C-USA Football: Week Two Preview

Four more C-USA teams make their 2020 debut this week as part of a six game schedule. All six of this week’s matchups will be played on the road, including two games apiece vs. the ACC, Big 12 and Sun Belt Conferences.

The action begins Thursday night with UAB matching up with Miami (Fla.) for the first time (7 pm CT on ACC Network). Edge rusher Jordan Smith and the rest of the Blazers pass rush will look to test a Hurricanes squad that allowed the third-most sacks in the FBS last season. C-USA will be looking to make it three straight wins over the Hurricanes after FIU and Louisiana Tech defeated them last season.

Coming off a 10-win season, Louisiana Tech will make its 2020 debut when it visits Baylor Saturday morning (11 am CT on FOX). The Bulldogs will be breaking in a new quarterback following the graduation of three-year starter J’Mar Smith. The Bears (11-3 last season) will begin a brand new era with former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda taking over as head coach.

Charlotte will visit Appalachian State for the second straight season after this game was added in mid-August (11 am CT on ESPN2). The 49ers are coming off their first bowl appearance and will look to QB Chris Reynolds and WR Victor Tucker to create offensive fireworks against the four-time defending Sun Belt Conference champions.

After a one-year hiatus, UTSA and Texas State, schools separated by just 50 miles, renew their rivalry (2:30 pm CT on ESPN2). This will be the season opener for the Roadrunners, who have won all three previous meetings. It will also mark the debut of Jeff Traylor as UTSA’s head coach.

WKU will make the 110-mile drive up to Louisville for both schools first games of 2020 on Saturday night (7 pm CT on ACC Network). The Hilltoppers Tyson Helton and the Cardinals Scott Satterfield each won their conference Coach of the Year awards last season following impressive turnaround seasons. They will look to continue that success this fall, with 16 starters returning for WKU and 15 for Louisville.

Led by redshirt freshman RB Deion Hankins, UTEP opened the season with a victory at the Sun Bowl last week. This Saturday the Miners will visit Austin to face a nationally-ranked Texas team (7 pm CT on the Longhorn Network).

WEEK TWO C-USA FOOTBALL PREVIEW

UAB (1-0) at MIAMI (FLA.) (0-0)
Thursday, September 10
8 p.m. ET
Miami Gardens, Florida (Hard Rock Stadium)
Broadcast: ACC Network
Announcers: Dave O’Brien (PxP), Tim Hasselbeck (AN), Katie George (SL)
All-Time Series: First Meeting

FAST FACTS
**UAB opened the season with a 45-35 win over Central Arkansas last Thursday. The Blazers put up 459 yards of total offense and used a well-balanced attack, with 226 yards coming through the air and 233 on the ground.
**UAB’s career leading rusher Spencer Brown had his 14th career 100-yard rushing game in the win over UCA, going for 127 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Brown now has 3,249 yards and 32 rushing touchdowns in his career.
**The Blazers used a two-quarterback system in the win over UCA, utilizing redshirt junior Tyler Johnston III and redshirt freshman Bryson Lucero. Johnston III finished 17-of-25 for 143 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Lucero was 7-of-9 for 83 yards and threw his first career passing touchdown.
**Conference USA schools posted a pair of wins over Miami last season. Crosstown rival FIU posted a 30-24 victory at Marlins Park in November and Louisiana Tech shut out the Hurricanes in the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl, 14-0.

CHARLOTTE (0-0) at APPALACHIAN STATE (0-0)
Saturday, September 12
12 p.m. ET
Boone, North Carolina (Kidd Brewer Stadium)
Television: ESPN2
Announcers: Bob Wischusen (PxP), Dan Orlovsky (AN), Lericia Harris (AN)
All-Time Series: Appalachian State leads 2-0
Last Meeting: at Appalachian State 56, Charlotte 41 (Sept. 7, 2020)

