Nov. 10, 2008

Nov. 10 C-USA Football Notebook

IRVING, Texas - Ben Hartman's 27-yard field goal in overtime gave East Carolina a 19-16 win over Marshall and sole possession of first place in the East Division. Curtis Steele and Brandon Ross gave Memphis its first pair of 100-yard rushers in a game since 2005 as the Tigers won at SMU, 31-26. Austin Davis tossed two TDs, including one to DeAndre Brown to lead Southern Miss to a 17-6 victory at UCF. Chase Clement threw three touchdowns and ran for another as Rice defeated Army, 38-31.

LAST WEEK’S STARS
Here’s a look at some of the top performers in Conference USA games from Nov. 8:

Rushing Attempts
25 Austin Davis, USM (73 yds.)
23 Norman Whitley, ECU (68 yds.)
22 Brandon Ross, MEM (111 yds.)
21 Bryce Beall, HOU (176 yds.)

Rushing Yards
176 Bryce Beall, HOU (21 att.)
123 Curtis Steele, MEM (19 att.)
123 Darius Marshall, MAR (20 att.)
111 Brandon Ross, MEM (22 att.)
105 Terrell Jackson, UTEP (14 att.)

Rushing Touchdowns
2 Bryce Beall, HOU
1 Several tied

Passing Completions
29 Case Keenum, HOU (40 att.)
26 Pat Pinkney, ECU (37 att.)
24 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (33 att.)
21 Chase Clement, Rice (28 att.)
21 Austin Davis, USM (34 att.)

Passing Yards
384 Chase Clement, Rice (21-of-28)
384 Case Keenum, HOU (29-of-40)
294 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (24-of-33)
287 Pat Pinkney, ECU (24-of-33)

Passing Touchdowns
5 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP
4 Case Keenum, HOU
3 Chase Clement, Rice

Receptions
11 Mark Hafner, HOU
7 Shawn Nelson, USM
6 Several tied

Receiving Yards
144 Jarett Dillard, Rice (4 rec.)
107 Emmanuel Sanders, SMU (5 rec.)
104 Corbin Smiter, Rice (4 rec.)
91 Mark Hafner, HOU (11 rec.)

Receiving Touchdowns
2 Jarett Dillard, Rice
2 Kris Adams, UTEP
1 Several tied

All-Purpose
215 Darius Marshall, MAR (123 rush, 4 rec., 88 kr.)
203 Bryce Beall, HOU (176 rush, 27 rcv.)
185 Tyron Carrier, HOU (49 rush, 67 rcv., 9 pr., 60 kr.)
158 Curtis Steele, MEM (123 rush, 3 rcv., 32 kr.)
144 Jarett Dillard, Rice (144 rcv.)
116 Travis Burks, TLN (85 kr., 31 fr.)

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSE
CHASE CLEMENT - RICE
QB, Sr., Alamo Heights, Texas (Alamo)
Clement set one conference career mark, tied a second, broke a pair of school season records, recorded the longest run of his career and matched the longest touchdown pass of his career in the Owls 38-31 win over Army on Saturday. Clement threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns to break the conference career record for touchdown passes. He now has 87, two more than the previous record of 85 set by Kevin Kolb of Houston. He also scored on a 61-yard run (the longest run of his career) to finish with four total touchdowns on the day and tie that conference mark of 109, set last year by Paul Smith of Tulsa.

DEFENSE
EMMANUEL DAVIS - EAST CAROLINA
DB, Fr., Manteo, N.C. (Manteo)
Davis tied his career-high with six tackles in the win over Marshall on Saturday and also picked off two passes for the first time in his career (31 return yards). His first interception (31 yard return) came in the first quarter on a 2nd-and-2 from Marshall’s 39 yard line. On the Herd’s ensuing possession, Davis collected his second INT on a 3rd-and-7 from the Marshall 42 (no return). He now has three interceptions in the last two games and is tied for the league lead with four.

SPECIAL TEAMS
BEN HARTMAN - EAST CAROLINA
PK, Jr., Winston-Salem (North davidson)
Hartman drilled the 27-yard game-winning field goal to give ECU a 19-16 overtime victory against Marshall. He has now kicked back-to-back game-winning overtime FGs in C-USA play (UCF and Marshall) and now owns four career game-winning field goals. Hartman connected on 4-of-5 attempts. His four FGAs made and five attempts both tied a school record. Hartman’s 51-yarder in the second quarter was a season long, the second-longest of his career (52 at UTEP in 2007) and tied for the seventh longest in school history. He registered his first career four field goal game and has made at least one FG in six consecutive games.

