A brave new USA: Conference USA has been around almost a decade, but its components have shifted far too much for any kind of tradition to take root. Next year, the league will get its biggest makeover—for better or worse

Sporting News, The, Nov 1, 2004 by Mike DeCourcy

There is a blocking sled being driven across the grass by several large, grunting linemen. On an adjacent field, a phalanx of special teamers charges toward a punt returner. But the magical music of this early autumn practice is obscured by the screech of a nearby freight train, car horns on the neighboring interstate and the blast of a UPS cargo jet that has just left the airport. Surely, this is the sound of Big East football.

That's where Louisville wants to be--a city school in a city conference, and it'll be that soon, though never soon enough.

"The city can't wait," says Paul Rogers, Louisville's radio play-by-play announcer. But first the Cardinals must conclude their business in Conference USA, starting with the November 4 game against rival Memphis. They have one final month in a league that never was able to establish a strong identity and soon will look as though Joan Rivers' plastic surgeon stopped by.

This is the last season for the version of C-USA that opened for business in 1995 and began playing football one year later. In 2005, charter members Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, DePaul and Marquette will depart for the Big East and recent addition TCU will head for the Mountain West. Army will go back to being an independent. Conference USA also will lose Charlotte and Saint Louis to the Atlantic 10. It seems somewhat poignant that in the last year all these schools are together, the football schools are doing such impressive work.

"I think this is the best year they've had in football," says Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, already referring to C-USA in the third person.

There are BCS elitists who won't be sorry about this gang's breakup. Many regular college football fans barely have noticed the league exists. C-USA bungled several opportunities to demand greater attention, whether it was Cincinnati's near-miss against eventual national champion Ohio State in 2002, TCU's late-season fumbling of a possible BCS bowl bid one year ago or Louisville's come-from-ahead loss at Miami last month.

But it has been fun. There were the silly Red, White and Blue divisions of the first few basketball seasons. There was challenging travel, with members spread from New York to Florida to Texas.

"The trip to Southern Miss was impossible," says former Marquette basketball coach Mike Deane, now at Wagner. "You couldn't get there without having to go someplace else first." There also were three football-driven expansions in a league with four members that don't play football--a league with a far richer tradition in basketball.

Conference USA rarely has been less than entertaining--whether on the field, on the court or behind the scenes.

Great moments in C-USA history, Volume 1.

On the final day of C-USA meetings in May 1996, Louisville's delegation bolted from Florida's Sandestin Hilton and skipped the final business sessions. In the hospitality room, conversation among other members raged about Louisville's opposition to football expansion leading to the walkout. C-USA initially claimed the Cardinals left early because of travel conflicts--but 20 days later, Louisville obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent the league from expelling the Cardinals. A couple of weeks later, the sides reached an agreement that kept Louisville as a full member and cleared the way for Army and East Carolina to join in football.

If there's anything separating Conference USA fans from their BCS counterparts, it's their attention to the "Others receiving votes" category at the bottom of the polls. If you're a Big Ten team and find yourself there, you probably screwed up. But UAB, Memphis and Southern Mississippi were doing ORV-time last week with a combined 14-3 record.

None of those programs is going anywhere when this year is up. That's the best news for C-USA. It will hurt to lose Louisville, the conference champion in 2000 and 2001. But additions for the 2005 season help: Marshall has an impressive history, and Central Florida (George O'Leary) and UTEP (Mike Price) will bring well-known coaches.

When they arrive along with Rice, SMU and Tulsa, there will be a 12-team football competition and a championship game. "That's the exciting thing about it," says Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower. "That's the way it's all going now in college football, and you'll have a true champion"

With 11 members, this season will conclude without Louisville playing two of the other contenders, Southern Miss and UAB. But the meeting between Memphis and Louisville will put the NCAA's seventh-leading rusher (the Tigers' DeAngelo Williams) against the No. 1-rated passer (the Cards' Stefan LeFors). And Louisville still has a shot to finish in the final top 10.

"I hate to see this league break up because I think it's an outstanding league, but I am very optimistic from a football standpoint" says Memphis football coach Tommy West. "I think, in the end, we'll have strengthened ourselves."

Great moments in C-USA history, Volume 2. In spring 2003, members agreed upon a realigned basketball league in which all 14 basketball members would play each other once and would have two games against three designated opponents chosen by the league, with input from television partners. Upon seeing the preliminary schedule, Charlotte's administration objected to having only one game against Cincinnati. It turned out the school had arranged a private deal with the conference office guaranteeing any scheduling redesign would preserve a home-and-home series between the 49ers and Bearcats. So those teams ended up playing twice.