This is how I would rank the top 5 CUSA teams:

Offense
1) WKU
2) La Tech
3) USM
4) MTSU
5) Marshall (Improving)

Defense
1) Marshall
2) USM (Improving)
3) La Tech
4) FIU (Falling)
5) WKU

Overall
1) WKU
2) La Tech (Very close to WKU)
3) Marshall
4) USM (Very close to Marshall)
5) MTSU (Also close to Marshall)

My end of season thoughts:
WKU wins at home against Marshall. La Tech wins at home against USM.
WKU at home against La Tech is "too close to call" but I'll say WKU wins CUSA due to homefield advantage.

Composure and poise. Fewest mistakes will win it.

This is where I envy the power running games of La Tech and Marshall.

Mullens, Martin, and Thomas are hitting on all cylinders presently, and that's our 'bread and butter'. Our defense is gaining swagger.

Marshall is playing well too. Marshall shut us down in the red zone earlier this season. We also gave up 5 turnovers. Beating us twice would be difficult.

I don't think La Tech and WKU are playing as well as USM and Marshall right now.

(11-15-2015 06:39 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  Composure and poise. Fewest mistakes will win it.

This is where I envy the power running games of La Tech and Marshall.

Mullens, Martin, and Thomas are hitting on all cylinders presently, and that's our 'bread and butter'. Our defense is gaining swagger.

Marshall is playing well too. Marshall shut us down in the red zone earlier this season. We also gave up 5 turnovers. Beating us twice would be difficult.

I don't think La Tech and WKU are playing as well as USM and Marshall right now.

WKU will be getting the nations #1 tight end back for FIU more than likely .. We have been just running the ball more over the past few games trying to expand our offense. I don't know what to expect against FIU, I think we do what we need to win but will not play with the emotion like we did against MT or will against Marshall ( my guess just lots of vanilla play calling ) Coach Brohm has too much of a heart to run the score up on anybody like others have.

Is that a jab at Marshall for the game against FIU? You know we only scored 14 in the second half, right?

I think what you should have said is that you don't have the defense to beat someone by 50, well, unless you can score 80 some.

USM beats La Tech.

Marshall beats WKU

Marshall hosts USM for the championship game. A glimpse of how it will be most years into the future.

(11-15-2015 07:42 PM)banker Wrote:  Is that a jab at Marshall for the game against FIU? You know we only scored 14 in the second half, right?

I think what you should have said is that you don't have the defense to beat someone by 50, well, unless you can score 80 some.

No it was not a jab. Many teams run the score up but I know most of the damage was done in the first half in your game. I was very impressed with how your team responded after the MT losss. My statement was more that I don't think our score against FIU will look impressive as some expect

Lets check out those rushing & passing stats over the last 5 games

Western vs
Middle Tennessee State W (58-28)
@ North Texas W (55-28)
@ Louisiana State L (20-48)
@ Old Dominion W (55-30)
Florida Atlantic W (35-19)


Rushing average 204 yards 6 ypc

S.Miss vs
@ Marshall L (10-31)
Texas-San Antonio W (32-10)
@ UNC Charlotte W (44-10)
Texas-El Paso W (34-13)
@ Rice W (65-10)

Rushing average 195 yards 5.2 ypc

MarshaLL vs
@ Florida Atlantic W (33-17)
North Texas W (30-13)
@ UNC Charlotte W (34-10)
@ Middle Tennessee State L (24-27)
Florida International W (52-0)
l
Rushing average 220 yards 5.2 ypc

Tech vs
@ Texas-San Antonio W (34-31)
@ Mississippi State L (20-45)
Middle Tennessee State W (45-16)
@ Rice W (42-17)
North Texas W (56-13)

Rushing average 156 yards 4.7 ypc

Passing stats

Western
28.8-40, 0.72%, 343.4

S. Miss
25.6-39.8, 0.64%,340.6

Marshall
24.6-39.8, 0.62%, 281.4

Tech
21.4-34.4, 0.62%, 314.8

The thing that jumps out to me over the last five games for those teams is the number of points wku gives up relative to the other three teams. Not picking a fight, just shows that wku is the least likely to survive an off night by the offense.

(11-15-2015 09:56 PM)banker Wrote:  The thing that jumps out to me over the last five games for those teams is the number of points wku gives up relative to the other three teams. Not picking a fight, just shows that wku is the least likely to survive an off night by the offense.

Very good point. Their defense is getting worn down.

Western was playing 2nds and 3rds in the last part of the 3rd qt in the muts and unt game and in the 4th of the ODU game' So I would say Western's upside in points scored (again in 3 games we basically shut it down mid 3rd qt) is more than enough to over come the few extra points we give up.