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

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

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

DILLARD MOVES UP RANKS
Rice WR Jarett Dillard moved his NCAA record to 57 career touchdown receptions with two against Army on Saturday. Dillard finished with 144 yards on four receptions. He vaulted past four players to into 13th place on all-time NCAA receiving list. He is three yards shy of Oregon State’s Mike Hass for the No. 12 slot.

Dillard now has 3,921 receiving yards on 274 catches. He moved into second place, surpassing Houston’s Vincent Marshall (2003-06), on the C-USA receptions list and is 26 catches away from equalling Louisville’s Arnold Jackson (1997-2000) for the top spot. Dillard added his sixth 100-yard receiving game this season and 15th of his career. The San Antonio native also became the 13th player in NCAA history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

CHASE-ING THEM DOWN
With 471 yards of total offense, Rice QB Chase Clement became the first Rice player and seventh player in C-USA history to surpass 10,000 career yards. The Alamo Heights product currently has 10,340 yards and is in sixth place on the C-USA list.

Clement connected with WR Jarett Dillard for a pair of scoring strikes in the second quarter. The duo struck for 80 yards to put Clement over 10,000 career yards. It also matched Clement’s longest career touchdown pass.

Clement’s second touchdown to Dillard allowed the senior signal caller to surpass Houston’s Kevin Kolb (2003-06) for the top spot for TD passes on the C-USA career list. He added a 54-yard TD pass to WR Corbin Smiter in the tird quarter and has thrown 87 career touchdown passes.

Clement is now responsible for 109 career touchdowns (87 pass, 22 rush) and ties Tulsa’s Paul Smith (2005-07) for first place on the C-USA list. He finished with 384 passing yards, going 21-of-28, and three touchdowns. He has thrown for over 300 yards in four of his last five games.

CASEY FOR 1,000
Rice WR James Casey joined teammate Jarett Dillard in surpassing 1,000 receiving yards on the season. It’s the 28th time in NCAA history that two receivers from the same team have notched over 1,000 yards in the same season.

With his six receptions for 62 yards against Army, Casey has recorded at least five receptions in 16 straight games dating back to the Houston game last season. The Azle, Texas native moved past Eric Henley (1988-91) for second place for receptions during a single-season. He is six catches away from Jarett Dillard’s program record set during the 2006 season.

Casey now has 131 career receptions and is 21 catches shy of equaling David Houser (1974, 76-78) for third place.

HARTMAN WINS IT...AGAIN
East Carolina PK Ben Hartman drilled the 27-yard game-winning field goal to give ECU a 19-16 overtime victory against Marshall. He has now kicked back-to-back game-winning overtime FGs in C-USA play (UCF and Marshall) and now owns four career game-winning field goals. Hartman connected on 4-of-5 attempts (made from 31, 51, 21 and 27 and missed from 42). His four FGAs made and five attempts both tied a school record. Hartman’s 51-yarder in the second quarter was a season long, the second-longest of his career (52 at UTEP in 2007) and tied for the seventh longest in school history.

PINKNEY LEADS PIRATES
ECU QB Patrick Pinkney moved into sole possession of seventh place on ECU’s all-time completions list (260) after completing 26-of-37 passes for 287 yards and one TD in the win over Marshall. It was Pinkney’s fifth 200-plus yard passing game of the season and the seventh of his career.

OT TWICE IS NICE FOR ECU
On Saturday East Carolina became just the second team in Conference USA history to win overtime games in back-to-back weeks. The Pirates 19-16 OT victory over East Carolina followed a 13-10 extra-session win at UCF on Nov. 2. South Florida was the first C-USA team to post-back-to-back overtime wins, defeating Cincinnati, 24-17 in double-overtime on Oct. 31, 2003 and downing ECU, 38-37 in one OT session on Nov. 8, 2003. The 2008 Pirates are the first team win back-to-back overtimes on a short week, downing Marshall just six days after winning at UCF.

CAREER DAY FOR T.J.
East Carolina WR T.J. Lee caught four passes for 61 yards including a career-long 41-yarder in the fourth quarter against Marshall. All of those totals are career bests.

HARRIS ALSO IMPRESSIVE
East Carolina WR Dwayne Harris caught five passes against Marshall and moved into fifth place on the single-season receptions chart (52) at ECU. Harris also returned two kicks for 68 yards including a 45-yard return in the first quarter.

