 Tim Hiller, Western Michigan
31 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP

AIR ATTACK II
Last season, Tulsa’s Paul Smith set a new Conference USA record by throwing 47 touchdown passes. His replacement, David Johnson, has now moved into second place on the single-season list with 40. Before this season, just four QB’s in league history had thrown 30 or more TDs in a season. Currently, four have already thrown for 30 scores. Here’s a look at the leaders:

C-USA SINGLE-SEASON TD PASS LEADERS
47 Paul Smith, Tulsa, 2007
40 David Johnson, Tulsa, 2008
38 Case Keenum, Houston, 2008
36 Chase Clement, Rice, 2008
36 Shaun King, Tulane, 1998
33 J.P. Losman, Tulane, 2003
31 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP, 2008
30 Kevin Kolb, Houston, 2006

CATCHING ON
Rice’s James Casey currently is third in the nation in total receptions with 85 (through games of Nov. 22). Here’s a look at the leaders:

MOST RECEPTIONS IN 2008
102 Casey Fitzgerald, North Texas
95 Austin Collie, BYU
92 James Casey, Rice
92 Jamarko Simmons, Western Michigan

HEY, JOE
UAB’s Joe Webb is currently fourth among the nation’s quarterbacks with 941 rushing yards, averaging 85.6 yards per game on the ground. Webb ranks fifth in rushing yards per game by quarterbacks. Here’s a look at the nation’s QB rushing leaders (as of Nov. 22):

MOST RUSHING YARDS BY A QB
1,203 Julian Edelman, Kent State
1,087 Colin Kaepernick, UNLV
1,001 Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana-Lafayette
941 Joe Webb, UAB

BALL IN THE HALL
After Rice’s Chase Clement and Jarett Dillard connected for their 40th career touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter of the Owls’ 77-20 win over North Texas, both players knew exactly what happened. That touchdown pass set an NCAA record for career scoring passes involving the same duo. So who got the ball? Well, neither of them. The infamous touchdown ball was tucked away and shipped to the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. Clement and Dillard scored three touchdowns that night and each kept a ball from one of the other two scores.

On October 18, National Football Foundation Chief Operating Officer Matthew Sign honored the duo for their achievement at the Rice-Southern Miss game.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
Conference USA is currently ranked second among FBS conferences in total offense, with league teams averaging 402.8 yards per game. Only the Big 12, at 439.8 ypg., is higher. C-USA also trails only the Big 12 in touchdown passes per game, with C-USA teams throwing 2.08 per outing to the Big 12’s 2.28. C-USA has moved up to second among FBS conferences in scoring at 28.9 points per game, trailing only the Big 12 at 35.7 ppg. C-USA is also running more total plays per game (69.6) than any conference other than the Big 12 (70.6).

DILLARD MOVES UP RANKS
Rice WR Jarett Dillard moved his NCAA record to 59 career touchdown receptions with two against Marshall on Saturday. Dillard finished with 88 yards on six receptions and has caught at least two passes in all 47 career appearances. Dillard is tied with Glenn Davis of Army for 14th on the NCAA career scoring list with 354 points.

Dillard now has 4,009 receiving yards on 280 catches in his career. He is 20 catches away from equalling Louisville’s Arnold Jackson (1997-2000) for the C-USA top spot at 300 and became the 10th player in NCAA history to reach 4,000 yards receiving.

TD RESPONSIBILITY
Rice QB Chase Clement is now responsible for 114 career touchdowns (91 pass, 23 rush) and moved into sole possession of first place on the C-USA list for career TDs.

C-USA CAREER TD RESPONSIBILITY LEADERS
114 Chase Clement, Rice (2006-present)
109 Paul Smith, Tulsa (2005-07, 82 pass 27 rush)

CHASING THE RECORDS
With 368 yards of total offense against Marshall, Rice QB Chase Clement became the first Rice player and fifth player in C-USA history to surpass 10,650 career yards. The Alamo Heights, Texas product currently has 10,708 yards and moved past Memphis’ Danny Wimprine (2001-04) for fifth place on the C-USA list.

