C-USA play is in full swing

It turns out UCF (2-2) isn't the only program in Conference USA looking forward to conference play.

After a quick glance at how C-USA teams have performed so far in their respective out-of-conference slates, it becomes quite clear that there are a lot of league teams eager to start beating up on each other to make up for disappointments elsewhere.

With UCF having wrapped up its out-of-conference slate this past week and turning its attention to league play, the Central Florida Future checked up on the rest of the league and see how C-USA has fared.

How they've done

The Houston Cougars (4-0) are the lone undefeated team in the league and are unofficially ranked No. 26 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 27 in the AP Poll. To their credit, they had a big win in Week One over the UCLA Bruins that helped themselves and the league. Since then, though, they've beaten up on the likes of North Texas, Louisiana Tech and Georgia State. Still, an undefeated record and a win over a BCS program has Houston sitting pretty as the Cougars prepare to open up league play against UTEP on Thursday.

Not every team has been so fortunate, though.

East Carolina (1-2) gets credit for having scheduled two tough BCS opponents so far, but the Pirates were only competitive in one of the contests. The Pirates lost 56-37 to South Carolina but played Virginia Tech closely, losing 17-10. They'll have one more shot for an important out-of-conference win when they take on North Carolina team on Saturday

Marshall (1-3) scheduled a similar set of BCS foes but wasn't really competitive losing to West Virginia and Virginia Tech. To compound things, the Herd was dominated by Ohio of the mighty MAC, 44-7.

Memphis (1-3) continues to solidify its role as one of the worst teams in the FBS with the Tigers' sole win coming over FCS-opponent Austin Peay. Memphis was destroyed in two other out-of-conference games against Mississippi State and Arkansas State.

Rice (1-2) scheduled and has come up short in a couple of tough in-state games, falling to Texas and Baylor. The Owls did provide a bright spot for the league when they took down Purdue of the Big Ten, 24-22, on Sept. 10.

SMU (3-1), thought to be one of the league's stronger teams, didn't exactly show it in its opener when it was destroyed 46-14 by Texas A&M. The Mustangs redeemed themselves, sort of, when they beat up on Northwestern State. They will have a real shot at redemption Saturday when they take on No. 20 TCU.

Southern Miss (3-1) beat an ACC opponent when it took down Virginia last week, 30-24. The Golden Eagles would be a perfect 4-0, having won all three of their out-of-conference games, but a head-scratching loss to Marshall is the sole blemish so far.

Tulane (2-2) didn't look good against Duke last week, falling 48-27, but at least the Green Wave were able to beat up on Southeastern Louisiana in their home opener.

Tulsa (1-3) absolutely gets credit for having the toughest out-of-conference slate, having taken on three top-10 teams. Of course, the Golden Hurricane haven't come close in any of those games, losing to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Boise State, but the aggressive scheduling at least gave them the opportunity for a program-building win. The Golden Hurricane should rebound, though, when they face North Texas on Saturday.

A bye week and two early in-conference games means UAB (0-3) has only had one-out-of conference match-up to this point, a laughable 39-0 beating at the hands of the Florida Gators.

The Knights started off well, outscoring Charleston Southern and ACC-foe Boston College 92-3 combined. But some well-documented botched plays have cost the Knights from being right up there with Houston and instead have UCF sitting at 2-2 after losses to FIU and BYU.

To wrap things up, UTEP (2-2) had to go to overtime to beat Stony Brook and squeezed by New Mexico State before getting wrecked by South Florida, 52-24.

What it means

Honestly, it's not good.

So far, the conference has no wins over ranked opponents and is a combined 4-13 against BCS schools.

To compound matters, there have been some embarrassing losses against lower-tier FBS schools and also unimpressive wins over FCS schools (see UTEP needing overtime against Stony Brook).

With that in mind, the final word is this, C-USA's general "defense as an afterthought" mentality may make for some exciting league games and parody within the conference, but it doesn't translate well outside the league.

There are still some opportunities for redemption but with all the realignment and uncertainty on the college landscape, it certainly feels like there have been some opportunities squandered and a theme of "coulda, woulda, shoulda" is plaguing C-USA.