COUGARS LOVE THE SPOTLIGHT
Houston improved to 9-1 (.900) all-time in games televised by CBS College Sports/CSTV and have won their last eight games televised by that network. The Cougars have not lost a game on CBS College Sports/CSTV since a 35-20 setback against C-USA rival Memphis on Oct. 15, 2005, their first appearance on the network. UH will host Tulsa this Saturday on CBS C at 7 p.m. CST.

CASE IN POINT
With four touchdown passes against Tulane on Saturday, Houston QB Case Keenum has thrown a TD pass in 12 consecutive games while posting the 12th multi-touchdown game of his career. He now has 53 TDs resonsible for in his career, a mark that puts him in fourth place in the school annals.

Keenum finished the game with 384 passing yards, his 10th straight game with at least 300 yards to extend his school record. He has passed for 300+ yards in nine consecutive games to set the school record. Keenum now has thrown for 3,392 yards during the 2008 season, to become only the fifth player in school history to reach 3,000 yards in a single season.

RING THE BEALL
With 176 rushing yards against Tulane on Saturday, Houston freshman RB Bryce Beall set a career-high and set the school freshman record for rushing yards in a single game. Beall finished the day with a receiving score and two rushing TDs. Beall has recorded a receiving and rushing touchdown in two consecutive games and now has 10 TDs as a rookie, breaking the UH single season record for TDs as a freshman.

FRESH CATCH
Conference USA has the top three ranked freshman players in the FBS in receptions. Southern Miss’ DeAndre Brown leads the way with 55 catches for 933 yards and 11 touchdowns. Houston teammates Tyron Carrier and Patrick Edwards (out for the season) currently rank second and third. Here’s a look at the leaders.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR USM
In addition to leading all FBS freshmen in receptions (55), Southern Miss WR DeAndre Brown also tops the country in receiving yards (933) and touchdown catches (11). His receiving total ranks 18th among all FBS players and he needs just two more TD catches to tie the Southern Miss single-season record of 13, set by Sherrod Gideon in 1998. Brown has nine receptions of 36 yards or longer and three of 59 yards or longer this season.

LET’S GO STREAKING
Memphis WR Duke Calhoun extended his receiving streak to 34 games with his 13-yard reception in the second quarter. He holds the school record and entered Saturday’s game tied for 11th nationally. Calhoun finished the day with one receptions for 13 yards. He ranks third all-time in school history in receptions with 135.

MAN OF STEELE
Memphis RB Curtis Steele logged his 100th yard in Saturday’s game aginst SMU on an eight-yard carry in the second quarter with just over three minutes left. He finished the game with 123 yards on 19 carriers for his fifth game over 100 yards this season; and the fifth in seven games. Steele became the fourth Tiger in school history to amass 1,000 yards in a single season on his first rush of the second half for a four-yard gain.

ROSS ALSO HITS 100
Memphis true freshman RB Brandon Ross finished the SMU game with a career-high 22 carries for 112 yards. It was his first career 100-yard rushing game. His previous best in yardage was 46 yards against UAB. His previous high carries were six versus both UAB and East Carolina.

CARLOS CATCHES
Memphis WR Carlos Singleton caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with 12:59 remaining in Saturday’s game to give Memphis a 28-20 advantage. It was Singleton’s fifth TD catch of the season and the 19th of his career. The 19 TD receptions ties the school record, which was set by Tavares Gideon in two seasons (2002 & 2004).

TREVOR THROWS
UTEP sophomore QB Trevor Vittatoe moved into fourth place on UTEP’s all-time passing list after throwing for 294 yards against Louisiana-Lafayete. Vittatoe now has 5,290 yards. Vittatoe is in fifth-place on the Miners’ career total offense yardage list with 5,242 yards.

Vittatoe extended his own school-record string of consecutive games with three touchdown passes or more to six, after passing for five against the Ragin’ Cajuns. Vittatoe tied his career-high with five touchdown passes. He also had five at Rice in 2007.

MOTURI MAKES 100th GRAB
UTEP Junior WR Jeff Moturi’s second catch against Louisiana-Lafayette was the 100th of his collegiate career. He finished the game with 61 yards and two TDs. Moturi has had a touchdown reception in four straight games and five of the last six. He now owns 21 career touchdown catches, putting him in sole possession of third place on the all-time UTEP TD catch list.

