Week 9 C-USA Power Rankings

1. Marshall – The clear favorite in this conference. No obvious weakness. Best quarterback in the league is a freshman.

2. UAB – Spencer Brown returning to form has the Blazers in a good spot. There are still some liabilities on this roster, and I think there’s a big gap from #1 to #2 in the rankings.

3. Charlotte – Again, a big gap between #2 and #3 as C-USA is a two-horse race. The loss to FAU was highly disappointing, but Charlotte’s offense is improving.

4. UTSA – Credit to UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor on the improvement his Roadrunners have shown since last season but UTSA needs to play more consistent football to hold on to this ranking.

5. FAU – Pretty much a toss up for me with #6, but I think FAU has the more talented roster. They’ve been hit extremely hard by Covid and injuries, we’ll see how they look against UTSA this week in just their third game of the season.

6. La Tech – A horrid offensive line is holding the Bulldogs back from being a good team. La Tech is doing their best to scheme around the limitations up front, but there’s only so much you can do without decent blocking.

7. UTEP – Deion Hankins looks to be a program changer for the Miners as they’re much more competitive than last season. Just need to see UTEP beat a good team before moving them up the ranks.

8. UNT – Instability at the quarterback position and a horrid defense have prevented UNT from reaching their much higher potential. It’s a shame the Mean Green are missing out on an opportunity to prove that they’re better than #7, as their game this week has been postponed due to Covid outbreaks in El Paso.

9. MTSU – Poor Asher O’Hara is pouring his heart and soul into this team but they’re just not talented enough to make the most of O’Hara’s efforts.

10. Rice – TCU transfer Mike Collins is looking good at quarterback, but Rice is really behind the 8 ball here due to the late start to their season.

11. WKU – No answer at quarterback, underwhelming output from a talented defensive line… the Hilltoppers are very disappointing this season.

12. FIU – The Panthers are moving in the wrong direction this season. Yet to see their first win, FIU looked miserable against an FCS opponent last week and had to postpone this week’s game against Marshall due to Covid issues.

13. USM – Now on their third coach of the season, it’s hard to imagine the Golden Eagles’ locker room has much left to fight for. I’m expecting more players to opt out of the season this week.