FAU scored 2 more vs Western than against Marshall

MUTS scored 1 point more against Western (7 maybe 14 came against our 2nds)

UNT scored 2 tds more vs Western than Marshall again..2nd were playing a ton and those one score came on a hail merry and 2 tds with 5 minutes to play and again with 29 seconds. Mid 3rd qt Western was playing ALL SUBS. Maybe Marshall was also?

ODU ...away vs home and when they played Marshall it was on a sloppy wet rainy field. So out of 4 comparable games this is the only one that didn't do 1,2, or 3 tds against our 2nd

So we have LSU vs UNCC left...don't really think they can be compared

So lets look at Tech and the points they gave up

31 UTSA
45 Miss (3 less than lsu)
16 muts (12 less than Western)
Rice 16 (6 more than rice scored vs western)
13 UNT (western 28)


Western 26ppg W/O LSU
Tech gave up 19PPG (W/O Miss 45)...7 less ppg than Western
Marshall gave up 16PPG...10 ppg less than Western in 4 common opponents ..W/O UNCC
S. Miss gave up 16PPG (w/o uncc)...10 ppg less than Western

Western scored 51PPG in the 4 w/o LSU
Tech scored 44ppg in 4 games w/o miss
Marshall scored 35ppg 4 games w/o uncc
S.Miss scored 35ppg 4 games w/o uncc

So point vs points scored

Western 51-26
Tech 44-19
Marshall 35-16
S. Miss 35-16

Now if you want to count UNCC VS LSU or MISS then I will leave it up to someone else but without those P5 vs a 3rd year program...

Western is +25
Tech is +25
Marshall is +19
S. Miss is +19

(11-15-2015 10:45 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 09:56 PM)banker Wrote:  The thing that jumps out to me over the last five games for those teams is the number of points wku gives up relative to the other three teams. Not picking a fight, just shows that wku is the least likely to survive an off night by the offense.

Very good point. Their defense is getting worn down.

So Tech giving up 24 ppg to Western's 30ppg in the last 5 ...

works out to the 2 TD's western gave up to UNT in the last 5:29 playing 2nd and 3rd.

So tell me how that is wearing down Western's defense?

You're trying too hard, I just made a comment. Don't be so sensitive. BTW, every team can make those arguments. We only gave up 17 to Middle in regulation, our starters only gave up 3 points to Charlotte and so on. Our backups played the entire 4th quarter and the last series in the third against FIU and they still didn't score, etc.

The numbers are the numbers. As super stat guy you should know that it invalidates the numbers if someone with an agenda starts picking and choosing which numbers they want to use out of the sample.

Bottom line is that Tech, USM and Marshall have all held 4 of their last 5 opponents under 20 points, wku has done it once.

(11-15-2015 06:39 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  Composure and poise. Fewest mistakes will win it.

This is where I envy the power running games of La Tech and Marshall.

Mullens, Martin, and Thomas are hitting on all cylinders presently, and that's our 'bread and butter'. Our defense is gaining swagger.

Marshall is playing well too. Marshall shut us down in the red zone earlier this season. We also gave up 5 turnovers. Beating us twice would be difficult.

I don't think La Tech and WKU are playing as well as USM and Marshall right now.

I'll admit I haven't watched USM at all, Marshall for a few plays in a couple of games. La Tech is playing very good football and seems to be getting stronger as the season goes on. We just had a bye week to heal up some nagging injuries. I feel really good about our last two regular season games.

So you are saying it's comparable looking at what a team does against a school that's only had a football program for 3 years to two SEC schools that in the top 20 and as high as #4.



OK!

Yes you made a comment and so did I the only difference I used compatible numbers. A couple of us didn't play a game vs a school in their 3rd year of football in those 5 games.

But who's trying too hard? I mean someone said something about Marhall's and Tech's powerful running game...

so I showed the numbers. You must not liked those numbers so you cherry picked about points given up..knowing Western play LSU in those 5 games and Marshall played UNCC ...3 years old UNCC and one of the very worse offensive teams in FBS.

But it really doesn't matter because in two weeks one question gets answered and the week after..the other.

But let me leave you with this number 27-21 ...Marshall is scoring 27 on the road and giving up 21

Western 47-24 at home and that's with 142 of those 188 coming by halftime...other words Western usually just shuts down the offense by mid 3rd qt at home

2015 - CUSA Champ game - WKU - La Tech

2016 - CUSA Champ Game - Marshall - USM

2017 - CUSA Champ Game - Marshall - USM II

(11-16-2015 12:12 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  So you are saying it's comparable looking at what a team does against a school that's only had a football program for 3 years to two SEC schools that in the top 20 and as high as #4.