Clement finished the game 25-of-41 with 315 passing yards and four touchdowns. He has thrown for over 300 yards in five of his last six games. The Owls improved to 7-4 when Clement throws for more than 300 yards.

Additionally, Clement moved into eighth place on the C-USA career passing yards list. He now has 9,097 passing yards and is 109 yards away from eclipsing Tulane’s Patrick Ramsey (9,205 yards) for seventh. Clement owns the top spot for TD passes on the C-USA career list. He has thrown 91 career touchdown passes.

CATCH THIS
Rice sophomore WR/TE James Casey is closing on the Conference USA single-season record for receptions. With seven catches against Marshall on Saturday, he now has 92 receptions on the season, the third-highest total in C-USA history. Here’s a look at the leaders:

C-USA SINGLE-SEASON RECEPTION LEADERS
101 Arnold Jackson, Louisville, 1999 (1,209 yards)
94 JaJuan Dawson, Tulane, 1999 (1,036 yards)
92 James Casey, Rice, 2008 (1,045 yards)
91 Donnie Avery, Houston, 2007 (1,456 yards)
91 Jarett Dillard, Rice, 2006 (1,247 yards)
91 Arnold Jackson, Louisville, 1998 (1,175 yards)

COMEBACK COUGARS
With Saturday’s win 42-37 win over UTEP, Houston recorded the biggest come-from-behind win in school history. The 19-point rally (down 28-9 with 3:46 left in the third quarter) topped the previous record of 17 (down 20-3 with 10:25 left in third quarter, vs. UAB, Oct. 9, 2008) and (down 24-7 with 7:55 left in second quarter, vs. Texas A&M, Oct. 13, 1990).

With Saturday’s rally, the Cougars recorded their third come-from-behind win trailing by at least 14 points during the 2008 season and earned their sixth win in their last seven games overall and eighth in a row at John O’ Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium.

CASE IN POINT
With a career-high 480 passing yards against UTEP, Houston QB Case Keenum moved past 4,000 passing yards for the 2008 season. He now has 4,274 passing yards this season and joined Andre Ware (4,699 yards in 1989) and David Klingler (5,140 yards in 1990) as the only UH signal-callers to reach that milestone. It was the fourth 400-yard passing game in his career and the Cougars are 3-0 in games when he throws for 400+. The 480 yards also marked the 12th straight game Keenum has thrown for 300+ yards to extend his school record.

Kennum tossed three TD passes and has thrown a touchdown pass in 14 consecutive games and it was the 14th multi-touchdown game of his career. He has thrown for three TDs in three consecutive games and eight times in his career.

PATRICK LEADS THE PIRATES
East Carolina QB Patrick Pinkney completed his first four passes against UAB for 60 yards including a 10-yard TD strike to Davon Drew. Pinkney finished the game completing 19-of-25 passes for 222 yards with one TD. He recorded his sixth 200-plus yard passing game of the season and eighth of his career. For his career he now has 289 completions (sixth all-time at ECU) and 3,387 passing yards (seventh all-time at ECU).

PIRATE TREASURES
ECU RB Brandon Simmons rushed for 14 yards on four carries, including the winning two-yard TD run in the fourth quarter with 2:20 remaining against UAB. He now has five TDs on the season (3/rush; 2/rcv).

RB J.R. Rogers rushed for a career-high 54 yards on a career-best 10 carries, including a career-long run of 14 yards in the first quarter. He followed that up with a nine-yard run and had one KO return for 36 yards (third quarter). RB Norman Whitley had 11 carries for 17 yards and also caught one pass for 17 yards.

The Pirate backs combined for 89 rushing yards on 25 carries to lead the ground attack in the win over UAB.

HURRICANE BACK ON PATH
With Tulsa’s eighth touchdown of the game against Tulane, the Golden Hurricane surpassed the 50-point mark for the sixth time in 11 games this season. The eighth touchdown of the game also marked senior walk-on Aaron Johnson’s first career touchdown (a one-yard run with 2:22 remaining in the game).