FAST FACTS
**Teams are meeting in Boone, North Carolina for the second straight season after this game was added to the schedule on August 12. In week two last season, Charlotte became the first school in 10 games to score more than 19 points in Boone, but Appalachian State won, 56-41. Chris Reynolds passed for 296 yards and four touchdowns, while Benny LeMay scored three TDs for the 49ers.
**In head coach Will Healy’s first season in 2019, the 49ers used a school-record five-game win streak to post the best season in school history and advance to their first-ever bowl game (the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl). The 49ers set school records for wins (7), C-USA wins (5), home wins (5), passing TDs (24), rushing yards (2639), sacks (36) and TFL (86).
**Redshirt-junior QB Chris Reynolds tied a school-record with passing TDs in each of the last nine games last season and finished with 22. He completed 62.2% of his passes (181-291) for 2,564 yards (197.2/gm) and led C-USA in passing efficiency (153.60).
**Charlotte set school records for sacks (36) and TFL (86) in 2019. Back from that unit is junior DE Markees Watts (9.5 sacks; 13.0 TFL) who ranked 4th in C-USA in sacks and 12th in TFL as a sophomore and three-year senior starter Tyriq Harris, who missed last season with injury, but had 56 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 2018.
**Shawn Clark begins his first full season as head coach of Appalachian State, the program’s third head coach in three seasons. The Mountaineers have won 19 of their last 20 games and App State’s 54-12 overall record accomplished in the last five seasons is the fifth-best mark in the country during that span, trailing just Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

LOUISIANA TECH (0-0) at BAYLOR (0-0)
Saturday, September 12
11 a.m. CT
Waco, Texas (McLane Stadium)
Television: FOX
Announcers: Gus Johnson (PxP), Joel Klatt (AN), Jenny Taft (AN)
All-Time Series: Baylor leads 5-1
Last Meeting: Baylor 24, Louisiana Tech 16 (Sept. 7, 1996 in Shreveport, La.)

FAST FACTS
**Saturday’s game marks the latest start for Louisiana Tech football since 1978 when the season opener was on Sept. 16, against Chattanooga. The Bulldogs will be playing Baylor for the first time since 1996 in the first of a three-game series (in Waco again in 2022 and in Ruston in 2023).
**Senior running back Justin Henderson is coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season after carrying the ball 188 times for 1,062 yards and 15 touchdowns. Henderson was the 13th Bulldog in program history to run for 1,000 yards, and he finished the 2019 season ranked 13th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (15) and 19th in total touchdowns (16).
**Senior C Kody Russey earned preseason all-Conference USA honors after bolstering an offensive line in 2019 that among C-USA teams, ranked second in scoring offense (32.5 PPG), fourth in rushing (168.4 YPG) and second in total offense (436.8 YPG). He is joined on the line by returning starter Willie Allen, a senior that started all 13 games last season, and seven total letterwinners.
**Junior DL Milton Williams and senior LB Ezekiel Barnett led LA Tech in sacks and quarterback hurries in the 2019 season. Williams had 5.5 sacks for 31 yards and Barnett had 4.0 sacks for 19 yards, while both recorded six quarterback hurries.
**Baylor, which won 11 games and played in the Allstate Sugar Bowl last season, begins a new era under first-year head coach Dave Aranda. A 24-year coaching veteran, Aranda served as defensive coordinator at LSU the past four seasons, helping the Tigers to the National Championship last season.

UTSA (0-0) at TEXAS STATE (0-1)
Saturday, September 12
2:30 p.m. CT
San Marcos, Texas (Bobcat Stadium)
Television: ESPN2
Announcers: Dave Fleming (PxP), Rod Gilmore (AN), Rocky Boiman (SL)
All-Time Series: UTSA leads 3-0
Last Meeting: at UTSA 25, Texas State 23 (Sept. 22, 2018)

