The calendar turns to October this week and conference play heats up with four league games spread throughout Saturday’s schedule. This week’s slate also features a Friday night non-conference tilt against a ranked opponent.
Louisiana Tech will carry its 2-0 record out West for its first-ever meeting with No. 22 BYU (7 pm MT on ESPN2). Graduate transfer QB Luke Anthony has impressed in his first two games as a Bulldog, throwing for 463 yards and eight touchdowns. He will lead the Bulldogs offense against a Cougars team that has allowed just 10 points in two games.
UAB (2-1) will return to Legion Field looking for its 20th consecutive home victory when UTSA (3-0) comes to town (11:30 am CT on Stadium). Blazers senior RB Spencer Brown, already the school’s all-time leading rusher, is now its all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (36). The Roadrunners are 3-0 for the third time in program history and have a talented rusher of their own in sophomore Sincere McCormick (126 yards per game with three TDs).
A pair of schools that have had their games postponed each of the last two weeks are slated to meet each other when Charlotte (0-1) visits Florida Atlantic (0-0) in Boca Raton (4 pm ET on ESPNU). Redshirt junior LB Tyler Murray (14) and Redshirt senior S Ben DeLuca (16) combined for 30 tackles in Charlotte’s season opener and will lead the defense against an Owls team that will have a lot of new faces on their offense, but return the team’s top four rushers from last season.
The most-played rivalry in Conference USA meets for the 71st time when WKU travels 100 miles south to meet Middle Tennessee (4 pm CT on ESPN3). The Blue Raiders narrowly lead the all-time series, which has seen four of the last eight meetings go to overtime, while seven of the last nine have been decided by one possession.
North Texas plays its third straight home game when it welcomes West Division rival Southern Miss to Denton (6:30 p.m. CT on Stadium) in a matchup of the top two passing offenses in C-USA. The Mean Green’s highly productive offense (1,238 total yards in their first two games) includes senior WR Jaelon Darden (five TDs in two outings). Golden Eagles senior QB Jack Abraham is averaging a league-best 292.3 yards per game through the air with five passing scores.
WEEK FIVE C-USA FOOTBALL PREVIEW
LOUISIANA TECH (2-0, 1-0 in C-USA) at (22) BYU (2-0)
Friday, October 2
7 p.m. MT
Provo, Utah (Lavell Edwards Stadium)
Television: ESPN2
Announcers: Dave Fleming (PxP), Andre Ware (AN), Stormy Buonantony (SL)
All-Time Series: First Meeting
FAST FACTS
**Graduate student QB Luke Anthony made his first start for Louisiana Tech and led the Bulldogs to a 66-38 win over Houston Baptist, finishing the night 17-of-30 for 314 yards and five touchdowns.
He also ran for a score, making him the fourth LA Tech player to throw 5 TDs and also run for one. Anthony now passed for eight touchdowns in the first two games of the season which is the most by a Bulldog QB in the Division I era of the program (since 1975).
He trails only Texas QB Sam Ehlinger (10) for the most passing touchdowns in the FBS.
**Sophomore WR Wayne Toussant had a career-high 91 yards on three receptions vs. HBU. He opened the Bulldogs’ scoring with a career-long-tying 44-yard TD reception and later added a 43-yard
scoring catch.
**Redshirt senior WR Isaiah Graham joined
Wayne Toussant with having two touchdown catches, the fifth and sixth scores of his career. It marked the first time since the Armed Forces Bowl against Navy in 2016 that the Bulldogs had
multiple receivers with multiple touchdown receptions. There have now been three different Bulldogs (Graham, Toussant and redshirt junior WR
Griffin Hebert) who have registered multiple TD catches in a single game this season.
**The Bulldog defense forced two Houston Baptist turnovers (one fumble recovery and one interception) last Saturday. They extended their streak of forcing a turnover to 19 straight games which is the longest active streak in the country. The Bulldogs have
also recorded at least one interception in seven straight games dating back to last season.