Tulsa’s 489 total rushing yards are the team’s most this season. It also marks the third most total rushing yards by a team in the NCAA FBS during the 2008 season. The other top rushing performances were by Navy (558 vs. Towson) and Louisiana-Lafayette (556 vs. Louisiana-Monroe).

Tulsa allowed only seven points against Tulane, marking the lowest point-total for a Tulsa opponent this season and fewest since the GMAC Bowl against Bowling Green (Jan. 6, 2008/seven points).

Tulsa finished the regular season home schedule with a 6-0 record. It marks the first time Tulsa has finished undefeated at home since the 1989 Independence Bowl team went 5-0.

TARRION TURNS IT ON
Tulsa senior RB Tarrion Adams carried the ball 33 times for a career-high 323 yards and one TD against Tulane. The rushing performance was the highest total in C-USA this season and the second-most all time, trailing only current Chicago Bears’ RB Matt Forte’s 342-yard effort against SMU last season. He also broke the Tulsa single-game record.

He became just second player in the NCAA FBS this season to rush for 300 or more yards during the 2008 season (348, Shon White, Navy) and is only the seond TU back ever to surpass 300 yards.

Adams now has 3,201 career yards-just 335 yards shy of Michael Gunter’s Tulsa record of 3,536 yards and good for ninth place all-time in the C-USA annals.

As a team, Tulsa finished the game wih 489 rushing yards on 59 carries.

SLATE CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Marshall junior TE Cody Slate has caught a touchdown pass in six consecutive games and now has 19 for his career. His 19 career TD receptions rank 8th all-time at Marshall. Slate is also tied with John “Fuzzy” Fillez (1973-76) for 10th all-time in career receiving yards at Marshall with 1,954.

CALHOUN CATCHES
Memphis WR Duke Calhoun hauled in a 54-yard touchdown pass from QB Arkelon Hall with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter against UCF. It was a career-long pass for Hall and a season-high catch for Calhoun. This was Hall’s 11th passing TD this season; and Calhoun’s second TD reception this year.

Calhoun extended his receiving streak to 35 games with the 54-yard TD catch in the first quarter. Calhoun has caught a pass in each of his 35 career games played, and holds the school record. He entered Saturday’s game ranked 11th nationally.

Calhoun entered the game needing just 43 yards to become only the third Tiger in school history to tally 2,000 career receiving yards. He hit 2,000 yards with his 54-yard catch in the first quarter. Calhoun is the fastest Tiger receiver to reach 2,000 yards.

SCORES OF SCORES
Conference USA teams have notched an impressive 32 non-offensive scores so far in 2008, including 13 interceptions that have been returned for TDs. The league also has six fumble recoveries for scores, five kickoff return TDs, two blocked field goals returned for touchdowns, two safeties, a punt return TD and has converted the rare blocked PAT that was returned for two points on two occassions.

With the safety by UAB against Marshall on Oct. 18, C-USA has put points on the board in every way possible. East Carolina, Rice, UCF and UTEP account for 18 of the 26 scores, with Owls leading the way with five non-offensive scores so far this season.

TOUCHDOWN PASSES
After throwing four TD passes against Marshall on Saturday, Rice quarterback Chase Clement now has 91 career TD passes to extend his all-time Conference USA TD pass record. Check this section throughout the season to monitor his progress.

2. 91 Chase Clement, Rice, 2005-present
2. 85 Kevin Kolb, Houston, 2003-06
3. 84 Chris Redman, Louisville, 1996-99
4. 82 Paul Smith, Tulsa, 2005-07

PICKED OFF
UCF’s Joe Burnett recorded his 16th career interception against Memphis on Saturday to move into second place on Conference USA’s all-time interception list. Here’s a look at the top interceptors in C-USA history:

18 Anthony Floyd, Louisville, 1999-02
16 Joe Burnett, UCF, 2005-08
15 Quentin Demps, UTEP, 2005-07
14 Kevin Sanders, UAB, 2005-08
14 Sha’reff Rashad, UCF, 2005-08
14 Lynaris Elpheage, Tulane, 2000-02
14 Rashad Holman, Louisville, 1997-00

