Nov. 17, 2008

Nov. 17 C-USA Football Notebook

IRVING, Texas - Case Keenum tied the Conference USA record for touchdown passes with six and ran for another as Houston defeated Tulsa, 70-30, in a West Division showdown. Austin Davis and DeAndre Brown connected on a 97-yard touchdown, the longest in Southern Miss history, as the Golden Eagles defeated East Carolina, 21-3. Joe Webb ran for 130 yards and three TDs to lead UAB to a 41-24 win at Tulane. Brynn Harvey ran for 150 yards and a TD as UCF beat Marshall, 30-14.

RECENT RESULTS
Saturday, November 15
Southern Miss 21, East Carolina 3
UAB 41, Tulane 24
UCF 30, Marshall 14
Houston 70, (24) Tulsa 30
UTEP 36, SMU 10

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, November 22
UCF at Memphis 1:00 p.m.
Tulane at Tulsa 2:00 p.m.
Marshall at Rice (CBS C) 2:30 p.m.
UTEP at Houston 2:30 p.m.
East Carolina at UAB (CSS) 6:00 p.m.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSE
CASE KEENUM - HOUSTON
QB. So., Abilene, Texas (Wylie)
Keenum, who was named the Walter Camp Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week on Sunday, completed 24-of-37 passes for 402 yards with no interceptions while rushing for 43 yards and a touchdown. He became the first UH quarterback in 16 years (Jimmy Klingler, 7 TDs vs. Rice, 1992) to throw for at least six scores in one game, and he extended his streak of 300-yard games to 11, which is a school record. It was also the third 400-yard game of his career. Keenum led the Cougars to 14 points in the first quarter, 28 in the second, 21 in the third and then concluded the night with the seven points in the fourth on his six-yard touchdown run.

DEFENSE
LOYCE MEANS - HOUSTON
DB, So., Houston, Texas (Madison)
Playing against the nation’s number-one offense in both scoring and total offense, Means intercepted three Golden Hurricane passes, returning one for a 69-yard touchdown in the third quarter. He became just the sixth player in C-USA history to intercept three passes in a game. The Cougar defense held Tulsa to 22 points under its scoring average and 92 yards below its total offense average. Means also had six tackles and two pass breakups. Means first interception came in the first quarter off a Tulsa fake punt and the Cougars scored off the turnover for a 7-0 lead. Means’ touchdown pushed the UH lead to 63-24, and his final pick came late in the game to end a Golden Hurricane drive.

SPECIAL TEAMS
TYRON CARRIER- HOUSTON
WR/KR, Fr., Houston, Texas (Worthington)
Carrier returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown with just nine seconds left in the first half, giving Houston a 42-17 lead at the break, while countering the Tulsa touchdown just seconds earlier. He totaled four kickoff return yards for 142 yards. Carrier also had 127 yards and two touchdowns receiving, and finished the day with 292 all-purpose yards.

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

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

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

LAST WEEK’S STARS
Here’s a look at some of the top performers in Conference USA games from Nov. 15:

Rushing Attempts
33 Brynn Harvey, UCF (150 yds.)
23 Damion Fletcher, USM (121 yds.)
18 Joe Webb, UAB (130 yds.)
17 Bryce Beall, HOU (56 yds.)

Rushing Yards
150 Brynn Harvey, UCF (22 att.)
142 Darius Marshall, MAR (16 att.)
130 Joe Webb, UAB (18 att.)
121 Damion Fletcher, USM (23 att.)

Rushing Touchdowns
3 Joe Webb, UAB
1 Brynn Harvey, UCF
1 Damion Fletcher, USM
1 Rashaud Slaughter, UAB

Passing Completions
24 Case Keenum, HOU (37 att.)
21 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (31 att.)
20 Patrick Pinkney, ECU (34 att.)
18 David Johnson, TLS (29 att.)
18 Austin Davis, USM (30 att.)

Passing Yards
410 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP (12-of-31)
402 Case Keenum, HOU (24-of-37)
271 David Johnson, TLS (18-of-29)
239 Austin Davis, USM (18-of-30)
235 Kevin Moore, TLN (15-of-30)

Passing Touchdowns
6 Case Keenum, HOU
4 David Johnson, TLS
3 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP
2 Austin Davis, USM

Receptions
8 Mark Hafner, HOU
8 DeAndre Brown, USM
6 Tyron Carrier, HOU
6 Charles Clay, TLS
6 Dwayne Harris, ECU

Receiving Yards
145 Kris Adams, UTEP (5 rec.)
127 Tyron Carrier, HOU (6 rec.)
124 DeAndre Brown, USM (8 rec.)

