ORDER
OF FINISH
1.
Southern
Miss 10-2 (8-0)
2.
Tulane
9-3 (6-2)
3.
TCU
9-3 (6-2)
4.
South
Florida 7-4 (5-3)
5.
UAB
7-5 (5-3)
6.
Cincinnati
6-6 (4-4)
7.
East
Carolina 4-8 (3-5)
8.
Louisville
5-7 (3-5)
9.
Houston
4-8 (2-6)
10.
Memphis 3-9 (1-7)
11.
Army 1-12 (1-7)
Team
most likely to surprise – South Florida… USF
turned heads with a 9-2 season a year ago that included
a 4-0 record against C-USA teams. Now they step into
the conference (for real) and bring back 64 lettermen
from last year’s squad. QB Ronnie Banks is a supreme
talent who will put up some huge numbers and has the
luxury of all five linemen returning to protect him.
They have the talent to win the conference, but remember-
they’re the new kids on the block.
Team
most likely to disappoint – Louisville… John
L and his tactics are gone from the ‘Ville, and so too
are his winning ways- for this season anyhow. The Cards
have a tough conference schedule (though they duck Southern
Miss) and will most likely be breaking in a freshman
QB. They also lost their best cover man over the summer,
leaving the secondary a little vulnerable. Might be
wise for Card fans to take an extra sip of their mint
juleps to help swallow a (relatively) disappointing
year.
UNIT RANKINGS
OFFENSE
1.
Tulane
2.
South Florida
3.
Cincinnati
4.
Memphis
5.
Houston
DEFENSE
1.
Southern Miss
2.
TCU
3.
South Florida
4.
UAB
5.
Cincinnati
OFF
BACKFIELD: Tulane (QB Losman,
RB M.Moore, *FB K.Coleman… backups- QB Cannon, RB Jo.Jackson,
RB Fontenette, *FB Graham)
*
when FB is used, primarily in run situations
RECEIVERS:
Tulane (WR T. Smith, WR R.Williams,
WR Narcisse, TE Hoover… backups- WR Bush, WR C.Davis,
WR D.Davis, WR Dunn, TE Landry)
O-LINE:
TCU (OT Alabi, OG Glud, C Ch.Johnson, OG
Sims, OT Morgan… backups- OT Toudouze, OG Angeley, C
Culp, OG Bray, OT H.Taylor)
D-LINE:
TCU (DE Schobel, NT Pugh, DT R.Evans, DE
Pollard… backups- DE R.Ray, NT B.Johnson, DT Breedlove,
DE Calovich)
LINEBACKERS:
Southern Miss (SLB Boley, MLB R.Davis,
WLB A.Cash… backups- WLB K.Coley, SLB Stewart, MLB Cleckler)
DEFENSIVE
BACKS: Southern Miss (CB
Brooks, CB Eubanks, FS Pruitt, ROV Ray… backups- CB
Faulk, CB Cumbie, ROV Bennett, FS T.Coley, CB Yates)
SPECIAL
TEAMS: Louisville (PK/P
N.Smith, P Tydlacka, KR/PR B.Clark, PR/KR T.Jones)
Chappy’s
2003
All- Conference USA Team
OFFENSE
QB
J.P. Losman (sr)- TULANE
RB
Lonta Hobbs (so)- TCU
RB
Art Brown (sr)- EAST CAROLINA
FB
Kris Coleman (sr)- TULANE
WR
Brandon Middleton (sr)- HOUSTON
WR
Tavares Gideon (sr)- MEMPHIS
TE
Ronnie Ghent (sr)- LOUISVILLE
OT
Brian Rimpf (sr)- EAST CAROLINA
OG
Rex Hadnot (sr)- HOUSTON
C
Jim Hicks (sr)- SOUTHERN MISS
OG
John Glud (sr)- TCU
OT
Anthony Alabi (jr)- TCU
DEFENSE
DE
Bo Schobel (sr)- TCU
DT
Albert Means (jr)- MEMPHIS
DT
Damane Duckett (sr)- ECU
DE
Trent Cole (jr)- CINCINNATI
OLB
Zac Woodfin (jr)- UAB
ILB
Rod Davis (sr)- SOUTHERN MISS
ILB
Maurice Jones (sr)- USF
OLB
Michael Boley (jr)- SOUTHERN MISS
CB
Greg Brooks (sr)- SOUTHERN MISS
CB
Dio Hill (jr)- UAB
FS
Etric Pruitt (sr)- SOUTHERN MISS
SS
Jermain Woodard (sr)- HOUSTON
SPECIAL
TEAMS
KO
Mike Wynn (so)- TCU
PK
Nick Browne (sr)- TCU
P
Wade Tydlacka (sr)- LOUISVILLE
KR
Broderick Clark (so)- LOUISVILLE
PR
Terrance Copper (sr)- ECU
OFFENSIVE
MVP: QB J.P. Losman - TULANE
DEFENSIVE
MVP: LB Rod Davis - SOUTHERN MISS
SPECIAL
TEAMS MVP: PK Nick Browne - TCU
OFFENSIVE
NEWCOMER: RB Eric Shelton (so) - LOUISVILLE
DEFENSIVE
NEWCOMER: DT Mike Wright (jr) - CINCINNATI
HONOR
ROLL
TOUGHEST
SCHEDULE: East Carolina… The Pirates make treks to
Miami and Wake Forest, while hosting West Virginia and
North Carolina out of conference. In conference, they
open the season at Cincinnati and make later road trips
to Memphis and Tulane. They miss TCU, but in the end,
it won’t make much of a difference.
