C-USA Football Scoreboard: Old Dominion shocks in CUSA opener

We are back with the post-Saturday CUSA football scoreboard, and it wasn’t a great day around the conference.

Old Dominion (3-1) 45 – Rice (0-3) 42
The Monarchs have won their inaugural Conference USA game, as they went into the Lone Star state and beat defending C-USA champions Rice by three points, even after being outscored in both quarters in the second half. ODU went into halftime with a 28-14 lead, and extended it to 35-14 in the third quarter, but Rice wouldn’t go away quietly, and provided four of the next six scores, and a seven yard touchdown run by Darik Dillard with 1:05 to play in the game tied it at 42. But, ODU made the most out of getting the ball back, and went 67 yards in 65 seconds, and Ricky Segers nailed home the 25 yard field goal for the win. Monarch quarterback Taylor Heinicke went 27 of 43 passing for 430 yards and five touchdowns (those are Doughty-ish numbers, bro) and ODU barley edged the Owls in total yards 530-526.

Marshall 48 – Akron 17
Marshall helped continue the conference’s dominance against “Group of Five” schools by scoring the first 24 points on the road, and taking a 31-3 lead into the half. Quarterback Rakeem Cato eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the year, something he has done all four years with the Herd. (The other QB to do so was Chad Pennington. Thanks to Word of the Herd for that info!) He dished out 210 yards on 17/31 passing, and five different receivers had 30 or more yards catching. The Herd had two 100 rushers on the day – Remi Watson (124) and Devon Johnson (103) – and they each had had a score, only to be outdone by Cato, who had two scampers of his own. Marshall had four forced turnovers in the first half alone, and limited the Zips to just 92 yards on the ground. One thing that bit the Herd, however, was 20 penalties for 188 yards. Eeeshh.

North Texas 77 – Nicholls State 3
Every one of the Mean Green’s 11 scores were touchdowns, and North Texas finished with 526 yards of offense and forced three interceptions. But, it’s FCS Nicholls State, so I’m not sure how much should be taken away from it.

More from Conference USA

FIU 3 (1-3) – Louisville 34 (3-1. 1-1 ACC)
This score shouldn’t really come as a surprise, and honestly, I’m partially surprised the Panthers put any points on the board. The lone FIU score came in the second quarter, when the Cardinals were already up 28-0. FIU had less than 100 yards on the ground and gained only 205 total, and also had three total turnovers.

FAU 19 (1-3) – Wyoming 20 (3-1)
The Owls fought back from a 10-3 lead to take a lead at 16-10, and again at 19-17, but the defense couldn’t hold the Cowboys from coming back both times, and the offense’s lack to score a touchdown (the lone one coming in the third quarter on a 14 yard Jaquez Johnson touchdown run) lead to a last-second win for Wyoming. The Owls didn’t have an explosive day on offense, either – totaling just 108 through the air and 188 on the ground – and coughed the ball up three times.

Louisiana Tech 27 (2-2) – Northwestern St. 30 (2-2)
The Techsters blew a 13-3 lead and gave up 20 points in the fourth quarter to allow the FCS Nothwestern State Demons come into Ruston and leave with a victory after kicking the game winning field goal with time expiring. Cody Sokol had a solid day, completing 20 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown, but did throw three interceptions. Kenneth Dixon ran for 103 yards, but the other five guys who had a carry only totaled 30, and no receiver had more than 72 yards (Sterling Griffin). Northwestern St. won the game by holding the ball (45:11 TOP) and showing great discipline, getting flagged only three times compared to Louisiana Tech’s eight.

Southern Miss 21 (2-2) – Appalachian St. 20 (1-2)
The parody of who won and who lost this week in CUSA is incredibly interesting, because Southern Miss was most likely on the short list of teams people thought might lose, but they pull out the one point victory at home and pull even on the year. The Eagles took a 21-14 lead with 2:22 to play, but the Mountaineers would score with six seconds on the clock, and a huge blocked field goal from the Eagles defense kept App St. from pulling even. Nick Mullens threw for 268 yards, completing 22 of his 35 attempted passes, and the eventual game winning touchdown pass, a 31 yard strike to George Payne.

MTSU 17 (2-2) – Memphis 36 (2-1)
Yes, last week’s loss still stings, so it was nice to see the Raiders fall to Memphis (a CUSA alum). The Tigers’ balanced attack (over 200 yards both rushing and passing) was too much for the MTBR’s defense, and they themselves ran for only 88 yards. Austin Grammer ran for a lowly two yards on 11 carries, but got it done through the air, throwing for 237 yards, but did have an interception. Shane Tucker had the two touchdowns for the Blue Raiders, a one yard run in the first quarter and a three yard run for the last score of the game in the fourth.

While bye weeks are tough, I’m kind of glad the Tops didn’t have a game, because with the way most of yesterday’s games went, who knows how bad it could have been?

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