Thursday night, a fascinating game will take place between two enigmatic teams. North Texas hosts Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic team. At the beginning of the season, these teams rated to be the favorites to meet again in the Conference USA championship game (Last year, FAU had its way with North Texas, cruising to a 69-31 regular season win and a 41-17 triumph in the title rematch).
The Mean Green started out on fire with big wins over SMU and Arkansas. Its current 7-3 mark masks how close North Texas is to being undefeated. The Mean Green gave up double digit leads to UAB and Louisiana Tech but that heartache was dwarfed by last Saturday’s stunner in Norfolk. North Texas jumped off to a 28-0 lead over a downtrodden Old Dominion team that limped into the game with a 2-7 record. Old Dominion’s diminutive QB, Blake LaRussa, flashed the same magic that stunned Virginia Tech, converting a key, late 4th down conversion en route to a 34-31 barnburner. (By the way, has any 3-7 team ever experienced more ecstasy than ODU? Their other victories were as a 4-TD dog to instate titan, Va Tech, and an incredible victory comeback at Western Kentucky that required 3 untimed downs, which included a near Kick 6)
Florida Atlantic was supposed to be the class of CUSA. So, what is up with their 5-5 record? Their swagger took a jolt after their opening humiliation at Oklahoma. Devin Singletary and Company were supposed to rampage through conference defenses but inconsistent QB play has held them back.
We guess North Texas might fare well, because it is Senior Night on a short week, but anybody who has a good feel for what is going to happen in this game is much smarter than the Odyssey.
On Friday night, we head an hour South to the Hilltop as SMU hosts Memphis. In August, one of these teams was expected to contend for the American West title. That has happened. Except it is SMU doing the contending! If the Mustangs win Friday and next week at Tulsa, they win the West. Not too shabby given that the likes of Phil Steele predicted a cellar-dwellar finish for the Mustangs.
The Odyssey was impressed when we saw the Mustangs in Ann Arbor. SMU kept the game close for a almost a half until a Josh Metellus Pick 6 totally flipped momentum. SMU has already beaten Houston and took a 9-1 Cincinnati team into overtime. SMU has an excellent receiver, James Proche, who has not cared which of the Mustangs’ 2 QBs throw him the ball.
We wonder if SMU can slow down the vaunted Memphis offense. Logic says no. The Tigers’ vastly underrecruited, 5’9″ bowling ball, Darrell Henderson, leads the country in rushing with 1,446 yards and a ridiculous average of 9.2 yards per rush. Just in case you think Henderson is a flash in the pan, he averaged 8.2 yards per carry last year.
Feels like a 45-42 game one way or the other. SMU is still not getting enough respect as evidenced by the Mustangs getting 8.5 points in Dallas.