Bad Start for Conference-USA

We're only 3 weeks into the season and if you follow college football, you might have been struck by how weak some Conference-USA's teams are this year. Just how weak is the conference this year? Here are some of the numbers for C-USA as a whole:

C-USA overall record: 10-23 (East division: 5-11, West division: 5-12)
vs FCS (formerly 1AA): 4-1

vs ACC: 0-0

vs MWest: 0-0

vs MAC: 1-1

vs Sun Belt: 1-3

vs WAC: 1-3

vs Big XII: 1-5

vs Big Ten: 0-1

vs Big East: 0-1

vs Pac 12: 0-2

vs SEC: 0-4

The 1-13 C-USA record against BCS conferences is to be expected. Where we really begin to see the weakness of C-USA this season is in the conference's record against other non-BCS conferences. C-USA is a combined 3-7 against teams from the MAC, Sun Belt, and WAC so far this year. Disappointing starts for usual favorites Houston, Southern Miss and SMU plays a big part. If Conference-USA really is as weak as the first 3 weeks of football suggest, then who is to say the Miners can't win the West or maybe even the whole conference? The only teams who have shown any signs of life in the West seem to be Tulsa (although wins against Tulane and Nicholls State are hardly convincing) and Rice (who beat Kansas for C-USA's lone win against a BCS school). SMU is supposed to be a contender, but has looked awful. We'll see how the season plays out as we near closer to conference play.