Fletcher is dealing with a groin strain, Brown a bruised shoulder.  Morris is still recovering from a concussion suffered vs. Virginia via a hit that USM has asked the NCAA to review.

Read more details via the American here.

The team should be OK without the trio, but it’s a shame their injuries will cost Fletcher and Brown some TV time.  Best wishes to Morris as he deals with something that can be especially exasperating.

Hopefully, a positive from this news will be that it will motivate the rest of the team a little more to not take this game for granted since two of its premiere offensive weapons won’t be available.

FWIW, UAB has their own injury problems.

[Note: Click on the scores for game stories via the universities' web sites]

Houston 45, #5/6 Oklahoma State 35 (Stillwater; 50,875). The big story of the week. UH jumped ahead 24-7, then fell behind twice, finally going ahead for good when a Bryce Beall snatched a deflected 4^th down pass for a TD. Cougs’ QB Case Keenum earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors for his 32-of-46, 366 yard day.

#9/12 BYU 54, Tulane 3 (New Orleans; 26,224 [officially, though some reports claim little over 5K and this slide show looks kinda bleak). A laugher with little upside for the Green Wave, who failed to break double-digits in first downs while BYU never punted. The Cougars had two running back rush for over 60 yards each and passed for 321. For Tulane, QB Joe Kemp was 14-for-19 and 101 yards.

#14/15 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10 (Blacksburg; 66,233). 444 yards rushing for the Hokies, 171 in the 1^st quarter alone. Herd QB Brian Anderson managed an OK outing, completing 15-for-31 for 116. Darius Marshall rushed for over 100. The Herd only mustered 14 return yards on the game via 3 Hokie punts.

#24/25 Kansas 34, UTEP 7 (El Paso; 31,885). The Jayhawks simply manhandled the Miners. UTEP allowed 5 sacks and was shut out until early in the 4^th while Kansas scored in every quarter and piled up 576 yards of offense. Said UTEP head coach Mike Price, “They're a top 25 team, and it doesn't look like we are.”

West Virginia 35, East Carolina 20 (Morgantown; 59,216). WVU's defense kept the Pirates in check, but Mountaineer mistakes--including 2 muffed punts (sound familiar?)--kept ECU in it. ECU was shut out in the second half and their longest scoring drive was 31 yards. WVU QB and Pat White successor Jarrett Brown had a coming-out party, throwing for 334 yards and 4 TDs. Patrick Pinkney was sacked 4 times.

SMU 35, UAB 33 (Birmingham; 18,092). SMU dominated early, then gave up 20 3rd-quarter points to the Blazers before hanging on to win. The story of the game, both good and bad, was the QB play. For the Mustangs, B.L. Mitchell threw for 353 yards and 3 TDs, and for UAB, last week's one-man show Joe Webb threw 4 interceptions. UAB ran the ball well, with Webb rushing for 97 and Mark Ferrell adding 85.

Middle Tennessee 31, Memphis 14 (Murfreesboro; 28,105 [new stadium record]). Tied 7-7 after one quarter, MTSU rattled off 24 unanswered points before allowing Memphis a late TD. The Blue Raiders almost doubled Memphis’ total yards, 436 to 219. Scrub QB Tyler Bass led the final scoring drive for the Tigers, completing 4 of 4 for 33 yards. No one for Memphis rushed for over 50.

Texas Tech 55, Rice 10 (Lubbock; 48,124). The Rice defense held TTU to 14 first half points, but it got ugly from there as the Raiders rolled up 560 yards of offense against the Owls. For Rice, QB John Shepard went 14-for-19 for 109 yards and a TD to Taylor Dupree. Rice won the time of possession by a good 6 minutes, but since when does Texas Tech care about that?

Tulsa 44, New Mexico 10 (Albuquerque; 30,051). Tulsa opened the scoring early following a fumbled UNM punt return (noticing a theme?) and never looked back, leading 17-3 at the half and at one time 44-3. For the Hurricane, QB G.J. Kinne threw for 310 yards and 4 TDs, 2 each to Slick Shelley and Trae Johnson. Kinne also led Tulsa in rushing with 53 yards. New Mexico managed 5 sacks.

[Note: Click on the scores for game stories via the universities' web sites. Memphis-Ole Miss game will be added when available]

Tulsa 37, Tulane 13 (Friday; New Orleans; 27,638 [yeah, right...]). Hurricane cruises after jumping ahead 17-0 in the opening 9 minutes. For Tulsa, Demaris Johnson 252 all-purpose yards including a 66-yard punt return for TD; G.J. Kinne 15-for-20, 211 yards, 1 TD, no INTs.

UCF 28, Samford 24 (Orlando; 34,486). 7-7 at halftime, UCF trailed 24-21 until scoring on a TD pass with just under 6 minutes left in the game. Samford outgained the Knights 286 yards to 282, UCF’s Brynn Harvey 111 yard on 31 carries and 2 TDs.

East Carolina 29, Appalachian State 24 (Greenville; 43,279). 320 yards for the Pirates, with only 58 in the 2^nd half. Appy State had 17 unanswered points in the 4^th quarter. For ECU, Pinkney 12-for-27 for 131 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Dominique Lindsay 111 yards on 15 carries with 1 TD.

Marshall 31, Southern Illinois 28 (Huntington; 24,012). Southern Illinois cut the lead to 3 with 1:40 left, then held Marshall to a 3 and out to get the ball back with 26 seconds left to no avail. The teams combined for 5 turnovers. For MU, Brian Anderson 27-for-36 for 316 yards and 3 TDs. Chuck Walker 10 rec for 119 yards in his debut.

UAB 44, Rice 24 (Birmingham; 14,316). UAB’s Joe Webb set a CUSA QB record with 194 yards rushing, passed for another 221, and had a hand in four TDs. The rest of the team contributed another 98 yards.

