What Skip Holtz Leaving ECU Means for C-USA

When Skip Holtz made the decision to leave East Carolina, it opened up the can of worms that is 2010 Conference USA discussion.

Okay, Okay, I know it's the NFL playoffs, and conference championship week at that. But give me a break, I'll be writing nonstop all week about Peyton vs Rex, and Favre vs Brees, and all the excitement that comes along with what I consider to be "the most exciting NFL day of the year." But for now I'm going to give you my 2010 Conference USA Pre-Preview.

Last year Holtz lead the Pirates to a 7-1 conference record, en route to picking up a C-USA title and Liberty Bowl berth. East Carolina should still compete in 2010, but with Holtz leaving, and a lot of the coaching staff going with him, chances are the Pirates are going to see some sort of decline. I project East Carolina to fall to about a 5-3 conference record next year, giving them a probable second place finish in C-USA East.

The team that should win the East next year are the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss. Although they finished up poorly against Middle Tennessee, the Golden Eagles are returning enough of their core to get back to the top of the East. I'd feel confident projecting a 6-2 finish for them.

The rest of C-USA East I see sorting out as follows; UCF will finish 5-3, Marshall will finish 4-4, UAB will finish 3-5, while Memphis will continue to slip and fall to 1-7.

Conference USA West is far more interesting.

The return of Quarterback Case Keenum sets things up wonderfully for the Cougars of Houston. For much of 2009 they were a Top 25 team, but their fall towards the end of 2009 shouldn't carry over into the new season. Their lone competition in the C-USA West will come from Tulsa, and in-state rival SMU.

Tulsa should be better in 2010 after they had a step-back year in 2009. Though it will take time to adjust to a Western division that now features potent Houston and SMU offenses, Tulsa will likely compete in 2010, and at the very worst finish top 3 in the division and return to a Bowl game.

The Mustangs of SMU on the other hand are the wild cards of not only C-USA, but potentially a lot more next year. Their performance in the Hawaii Bowl has a lot of people looking towards Dallas, and head coach June Jones has pulled off bigger miracles than returning a one-time national powerhouse to prominence. It would be foolish not to fully anticipate a focused, well coached SMU team next year, that will in no way take a step back towards mediocrity.

The way I see C-USA West sorting out is SMU in first at 7-1, owning the head to head with Houston at 7-1. Tulsa will improve to 5-3, while UTEP and Rice will be 3-5. Tulane will be lucky to improve to 2-6.

In a SMU vs Southern Miss match up I would have to love the Mustangs chances. Last year Jones' target was the Hawaii Bowl. This year, Jones' target will be the Liberty Bowl. Losing Shawnbrey McNeal hurts, but the Mustangs will get over that loss. I believe Kyle Padron will be named the Mustang's starting QB, and he'll lead them to a C-USA championship next year.

If there's one thing we should have learned in the last decade it's never bet against June Jones reaching his targets. The man knows how to coach, and he's one of the ten best coaches in the nation. That's a fact.

ECU and Northwestern Come Close: Time For Small Schools to Recruit Big Kickers

When we reflect on every Bowl season we usually remember the winners of the BCS games, the teams that impressed everyone, and the teams that pulled off the big upsets.

So far this year we'll remember the Tim Tebow-lead Gators team demolishing Cincinnati, Ohio State taking care of Oregon in the Rose Bowl, SMU making their return to relevance on Christmas Eve, and the dominance of the Mountain West.

But we could have remembered ECU beating Arkansas, or Northwestern beating Auburn. Instead the SEC teams held on in overtime in games they probably should have handled.

What Northwestern's loss taught us is to never count out a big conference team in a bowl game. What ECU's loss taught us is that the best of Conference USA were good enough to compete with the mediocrity of the SEC in 2009.

What these two great games really taught us is how important it is to have a reliable kicker at the college level. I don't expect collegiate kickers to be able to go 4/4 with kicks from 41, 38, 29, 35 in the same game; but you have to expect your kicker to go 3/4 from 21, 39, 37, 31.

On Friday Northwestern Kicker Stefan Demos went 0/2 from 48, 44. He also missed an extra point. Demos' struggles were not worth vilifying the kicker for Northwesterns loss, but the Special Teams overall performance deserves the brunt of the blame for the programs inability to get it's first bowl win in 61 years.

The more head shaking kicking performance came Saturday evening in the Liberty Bowl. ECU's kicker Ben Hartman went 1/5; making one from 33, and missing from 45, 39, 39, 35. One of those made field goals would have given ECU the win, instead they cost East Carolina from pulling off one of the bigger upsets of the Bowl Season.

This should be a wake up call for smaller programs. Kickers are hard to come by, but pull out the stops in trying to secure a good one. Recruit deep and nationally to find the best one possible. Use scholarships on these players, because yes, kickers don't deserve praise, but they can also cost you your job.