WEAKEST
SCHEDULE: South Florida… Two IA schools ducked out
of playing the Bulls, so they were forced to scavenge
a couple of IAA teams (Nicholls State and Charleston
Southern) to fill the slots. Not only that, but the
Bulls get Louisville, TCU, Cincinnati and UAB all at
home, where they have won 19 straight! This schedule
makes it attainable to repeat last year’s success, but
I must revert back to the “new kid” comment…
BEST
COACHING STAFF: TCU… Gary Patterson was definitively hired
after the departure of Dennis Franchione 3 years ago-
and TCU hasn’t regretted it one bit. Patty is 16-9 against
competition, and much of that success can be traced
to his defensive tutelage. DC David Bailiff’s work under
Patterson formed the nation’s top unit, and they just
continue to stockpile defensive talent. On the offensive
side of the ball, OC Mike Schultz has been respectable,
giving the Frogs one of the top ground games.
MOST
TO PROVE: Louisville QB Michael Bush. John
L. Smith is gone as is Dave Ragone. So, whom does the
Cardinal faithful put their hearts into now? The Bush
Man!
This
kid has been hyped more than a Tyson fight, and fans
have been spoiled by success the last five years (mainly
from having an all-conference-type QB at the helm).
Accordingly with an effective Jason Campbell running
his system at Auburn last year, Petrino will likely
favor the similarly talented Bush. Get ready kid- they
want you now!
MOST
TO GAIN: Tulane WR Nick Narcisse. When
he’s healthy, he does a great job of running routes,
being where he needs to be, and catching every ball
thrown his way. Everyone will have Mewelde Moore and
Roydell Williams locked on their radar screen, leaving
Narcisse the underneath man to make valuable contributions.
He just may take that to the bank.
OVERRATED:
Cincinnati QB Gino Guidugli. I
won’t argue against his talent. The guy has a way to
get the job done and put up electrifying numbers – seemingly
only when he wants. His attitude has given me a bit
of a sour projection of this extremely talented quarterback.
His interception rate far exceeds the bounds of respectability,
and his decisions often reflect previous errors. If
he finds a way to calm himself and not allow earlier
mistakes to eat him up, he can be a very dangerous weapon
in the long run. Until then, he will be just another
arm.
UNDERRATED:
Houston DE Farouk Adelekan.
Despite not being a regular 2002 starter, Adelekan racked
up nine sacks and 38 tackles from his defensive end
spot. He came from JUCO, where he was honorable mention
All-America. This season, he has earned a top spot on
the end and should pose nightmares for opposing QBs.
BEST
PLAYER NOBODY KNOWS: USF QB Ronnie Banks. Better
known as “Marquel Blackwell’s replacement”, Banks appears
pretty fuzzy on the national screen. Don’t overlook
him, though. He possesses an extremely strong arm and
has decent speed. He reminds me a little bit of David
Garrard (formerly of East Carolina, no in the NFL) and
has the potential to put up similar numbers. Coach Jim
Leavitt says he has worked extremely hard to prepare
for this season and shouldn’t disappoint.
TOP
GAMES OF THE YEAR:
Nov.
20th TCU at SOUTHERN MISS
Nov.
15th Tulane at SOUTHERN MISS
Sept.
1st TCU at TULANE
Oct.
10th TCU
at South Florida
Nov.
22nd UAB at SOUTH FLORIDA
(team
in ITALICS-CAPS is Chappy’s pick to win)