Houston 55, Northwestern (La.) St. 7 (Houston; 22,043). 538 yards of offense for UH. Case Keenum 23-for-30 for 359 yards and 4 TDs in a little over a half of work.

SMU 31, Stephen F. Austin 23 (Dallas; 34,749 [a new stadium record as 19 supporters bought and distributed 1,000 tickets each]). Mustangs rally from 9 down in the 4^th. SFA piled up 460 yards of offense, 391 passing. For SMU, Shawnbrey McNeal 158 yards on 19 carries.

Buffalo 23, UTEP 17 (El Paso; 35,213). UTEP fell behind 23-7 and had their comeback fall short. Miners hit with 101 penalty yards. UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe 27-for-45 passing for 233 yards, Donald Buckram 108 yards rushing. Buffalo averaged 34 yards per kickoff return.

• 70 points. Just wow.
• Attendance was better than expected. It wasn’t great, and obviously, there’s a Homecoming boost, but considering the record, I expected a much bigger dropoff since Boise. I really think a) the majority of fans realize this is a building process and b) win or lose, a lot of folks still want to see what Fletcher, Davis, and Brown are going to do next.
• Speaking of Fletcher, another round of congratulations to him for becoming the first 4,000-yard rusher in USM history as well as the first to go three straight years over 1,000.
• Congrats also to Davis, who broke a school record for rushing TDs in one game (previously held by Chris Windsor, Shelton Gandy, and Doyle Orange) as well as Brett Favre’s school record for TD passes in a season by a freshman. The folks who do the media guide are going to be busy this off-season.
• The defense did a great job, but I wouldn’t read too much into it just yet. Their 5 turnovers–UAB coughed up 6, but one was on a kick return–were great (the interception by Andre Watson was phenomenal), but you’re simply not going to get that every week. Whether or not we can stop a team that protects the ball a little better remains to be seen.
• I was seriously digging the gold-on-gold, even though the blogosphere’s most famous USM alum Dr. Saturday (The Artist Formerly Known as the Sunday Morning Quarterback) disagreed. (C’mon Matt. Don’t hate on your own school like that!) Oddly enough, Wyoming also wore gold-on-gold for the first time ever on Saturday, and California broke out the same color scheme. All three schools won. If those three, West Virginia, and Minnesota are ever all at home on the same day, we should coordinate just to try to crash the UniWatch website.

[As you can see, it's been light blogging (well, non-blogging) for a while here at FTF. There are various reasons for this, including a stomach flu I wouldn't wish on anyone that hit the week of the Memphis game. Hopefully, this entry will mark a return to more regular updates for the rest of the season.]

U.A.B. (2-6, 1-3) at Southern Miss (2-6, 0-4)

Thursday’s line: USM -9

First meeting: 2000 in Birmingham

Last meeting: 2007 in Birmingham (USM won 37-7.)

Southern Miss leads the series 8-0

Last week: Memphis def. Southern Miss 36-30; UAB def. Marshall 23-21

In what doesn’t exactly shape up as a battle of the titans, UAB arrives in Hattiesburg this weekend as the Golden Eagles’ homecoming guest. Both teams come in looking to break significant losing streaks: USM trying to halt a 5-game mid-season skid, and UAB looking to end both an 8-game losing streak—the entirety of the series—to USM and an 18-game losing streak on the road. Coming off their own homecoming win over East-leading Marshall, surely the Blazers can smell the blood as the Golden Eagles look to stop the bleeding.

Unfortunately for Golden Eagle fans, it doesn’t get a whole lot easier for the woeful Southern Miss defense this week. UAB is led on offense by versatile junior QB Joe Webb, who accounted for 352 yards vs. Marshall and set a single-season Conference USA record for rushing yards by a quarterback in the process. Webb enters Saturday having completed 57% of his passes for 1726 yards and having produced 723 yards on the ground for the team lead. Webb’s favorite target when throwing the ball is sophomore WR Frantrell Forrest, who has almost twice as many catches (33) as the next person on UAB’s list, compiling 419 yards and 2 TDs along the way. The aforementioned next person on the list is sophomore TE Jeffery Anderson, but he also leads the Blazers in TD catches with 3. UAB’s second-leading rusher is junior Rashaud Slaughter (who’s actually listed on the roster as a wide receiver) with 332 yards. The UAB offense operates behind a somewhat young but experienced line, personified by RT Terrence Edge who will be starting his 16th game despite being a sophomore.

The story gets a little better when examining the UAB defense, which has been a bit below the median vs. the run (allowing 160 yards and change per game) but 118th (3rd from the bottom) nationally vs. the pass. The latter stat is pretty disappointing to the Blazers, as the secondary was expected to be a strength in 2008. Expect senior Kevin Sanders to be given the assignment of covering DeAndre Brown, and keep your eye on LB Joe Henderson, the team’s leading tackler (with 61) , and FS Will Dunbar, who led the conference in tackles in 2007 and has 43 on the year despite missing a game earlier in the season. On the line, UAB is basically one year removed from the situation USM finds itself in this year: entering the season, 3 of the Blazers’ returning starters at end and tackle were sophomores. One of them is end Turner Bryant, who leads the team with 4 sacks, matching the combined total of the rest of the line.

Once again, Southern Miss faces a team against which it should be able to move the ball, and once again, the million-dollar question is whether or not the Golden Eagle defense will be at all able to slow down the opponent. With Webb under center for UAB, the prospect is not encouraging, especially considering the 146 yards racked up by the last running QB to visit The Rock. Granted, that was also the last victory posted in the friendly confines of Roberts Stadium, but with the additional threat of Webb’s arm, it becomes a scary proposition.