Just saw this blog and thought I'd share...
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Last summer, I ran a series of called 'C-USA Top 5' that ranked the top players, teams and moments in Conference USA's football history.
This year, C-USA is celebrating its 20th year in existence. I decided it was a good time to re-publish the majority of my blogs from that series in one large post.
I've edited some of these rankings to reflect the league's history following the 2014 campaign.
Here you have it, the best of Conference USA football in its 20th year:
TOP QUARTERBACKS
When ranking the best players in Conference USA history at each position, choosing among the top quarterbacks is the most difficult task.
There is no question as to who deserves to be considered the best in C-USA — Houston’s Case Keenum.
In a pass-happy C-USA, the rest of the field is much tougher to put together.
But here you have it, the top five quarterbacks in the 20-year history of the league:
1. Case Keenum (Houston, 2007-11): With 19,217 career passing yards, Keenum is by far the top passer in the history of the FBS, out-pacing the second-place quarterback (Hawaii’s Timmy Chang) by 2,145 yards. He also has the most career touchdown passes in FBS with 155.
2. Rakeem Cato (Marshall, 2011-14): Cato holds the FBS record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass (46). He finished his Marshall years with most of the Herd’s passing records, including career yards (14,079), completions (1,153), attempts (1,838), touchdowns (131) and total offense (14,918).
3. Austin Davis (Southern Miss, 2008-11): C-USA has had flashier quarterbacks in its history, but not many of them were more steady than Davis, a former walk-on who broke most of Brett Favre’s records at USM. He ranks sixth all-time in C-USA in passing yards (10,892) and threw for 83 touchdowns compared to just 27 interceptions. He also rushed for 25 touchdowns.
4. Paul Smith (Tulsa, 2005-07): The Golden Hurricane became a consistent winner with Smith behind center. Tulsa twice made it to the title game under his watch and won the 2005 C-USA championship. He was great as a senior with 5,065 passing yards and 47 passing touchdowns. He also ran for 27 touchdowns, a C-USA career record for a quarterback.
5. Dave Ragone (Louisville, 1999-2002): His numbers may not seem as good as some of the quarterbacks that followed him in C-USA, but Ragone was the best passer in the league’s first decade. He was the three-time C-USA Player of The Year from 2000-02. The three-year starter accounted for 8,564 passing yards and 72 touchdown tosses in his career.
TOP COACHES
Jeff Bower is without question the best football coach to ever walk the sidelines in Conference USA.
When comparing the records of other coaches in the league’s 20-year history, they all pale in comparison to Bower’s run from 1996-2007 at Southern Miss after the program entered C-USA.
USM won four conference titles under Bower. No other program has more than three C-USA titles to this point.
Bower had a 119-83-1 overall coaching record and went an impressive 93-54 in Conference USA, putting up winning marks in all 12 seasons while in the league. Against league competition, Bower was 63-24.
C-USA has been home to a lot of coaching talent, but none of them built a winner like Bower did.
Here are the top five coaches in the league’s history:
1. Jeff Bower (Southern Miss, 1996-2007): Under Bower’s watch, Southern Miss was the dominant program in C-USA from the outset. In the Golden Eagles’ first four years in the league, they went a combined 21-2 against league competition and won two conference titles. USM developed a reputation as a consistent winning program, and no coach at the school can be credited more for that tradition than Bower. When he was forced out as head coach in 2007, it caused a heated debate in the USM community that still rages today.
2. Kevin Sumlin (Houston, 2008-11): Possibly the most dynamic personality to coach in C-USA, Sumlin built on Art Briles’ success and took the program to new heights popularity in the city of Houston. Sumlin deserves a great deal of credit for the new stadium that the Cougars will be playing in this year. He went 35-17 in four years in C-USA, making a big impact in a relatively short period of time.
3. Todd Graham (Rice, 2006 & Tulsa, 2007-10): Graham took over a woeful Rice program that went 1-10 in 2005 and turned it around in one year for a 7-6 season in 2006. He only lasted at Rice one year, taking over at Tulsa in 2007 for a successful four-year run. The Golden Hurricane hit the 10-win mark in three of Graham’s four years there for a 36-17 mark.
4. George O’Leary (UCF, 2005-12): He may be no stranger to controversy, but there’s no denying that he can coach. O’Leary took over at UCF in 2004 in the program’s last year in the MAC and the Knights went 0-11 in that first campaign. The next season, the Knights went 8-5 and played for a C-USA title. O’Leary went 60-44 in his time in C-USA, keeping watch over a program that may be the fastest growing in the nation.
5. Tommy Bowden (Tulane, 1997-98): He was the head coach at Tulane for just two seasons, but he did an incredible job in that short stint. The Green Wave went 7-4 and 5-1 to finish in second place in C-USA in his first year. The next season, Tulane went an incredible 12-0. Bowden’s two years at Tulane should go down as one of the best coaching jobs in college football history.
