Conference USA spring football preview: Turnover at top
Conference USA sent five teams into postseason play this past season, one more than the bowl-eligible list of teams from the Sun Belt Conference. In addition, Louisiana Tech notched a New Orleans Bowl win against Arkansas State, giving Conference USA’s third-ranked team a win against the Sun Belt champions.
Perhaps no conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision is as top-heavy as Conference USA, which can tout five or six teams of varying degrees of consistent success before hitting on a crop of programs mired in mediocrity.
As the conference looks toward the 2016 season, hopes of sending its champion into a New Year’s Six bowl hinges on developing greater depth across both divisions.
Three spring storylines
1. Louisiana Tech’s opportunity. Southern Mississippi’s offseason coaching change — from Todd Monken, who left for the NFL, to former assistant coach Jay Hopson — is good news for Louisiana Tech, which should be viewed as the favorite in the West Division after finishing one game behind the Golden Eagles in 2015.
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To live up to these expectations, the Bulldogs must find a replacement for quarterback Jeff Driskel, who threw for 4,000 yards after transferring from Florida. It may be senior Ryan Higgins, who served as Driskel’s backup a season ago, but Louisiana Tech will also audition redshirt freshmen Price Wilson and J’Mar Smith and incoming freshman Jack Abraham, who enrolled for the spring semester.
2. Building UTSA with recruiting. New UTSA coach Frank Wilson has never been a coordinator on the college level, let alone a head coach; his only head-coach experience came at O.P. Walker High School in New Orleans from 2000-3. Since moving into the college ranks in 2005, however, Wilson has developed a reputation as one of the nation’s premier recruiters.
Wilson’s plan for building upon the foundation left by his predecessor, Larry Coker, centers on rejuvenating the Roadrunners’ recruiting efforts. This was seen in miniature during the weeks leading into signing day, but the coming months will reveal just how well Wilson and staff can speak to recruits in Texas and its bordering states. Though there’s little doubt that Wilson will have success on the recruiting trail, it may take two or three cycles to develop the Roadrunners’ talent base to the level needed to win the West Division.
3. Reversing Rice’s one-year dip. Once a model of consistency — winning a combined 25 games from 2012-14 — Rice bottomed out on both sides of the ball a year ago, declines that contributed to the program’s first season outside of bowl eligibility since 2011. To prove last fall to be an aberration, the Owls must find increased production at quarterback and overhaul one of the nation’s worst defenses.
Senior Tyler Stehling, the backup during the past two seasons, might be the favorite to replace Driphus Jackson at quarterback, but his production in a reserve role fails to inspire confidence. The defense has a ways to go, and the Owls’ quest for a bounce-back season depends on how last year’s young and untested contributors develop during the offseason.
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Five impact newcomers
1. Marshall DB C.J. Reavis. The Thundering Herd plan for the junior-college transfer to earn immediate snaps in the secondary.
2. UTSA WR Marquez McNair. A three-star recruit from one of Mississippi’s strongest JUCO programs, McNair gives UTSA a much-needed dose of potential at wide receiver.
3. Western Kentucky QB Tyler Ferguson. After a year at Penn State and a short stint at Louisville, Ferguson enters a crowded competition to replace Brandon Doughty at WKU.
4. Florida Atlantic DT Kevin McCrary. From Dayton Beach, Fla., McCrary chose the Owls over several scholarship offers from teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
5. Southern Mississippi WR Isaiah Jones. The plan is for Jones to help replace Mike Thomas’ all-conference production from 2015.
Spring game schedule
April 8, Rice; April 15, Florida International; April 16, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Rice; April 17, UTEP; April 23, Charlotte, North Texas, Southern Miss, UTSA, Western Kentucky; April 30, Marshall.
PROJECTING THE 2016 TOP 25
