Houston's CBS affiliate provides a preview to Saturday's UTEP @ Houston game.

Pretty cool read at DenverStiffs, in regards to Julyan Stone about to receive plenty of playing time with their starting point guard Ty Lawson out with injury.

Hyphen Nation, a video cast from the Conference USA website, sparks the question "Which arena is Conference USA's toughest arena to play in"? While a few players tend to eastern schools Marshall, Memphis, and UCF have the toughest arenas to play in, ECU's Darrius Morrow says its UTEP. Whatever it is, Conference USA would like to know what you think. You can tweet C-USA @ConferenceUSA1, you can email them at ncartier@c-usa.org, or you can Facebook them at facebook.com/conferenceusa.

The UTEP football team received its 14th official verbal commitment today, adding Baltimore's (Dunbar HS) Ernest Hawkins to the 2012 class. The 6'0 215 lb OLB was an ESPN 2 Star Athlete, and ranked 150th best OLB in the country. Hawkins will be playing alongside high school teammate Terrence Williams, a 5'10 170 lb ATH, who also gave the Miners a verbal commitment earlier in the recruiting period.

Also, Salt Lake Tribune blog writer Tony Jones is reporting that Paul Franklin, a 6'0 206 lb RB out of Dallas, TX will not be a Utah State Aggie next year. Franklin had committed just days ago, but apparently the USU coaching staff didn't appreciate the fact that he had "entertained a home visit from UTEP" on Monday. If Franklin will not be an Aggie, he may turn out to be a nice late pick up for the Miners. While not given a star grading or position rank by ESPN, they do say he is a speedy "sleeper" back who has gone under the radar. At 6'0 206 lb, with 4.4 speed, he's got some serious potential.

DFWMiner brought it to my attention that comment threads are filling up with chatter of Division 1-AA Appalachian St. making the jump to Division 1, and Conference USA would be their landing spot.

First let me say that this is complete rumor, until someone, anyone from within Conference USA comes out and says anything at all relevant to the situation.

Second, I just want to know what it is that Appalachian St. would bring to the table. Normally, when joining a conference, there are reasons. It may be that the new school will help generate revenue, it may be adding a new tv market, or it may be bringing new recruiting grounds into play. What, if anything, does App St. bring to the table?...Don't worry, I'll wait.