MARSHALL’S “RACE HORSE”
For the second consecutive game, Marshall utilized its “race horse” formation where senior receiver Darius Passmore took snaps from shotgun formation.

NATURAL SURFACE
Marshall played on a natural grass surface for the first time in 2008. In Marshall’s previous nine games dating back to last season the Thundering Herd played on only artificial surfaces. The last time Marshall played on a natural grass field was at Houston on Nov. 17, 2007.

HENDERSON HOLDS RECORDS
SMU KR Jesse Henderson had three kickoff returns for 68 yards against Tulane on Saturday. He now has 908 KOR yards this season, which is an SMU record and extended his C-USA career record to 2,797 yards. Henderson now has 42 kickoff returns this season, also an SMU record and has 116 career kickoff returns, both school and league records.

RECEIVING TANDEMS
SMU WRs Aldrick Robinson (1,047) and Emmanuel Sanders (958) now have 2,005 combined receiving yards for the season to extend the SMU record for a tandem. The duo now has 20 combined receiving TDs for the season, which is also first at SMU for a tandem and has 126 combined receiving TDs for the season, which is third at SMU for a tandem.

OH EMMANUEL
SMU WR Emmanuel Sanders had five catches for 107 yards against Memphis. He now has registered six 100-yard games this season and 10 for his career, setting the SMU record for both.

FORCING FUMBLES
Tulane LB David Skehan picked up his fifth career fumble, knocked loose by Corey Sonnier, who tallied his second career forced fumble (his first came at Alabama in the season opener).

TACKLE LEADER
UCF sophomore LB Derrick Hallman set a new career high with nine tackles in Saturday’s loss to Southern Miss He had seven in the first half alone to tie his previous mark.

STREAK STOPPED
Failing to get an interception for the first time since Oct. 13, 2007 against USF, UCF’s streak of consecutive games with an interception ended on Saturday against Southern Miss at 16. The Knights entered the game fourth in the nation in interceptions with 15 on the season. (UNC 17, Cal 17, Iowa 16).

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
The Pirates posted their second straight overtime victory on Saturday as junior K Ben Hartman booted a game-winning field goal for the second time in six days to give East Carolina a 19-16 win over Marshall. Senior QB Pat Pinkney returned to the starting quarterback job and went 26-for-37 for 290 yards and one touchdown. Pinkney found senior TE Davon Drew on a five-yard touchdown pass to cap a nine-play, 73-yard drive with less than two minutes in the half to take a 13-3 lead. Sophomore WR Dwayne Harris caught five passes on the day and moved into fifth place on the school’s single-season reception list with 52. Senior WR T.J. Lee established new career highs with four receptions for 61 yards, including a career-long 41-yard catch. Sophomore RB Norman Whitley carried the ball 23 times for 68 yards and also set new career highs for receptions (5) and receiving yards (60). Freshman DB Emanuel Davis became the first Pirate to intercept two passes in a game since Pierre Bell against UAB on Nov. 26, 2005 – a span of 35 games.

HOUSTON COUGARS
The Cougars improved to 4-1 in league play with a 42-14 win over Tulane on Saturday night. Since Conference USA realigned into divisions for the 2005 season, Houston is 14-3 against West Division opponents. Sophomore QB Case Keenum extended his school record for consecutive 300-yard passing games with his 10th straight, throwing for 384 yards on 29-of-40 passing. He threw touchdown passes to four different players, including senior TE Mark Hafner who had a season-high 11 receptions for 91 yards. Freshman RB Bryce Beall topped the 100-yard mark on the ground for the fourth time in five games, rushing for a career-high 176 yards on 21 carries. He ran for two touchdowns and caught another, while adding four receptions for 27 yards. Beall’s 176 yards are the most ever for a UH freshman rusher, eclipsing the 144 yards posted by quarterback Kevin Kolb against TCU in 2003. Houston topped the 600-yard mark in total offense for the third time this season, rolling up a season-high 687 yards (384 passing, 299 rushing). The Cougars converted 12-of-15 third down conversions.

MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
The Thundering Herd fell in overtime at East Carolina on Saturday, 19-16. Marshall’s two conference losses have come on the road and by a combined total of just five points. Sophomore RB Darius Marshall topped the 100-yard mark for the fifth time this season, gaining 123 yards on 20 attempts. Freshman QB Mark Cann was 13-of-29 for 127 yards, including a pair of scoring strikes to junior TE Cody Slate, who had five catches for 62 yards. Senior WR Darius Passmore recorded his fourth reception of longer than 50 yards this season on a 51-yard grab in the fourth quarter. Junior LB Mario Harvey was credited with a career-high 14 tackles at ECU and leads the team with 69 stops on the season.