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
Senior RB Brandon Simmons scored on a 2-yard run with 2:20 remaining in the game to lift the Pirates to a 17-13 victory over UAB on Saturday night. The win clinched the C-USA East Division title for ECU and a spot in the C-USA championship game. Simmons’ touchdown capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive that was aided by a face mask penalty that gave the Pirates a first down at UAB’s 11. Two plays later, Simmons scored to cap the drive, which was led by backup QB Rob Kass. With the win, the Pirates have won nine of their last 13 games and six of their last seven road games against C-USA members. ECU has also won seven of its last nine games against C-USA East Division foes and has won at least seven games overall in its last three seasons. Patrick Pinkney stared at QB for ECU and completed his first four passes against the Blazers for 60 yards including a 10-yard TD strike to Davon Drew. Pinkney finished the game completing 19-of-25 passes for 222 yards with one TD. He recorded his sixth 200-plus yard passing game of the season and eighth of his career. For his career he now has 289 completions (sixth all-time at ECU) and 3,387 passing yards (seventh all-time at ECU). Simmons, J.R. Rogers and Norman Whitley combined for 89 rushing yards on 25 carries to lead the ground attack in the win over UAB.

HOUSTON COUGARS
The Cougars rallied from 19 points down to defeat UTEP, 42-37 and remain in control of its destiny to win the West Division and host the Conference USA Championship Game. Sophomore QB Case Keenum passed for a career-high 480 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for two scores, with his one-yard sneak with 41 seconds to play to give the Cougars the win. He completed 41-of-51 of his attempts with no interceptions and led the Cougars on five second-half touchdown drives en route to his school-record 12th straight 300-yard plus passing effort. With 141 receiving yards on nine catches, freshman WR Tyron Carrier recorded his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season. Freshman RB Bryce Beall rushed for 167 yards to move past 1,000 yards in 2008. He ended the game with 1,024 rushing yards to become the 19th player in UH history to reach that milestone. With his blocked field goal in the first quarter, sophomore TE Wesley Scourten blocked his fourth kick and third field goal of the season. Houston generated a season-high 700 yards of total offense, becoming the seventh team in C-USA history to reach that level. The Cougars had 748 yards of offense against Rice on Oct. 13, 2007.

MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
Sophomore RB Darius Marshall ran for 118 yards to pass 1,000 for the season, but it wasn’t enough as the Herd was unable to contain the Owls potent passing attack in a 35-10 loss Saturday at Rice Stadium. Offensively, Marshall was led once again by D. Marshall who became the 13th player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. Quarterback Mark Cann completed 13-of-24 passes for 83 yards in the loss. Tight end Cody Slate made seven receptions for 37 yards and had the Herd’s lone touchdown. Slate’s TD capped off an 18-play, 99-yard drive and marked his sixth straight game with a TD reception. The catch was also his 19th career TD reception, moving him into eighth place on the Herd’s all-time list. Defensively, Maurice Kitchens recorded his fourth interception of the season and T.J. Drakeford forced and recovered a fumble.

MEMPHIS TIGERS
Memphis fell to UCF on Saturday, 28-21, at the Liberty Bowl. Behind strong defensive play by the Tigers, the Memphis offense cut the UCF lead to a touchdown in the fourth, but Memphis turned the ball over on downs at the UCF 44 in the final minute. Memphis QB Arkelon Hall, in his first game back after breaking his right thumb Oct. 18 against East Carolina, completed 15-of-35 passes for 183 yards and also had a career-high 42 yards rushing on 11 attempts. Memphis got within a touchdown with 8:24 left after benefiting from a pass interference call. On the next play, Steven Black took the direct snap at quarterback and went over for the TD from three yards out. Junior WR Duke Calhoun hauled in a 54-yard touchdown pass from Hall with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter. It was a career-long pass for Hall and a season-high catch for Calhoun. Calhoun extended his receiving streak to 35 games with the 54-yard TD and he has caught a pass in each of his 35 career games played, a school record. Calhoun went over 2,000 career receiving yards with the 54-yard catch and is the fastest Tiger receiver to reach 2,000 yards. The Memphis defensive effort included 12 tackles for loss in the game.

