Conference USA Weekend Results

Texas A&M 48 SMU 3--Tied after one quarter at 0-0, the SMU Mustangs were outscored 41-3 in the second and third quarters in route to a 48-3 win by the Texas A&M Aggies Saturday. The Aggies rolled up 605 yards including 294 yards passing and 4 touchdowns from quarterback Johnny Manziel. The Mustangs fall to 1-2 on the season with a week off before a home game versus Big 12 foe Texas Christian.

East Carolina 24 Southern Miss 14--The East Carolina Pirates used a 21-point third quarter to pull away from the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a huge early season Conference USA matchup. The Pirates only had 228 yards of total offense but capitalized on three Southern Miss turnovers including a 16-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Montese Overton to put the game away at 24-7. The Golden Eagles look to earn their first win of the season with a trip to surging Sun Belt opponent Western Kentucky while East Carolina goes on the road to 1-2 North Carolina.

Ohio 27 Marshall 24--With thoughts of a perfect season on the minds of Ohio Bobcats fans entering the game, the Bobcats came out tight losing 14-0 in the first quarter before storming back to a 27-24 win over the Marshall Thundering Herd Saturday. Ohio was outgained 491-399 but benefitted from 3 Marshall turnovers. Kicker Matt Weller went 2-2 on field goal attempts including a 38-yard attempt to win the game for the Bobcats. Ohio gets a break next week with a home game versus the FCS' Norfolk State and a chance to go 4-0 while Marshall looks to get back to .500 with a conference tilt at the Rice Owls Saturday night.

Central Florida 33 Florida International 20--The Central Florida Knights built a 25-0 lead over the Florida International at the half before holding off a second half rally winning 33-20 in Orlando, Florida Saturday. The Knights rolled up 431 yards of total offense and an 11-minute edge in time of possession. Central Florida never trailed in the game and took a double digit lead from halfway through the second quarter to the end of the game. Central Florida looks for their 3rd win of the season next week on the road versus SEC opponent Missouri while Florida International hosts #20 Louisville in a non-conference matchup.

Tulsa 66 Nicholls State 16--The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes used a 28-point first quarter and a 42-9 halftime lead to cruise to a 66-16 win over the FCS' Nicholls State Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Golden Hurricanes put up 566 yards of total offense including 163 yards on the ground from Ja'Terian Douglas on only 5 carries in the win. Tulsa had three touchdown plays of 30+ yards with two runs covering more than 60 yards in the rout. Tulsa looks to go to 3-1 on the young season with a tough non-conference home game versus the explosive offense of Fresno State.

MTSU 48 Memphis 30--Capitalizing on 4 Memphis turnovers, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders cruised to a 48-30 win in Memphis, Tennessee Saturday night. Yards were nearly the same with MTSU winning the total offense war 439-399 and the field possession war by nearly 7 minutes. After Memphis took a 10-7 lead :08 into the second quarter, the Blue Raiders of MTSU put up 34 of the next 41 points in pulling away easily in the second half. MTSU looks to exceed their win total of 2011 with a road trip to Georgia Tech before returning to conference play. Memphis tries to get in the win column with a Saturday night matchup with the Duke Blue Devils.

Louisiana Tech 56 Rice 37--A week after putting up 56-points versus the Houston Cougars, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs added another 56-points to the scoring sheet in a 56-37 non-conference game versus the Rice Owls in Ruston, Louisiana. The Bulldogs jumped quickly to a 21-0 first quarter lead on the back of a balanced attack that totaled 276 yards in the air and 333 on the ground including 204 yards from freshman Tevin King. Rice kicker Chris Boswell tied a school record with a 57-yard field goal at the end of the first half. Louisiana Tech tries to stay undefeated with a trip to Big Ten foe Illinois while the Owls of Rice begin conference play versus the #1 passing offense in the country of Marshall.

South Carolina 49 UAB 6--Down 21-6 at the half versus the #8 team in the country, the UAB Blazers felt pretty good about themselves. A half later, the Blazers were on the receiving end of a 28-0 run that saw the Gamecocks finish with 501 total yards and 322 in the air in the blowout win. UAB dominated the time of possession with a 12 1/2 minute edge but went only 5-19 on third down conversions in the loss. The bright spot for the Blazers was the play of quarterback Jonathan Perry who followed up 300+ in the season opener with 219 yards in the air versus a stingy SEC defense from South Carolina. UAB tries to get in the win column with a trip to #16 Ohio State Saturday afternoon at the Horseshoe.

UCLA 37 Houston 6--In a sloppy game that had 11 combined turnovers, the UCLA Bruins dominated the Houston Cougars winning 37-6 in Pasadena, California on Saturday. The Bruins scored the first 30 points of the game including a defensive touchdown only :14 into the game. Quarterback David Piland threw for 249 yards on the night but no touchdowns and 5 interceptions. The Bruins won the time of possession war by over 22 minutes in the big win. Houston brings its 0-3 record back home in a must win game versus Conferene USA rival Rice after a bye week to try and recover from the poor start to the season.

UTEP 41 New Mexico State 28--After doing virtually nothing on offense in the first two games of the season, the UTEP Miners finally got rolling with 487 yards of offense including 300 yards and 4 touchdowns in the air from quarterback Nick Lamaison. New Mexico State played a solid game on offense but dug themselves into such a big hole with the 20-0 deficit after one period. The Aggies pulled to within 13-points midway through the 3rd quarter but gave up the next 14-points in getting routed by rival UTEP. UTEP takes their 1-2 record to Camp Randall Stadium to face Wisconsin while the New Mexico State Aggies try to even their record at 2-2 with a huge rivalry game at home versus New Mexico.