I picked the WKU vs. Bowling Green game. It has great potential to be a very competitive game, and a win over the MAC's expected champion would be a great start for the Toppers in their first C-USA game. Some other interesting match-ups though.

Of course I wanted to pick UTSA vs Houston, but since we can't pick our own team, it was close between UNT/Texas and Rice/ND. I chose UNT because Texas USED to be my team before UTSA started football and because the coaches picked UNT to win the west (baffling, I know). Rice/ND will be a good one as well.

UTSA/Houston for me.

I could have picked several but limited to one that doesn't involve my team, I chose the toss-up between BG-WKU. I'll be watching all C-USA televised games live or dvr.

UTSA vs Houston.

Name opponent from AAC that UTSA has a good chance to beat.

All of the P5s being played in week 1 are strong programs. Any win over them will be viewed as a bonus. C-USA won't lose face losing to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Texas, Ol' Miss, or Nebraska. I can't name the UTSA game against Houston or the WKU game against Bowling Green as the most important game for our conference either. UTSA is off to a great start, but they are only four years old. No reasonable sports writer or college football fan will bad mouth C-USA if they lose to a loaded Houston team that has a real shot at wining the AAC. WKU lost their coach. They will need time to get their team familiar with the new system. No one will bad mouth C-USA if they lose to a Bowling Green team that won 10 games last season. I believe C-USA has three must win game in week 1.

The first must win I picked is Troy vs. UAB. UAB gets Troy at home. Troy will be one of the stronger teams in the Belt this season. Probably right behind ULL and Arkansas State. UAB hasn't been a strong program for C-USA in recent years. Winning this game get UAB off to a good start and would go a long way in distancing C-USA from the Sun Belt.

I picked the Marshall at Miami Ohio game second. Even though this is a road game, I don't think Miami (OH) has much of a chance. But, if Marshall were to lose this game, C-USA would be in a serious perception crisis. It is a must win for the conference.

Third on my list is UTEP at New Mexico. New Mexico is a really bad MWC team. C-USA really needs UTEP to win this game and show they are an improving team.

I am kind of surprised with La Tech and FAU games not getting any interest.

(08-06-2014 04:19 PM)goliath74 Wrote:  I am kind of surprised with La Tech and FAU games not getting any interest.

Probably because they are complete long shots like everyone mentioned. Oklahoma could challenge for the national title and Nebraska could easily win their division.

UTEP vs Loobs... But I would like to see UTSA take down Houston.