**Freshman LB Tyler Grubbs has led LA Tech in tackles in each of the first two games, totaling 12 vs. HBU. He has 28 stops in his first two games and his 14.0 tackle per game average is
the highest in the FBS among those with multiple games played.
**Led by QB Zach Wilson’s career-high 392 passing yards, No. 18 BYU improved to 2-0 with a 48-7 win over Troy last Saturday. BYU finished with 664 yards of total offense, the most since 741 in 2015 vs. Wagner and the most against an FBS team since 681 vs.
Houston in 2013. The Cougars have outgained their first two opponents 1,244 to 330 and outscored them, 103-10.
MORE
Louisiana Tech Football:
https://latechsports.com/sports/football
BYU Football: https://byucougars.com/home/football
UTSA (3-0, 1-0 in C-USA) at UAB (2-1)
Saturday, October 3
11:30 a.m. CT
Birmingham, Alabama (Legion Field)
Television: Stadium
Announcers: Chris Vosters (PxP), Max Starks (AN)
All-Time Series: UAB leads 3-0
Last Meeting: UAB 33, at UTSA 14 (Oct. 12, 2019)
FAST FACTS
**UAB plays its fourth annual Children’s Harbor game when the Blazers host UTSA on Saturday. UAB players will once again wear the last name of Children’s Harbor patients on the back of their alternate grey and lime jerseys. This year’s game brings the total
to nearly 400 Children’s Harbor patients honored through this initiative.
**UAB won last year’s meeting in San Antonio, as Austin Watkins, Jr. caught six passes for 167 yards and a touchdown and Nick Vogel kicked four field goals for the Blazers.
**UAB opens a three-game home stand at Legion Field, where the Blazers have won a Conference USA record 19 consecutive games. UAB has not lost at home since the program returned in 2017.
**Senior RB Spencer Brown became UAB’s career leader in rushing touchdowns in last Thursday’s win at South Alabama. Already UAB’s career rushing yards leader, Brown added another accolade
to his illustrious career by scoring his 36th career rushing touchdown and passing Pat Green, who scored 35 from 1991-94. Brown tallied his 15th career 100-yard performance, finishing with 20 carries for 105 yards and three rushing touchdowns, all in the
first half. It was the third time in Brown’s career he has rushed for three touchdowns in a game.
**Redshirt freshman quarterback Bryson Lucero shined in his first career start at USA, throwing for 319 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 18-of-28 passes and found nine different receivers
throughout the game. Lucero’s performance marked the first time since last September’s game against the Jaguars that a UAB signal caller has thrown for over 300 yards.
**Senior WR Austin Watkins, Jr. had seven catches for a career-high 183 yards and one touchdown in the win at USA, while senior WR
Myron Mitchell complimented him with three catches for 77 yards. Last year the duo combined for 91 catches, 1,646 yards and 11 touchdowns. In three games this year, they have combined
for 32 catches, 528 yards and three TDs. According to PFF, Watkins, Jr., was the highest-graded WR in college football during week 4, earning a mark of 92.0.
**With TD Marshall’s forced fumble (recovered by
Kyle Greenwell) with 8:14 to go in the third quarter, UAB has now forced and recovered a fumble in each of its three contests this season. The Blazers notched four total on the year.
**First-year head coach Jeff Traylor is the first UTSA coach to begin his tenure 3-0. He will try to lead the Roadrunners to their first 4-0 start since 2012 and just the second time in
program history.
**Freshman LB Jamal Ligon was named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week and Athlon’s Nation Defensive Freshman of the Week after he broke UTSA’s single-game tackles record with 19 stops in
the win over Middle Tennessee last Friday. Ligon’s 19 tackles eclipsed the previous program standard of 16 set in 2011 by Cody Rogers and it marks the most tackles made by an FBS player in a game this season.
**One of the keys to UTSA’s 3-0 start has been a balanced offensive attack. Under the direction of offensive coordinator
Barry Lunney Jr., the Roadrunners are averaging 462.7 yards per game to rank third in Conference USA and 21st nationally. UTSA is rushing for 215.7 yards per game, which stands third in
the league and 18th in the FBS, and passing for 247.0 yards per outing.
