If you are looking to see who is performing above specs, and who may be performing above or below expectations in college football, this is your place to be this week, as I take a look at each of the FBS conference to examine what each school is doing to improve, and what teams are falling back in the pack. Here is my look at the Conference USA:
Surprise Teams
Charlotte has been solid out the gate with wins over Fordham and Old Dominion, and anytime this team can start out CUSA play with a 1-0 record, it's a great thing. The season will likely catch up with them, but the 49ers are showing signs of life at an important time.
FIU was not expected to be a player in CUSA play this season, and they still have time to fade back, but a win in CUSA play over Old Dominion, and a hard fought loss to Indiana, show that this football team is being coached well for the first time in a while. Butch Davis is getting it done here, and the future looks solid.
North Texas picked up a program defining win at Arkansas last weekend by 27 points, and the Eagles looked like the better side from start to finish, and were never overwhelmed by playing on the road in SEC country. Arkansas it terrible, don't get me wrong, but this win was huge for the season, and the program in terms of recruiting. It also may eventually cost them a coach in Seth Littrell, whose stock just cannoned out of the stratosphere.
Disappointments
Middle Tennessee is always an enraging and inconsistent program under Rick Stockstill, but this team looks like an also ran in CUSA play this season already, and I believe that the Stockstill mediocre era has gotten largely stale. I didn't expect much, but I expected more.
Western Kentucky made a largely terrible hire in Mike Sanford, Jr. His style does not match up what this program has been doing over the last decade, and the wheels are coming off the wagon after losses to Maine and Louisville. The Toppers are 0-3, and are in complete reverse as a program to where Willie Taggart had gotten it years ago. This is a mess.
Old Dominion was another team that most had moderate expectations for, but the Monarchs are already 0-2 in CUSA play, and were blown out by Liberty. This program is a mes right now, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for this season. Bobby Wilder could be in trouble here.
UTSA was supposed to be in a bit of a rebuild this season, but they are hitting rock bottom. They are 0-3 right now, and although all of those losses have been to Power 5 teams, they have not been competitive in those losses. That is certainly troubling.
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