• The DeAndre Brown Welcome Back party went well. You could see a little rust, and he and Austin
  

  Photo credit: Tim Isbell, Sun Herald

  Davis missed on what would have been a TD last season and probably will be again in another week or two, but Brown had a good night (7 catches for 75 yards), wasn’t afraid to take or lay a hit (he knocked a UCF safety halfway back to Orlando while blocking for Damion Fletcher late in the game) , and on a couple of occasions reclaimed his role as the 3rd-down go-to guy.

• The offense did not have a great game. The yards were there, but too much of the ball movement was between the 20s. Too many drives stalled and the big play eluded the team most of the night. To get nearly 400 yards against what the preseason mags had dubbed a pretty top-notch defensive front is good, but as was the case last week, far too many opportunities were squandered.

• It’s hard to make a call on Saturday’s defense. UCF couldn’t get much done (held under 200 total yards), but nor did they vs. Samford. The Eagles D-line stuffed the running game, but the backfield performance was more hit-and-miss. A few times, there were flashbacks of recent defenses that allowed nothing on 1^st and 2^nd down, but allowed a conversion on 3^rd. To have zero interceptions was a disappointment. Still, the bottom line was good, and there was a TD scored off of a fumble, so there’s not much room to complain. One just has to wonder what’ll happen when this D faces a more formidable opponent.

• The special teams performance was downright embarrassing. FOUR mishandled punts?!? Even in the rain, that is unacceptable. As is the inability to hit a 26-yard field goal. There was also a bad snap on a PAT (followed by a hell of an effort to run it in by holder Kane Wommack), which is going to happen every now and then, but it looked more like part of a pattern than an aberration Saturday night. In the wake of UCF’s big return game vs. Samford, the Eagles’ kick coverage was fine up until after the presumptive game-icing touchdown, at which point it allowed an 89-yard return to the 5 which allowed the Knights to cut the lead to 7 with under 2 minutes left. Even a perfectly average performance on special teams would’ve made this game a blowout. If this isn’t fixed, it’s going to start costing USM some wins.

• All in all, Coach Fedora put it best on his twitter: “Great to get our 2nd win. Got to play better next week.”

• Saturday’s win was the 7^th straight for USM dating back to the middle of last season. That’s the team’s longest win streak since 1988.

• On a non-football note, during the drive up Hwy. 49, I saw what had to be the most redneck thing this side of the wedding at the Waffle House. Someone just south of Perkinston was holding a yard sale inside a school bus. I regret not stopping to get a photo.

UCF at Southern Miss

Thursday’s line: USM -14.5

First meeting: 2005 in Hattiesburg

Last meeting: 2008 in Orlando (USM won 17-6)

USM leads the series 3-1

CUSA play starts early for the Golden Eagles as the Knights come to town in Game 2. UCF, which has at times seemed poised for greatness after winning CUSA’s Eastern Division and posting the best record in the conference twice since joining the league in 2005 and claiming a championship in 2007, limped to a 4-8 (3-5) record in 2008, continuing O’Leary’s alternating winning season/losing season streak in Orlando. The Eagles are comfortably favored at The Rock on the heels of their smackdown of Alcorn and the Knights’ struggles against FCS Samford.

Particularly disappointing vs. Samford was UCF’s offense, which only compiled 282 total yards. UCF returned 10 starters from last year, but they only continued the Knights’ struggles from 2008, when they ranked dead last in the nation in total offense as they struggled to settle on a starting QB. That particular issue also continued, as sophomore QB Rob Calabrese started vs. Samford after starting the final 4 games of 2008 only to be replaced in the game by redshirt senior and Wake Forest transfer Brett Hodges, who tossed what turned out to be the game-winning TD to Jamar Newsome with 11 minutes left. Hodges completed 10-of-17 for 129 yards off the bench compared to Calabrese’s 3-for-7 for 28, though Hodges also threw an interception that Samford ran 67 yards the other way for a score. O’Leary is expected to use the same plan on Saturday vs. USM, with Calabrese getting the start but both expected to play. Aside from Hodges’ late heroics, another (the other?) bright spot for UCF’s offense was Brynn Harvey’s 111 yards rushing on 33 carries.

The Knights’ pass defense didn’t fare a whole lot better than the offense, allowing Samford, led by 2008 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year QB Dustin Taliaferro, 208 yards through the air on 60% completions. Taliaferro himself threw for 141 of those yards, nearing his 2008 season average of 158.6, not good considering Samford only played one game vs. an FBS foe in ‘08. Taliaferro was also only sacked once. UCF fared better against the run, only allowing 78 yards on the ground. Leading the defensive effort for the Knights was DB Darin Baldwin, who claimed 7 tackles and 3 pass break-ups, and DE Jarvis Geathers, who recorded the lone sack. Should DeAndre Brown play for Southern Miss on Saturday, expect Baldwin to be the primary back charged with containing him.