TOP FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
Conference USA has seen schools come and go, but only one football program has been there throughout its 20 years and been a consistent winner – Southern Miss.
Before the last two seasons of 1-23 football, USM ran off a string of 18 consecutive winnings, 16 of them coming in C-USA.
That’s why Southern Miss tops this C-USA Top 5, which ranks the top football programs in league history.
USM has had its recent struggles, but top programs such as Louisville and East Carolina have also had miserable seasons in C-USA. Louisville went 1-10 in 1997 and ECU went a combined 3-20 from 2003-04.
TCU comes up short of making it in this top five because its stint in C-USA was so short (2001-04) and included two great seasons in 2002 and 2003 (a combined 21-4 in that stretch) framed by 6-6 and 5-6 campaigns.
Here are your top five football programs in C-USA history:
1. Southern Miss (1996-): USM has been considered one of the top football programs in C-USA since the league was founded in 1995. The Golden Eagles have five league titles, the most in C-USA history. Former coach Jeff Bower built the program around strong defense and his successor Larry Fedora turned USM into an offensive juggernaut. Second-year coach Todd Monken hopes to get the program back on track.
2. Louisville (1996-2004): The Cardinals became one of the better non-BCS programs in the country. Head coaches John L. Smith and Bobby Petrino built a proven winner and that allowed the program to make the climb to the Big East and the ACC, which it joins this year. Louisville had some average teams in C-USA, but it closed out strong with three titles in its last five years in the conference with a 47-16 record during that stretch.
3. Tulsa (2005-13): Only topped by Southern Miss as a consistent winner, Tulsa had a better reputation as a basketball program when it joined the league in 2005. In its nine years in C-USA, Tulsa had seven seasons of at least eight victories and two C-USA titles.
4. UCF (2005-12): The Knights had their ups and downs in C-USA, but George O’Leary’s teams were were always tough to handle in the East. UCF won four division titles and two C-USA championships, going 43-21 against league competition.
5. East Carolina (1997-2013): The Pirates edge out Houston for the final spot on this list because of the Cougars’ early struggles in their first decade in C-USA. ECU had the most rabid fans in C-USA and they were witness to mostly very good football teams in Greenville, N.C. ECU won back-to-back titles in 2008-09 and reached the postseason 10 times.
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Last summer, I ran a series of called 'C-USA Top 5' that ranked the top players, teams and moments in Conference USA's football history.
This year, C-USA is celebrating its 20th year in existence. I decided it was a good time to re-publish the majority of my blogs from that series in one large post.
I've edited some of these rankings to reflect the league's history following the 2014 campaign.
Here you have it, the best of Conference USA football in its 20th year:
TOP QUARTERBACKS
When ranking the best players in Conference USA history at each position, choosing among the top quarterbacks is the most difficult task.
There is no question as to who deserves to be considered the best in C-USA — Houston’s Case Keenum.
In a pass-happy C-USA, the rest of the field is much tougher to put together.
But here you have it, the top five quarterbacks in the 20-year history of the league:
1. Case Keenum (Houston, 2007-11): With 19,217 career passing yards, Keenum is by far the top passer in the history of the FBS, out-pacing the second-place quarterback (Hawaii’s Timmy Chang) by 2,145 yards. He also has the most career touchdown passes in FBS with 155.
2. Rakeem Cato (Marshall, 2011-14): Cato holds the FBS record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass (46). He finished his Marshall years with most of the Herd’s passing records, including career yards (14,079), completions (1,153), attempts (1,838), touchdowns (131) and total offense (14,918).
3. Austin Davis (Southern Miss, 2008-11): C-USA has had flashier quarterbacks in its history, but not many of them were more steady than Davis, a former walk-on who broke most of Brett Favre’s records at USM. He ranks sixth all-time in C-USA in passing yards (10,892) and threw for 83 touchdowns compared to just 27 interceptions. He also rushed for 25 touchdowns.
4. Paul Smith (Tulsa, 2005-07): The Golden Hurricane became a consistent winner with Smith behind center. Tulsa twice made it to the title game under his watch and won the 2005 C-USA championship. He was great as a senior with 5,065 passing yards and 47 passing touchdowns. He also ran for 27 touchdowns, a C-USA career record for a quarterback.
5. Dave Ragone (Louisville, 1999-2002): His numbers may not seem as good as some of the quarterbacks that followed him in C-USA, but Ragone was the best passer in the league’s first decade. He was the three-time C-USA Player of The Year from 2000-02. The three-year starter accounted for 8,564 passing yards and 72 touchdown tosses in his career.
TOP COACHES
Jeff Bower is without question the best football coach to ever walk the sidelines in Conference USA.