Receiving Touchdowns
3 Kris Adams, UTEP
2 Tyron Carrier, HOU
2 Mark Hafner, HOU

All-Purpose
292 Tyron Carrier, HOU (23 rush, 127 rcv., 142 kr.)
205 Darius Marshall, MAR (142 rush, 63 kr.)
200 Demaris Johnson, TLS (5 rush, 24 rcv., 8 pr., 163 kr.)
150 Brynn Harvey, UCF (150 rush)
149 Damion Fletcher, USM (121 rush, 28 rcv.)
145 Kris Adams, UTEP (145 rcv.)

KEENUM NAMED WALTER CAMP PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After tying the Conference USA record for touchdown passes with six and running for another in Houston’s 70-30 win over No. 24 Tulsa, Cougar sophomore quarterback Case Keenum has been named the National Offensive Player of the Week, the Walter Camp Foundation has announced.

Keenum completed 24-of-37 passes for 402 with no interceptions while rushing for 43 yards and a touchdown. He became the first UH quarterback in 16 years (Jimmy Klingler, 7 TDs vs. Rice, 1992) to throw for at least six scores in one game, and he extended his streak of 300-yard games to 11, which is a school record. It was also the third 400-yard game of his career. Keenum led the Cougars 14 points in the first quarter, 28 in the second, 21 in the third and then concluded the day with the seven points in the fourth on his six-yard touchdown run.

AIR ATTACK
Of the top 10 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 one TD. Here’s a look at the NCAA leaders:

MOST TOUCHDOWN PASSES IN 2008
38 Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
37 David Johnson, Tulsa
36 Graham Harrell, Texas Tech
35 Case Keenum, Houston
34 Max Hall, BYU
33 Tim Hiller, Western Michigan
32 Chase Clement, Rice
30 Chase Daniel, Missouri
30 Colt McCoy, Texas
27 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP
26 Mark Sanchez, USC

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 37. Before this season, just four QB’s in league history had thrown 30 or more TDs in a season. Currently, three have already thrown for 30 scores and UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe is closing in on being the fourth. Here’s a look at the leaders:

C-USA SINGLE-SEASON TD PASS LEADERS
47 Paul Smith, Tulsa, 2007
37 David Johnson, Tulsa, 2008
36 Shaun King, Tulane, 1998
35 Case Keenum, Houston, 2008
33 J.P. Losman, Tulane, 2003
32 Chase Clement, Rice, 2008
30 Kevin Kolb, Houston, 2006
29 several tied with
28 several tied with
27 Trevor Vittatoe, UTEP, 2008

70 SOMETHING
On Saturday night, Houston became the fourth different C-USA team to record 70 points in a game this season as they defeated Tulsa, 70-30. Prior to this season, C-USA teams had only reached the 70 point mark twice in 12 seasons. Here’s a look at the 70-point games in league history:

MOST POINTS SCORED IN A GAME
77 Tulsa vs. UTEP (35), 10-18-08
77 Rice vs. North Texas (20), 9-27-08
72 Tulane vs. Southwestern Louisiana (20), 10-31-98
70 Houston vs. Tulsa (30), 11-15-08
70 Southern Miss vs. UAB (14), 11-1-08
70 Louisville vs. Cincinnati (7), 11-27-04

HEY, JOE
UAB’s Joe Webb is currently third among the nation’s quarterbacks with 866 rushing yards, averaging 86.6 yards per game on the ground. Webb ranks fourth in rushing yards per game by quarterbacks. Here’s a look at the nation’s QB rushing leaders (as of Nov. 15):

MOST RUSHING YARDS BY A QB
1,095 Julian Edelman, Kent State
1,017 Colin Kaepernick, UNLV
866 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 57 career touchdown receptions with two against Army on Nov. 8. 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.

HOUSTON IS TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL TEAM OF THE WEEK
With their 70-30 win over Tulsa, the Houston Cougars are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Nov. 15.

QB Case Keenum threw six touchdown passes - five in the first half - and ran for another score as the Cougars raced to a 42-17 halftime lead. Houston DB Loyce Means intercepted three passes, including one he returned 69 yards for a touchdown.