Baldwin also played a big role in UCF’s high point of the day: kick returns. The Knights piled up 289 return yards on Samford, 190 on kickoffs and 99 on punts, for their best performance in that category since joining Divison I-A/the FBS. Baldwin returned a kickoff 72 yards to the Samford 11 late in the 3^rd quarter, but UCF squandered the opportunity by stalling and eventually getting a Jamie Boyle FG blocked. Leading the return game for the Knights was WR Rocky Ross, who compiled 91 yards on 6 returns, including a long of 39.

All in all, UCF was much less impressive in their opening game than Southern Miss, even after accounting for the different levels of competition. Given the fact that the Knights’ woes are the same ones they had last year, the safe assumption is that the Samford performance wasn’t just a one-game hiccup. It’s said that teams make their most improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 of a football season, and UCF better hope that’s true in their case and not so much in USM’s. While those kick returns should be of particular concern for the Golden Eagles, nothing much else should scare USM fans as long as the team shows up ready to play.

[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.

As I’m sure everyone reading this already knows, the AP’s pre-season poll came out Saturday with the obligatory fanfare and ado. Unfortunately, no Conference USA team was even close to cracking the Top 25. Tulsa was the conference’s lone representative in the “Others Receiving Votes” category with 7 total points. In contrast, in the USA Today coaches’ poll, UCF not only joined Tulsa in the ORV, but the Knights finished ahead of them 2 points to 1.

Obviously, this is not a good starting point for CUSA, who has yet place a team in the final Top 25 of either poll since the 2005 reconfiguration, but that’s hardly anything new or worthy of a blog entry. It does, however, fall pretty much in line with where the 2007 polls ended (see previous link), with Tulsa landing 4 points in the AP and 5 in the USAT and UCF picking up 4 points from the coaches.

That last tidbit begs the question: just how much thought goes into these polls, especially when it comes to teams not in the BCS-AQ conferences? Apparently, the coaches who included UCF in their rankings are pretty optimistic about UCF picking up right where they left off despite the Knights losing their top running back—as well as the nation’s—in Kevin Smith, and his understudies having to work behind an offensive line sans 3 of last year’s starters. That’s a lot to overcome and expect to not miss a beat.

In Tulsa’s case, it can be argued that the Golden Hurricane didn’t get the love it deserved in the first place, having finished last season at 10-3 and walloping Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl, but it’s easy to understand the sentiment when Tulsa in turn got almost equally walloped by Oklahoma early in the season and failed to beat UCF in two attempts, including the CUSA Championship game. Less-than-impressive showings vs. 2007’s CUSA dregs didn’t help their case, either, so it really was a stretch to argue them a Top 25 team at the end of last year (especially after UCF’s boredom-inducing loss to Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl). Nonetheless, it’s hard to explain how Tulsa gets nearly double the votes in the 2008 preseason poll than it did in the final 2007 poll when the ‘Cane is replacing not only its starting QB, but its CUSA Offensive Player of the Year starting QB in Paul Smith (who obviously had to beat out UCF’s Smith for the honor). Granted, for all we know Tulsa’s offense can make any decent QB a record-breaker (it seems like Smith had been there a decade), but still, that’s a big question mark when it comes to Tulsa being better than they were last season.

What FTF really doesn’t understand is the lack of love for East Carolina. Last year, the Pirates finished 7-5 (6-2 in-conference), started the season by playing Virginia Tech within 10 in Blacksburg, and ended it by stunning Top 25 Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl. They’re also easily one of the best-off CUSA teams (if not the best) in terms of returning personnel. While ECU does move into 2008 without Chris Johnson, who led the nation in all-purpose yards last year, the Pirates do return their leading passer and second-leading rusher in QB Patrick Pinkney, their leading receiver in Jamar Bryant, and also have a CUSA All-Freshman performer, Jonathan Williams, poised as the replacement for Johnson. They also return the vast majority of their defense. By all indications, if anyone in CUSA is in a position to make a run at the polls this year, it is East Carolina. That Tulsa and UCF are getting votes (which is reasonable in itself; don’t get me wrong) while the Pirates aren’t shows you just how much the pollsters actually do their “mid major” homework as opposed to just copying-and-pasting the previous season’s final standings and calling it a prediction.