Conference USA Power Rankings (ATS records are from last three seasons.)
1. East Carolina Pirates
ATS: 23-17 (Home: 11-6. Away: 10-9)
Thing to remember: This is coach Skip Holtz’s best team, featuring 16 returning starters and plenty of all-conference talent on both sides of the ball.
Entering its 63rd year of gridiron competition, the MID AMERICAN CONFERENCE will once again play a balanced schedule, meaning each team will play eight conference games in 2009. Let’s hope the results are more balanced that last year when Buffalo was the only team in the MAC East Division to finish the season with a winning record.
This is definitely a league that is wide open and one that likes to mix things up.
Seven different teams that have appeared in the last four MAC Championship games while nine different MAC schools that have appeared in a bowl game in the last four seasons.
The CONFERENCE USA is 12 years old and like a youngster about to enter puberty, they are breaking out all over.
Four teams from the league reached the 70-point scoring plateau in a game last year. That represented twice as many that had scored that many points in CUSA history.