The win moves Houston into a three-way tie for first place in Conference USA’s West division with Rice and Tulsa and was their second over a ranked opponent in 2008. It was the first time since 1984 that the Cougars defeated multiple ranked teams in one season.

East Carolina was also the national team of the week on Sept. 8.

COUGARS LOVE THE SPOTLIGHT
Houston improved to 10-1 (.909) all-time in games televised by CBS College Sports/CSTV and have won their last 10 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 play against Rice in the regular season finale on Nov. 29 on the network.

CASE IN POINT
With six touchdown passes against Tulsa on Saturday, Houston QB Case Keenum has thrown a TD pass in 13 consecutive games while posting the 13th multi-touchdown game of his career. He now has 60 TDs responsible for in his career, a mark that puts him in fourth place in the school annals. He has 36 TD passes this season, a mark good for third place in the UH single season records.

Keenum finished the game with 402 passing yards, his 11th straight game with at least 300 yards to extend his school record. Keenum now has thrown for 3,794 yards during the 2008 season, to become only the fifth player in school history to reach 3,000 yards in a single season.

ON THE MARK
Houston’s TE Mark Hafner caught two more touchdown passes on Saturday night against Tulsa, giving him 11 on the season. He needs just one more to tie the Conference USA single-season record for TD catches by a tighe end of 12, set by Louisville’s Ibn Green in 1998.

On Monday, Hafner was named one of the eight semifinalists of the John Mackey Award, given annually to the collegiate tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, academics, and community values.

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
Houston DB Loyce Means intercepted three passes against Tulsa on Saturday night, tying for the most among FBS players this season. He became the sixth player in C-USA history to pick off three passes in one game and the first since Devin Lowery of SMU on Oct. 14, 2006.

FRESH CATCH
Conference USA has three of the top ranked freshman players in the FBS in receptions. Southern Miss’ DeAndre Brown leads the way with 63 catches for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns. Houston teammates Tyron Carrier and Patrick Edwards (out for the season) currently rank second and fourth. Here’s a look at the leaders.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR USM
In addition to leading all FBS freshmen in receptions (63), Southern Miss WR DeAndre Brown also tops the country in receiving yards (1,057) and touchdown catches (12). His receiving total ranks seventh among all FBS players and he needs just one more TD catch 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 four of 59 yards or longer this season. He finished the ECU game witn eight catches for 124 yards, his fourth 100-yard outing of the season.

DAVIS DOES IT
Southern Miss redshirt freshman QB Austin Davis was 18-of-30 for 239 yards and two touchdowns in the win over East Carolina. Davis’ 18 completions give him 226 completions on the year, breaking the previous single-season record of 216 held by Dustin Almond in 2005. Davis’ 30 attempts give him 394 on the season, tying Dustin Almond’s mark set in 2005. He now has 2,640 passing yards on the year, surpassing Jeff Kelly for third place on the single-season passing yardage list.

STILL CAN’T CATCH FLETCH
Southern Miss RB Damion Fletcher returned to action against East Carolina after missing last week’s game with an injured hamstring. Fletcher rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown. It was his eighth touchdown of the year and 34th of his career.

TREVOR THROWS
UTEP sophomore QB Trevor Vittatoe moved into fourth place on UTEP’s career total offense list in the win over SMU and now has 5,654 total yards. Vittatoe finished the night with 410 yards passing, a career high (by one yard) and the eighth-best single game total in school annals.

Vittatoe is the fourth Miner player to have multiple 400-yard passing games in a career. The sophomore now has 52 career touchdown passes, the second-best total in school history behind Jordan Palmer’s 88.

Vittatoe has 2,599 yards passing in 2008 (eighth-best seasonal total in school history) and 27 passing touchdowns (second-best total, record is 29 by Jordan Palmer in 2005).

JOSE GETTING HIS KICKS
UTEP senior K Jose Martinez, a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award for the second straight season, had one of best games of his career in Saturday night’s win over SMU. He tied the school and conference records with five field goals and matched his career high with 18 points in UTEP’s 36-10 win.

