Back on topic: After the SWC broke up, the original CUSA was set up with only 6 football playing members.
If I’m not mistaken Houston played all “power schools” in their OOC games. At first it worked as the Coogs made it to a bowl vs Syracuse (when there were very few bowls)
If I also remember correctly, the Coogs lost some very tight games vs SEC opponents in the beginning of CUSA. Either LSU, Bama or Auburn I can’t remember. I do recall CUSA doing much better than expected. ECU struggled out of the gate after finally getting the call 2 years after CUSA started.