Nov. 23, 2009

November 23 Release in PDF Format

East Carolina and Houston head into the final weekend of the regular season leading their divisions. If ECU and Houston are the division champions, ECU will host the championship game on December 5. If Houston and Southern Miss are the Division Champions, the Championship Game would be played in Houston because the Cougars defeated the Golden Eagles in the regular-season. If SMU and Southern Miss are the Division Champions, the Championship Game would be played at the site of the team with the best BCS ranking on November 29. It should be a fun final week in C-USA!

Players of the Week

CO-OFFENSE
Case Keenum - Houston
QB, Jr., Abilene, Texas (Wiley)
Keenum threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns, while completing 29-of-39 of his attempts with no interceptions in leading Houston to a 55-14 win over Memphis on Saturday. He became the school's all-time leader in touchdown passes, eclipsing the previous mark of 91 set by David Klingler from 1989-91. He now has 94 career touchdown passes.

Martevious Young - Southern Miss
QB, Jr., Alexander City, Ala. (Ben Russell)
Young recorded 276 passing yards (12-of-21) and added 59 rushing yards in leading the Golden Eagles to their fourth win in his six starts, 44-34 over Tulsa. He threw a career-best four touchdown passes, including a 95-yard strike to DeAndre Brown, which is listed as the second-longest pass play in school history.

DEFENSE
Travis Bradshaw - Rice
S, So., Cypress, Texas (Cy-Fair)
Bradshaw was credited with 13 tackles, including one for a loss, and caused a pair of key fumbles in the fourth quarter of Rice's 30-29 win over UTEP. The 13 tackles were Bradshaw's fifth consecutive game in double-figures, his sixth this year and his 11th in 17 career starts. He leads the country with 84 unassisted tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Dwayne Harris - East Carolina
WR, Jr., Stone Mountain, Ga. (Tucker)
Harris established a new ECU single-season and career record for most kickoff returns for TDs with his third of the 2009 campaign. He racked up 146 kickoff return yards on three attempts - an average of 48.7 ypr. The 99-yard return was the second-longest kickoff return in program history and was his third return for a score this season. This is his second Special Teams Player of the Week award this season.

COUGARS IN THE POLLS
The University of Houston football team remained ranked in both national polls and the Bowl Championship Series standings on Sunday.

The Cougars (9-2, 5-2 C-USA West) are No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 25 in the latest Associated Press poll and No. 23 in the latest BCS standings.

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
The Pirates remained in first place in the East Division with a 37-21 victory over UAB, ECU's eighth victory in its last nine home games against a C-USA foe. Senior WR Dwayne Harris caught eight passes for 108 yards and two TDs and added another score on a 99-yard kickoff return. It was Harris' third kickoff return for a TD in 2009, setting ECU single-season and career records with three. Senior QB Patrick Pinkney arguably played his best game of the season, going 20-25 for 250 yards and tying his single-game high of three touchdowns, including a 59-yard bomb to sophomore WR Darryl Freeney that put East Carolina ahead 30-6 in the third quarter. Senior S Van Eskridge intercepted a pass on the ECU two yard line and returned it 89 yards to the UAB eight, setting up a field goal that closed out the first half scoring. His interception return was the longest for the Pirates since Kevin Monroe's 100-yard return against Louisville Nov. 14, 1998.

HOUSTON COUGARS
Houston rolled up 689 yards of total offense in a 55-14 win over Memphis on Saturday afternoon, scoring a season-high 42 points in the first half. Junior QB Case Keenum threw for 405 yards and five TDs, completing 29-of-39 attempts with no interceptions. On his third touchdown pass of the game, a four-yard strike to senior WR Chaz Rodriguez, Keenum became the school's all-time leader in touchdown passes, eclipsing the previous mark of 91 set by David Klingler from 1989-91. He now has 94 career TDs passes. Rodriguez finished with six receptions for 98 yards, while senior WR Tim Monroe had a career-best 92 yards and a TD in his first career start. Freshman RB Charles Sims finished the day with 90 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns and also accounted for 55 yards on three receptions.

MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
The Thundering Herd defeated SMU on Saturday, 34-31. The win makes Marshall bowl-eligible for the first time since 2004. True freshman WR Aaron Dobson had four catches for a career-high 127 yards and two touchdowns. Dobson caught TD passes of 40 yards and, what proved to be the game winner, a 16-yarder with just 2:01 to go in the game. Without the injured Darius Marshall, the Herd had two rushers finish with over 100 yards for the first time since Sept. 9, 2006 vs. Hofstra. Redshirt freshman RB Martin Ward was the game's top rusher, taking the ball 25 times for 136 yards, while Terrell Edwards-Maye had 22 carries for 113 yards, a career-high for the sophomore. Senior K Craig Ratanamorn, a Lou Groza semi-finalist, improved to 15-of-16 on the season by connecting on a season-long 50-yard field goal in the second quarter and then adding a 42-yarder with just 8:55 to go in the game.

MEMPHIS TIGERS
The Tigers fell at No. 22 Houston on Saturday, 55-14. Senior RB Curtis Steele had 160 yards rushing and two touchdowns. With 160 yards, Steele moved into fifth place for career rushing yards at Memphis with 2,230 yards in his two-year career. Steele also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season, becoming only the second Memphis running back to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons. With 17 receiving yards in the game, senior WR Duke Calhoun moved into second place for most receiving yards in a season with 898 yards. Freshman Marcus Hightower logged 169 yards on nine kickoff returns to mark his second straight games over the century mark. His nine kickoff returns set a school record for most in a single game.