FAST FACTS
**UTSA will open its 10th season of play and the Jeff Traylor era when it renews the I-35 Rivalry with Texas State. The Roadrunners have won each of the three previous meetings, including a 44-14 victory on Sept. 23, 2017, in the only other meeting in San Marcos.
**Jeff Traylor becomes the third coach in UTSA history. He is armed with nearly 30 years of coaching experience, including a highly successful 15-year career as head coach at Gilmer High School, where he led his hometown Buckeyes to three state championships, two state runner-up finishes and posted a 175-26 (.871) record. Traylor previously was the associate head coach and running backs coach at Arkansas (2018-19) and SMU (2017) after two seasons at Texas serving as associate head coach for the offense and receivers coach in 2016 and special teams coordinator and tight ends coach in 2015.
**UTSA’s quarterbacks room enters the season as one of the most experienced groups of signal callers in the nation. Josh Adkins (20), Frank Harris (4), Lowell Narcisse (7) and Jordan Weeks (4) boast a combined 35 starts at the FBS level, making UTSA one of just three active teams with four QBs who own FBS starts (Arkansas and Tennessee are the others).
**The Roadrunners will have a new look on defense this season with the arrival of defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix’s 3-4 base alignment. As a result, some of UTSA’s top returning pass rushers will have a chance to create havoc from a new position this fall. Seniors DeQuarius Henry and Solomon Wise both have made the position switch from defensive end to outside linebacker to take advantage of their skillsets.
**Texas State dropped its season opener to SMU, 31-24, last Saturday at Bobcat Stadium. Brady McBride passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns, while Calvin Hill and Brock Sturges ran for 100 and 95 yards, respectively to pace the offense.

WKU (0-0) at LOUISVILLE (0-0)
Saturday, September 12
8 p.m. ET
Louisville, Kentucky (Cardinal Stadium)
Television: ACC Network
Announcers: Roy Philpott (PxP), Tim Hasselbeck (AN), Eric Wood (SL)
All-Time Series: Louisville leads 20-12
Last Meeting: at Louisville 20, WKU 17 (Sept. 15, 2018)

FAST FACTS
**In 2018, the Hilltoppers and Cardinals renewed a series that dates all the way back to 1922. Louisville has won the last two seasons, including a 20-17 score in 2018 in the Derby City.
**The Hilltoppers’ 28-man senior class brings 300 career starts to the table to begin the 2020 season. Safety Devon Key leads WKU with 37 career starts on The Hill.
**WKU produced the Conference USA preseason Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Year in senior DE DeAngelo Malone and senior P John Haggerty. Malone produced 99 total tackles – including 21 for loss (ranked fourth in the nation) – with 11.5 sacks (ranked 12th in the nation), 16 quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. Haggerty set the all-time WKU program record with 45.9 yards per punt, which ranked 13th in FBS, while his 42.1-yard net average was 10th. He had 17 kicks of 50+ yards after WKU had 18 such kicks from 2016-2018 combined and also had 50+ yard punts on 38% of his 46 punts, which ranked ninth in FBS.
**Redshirt senior RB Gaej Walker is a candidate for the Doak Walker Award. After moving from defensive back to running back during the 2019 offseason, Walker ranked second in C-USA with 241 carries and 1,208 yards, while adding a team-best eight rushing touchdowns.

UTEP (1-0) at (14) TEXAS (0-0)
Saturday, September 12
7 p.m. CT
Austin, Texas (Memorial Stadium)
Television: Longhorn Network
Announcers: Lowell Galindo (PxP), Andre Ware (AN), Kris Budden (SL)
All-Time Series: Texas leads 5-0
Last Meeting: at Texas 41, UTEP 7 (Sept. 10, 2016)

FAST FACTS
**El Paso product Deion Hankins powered the Miner rushing attack and the UTEP defense posted a second-half shutout to propel the Miners to a24-14 win over Stephen F. Austin Saturday night at the Sun Bowl. Hankins, a redshirt freshman running back, set career-highs with 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Hankins’ two twenty-plus yard rushes helped him average 6.6 yards per carry.
**After a record-breaking freshman season, sophomore WR Jacob Cowing hauled in seven receptions for a career-high 116 yards. Two of his catches came on third down and one on fourth down to extend Miners drives.
**Hankins and Cowing were the first UTEP receiver-running back duo to go over the century mark, respectively, since 2013 when running back Aaron Jones (186) and wide receiver Ian Hamilton (108) accomplished the feat against Rice.
**In his first career game as a starter under center, sophomore QB Gavin Hardison completed passes to five receivers for a career-high 212 yards. Overall, Hardison was 17-for-28 passing for 212 yards and a touchdown.
**The UTEP defense allowed 230 total yards in the win over Stephen F. Austin, the fewest since 2016 when the Miners yielded 227 to Houston Baptist.