**UTSA WR Zakhari Franklin picked up where he left off in his debut campaign in his first action of his sophomore season. After missing the first two games, he caught six passes for 119
yards and a touchdown to help lead the Roadrunners to the win over Middle Tennessee. He was on the receiving end of a 25-yard TD pass from junior QB
Frank Harris in the first half and he nearly had his second score of the night on a 48-yard catch-and-run to the 1-yard line.
**Junior QB Josh Adkins came off the bench late in the opening half of the 37-35 victory over Middle Tennessee to replace injured starter Frank Harris, and the transfer from New Mexico State
impressed in his first action as a Roadrunner. Adkins completed 16 of 28 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown to help ensure the third 3-0 start in program history. His two longest passes of 48 and 34 yards went to Zakhari Franklin and he also connected
with Brennon Dingle for 29 and 20 yards.
**UTSA senior K Hunter Duplessis was 3-for-3 in field goal attempts in last Friday’s 37-35 win over Middle Tennessee. Duplessis leads the FBS with seven field goals made on the season and
has the longest active streak of field goals made with 16.
MORE
UTSA Football: https://goutsa.com/index.aspx?path=football
UAB Football: http://uabsports.com/index.aspx?path=football
CHARLOTTE (0-1) at FLORIDA ATLANTIC (0-0)
Saturday, October 3
4 p.m. ET
Boca Raton, Florida (FAU Stadium)
Television: ESPNU
Announcers: Mike Corey (PxP), Jay Walker (AN)
All-Time Series: Florida Atlantic leads 3-2
Last Meeting: Florida Atlantic 45, at Charlotte 27 (Sept. 28, 2019)
FAST FACTS
**Both schools have had games postponed in each of the last two weeks due to COVID-19-related issues. Charlotte has not played since Sept. 12, while this will be Florida Atlantic’s season-opener.
**The visiting team has won all five games in the series. Last year, Chris Robison threw for 312 yards and
Malcolm Davidson ran for two touchdowns to lead FAU to a 45-27 win.
Chris Reynolds threw touchdown passes to three different receivers for Charlotte.
**Graduate senior RB Tre Harbison opened the game’s scoring at Appalachian State on Sept. 12 with a 14-yard TD run in the first quarter. The transfer from Northern Illinois finished with
87 rushing yards (101 total yards) on 17 carries.
**Redshirt junior LB Tyler Murray posted double-digit tackles and played a role in three key turnovers as Charlotte battled Appalachian State. Murray recovered a fumble to thwart an App
State scoring drive at the Charlotte one-yard line on their first possession of the game. His third-quarter interception stopped another drive into the red zone and he forced fumble at the Mountaineers 20-yard line gave Charlotte a chance to tie midway through
the fourth quarter. The transfer from Troy finished the game with 14 tackles, 1.0 TFL, a FR, a FF and an INT in his 49ers debut, earning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
**Redshirt senior S Ben DeLuca returned to the lineup after a redshirt season in 2019 and registered a team-high 16 tackles. He also forced a fumble at the goal line on App State’s first
possession (recovered by Tyler Murray), adding to his school-record with his 8th forced fumble. With 281 career tackles, he is second all-time at Charlotte and now 25 tackles shy of the 49ers all-time record (306, Jeff Gemmell).
**Senior KR Aaron McAllister broke a school-record with a 97-yard kickoff return at Appalachian State last Saturday. It was McAllister’s first career kickoff return for a touchdown, the
49ers fourth kickoff return for a TD in school history and the first since 2015. The previous record was a 96-yard return by Mikel Hunter during the 49ers inaugural season of 2013.
**As Florida Atlantic gets set to open its 2020 season this Saturday vs. Charlotte, the Owls will do so with the second-longest winning streak in the FBS (7 games). Only Air Force and Notre Dame (8 each) have longer active win streaks.