Martinez connected on field goals from 34, 48, 26, 31 and 23 yards. He also had five goals against East Carolina on Oct. 13, 2007. On the season, Martinez is 20-of-24 on field goal attempts and 37-of-38 on PATs for a league high 97 points. His 20 field goals made is second-highest total in the nation, trailing only Ryan Harrison of Air Force with 21. Martinez was named one of three Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week for the second time this season following his performance against SMU.

FRESHMAN SCORERS
UCF RB Brynn Harvey was the fourth different freshman to score a touchdown for UCF this year, joining Rob Calabrese, Latavius Murray and Ronnie Weaver. This ties for fourth in the nation with Florida State and Northern Illinois. Miami (Fla.) has seen eight different freshmen score a touchdown this year.

KNIGHTS PICK AGAIN
After having a streak of 16-consecutive games with an interception snapped last week by Southern Miss, UCF got back to form against Marshall. The Knights entered the game tied for eighth in the nation in interceptions with 15 and had two against the Herd, both by Sha’reff Rashad.

Rashad has 14 career INTs to move into second place in UCF history and is tied for fourth in C-USA history. The school record of 15 is held by Joe Burnett.

SCORES of SCORES
Conference USA teams have notched an impressive 30 non-offensive scores so far in 2008, including 13 interceptions that have been returned for TDs. The league also has five fumble recoveries for scores, five kickoff return TDs, two blocked field goals returned for touchdowns, two safeties, a punt return TD and the rare blocked PAT that was returned for two points.

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.

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
The Pirates fell at Southern Miss on Saturday, 21-3. Senior QB Patrick Pinkney opened the game by completing his first seven passes and finished 20-of-34 for 189 yards, completing passes to 10 different players. With 280 career completions, he has moved into a tie for sixth place on East Carolina’s all-time completion chart. Sophomore WR Dwayne Harris had six receptions for 28 yards and has caught at least four passes in nine of 10 games this season. His 58 receptions rank fourth on the Pirates all-time single-season chart. Junior WR Alex Taylor caught a career-high four passes for 48 yards. Sophomore RB Norman Whitley carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards. Junior DL C.J. Wilson had seven tackles, including two tackles for loss.

HOUSTON COUGARS
Case Keenum threw for 402 yards and a career-high six touchdowns and ran for another score to help Houston defeat No. 24 Tulsa, 70-30 ,on Saturday night at Robertson Stadium. The Cougars became bowl eligible with the win and took advantage of Tulsa’s miscues to jump out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed. Keenum threw five TD passes in the first half. Two were to WR Tyron Carrier, who added a third touchdown on a 93-yard punt return. Carrier finished with six receptions for 127 yards. Houston sophomore DB Loyce Means had three interceptions, one of which he returned 69 yards for a touchdown. Means became the sixth player in C-USA history to pick off three passes in once game and the first since 2006. TE Mark Hafner caught two of Keenum’s TD passes and now has 11 on the seaosn, just one shy of the C-USA single-season mark. Keenum has 36 TD passes this season, a mark good for third place on the UH single season chart. The sophomore has thrown for 300+ yards in 11 straight games and has now thrown for 3,794 yards this season, to become only the fifth player in school history to reach 3,000 yards in a single season.

MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
The Thundering Herd lost to UCF on Saturday, 30-14 and will need to win their final two games in order to become bowl-eligible. Sophomore RB Darius Marshall carried the ball 16 times for 142 yards, including a 61-yard run. Following his sixth 100-yard game of the year, he has 883 yards on the season. Freshman QB Mark Cann had just 32 yards through the air and completed 4-of-17 passes, including a 15-yard touchdown to tight end Cody Slate. Sophomore QB Brian Anderson entered the game in the fourth quarter, but completed just 3-of-12 passes for 52 yards. Slate led Marshall with 46 yards receiving and recorded his fifth consecutive contest with a touchdown reception. Defensively, the Herd limited UCF to just 242 total yards, including 29 yards of passing. Two of UCF’s touchdowns came following Herd turnovers that set up the Knights deep in Marshall’s territory. Junior LB Mario Harvey matched his career high in tackles for the second straight week with 14.