When comparing the records of other coaches in the league’s 20-year history, they all pale in comparison to Bower’s run from 1996-2007 at Southern Miss after the program entered C-USA.
USM won four conference titles under Bower. No other program has more than three C-USA titles to this point.
Bower had a 119-83-1 overall coaching record and went an impressive 93-54 in Conference USA, putting up winning marks in all 12 seasons while in the league. Against league competition, Bower was 63-24.
C-USA has been home to a lot of coaching talent, but none of them built a winner like Bower did.
Here are the top five coaches in the league’s history:
1. Jeff Bower (Southern Miss, 1996-2007): Under Bower’s watch, Southern Miss was the dominant program in C-USA from the outset. In the Golden Eagles’ first four years in the league, they went a combined 21-2 against league competition and won two conference titles. USM developed a reputation as a consistent winning program, and no coach at the school can be credited more for that tradition than Bower. When he was forced out as head coach in 2007, it caused a heated debate in the USM community that still rages today.
2. Kevin Sumlin (Houston, 2008-11): Possibly the most dynamic personality to coach in C-USA, Sumlin built on Art Briles’ success and took the program to new heights popularity in the city of Houston. Sumlin deserves a great deal of credit for the new stadium that the Cougars will be playing in this year. He went 35-17 in four years in C-USA, making a big impact in a relatively short period of time.
3. Todd Graham (Rice, 2006 & Tulsa, 2007-10): Graham took over a woeful Rice program that went 1-10 in 2005 and turned it around in one year for a 7-6 season in 2006. He only lasted at Rice one year, taking over at Tulsa in 2007 for a successful four-year run. The Golden Hurricane hit the 10-win mark in three of Graham’s four years there for a 36-17 mark.
4. George O’Leary (UCF, 2005-12): He may be no stranger to controversy, but there’s no denying that he can coach. O’Leary took over at UCF in 2004 in the program’s last year in the MAC and the Knights went 0-11 in that first campaign. The next season, the Knights went 8-5 and played for a C-USA title. O’Leary went 60-44 in his time in C-USA, keeping watch over a program that may be the fastest growing in the nation.
5. Tommy Bowden (Tulane, 1997-98): He was the head coach at Tulane for just two seasons, but he did an incredible job in that short stint. The Green Wave went 7-4 and 5-1 to finish in second place in C-USA in his first year. The next season, Tulane went an incredible 12-0. Bowden’s two years at Tulane should go down as one of the best coaching jobs in college football history.
TOP FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
Conference USA has seen schools come and go, but only one football program has been there throughout its 20 years and been a consistent winner – Southern Miss.
Before the last two seasons of 1-23 football, USM ran off a string of 18 consecutive winnings, 16 of them coming in C-USA.
That’s why Southern Miss tops this C-USA Top 5, which ranks the top football programs in league history.
USM has had its recent struggles, but top programs such as Louisville and East Carolina have also had miserable seasons in C-USA. Louisville went 1-10 in 1997 and ECU went a combined 3-20 from 2003-04.
TCU comes up short of making it in this top five because its stint in C-USA was so short (2001-04) and included two great seasons in 2002 and 2003 (a combined 21-4 in that stretch) framed by 6-6 and 5-6 campaigns.
Here are your top five football programs in C-USA history:
1. Southern Miss (1996-): USM has been considered one of the top football programs in C-USA since the league was founded in 1995. The Golden Eagles have five league titles, the most in C-USA history. Former coach Jeff Bower built the program around strong defense and his successor Larry Fedora turned USM into an offensive juggernaut. Second-year coach Todd Monken hopes to get the program back on track.
2. Louisville (1996-2004): The Cardinals became one of the better non-BCS programs in the country. Head coaches John L. Smith and Bobby Petrino built a proven winner and that allowed the program to make the climb to the Big East and the ACC, which it joins this year. Louisville had some average teams in C-USA, but it closed out strong with three titles in its last five years in the conference with a 47-16 record during that stretch.
3. Tulsa (2005-13): Only topped by Southern Miss as a consistent winner, Tulsa had a better reputation as a basketball program when it joined the league in 2005. In its nine years in C-USA, Tulsa had seven seasons of at least eight victories and two C-USA titles.
4. UCF (2005-12): The Knights had their ups and downs in C-USA, but George O’Leary’s teams were were always tough to handle in the East. UCF won four division titles and two C-USA championships, going 43-21 against league competition.
5. East Carolina (1997-2013): The Pirates edge out Houston for the final spot on this list because of the Cougars’ early struggles in their first decade in C-USA. ECU had the most rabid fans in C-USA and they were witness to mostly very good football teams in Greenville, N.C. ECU won back-to-back titles in 2008-09 and reached the postseason 10 times.