RICE OWLS
The Owls improved to 5-0 at home this season with a 35-10 victory over Marshall. Senior WR Jarett Dillard caught six passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. He now has 19 receiving touchdowns on the season, just two shy of his own school and conference record of 21 which he set during the 2006 season. Dillard extended his NCAA record for career receiving touchdowns to 59, two away from the C-USA career touchdown mark of 60, set by DeAngelo Williams of Memphis. He has now caught at least one touchdown against each of the other 11 C-USA schools. Sophomore WR James Casey had seven receptions for 38 yards to give him 92 on the year, breaking Dillard’s single-season school record for receptions (91 set in 2006). Senior QB Chase Clement threw a touchdown pass for the 20th consecutive game, finishing 25-of-41 for 315 yards and four touchdowns. He also a new C-USA record for touchdowns responsible for with 114, breaking the record that Tulsa’s Paul Smith set last season. The four TD passes allowed him to tie David Klingler for 13th place on the all-time NCAA list. With his fourth extra-point of the day, junior K Clark Fangmeier became the first Rice kicker and fourth player overall to score 200 points in a career. He extended his Rice season and career records for PATs to 60 and 141, respectively.

SMU MUSTANGS
The Mustangs fell Nov. 15 to UTEP 36-10 in El Paso. Both Bo Levi Mitchell and Logan Turner saw time under center, with the freshmen combining to go 13-of-36 for 137 yards. SMU scored its lone touchdown in the fourth quarter after trailing 36-3. Turner hit WR Bradley Haynes with a 27-yard pass for the touchdown. The TD pass with the 30th of the sesaon for the team, breaking the previous mark of 29 TD passes in 2006. KR Jessie Henderson had two kickoff returns for 84 yards and now has 2,881 career KOR yards, extending his SMU and C-USA record. He is the current NCAA active career leader. Henderson’s 992 kickoff return yards this season are an SMU record and hiss 44 kickoff returns extended his SMU record. His 118 career kickoff returns also extended his SMU and C-USA records.

SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES
The Golden Eagles were idle last week after downing East Carolina on Nov. 15, 21-3, and are just one win away from bowl-eligibility. The victory was the third straight for Southern Miss and the Eagles have allowed a total of just 23 points in those three games (7.7 avg.) after allowing 31.4 ppg in the season’s first eight games. Freshman QB Austin Davis threw two touchdowns, including a school-record 97-yard scoring strike to freshman WR DeAndre Brown. Davis was 18 of 30 for 239 yards and two scores. Brown had eight catches for 124 yards and needs just three more receptions to tie the school’s single season record of 66. He also became just the fourth player in Southern Miss to top the 1,000-yard mark in a season. Junior RB Damion Fletcher, Southern Miss’ all-time leading rusher, ran for 121 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown in his first game after missing two games with a hamstring injury. The Southern Miss defense intercepted two more passes, giving them eight picks in the last three games. Sophomore DB Justin Wilson tallied a pair of interceptions to go along with one pass broken up and two tackles.

TULANE GREEN WAVE
The Green Wave dropped a 56-7 decision at Tulsa on Saturday. Redshirt freshman RB J.T. McDonald rushed 15 times for a career-high 53 yards and his third career rushing touchdown. Sophomore QB Kevin Moore was 15-of-30 for 144 yards. Senior WR Michael Batiste extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one reception to 11 with a 19-yard grab in the second quarter. Sophomore TE Cody Sparks match his career high for receptions by grabbing three passes for 38 yards. Senior S David Skehan recorded a pair of interceptions in the second quarter, his second career multiple INT game. The two picks gave him 11 in his career, which places him sixth on Tulane’s all-time list.