OK!

Yes you made a comment and so did I the only difference I used compatible numbers. A couple of us didn't play a game vs a school in their 3rd year of football in those 5 games.

But who's trying too hard? I mean someone said something about Marhall's and Tech's powerful running game...

so I showed the numbers. You must not liked those numbers so you cherry picked about points given up..knowing Western play LSU in those 5 games and Marshall played UNCC ...3 years old UNCC and one of the very worse offensive teams in FBS.

But it really doesn't matter because in two weeks one question gets answered and the week after..the other.

But let me leave you with this number 27-21 ...Marshall is scoring 27 on the road and giving up 21

Western 47-24 at home and that's with 142 of those 188 coming by halftime...other words Western usually just shuts down the offense by mid 3rd qt at home

It amazes me how annoying you can be in virtually every thread I one on this board.

(11-16-2015 09:25 AM)SVHerd Wrote:  2015 - CUSA Champ game - WKU - La Tech

2016 - CUSA Champ Game - Marshall - USM

2017 - CUSA Champ Game - Marshall - USM II

Not so fast my friend. Stockstill and James will have something to say about that. You have to play in the Boro again in '17.

(11-16-2015 09:32 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 12:12 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  So you are saying it's comparable looking at what a team does against a school that's only had a football program for 3 years to two SEC schools that in the top 20 and as high as #4.



OK!

Yes you made a comment and so did I the only difference I used compatible numbers. A couple of us didn't play a game vs a school in their 3rd year of football in those 5 games.

But who's trying too hard? I mean someone said something about Marhall's and Tech's powerful running game...

so I showed the numbers. You must not liked those numbers so you cherry picked about points given up..knowing Western play LSU in those 5 games and Marshall played UNCC ...3 years old UNCC and one of the very worse offensive teams in FBS.

But it really doesn't matter because in two weeks one question gets answered and the week after..the other.

But let me leave you with this number 27-21 ...Marshall is scoring 27 on the road and giving up 21

Western 47-24 at home and that's with 142 of those 188 coming by halftime...other words Western usually just shuts down the offense by mid 3rd qt at home

It amazes me how annoying you can be in virtually every thread I one on this board.

Everyone is beginning to figure that out now.

(11-16-2015 09:37 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 09:32 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 12:12 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  So you are saying it's comparable looking at what a team does against a school that's only had a football program for 3 years to two SEC schools that in the top 20 and as high as #4.



OK!

Yes you made a comment and so did I the only difference I used compatible numbers. A couple of us didn't play a game vs a school in their 3rd year of football in those 5 games.

But who's trying too hard? I mean someone said something about Marhall's and Tech's powerful running game...

so I showed the numbers. You must not liked those numbers so you cherry picked about points given up..knowing Western play LSU in those 5 games and Marshall played UNCC ...3 years old UNCC and one of the very worse offensive teams in FBS.

But it really doesn't matter because in two weeks one question gets answered and the week after..the other.

But let me leave you with this number 27-21 ...Marshall is scoring 27 on the road and giving up 21

Western 47-24 at home and that's with 142 of those 188 coming by halftime...other words Western usually just shuts down the offense by mid 3rd qt at home

It amazes me how annoying you can be in virtually every thread I one on this board.

Everyone is beginning to figure that out now.

It's just a Facts vs Opinion thing for some of you. You get all butt hurt because he doesn't agree with your opinion and uses facts to shoot it down!

(11-16-2015 09:37 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 09:32 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 12:12 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  So you are saying it's comparable looking at what a team does against a school that's only had a football program for 3 years to two SEC schools that in the top 20 and as high as #4.



OK!

Yes you made a comment and so did I the only difference I used compatible numbers. A couple of us didn't play a game vs a school in their 3rd year of football in those 5 games.

But who's trying too hard? I mean someone said something about Marhall's and Tech's powerful running game...

so I showed the numbers. You must not liked those numbers so you cherry picked about points given up..knowing Western play LSU in those 5 games and Marshall played UNCC ...3 years old UNCC and one of the very worse offensive teams in FBS.

But it really doesn't matter because in two weeks one question gets answered and the week after..the other.

But let me leave you with this number 27-21 ...Marshall is scoring 27 on the road and giving up 21

Western 47-24 at home and that's with 142 of those 188 coming by halftime...other words Western usually just shuts down the offense by mid 3rd qt at home

It amazes me how annoying you can be in virtually every thread I one on this board.

Everyone is beginning to figure that out now.

We have four really good football programs with contrasting styles and attitudes. You can construe any of the data to show just about anything you want.