**This marks the first game of the Willie Taggart era at Florida Atlantic. A Florida native, Taggart is considered one of the best offensive minds in the country and has proven to be very
successful on the recruiting trail. Taggart comes to FAU after serving as head coach at Florida State for two seasons, Oregon for one season and South Florida and his alma mater, WKU, to begin his head coaching career.
**Florida Atlantic returns its top five rushers from last season, including four running backs. Junior
Malcolm Davidson topped the group with 711 yards and a team-best nine touchdowns, while redshirt senior
James Charles ran for 423 yards and five TDs and sophomore
Larry McCammon III added 324 yards and seven scores in just nine games.
**Senior OL Desmond Noel was named to the preseason All-Conference USA team. Noel joined the Owls’ offensive line two weeks into the 2019 campaign and made an immediate impact, contributing
to FAU’s win over Charlotte and then starting the next nine games. He was part of a line that provided protection for 6,280 yards of offense, made up of 3,956 through the air and 2,324 yards on the ground.
**Sophomore P Matt Hayball is on the preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award. In his redshirt freshman campaign, the native of Australia tallied 68 punts for a total of 2,958 yards,
an average of 43.60 yards per punt. Hayball’s longest boot was for 77 yards, and nearly one-third of his punts were downed inside the 20, while just four were touchbacks.
MORE
Charlotte Football: https://charlotte49ers.com/sports/football
Florida Atlantic Football: https://fausports.com/sports/football
WKU (0-2) at MIDDLE TENNESSEE (0-2, 0-1 in C-USA)
Saturday, October 3
4 p.m. CT
Murfreesboro, Tennessee (Floyd Stadium)
Television: ESPN3
Announcers: Jake Rose (PxP), Jeremy Kellem (AN)
All-Time Series: Middle Tennessee 35-33-1
Last Meeting: at WKU 31, Middle Tennessee 26 (Nov. 30, 2019)
FAST FACTS
**Four of the last eight meetings in the series have gone into overtime and seven of the last nine have been decided by one possession. WKU has won four of the last five matchups.
**In last year’s meeting, Gaej Walker rushed for 119 yards and his fourth-quarter touchdown capped a 31-26 win as WKU rallied past Middle Tennessee.
Asher O’Hara threw for 301 yards and three TD’s, while rushing for 144 yards for the Blue Raiders.
**Graduate QB Tyrrell Pigrome completed 18-of-25 attempts for 193 pass yards, with a career-high three touchdowns and no interceptions against Liberty on Sept. 19. He also carried 14 times
for 62 yards, including a WKU game-long 21-yard rush in the third quarter.
**Junior WR Mitchell Tinsley has caught a touchdown in each of the first two games. He has nine receptions for 107 yards over his first two games with the Hilltoppers.
**Senior S Devon Key, who is expected to make his 40th consecutive start for WKU on Saturday, registered a career-high 15 tackles against Liberty for his 8th-career double-digit
tackle game.
**Through two games, the Hilltoppers have only committed six penalties for 42 yards. Last season, WKU ranked 11th in FBS with only 39.5 penalty yards per game on 4.1 infractions.
**Senior QB Asher O’Hara accounted for 433 total offensive yards for the Blue Raiders last Friday at UTSA. O’Hara collected career highs in completions (31) and passing yards (372) while
leading MT’s comeback attempt with three second half touchdown passes. Friday’s contest marked O’Hara’s fifth career game of 300-plus passing yards. He led the charge on MT’s first scoring drive of the night, going 5-for-6 with 65 yards through the air.
On MT’s next scoring drive, O’Hara delivered third-down gains of 42 and 30 yards to keep the drive alive.
**Blue Raiders senior WR Jarrin Pierce leads C-USA and ranks 14th nationally in receptions per game with 7.3. He has 22 catches for 221 yards, including a career high 11 receptions against
Troy on Sept. 19 and a career-best 107 yards at UTSA last Friday.
**The Blue Raiders turned in two scoring drives of 90-plus yards against UTSA last week. MT had a 91-yard scoring drive in the second quarter and took a third-quarter lead with a 96-yard drive on just three plays in the third quarter.