MEMPHIS TIGERS
The Tigers were idle this past weekend. Memphis will host UCF and Tulane to close out the regular season, needing just one more win to become bowl-eligible for the fifth time in the last six seasons. In their last game, the Tigers rushed for 306 yards in a 31-26 win at SMU. 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. 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 tie 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 Nov. 8 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
The Mustangs fell on Satutrday 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 defeated East Carolina on Saturday, 21-3, and are now 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 41-24 decision on Senior Day to UAB on Saturday. J.T McDonald scored his first collegiate touchdown with 4:02 left in the first quarter to tie the game at seven. McDonald surpassed his career highs for carries and rushing yards in a game, finishing the contest with 12 carries for 41 yards, as well as setting a new personal bests for receptions (3) and receiving yards (67). He also finished with a career-best three TDs. WR Michael Batiste extended his receptions streak wo 10 games with a catch from QB Kevin Moore. Charles Harris recorded his first collegiate fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. David Skehan set a new career record for tackles in a game with nine (six solo).

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE
The Golden Hurricane suffered back-to-back losses when it fell to Houston, 70-30, Saturday in Houston. QB David Johnson was 18-of-29 for 271 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He has now thrown for 37 TDs, the second-most in school history behind Paul Smith’s 47 TD passes last year. After scoring in the first 35 quarters of the season, Tulsa did not score in two straight quarters, including the last quarter against Arkansas and the first quarter against Houston. Tulsa’s 14-0 deficit after one quarter was the largest deficit after any quarter of play this year. After averaging 13.6 points per quarter in the first 34 quarters of the season, Tulsa averaged just 5.0 points per quarter in the next four quarters (3 points in 3rd quarter vs. Arkansas, and 17 points in 1st half vs. Houston).

UAB BLAZERS
The Blazers posted a 41-24 win at Tulane on Saturday for their first road victory in conference play since Nov. 19, 2005 at UTEP. Junior QB Joe Webb ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns, while completing 15-of-21 passes for 154 yards. He scored on runs of 31, three and one yard, giving him a league-leading 10 rushing touchdowns on the season to go along with 10 passing scores. Senior CB Kevin Sanders had two interceptions, tying him for the league high with five this season, while moving into third place on UAB’s all-time list with 13. Senior S Matt Taylor’s first career interception also resulted in his first touchdown as he returned the INT 36 yards for a score in the fourth quarter. The Blazers had four INTs on the day, the most in a game for UAB since 2005. UAB currently ranks No. 35 in the country in rushing per game, an improvement of 69 spots from 104th where the Blazers finished the 2007 season. UAB has also run for 18 touchdowns this season after scoring just five times on the ground last year. UAB has four drives this season of 90 or more yards, including a season-long 96-yard march Saturday vs. Tulane.

UCF KNIGHTS
The Knights posted their first road victory of the season on Saturday, winning 30-14 at Marshall. UCF has won four straight games over Marshall since the two schools became members of Conference USA. Freshman RB Brynn Harvey established new career highs with 33 carries for 150 yards and one touchdown. His rushing total was the highest for a UCF player since Kevin Smith had 177 at SMU on Nov. 17, 2007. Harvey’s 50-yard touchdown run marked the fifth time in the last six games that the Knights have had a scoring play of 50 yards or longer. Nick Cattoi made three field goals tonight. He had made just one previously in his career. A Knight last had three in a game when Michael Torres booted three against Tulsa in the 2007 Conference USA Championship Game. Senior Sha’Reff Rashad’s two interceptions gave him 14 in his career and move him into sole possession of second place in UCF history and a tie for fourth in C-USA history. The school record of 15 is held by senior DB Joe Burnett.

UTEP MINERS
Trevor Vittatoe threw for 410 yards and connected with Kris Adams for three touchdowns to lead UTEP to a 36-10 victory over SMU on Saturday night. Vittatoe completed 21-of-31 passes, finishing his evening after just three quarters. Adams caught five of those passes for 145 yards and the three touchdowns. The totals were career high for Vittatoe and Adams, both sophomores. Vittatoe connected with Adams for an 85-yard touchdown pass on UTEP’s first play from scrimmage and the Miners rolled up 544 total yards and never trailed. Vittatoe became the fourth Miner to post multiple 400-yard passing games in his career and he is now in fourth place on UTEP’s career total offense list with 5,654 total yards. The sophomore has 2,599 passing yards in 2008 (eighth-best in school history) and 27 passing TDs (second-best behind Jordan Palmer’s 29 in 2005). PK Jose Martinez kicked five field goals in the game, connecting from 34, 48, 26, 31 and 23 yards. The five field goals tied the UTEP and C-USA record and he matched his career high with 18 points in the win.