The Conference USA Football Kickoff held Tuesday at the East Memphis Marriott was a chance for players and coaches to show how the once fledgling conference has grown in its seven-year history.
With the possibility of expansion looming, a Heisman Trophy candidate in Louisville Cardinal quarterback Dave Ragone and five bowl tie-ins, C-USA figures it is on the road to national acceptance.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson said the conference has also gained respect with past wins over perennial Top 25 teams and with the scheduling of tougher competition in the future.
Along with Memphis playing two Southeastern Conference schools this season, Louisville will host perennial power Florida State while TCU will travel to Chicago to play Northwestern of the Big Ten.
“Look at all the teams like the Louisville’s and us — every year we play somebody,” Patterson said. “I think we have to take it one step at a time and keep moving toward that direction. We are only seven years old, and we just keep getting better and better every year.”
Piling up victories this season could bring five C-USA teams a chance to go “bowling” at season’s end. With ties to the New Orleans Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Houston Bowl, GMAC Bowl and Liberty Bowl, C-USA should be well-represented this postseason.
Bowl officials, like Dave Ippoliti of the Houston Bowl, say they are happy to be affiliated with C-USA.
“Having Conference USA is very good for us,” Ippoliti said. “There are a lot of schools there in a very competitive league. We are very pleased with that. The outcome last year with TCU was to have 52,000 people show up (at the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl).”
Along with tough competition and bowl opportunities, C-USA has a legitimate Heisman candidate in Ragone, whom coaches named preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Last year Ragone won C-USA Player of the Year, completing 60 percent of his passes for 3,056 yards. He also led C-USA in touchdown passes with 23.
Ragone said he is not feeling any pressure from the media or fans to have another outstanding year, despite the Heisman hype.
“The expectations that other people put on me never measure up to the ones I put on myself,” Ragone said. “I’m a firm believer that you set your own goals, and you can’t let other people dictate what you want.”
Ragone said if he is to win the Heisman, his teammates must help him.
“It is a personal goal that can’t be reached unless the other guys on your team perform well,” Ragone said.
According to the 6-4, 250-pound senior, the stresses of college football don’t compare to those of everyday-life.
“Pressure to me is when you’re 40 years old, you have two kids and a job, and you have to feed your kids,” he said. “Playing football is not pressure. I’ve done it my whole life. Once I start making it a job in college, it’s not going to be fun.”
Fellow Cardinal, defensive end Dewayne White, was selected as preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Tulane’s Seth Marler, 2001 Lou Groza Award winner for best kicker, was named preseason Special Team Player of the Year. Memphis offensive lineman Jimond Pugh was the only Tiger named to C-USA’s first team.
Louisville was predicted by coaches to win its third consecutive conference championship, with Southern Mississippi finishing second. East Carolina, TCU and Cincinnati were picked to finish in positions three through five, while Memphis was picked sixth. UAB, Tulane, Houston and Army rounded out the rest of the order.
Louisville coach John Smith said his team is happy to be picked first and looks forward to the challenges this season.
“We pride ourselves in being picked No. 1,” Smith said. “It’s good. It’s what we strive to do — be the guy with the target on our chest.”
With 11 teams currently making up C-USA in football (South Florida will join as a football school in 2003), an extra team could help the conference grow in several ways.
With one more team, a C-USA championship game would be a possibility. C-USA coaches said they believe having a 12th team and a championship game is a good idea.
“When you get larger than nine teams, you need to think about going ahead to 12 teams so you can get two equal halves to have a championship game,” said Rick Minter, head coach of Cincinnati. “So that champion going to the Liberty Bowl can say, ‘I truly earned it.’”
Jeff Bower, Southern Miss head coach, said the conference needs one more good team to add to its growing success.
“If it is the right team, they could add more credibility to our league,” he said.