**Junior S Greg Grate leads the Middle Tennessee with 21 tackles on the season. He is coming off his best performance of the young season at UTSA where he had seven tackles, an interception,
forced fumble, a TFL and a pass defended.
MORE
WKU Football: https://wkusports.com/sports/football
Middle Tennessee Football:
http://www.goblueraiders.com/index.aspx?path=football
SOUTHERN MISS (0-3, 0-1 in C-USA) at NORTH TEXAS (1-1)
Saturday, October 3
6:30 p.m. CT
Denton, Texas (Apogee Stadium)
Television: Stadium
Announcers: Chris Hassel (PxP), A.J. Hawk (AN)
All-Time Series: North Texas leads 8-6
Last Meeting: at Southern Miss 45, North Texas 27 (Oct. 12, 2019)
FAST FACTS
**Golden Eagles senior QB Jack Abraham is averaging a league-high 292.3 yards per game after passing for 299 last week vs. Tulane, narrowly missing a ninth career 300-yard game. He threw
a pair of touchdown passes against the Green Wave for his 11th career multiple touchdown game.
**Against Tulane last week, the Golden Eagles were without star receiver
Tim Jones (14 catches, 299 yards and 2 TD in first two games), but found big play capabilities out of two emerging threats. Junior WR
Jason Brownlee’s 88-yard TD catch in the first five minutes of the game marked the fourth-longest completion in school history and the program’s furthest connection since 2011. Junior TE
Naricuss Driver slipped through the middle for a 61-yard catch-and-run that also marked his first-career reception. Brownlee has scored each of the last two weeks.
**Redshirt sophomore LB Hayes Maples, a Hattiesburg native, exploded for 15 tackles on Saturday against Tulane, the most by a Golden Eagle since 2014. He filled in for standout LB
Santrell Latham who departed in the first half. Maples is now atop the team leaderboard for both tackles (28) and TFL (3.0).
**Redshirt junior Briggs Bourgeois has handled most of the kicking duties over the first three games, after missing last year with a leg injury. This season, Bourgeois has hit four of five
field goals, seven extra-point attempts and averaged 55.1 yards on 15 kickoffs (with two touchbacks). His 49-yard field goal against Tulane was a career-long, and Southern Miss’ longest since Parker Shaunfield on Sept. 29, 2018.
**North Texas ranks fifth in the FBS in total yards per game, averaging 619.0 after two contests. After opening the season with a school-record 721 yards of total offense in a 57-31 win over Houston Baptist on Sept. 5, the Mean Green generated 517 vs. SMU.
UNT has showed tremendous balance, with 666 yards through the air and 572 yards on the ground.
**North Texas senior WR Jaelon Darden has five touchdown catches through the first two games in 2020. He now has 24 scoring grabs across his career in Denton, ranking second-most in program
history. Darden enters this week with 166 career catches, which ranks fifth in program history. Darden caught five passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns against SMU on Sept. 19, and has 10 catches for 137 yards and five scores thus far in 2020.
**Redshirt freshman RB Oscar Adaway III ran for 104 yards on 20 carries against SMU, giving him two consecutive games over the century mark to start his 2020 season.
**Senior RB DeAndre Torrey now has 18 career rushing touchdowns following his one-score performance against SMU and is now tied with Antoinne Jimmerson (2011-15) and Mitch Maher (1991-94)
for 10th in program history in career rushing touchdowns.
**Sophomore LB Kevin Wood
earned his second career start on Sept. 19 against SMU, playing in the SAM spot, and recorded a career-high 13 tackles to lead the team and also added a tackle for loss. Wood is the team’s leading tackler through the first two games with 18 (12th
nationally with 9.0 tackles per game) and 2.5 tackles for loss.
MORE
Southern Miss Football:
http://www.southernmiss.com/sports/m-footbl/smis-m-footbl-body.html
North Texas Football:
http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/ntex-m-footbl-body.html
