NCAA football preseason report: CUSA-East a league of extremes by The Gaming Today’s Mark Mayer

When I first sat down and looked at Conference USA East, I had a flashback to last year’s Dirty Dozen. Was there a worse team than Memphis?

Straight up, I think not.

And then there was the Central Florida story. A rising power in Florida, which says plenty considering Florida, Florida State and Miami rule the roost and South Florida is coming hard.

C-USA is a league that also boasts consistently solid programs in Southern Miss, Tulsa and Houston. No wonder Memphis has problems.

UCF (10-3 ATS): Coming off its best season in school history that included the league title and bowl win over Georgia. George O’Leary a quality coach and QB Jeff Godfrey a Davey O’Brien candidate. Games with Boston College and BYU will be interesting. A lot to be optimistic about in Orlando.

So. Miss (6-6 ATS): Southern Miss just announced a home and home series with Boise State starting next year. That tells me this program is in good shape. USM has had 17 consecutive winning seasons. Intriguing that listed as a key component for 2011 on the school’s website is kicker Danny Hrapmann.

ECU (6-7 ATS): The good news – having the first four games in Greenville. The bad news is three are South Carolina, Virginia Tech and North Carolina. UCF comes to town later on. The Pirates played a lot better in 2010 as an underdog. They’ll get that chance early on.

Marshall (4-8 ATS): You have to love a head coach named Doc Holliday, but the Herd is picked fourth in the East. And that may be a stretch. Bad weather caused Marshall reps to miss the C-USA preseason meetings in Memphis and there’s no definitive QB. Not good omens.

UAB (5-7 ATS): The Blazers open the season in Gainesville against Florida. Consider yourself “Swamped.” The school’s website said that the offensive line will be a priority in 2012 recruiting. That indicates 2011’s version is not so good. And that’s not promising news.

Memphis (5-7 ATS): Larry Porter’s first season at Memphis was 1-11. He won’t be there long if 1-11 comes up again, and it just might. Porter says the Tigers, “are ready to roar back.” Defense is said to be better. We’ll know early. Game 1 is home to Mississippi State, which won 49-7 a year ago.

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