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE
The Golden Hurricane improved to 6-1 in conference play with a 56-7 victory over Tulane on Saturday. Senior RB Tarrion Adams posted the second-highest single-game rushing total in C-USA history, carrying 33 times for 323 yards and a touchdown. The 323 yards gave him 1,007 on the season, marking the second straight season that he has rushed for more than 1,000 yards. Senior QB David Johnson threw three touchdown passes to join Paul Smith as the only Golden Hurricane players to throw 40 touchdowns in a season. With the opening kickoff return of 23 yards, freshman Damaris Johnson became Tulsa’s single-season kickoff return leader with 1,151 yards surpassing Ashlan Davis’ previous record of 1,131 yards (2005). He also caught four passes for 61 yards and two TDs. With his first-quarter two-yard touchdown reception, junior TE Jake Collums has caught six touchdown passes in his last eight receptions dating back to the 2007 season. That includes four touchdown receptions on five catches this season. Tulsa finished the regular season 6-0 at H.A. Chapman Stadium, its first unbeaten season at home since the 1989 Independence Bowl team went 5-0.

UAB BLAZERS
The Blazers fell to East Carolina, 17-13, on Saturday at Legion Field. QB Joe Webb rushed for 75 yards and passed for 116 to lead the UAB offensive attack. Webb continues to add to his C-USA single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback, a mark he shattered last month. Webb now has 941 yards through 11 games. The old mark of 699 was held previously by SMU’s Justin Willis (2007). He also has the fourth-most rushing yards of any quarterback in the country and he is tied for the league lead with 11 rushing scores. CB Kevin Sanders notched his league-leading sixth interception against the Pirates and has moved into a tie for second place all-time at UAB with 14, tying Rodregis Brooks (1996-99). That mark of 14 is also tied for No. 4 all-time in C-USA. PK Swayze Waters is No. 2 among C-USA punters in average and is No. 15 nationally at 43.7 yards per punt. UAB has 19 rushing touchdowns this season after registering only five last fall. RB Rashaud Slaughter has registered four TDs in 2008 on 496 rushing yards.

UCF KNIGHTS
The Knights posted their first baclk-to-back wins of the season, both coming on the road, after downing Memphis 28-21 on Saturday. UCF has now won all four games over Memphis since the Knights joined Conference USA in 2005. UCF’s 14 first-quarter points were its most this season. The Knights are now 19-5 under George O’Leary when leading after the first quarter. It is the fourth-straight week that UCF has led the game after 15 minutes of play. UCF’s 21 first-half points were its most of the season, edging its 20 last week at Marshall. CB Joe Burnett’s interception was the 16th of his career, extending his own school record and bringing him to within two places of the Conference USA career benchmark of 18. On the runback, he passed teammate Johnell Neal for the school career record in interception return yardage. With his 61 kickoff return yards, Burnett moved into third place on UCF’s seasonal chart with his 687 on the year. The Knights have at least one interception in 10 of the team’s 11 games this year and 18 of the last 19 overall. UCF has now scored five non-offensive touchdowns this year. The school record is six set last year.

UTEP MINERS
The Miners were unable to hold on to a fourth quarter lead and fell at Houston on Saturday, 42-37. Sophomore QB Trevor Vittatoe was 27-of-45 for 362 yards and four touchdowns. The four TD pass give him a program-record 31 for the year, two more than Jordan Palmer threw in 2005. Vittatoe now has a program-record eight consecutive games with three touchdowns or more. His 362 passing yards gives the sophomore 2,961 for his career and moves him into sixth on the single-season list, just 71 yards out of fifth. Sophomore WR Kris Adams now has eight touchdown receptions in the past three games and 13 on the season, which ties him for second on the single-season list. He needs two more touchdowns next week to tie Lee Mays’ record 15 from 2000. His second three-touchdown day in the past seven days makes him the third Miner to score three or more touchdowns in consecutive games, as he joins Chuck Hughes (1965) and Volley Murphy (‘67). UTEP now has played four turnover-free games this year, the first time that’s happened since athletic director Bob Stull was the coach in 1988. For just the fourth time since 1965, UTEP has gone two consecutive games without a turnover.