RICE OWLS
The Owls rallied to post their second straight win, defeating UTEP on Saturday, 30-29. Sophomore RB Tyler Smith rushed for a career-high 127 yards on 23 carries. He scored the first TD of his career on a 12-yard run in the third quarter. Smith's 100-yard rushing game marked the Owls' first since C.J. Ugokwe carried the ball 18 times for 110 yards in last year's win over Houston. Junior DE Cheta Ozougwu's first-quarter sack gave him sacks in three consecutive games and his fifth consecutive game with a tackle for loss. He finished the day with two sacks, the first multi-sack game of his career. Sophomore S Travis Bradshaw was credited 13 with tackles, extending his streak of five consecutive games in double figures. He now has 110 tackles for the season.

SMU MUSTANGS
The Mustangs fell at Marshall on Saturday, 34-31. Junior RB Shawnbrey McNeal had 20 carries for a career-high 82 yards and a touchdown. He needs just 22 yards against Tulane to become the first 1,000-yard rusher since Kelon Kincade in 2003 (1,280 yards). Senior WR Emmanuel Sanders had 94 receiving yards and now has 1,071 for the season. That is second-most in a season at SMU (1,131 by Jerry LeVias in 1968). He is the fourth 1,000-yard receiver in SMU history. Sanders and junior Aldrick Robinson have combined for 1,670 receiving yards this season, fourth at SMU. Sophomore WR Cole Beasley had six catches for a career-high 94 yards. Senior LB Chase Kessemer recorded his eighth double-figure tackle game of the season. With 13 stops, he now has 117 for the season.

SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES
The Golden Eagles won for the fourth time in five games when they posted a 44-34 win over Tulsa on Saturday night. Sophomore QB Martevious Young recorded 276 passing yards (12-of-21) and 59 rushing yards. He threw a career-best four TDs passes, including a 95-yard strike to sophomore WR DeAndre Brown, which is listed as the second-longest pass play in school history. He also hit junior WR Johdrick Morris for a 60-yard TD strike on the Golden Eagles' first play of the contest. With his 12-yard TD reception against Tulsa, true freshman RB Tracy Lampley has now scored via a rush, reception, kick return and punt return. Southern Miss ended the home schedule with a 6-0 mark, marking the first undefeated season at home since 1999 and the first time the school has won six games in a season in its home facility.

TULANE GREEN WAVE
The Green Wave fell at UCF on Saturday, 49-0. Tulane senior WR Jeremy Williams became the fifth player in school history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season after catching seven passes for 47 yards. Freshman D.J. Banks was a bright spot in the return game with four returns for 119 yards, including returns of 46 and 47 yards. Freshman LB Austen Jacks registered a team-best eight tackles on the day. Junior CB Phillip Davis picked off his second interception of the season in the end zone during the second quarter and returned it 40 yards.

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE
The Golden Hurricane fell at Southern Miss on Saturday night, 44-34. The loss means that Tulsa will not go to a bowl game for the first time since 2004. Sophomore WR/KR Damaris Johnson had another 200+ all-purpose yard game and his sixth 100+ receiving game of the season with 196 yards on 17 receptions. The 17 receptions are the second-most in C-USA history. Johnson went over 1,000 receiving yards for the season to mark the first time in school history that Tulsa has had a 1,000-yard receiver in three straight seasons. Junior FB Charles Clay had 142 receiving yards and two TDs, and 20 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was the first time that the Golden Hurricane had a pair of 100-yard receivers since Sept. 20, 2008 vs. New Mexico. Tulsa had a season-high 589 yards of total offense.

UAB BLAZERS
The Blazers had their three-game winning streak snapped at East Carolina on Saturday, falling 37-21. Senior QB Joe Webb had another stellar game for UAB as he passed for 247 yards and a pair of TDs and ran for 132 more yards. Webb engineered an offense that totaled 520 yards against an ECU defense that came into the game allowing only 350 yards per contest. In just two seasons as a QB, Webb is now 19th in NCAA career rushing yards by a quarterback (2,637). Senior WR Frantrell Forrest has TD receptions in three consecutive games and now has five TD catches in the past three contests. He moved into third place on UAB's career receptions list (119) and also for career touchdown catches (15) against ECU. The Blazers are looking to get bowl-eligible for the fourth time in the program's history when they host UCF on Saturday.

UCF KNIGHTS
The Knights won their fifth consecutive C-USA game on Saturday, closing out their home schedule with a 49-0 win over Tulane. This is the largest shutout win ever in a C-USA game (33-0, USM vs. Houston 11/15/97). UCF allowed just 50 yards of total defense, a new record for by a C-USA team both overall (53 Cincinnati vs. Kansas, 9/20/97) and in a C-USA game (88 USM at Tulane 11/11/06). UCF held Tulane to a minus-30 yards rushing, making it the second best performance by any defense in the nation this season. UCF's defensive line was in the backfield almost more than Tulane quarterback Ryan Griffin, registering three sacks and eight tackles for loss. Sophomore RB Brynn Harvey ran for 129 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 268 yards and six touchdowns over his past two games. With his three TDs, Harvey now has 13 on the season, tying Willie English (1991) for the third-most in school history.

UTEP MINERS
The Miners fell at Rice on Saturday, 30-29. Junior RB Donald Buckram ran for 147 yards to break a UTEP single-season rushing record that had stood for 61 years. He has 1,569 yards on the season, eclipsing the old mark of 1,546, set by Fred Wendt in 1948. Buckram also set a new school record with his eighth 100-yard rushing game of the season and moved into second place in single-season rushing touchdowns with 17. Sophomore LB Royzell Smith posted seven tackles (five solos), a half-tackle for loss and his first career interception. The Miners defense allowed a season-low 227 yards of total offense. UTEP has lost five games this season by a touchdown or less (the most in school history), including four in a row.