MEMPHIS TIGERS
The Tigers rushed for 306 yards in a 31-26 win at SMU on Saturday. The 306 yards rushing is the most since Memphis had 351 against Akron in the 2005 Motor City Bowl. Memphis had two 100-yard rushers in the game for the first time since 2005 when DeAngelo Williams (198) and Maurice Avery (105) did it against Houston. Junior RB Curtis Steele finished with 19 carries for 123 yards and freshman Brandon Ross had 22 carries for 112 yards. Both players ran for a touchdown. Steele became the fourth Tiger in school history to amass 1,000 yards in a single season on his first rush of the second half for a four-yard gain. He is the first to do so since DeAngelo Williams in 2005. Williams logged three straight 1,000-yard seasons (2003-05); Gerard Arnold logged 1,059 yards in 1998; and Dave Casinelli tallied 1,016 yards in 1963. Junior WR Carlos Singleton caught an 18-yard touchdown pass for his fifth TD catch of the season and the 19th of his career. The 19 TD receptions ties the school record, which was set by Tavares Gideon in two seasons (2002 & 2004).

RICE OWLS
The Owls used three scoring plays of longer than 50 yards to help post a 38-31 victory over Army on Saturday at Rice Stadium. Senior QB Chase Clement was 21-of-28 for 384 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing nine times for 87 yards and a score. With the three TD passes, he became C-USA’s all-time leader in touchdown passes with 87 and with four total TDs, he needs just one more to tie Paul Smith of Tulsa’s record for touchdowns responsible for at 109. Senior WR Jarett Dillard caught four passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-long 80-yard scoring reception. He now has 17 receiving touchdowns on the season, just four shy of his own record of 21 which he set during the 2006 season. Dillard extended his NCAA record for career receiving touchdowns to 57, two more than Rice had as a team in the 10 years prior to his arrival. He also became the Junior WR Corbin Smiter caught four passes for a career-high 104 yards and a touchdown, becoming the fourth Rice player to post more than 100 yards receiving in a game this season.

SMU MUSTANGS
A late Mustangs rally fell just short against Memphis on Saturday, as SMU dropped a 31-26 decision. Redshirt freshman QB Logan Turner who replaced an injured freshman QB Bo Levi Mitchell, threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to freshman WR Cole Beasley with 38 seconds left to cut the Tigers lead to 31-26. The Mustangs failed to convert on the two-point conversion and Memphis recovered the Mustangs’ onside kick attempt. Turner finished the day 19-of-31 for 228 yards and two TDs with no interceptions. The 53-yard TD pass from Bo Levi Mitchell to junior WR Emmanuel Sanders in the first quarter was Mitchell’s sixth pass play of 50 or more yards, four of them for TDs. Sanders had five receptions for 107 yards and 1 TD. He had 100 yards receiving for the sixth time this season and 10th time in his career, setting the SMU record for both (season record was five by Jerry LeVias in 1968, career mark was nine by Emanuel Tolbert from 1976-79). Beasley had six receptions for 66 yards and two scores.

SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES
The Golden Eagles won for the second straight week, posting a 17-6 win at UCF on Saturday. The Golden Eagles limited their fewest points to an opponent since a 31-3 victory over Tulane on Nov. 11, 2006. Southern Miss gave up its fewest rushing yards of the season, 64, allowing a season-low 208 yards of total offense. The Eagles have limited their opponents to less than 225 total yards in each of the last two games. Over that span, Southern Miss has forced eight turnovers, including six interceptions. Senior TE Shawn Nelson moved into second place on the school career charts for receptions with 152, moving ahead of Todd Pinkston (149) with seven catches for 57 yards against UCF. Freshman DeAndre Brown has now caught a TD pass in each of the last four games, tallying eight over that span. Sophomore RB V.J. Floyd, who had just seven carries for 30 yards over the first eight games, has stepped up his play the last two games by collecting 180 yards on 30 carries, including 66 on 17 rushes at UCF as he returned to his home city of Orlando.

