Sportsfrog.com

WEST

1. Houston — I’ll go out on a limb and say that any defensive weaknesses that the Cougars have this season will be overshadowed by their offense, and they’ll win the West division. Case Keenum, Bryce Beall and Tyron Carrier all return for Houston, and Keenum could very easily eclipse the 5,000 yard passing mark again this season. If Beall can rush for over 1200 yards again as well, watch out.

2. UTEP — If Houston doesn’t win the West, UTEP will. The Miners return 15 starters and avoid the top two teams in the East division. Trevor Vittatoe threw for 33 TDs last year, but that was good for just fourth in the conference. But if Vittatoe is to exceed last year’s statistics, he’s going to need some help from the run game. The top three backs on UTEP’s depth chart ran for a combined 656 yards last season.

3. Tulsa — Tulsa scored over 47 points per game last season, and with all of the talent that they lost on offense, don’t count on them coming close to that number this year. Add in the fact that unlike UTEP, Tulsa draws both Southern Miss and East Carolina, and this could be a bit of a down season for the Golden Hurricane. The defense does return eight starters, but that won’t be enough to make up for the offensive slowdown.

4. SMU – This may be the first year that SMU shows those pesky death panels who’s boss. Yeah sure, the death panels have had the upper hand lately, as the Mustangs have lost 17 straight conference games, but SMU returns 16 starters, including quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who is just a sophomore. If he can improve and the defense can at least contain some opponents, SMU may be above .500. It wouldn’t surprise me if they beat Washington State in week three, although that doesn’t really say much, does it?

5. Rice – Yeah, Rice returns nine starters, but they lost their starting quarterback, running back, and Jarrett Dillard and James Casey. Given how prolific that the C-USA West offenses are, Rice is going to be in for a rough season, especially considering that the Owls start with UAB, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State on the road.

6. Tulane — Tulane returns 13 starters from last year’s 2-10 team and has an absolutely brutal schedule that includes BYU and LSU and most of their conference road games are against comparable opponents, while they draw the top teams at home. That’s not a recipe for success.

EAST

1. Southern Miss — Bert Farv’s alma mater shouldn’t start 2-6 again this season. The Golden Eagles return 19 starters, and most importantly, Phil Steele ranks their running backs, wide receivers, offensive line and defensive backs the best in the conference. Because we all know that Phil Steele is infallible. Realistically, if Southern Miss is going to win the East title, they’re going to have to win one of their road games against Houston or East Carolina. That should happen.

2. East Carolina — The Pirates were the C-USA champs last season thanks to Tulsa’s inability to hold onto the football; a reason that would have seemed a bit farfetched after ECU’s early season wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Once again, ECU is going to do the rotation thing with Patrick Pinkney and David Kass at quarterback, and I think that’s going to cause more harm than good this season.

3. Marshall — Yes, they are Marshall, and they may be a sleeper team in the C-USA East. The Thundering Herd return 16 starters and get both East Carolina and Southern Miss at home. If either Mark Cann or Brian Anderson can step up and win the quarterback position, it wouldn’t be that big of a shock to see Marshall win the East.

4. Central Florida — The resume fakers return nine starters on offense and should bounce back from last season’s 4-8 campaign. Of course, improvement would require UCF to improve on their 12-11 TD-INT ratio from last year, but with every starting skill player returning, Rob Calabrese has no excuse for not improving his numbers. But when you look at UCF’s 2008 offensive statistics, they’d be hard pressed not to improve.

5. Memphis — The Tigers return only five starters on offense, but three of them are quarterback Arkelon Hall, running back Curtis Steele and receiver Carlos Singleton. However, they have probably the most brutal four game stretch of anyone in the conference with consecutive games against UTEP, Southern Miss, ECU and Tennessee, and are the only East team to face UTEP, Houston and Tulsa. Ouch.

6. UAB — Given that the Blazers return everyone on offense, this may be a little low. If this an incorrect prediction, do-it-all quarterback Joe Webb is going to have to improve his 10-16 TD-INT ratio. Running backs Rashaud Slaughter and Justin Brooks will have to pick up the slack, because if Webb’s going to stay healthy for a full season, asking for another 1,200 yards rushing probably isn’t a good idea.