TULANE GREEN WAVE
The Green Wave dropped a 42-14 decision at Houston on Saturday night. Freshman RB Nathan Austin scored the two Tulane’s touchdowns (his first two career scores), both coming off Houston turnovers. Senior WR Michael Batiste had three receptions and is the only Wave player to catch a pass in all nine games this season. Sophomore WR Alan Mitchell had 100 total yards, catching five passes for 72 yards and adding a career-long 28-yard rush. Junior LB Travis Burks tallied an interception for the second straight game, returning a second quarter pick 31 yards. Burks ran back an interception for a 42-yard touchdown last week against LSU. Junior DE Logan Kelley recorded his team-high sixth and seventh sacks of the season, while adding five tackles. Senior S David Skehan recovered his fifth career fumble and had six tackles.

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE
The Golden Hurricane suffered their first loss of the season Nov. 1 at Arkansas, 30-23. Tulsa marched the length of the field in the final three minutes and had first and goal from the 3-yard line, but could not score on four attempts. Tulsa rolled up 528 yards of total offense, the eighth time in nine games this season that the Hurricane has topped the 500-yard mark and the 17th time in 23 contests since the 2007 season opener. Senior QB David Johnson finished 17-of-31 for 322 yards and one touchdown, while backup QB Jacob Bower threw TU’s first touchdown pass. Sophomore FB Charles Clay posted his first 100-yard game of the season, catching seven passes for 117 yards, including a two-yard TD reception, while also rushing for a 28-yard score. Redshirt freshman Damaris Johnson had his third straight game of over 100 yards on kickoff returns with five returns for 149 yards. He has four 100-yard games on the season with 159 yards vs. Central Arkansas, 211 yards vs. UTEP and 134 yards vs. UCF. All three of TU’s touchdowns came on scoring drives of less than 2:00. The Hurricane has 35 scoring drives this season that have been under 2:00.

UAB BLAZERS
The Blazers were idle this past week. UAB makes its first trip to New Orleans to meet Tulane since 2004 and will play in the Louisiana Superdome for the first time since the 2002 season. The last UAB/Tulane game in New Orleans (played at Tad Gormley Stadium) in 2004 resulted in the second-highest scoring game in Conference USA history (a 59-55 Tulane victory). Junior QB Joe Webb has the fourth-highest rushing total (736 yards) among quarterbacks in the country. Senior Swayze Waters ranks No. 12 nationally in punting (44.2) and UAB is first in C-USA in net punting. UAB has two coaches who were previously on the staff at Tulane. Defensive coordinator Eric Schumann (2002-06) and defensive line coach Lorenzo Costantini (2004-06) both joined the Blazers’ staff from Tulane. Junior C Jake Seitz and senior CB Kevin Sanders are both scheduled to make their 34th consecutive start against Tulane.

UCF KNIGHTS
The Knights lost to Southern Miss on Saturday, 17-6. UCF’s 91-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter was the team’s longest of the season and longest since a 99-yard drive on Nov. 3, 2007 at Marshall. The drive was capped off with a three-yard scoring strike from freshman QB Rob Calabrese to sophomore WR Khymest Williams. Sophomore LB Derrick Hallman set a new career high with nine tackles in the game. He had seven in the first half alone to tie his previous mark. Senior LB Antonio Wallace set a new career high with seven tackles on the night. Junior DE Jarvis Geathers set new career highs in both tackles (7) and sacks (2.5). His 2.5 sacks went for a loss of 21 yards. Sophomore WR Kamar Aiken had a season-high 63 yards receiving in the contest on five catches. Sophomore Blake Clingan broke UCF’s single-season record with his 68th punt of 2008. He broke the previous mark of 67, set by Aaron Horne in 2004.

UTEP MINERS
The Miners posted a 37-24 win at Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday night. Sophomore QB Trevor Vittatoe tied his career best with five touchdown passes, completing 24 of 33 attempts for 294 yards. The .727 completion percentage was the second-best of his career as he extended his streak of throwing three or more touchdown passes to six games. Junior WR Jeff Moturi’s second catch of the game was the 100th of his collegiate career. Moturi scored twice and has had at least one touchdown reception in four straight games and five of the last six. He now owns 21 career touchdown catches, putting him in sole possession of third place on the school list. Sophomore WR Kris Adams had six receptions for 83 yards and also scored twice. He has scored in three straight outings and five of the last six. Junior RB Terrell Jackson carried 14 times for a career-high 105 yards. The 37 points scored by UTEP was its highest total in a non-conference road game since a 36-7 win at Northern Illinois in 1996.