Conference USA: Something in the air

By Ryan Hunt, CNN/SI

Southern Miss DE Adalius Thomas, the 1998 C-USA defensive player of the year, is looking to add to his 25.5 career sacks. Rick Stewart/Allsport   Projected Order of Finish 1. Louisville 2. Southern Miss 3. East Carolina 4. Houston 5. Tulane 6. Memphis 7. Army 8. Cincinnati 9. UAB

Top Storylines Offensively speaking, Redman the new King in town Want proof that Conference USA has turned into the WAC of the East? Of the eight league teams last season, six brought in new defensive coordinators for 1999. Louisville, with hotshot QB Chris Redman, heads the list of the league's offensive juggenauts -- the Cards led the nation in total offense last year with 559.6 yards per game. Southern Miss, however, will aim to combat that with the conference's top defensive unit. Tulane, meanwhile, has nowhere to go but down in '99, following its 12-0 miracle last year. And without Shaun King, down is exactly where the Green Wave are heading.

Going Bowling Locks: Louisville, Southern Miss Maybes: East Carolina, Houston, Tulane No Way: Memphis, Army, Cincinnati, UAB

Trev's Take CNN/SI's Trev Alberts offers his team to watch "There is good football being played in Conference USA. Louisville is the team to beat -- Chris Redman may well be a Top 10 NFL pick. But it will be interesting to see what happens at Tulane. Chris Scelfo comes in from Georgia and should stick with much of the offense that Tulane used to go 12-0 last year, but it will be hard to do without Shaun King. They'll probably have a lot of losses this year, but it will be interesting to see how they progress."

Top Five Offensive Players Chris Redman , QB, Sr., Louisville Which state-of-Kentucky quarterback averaged more yards of total offense last season? Hint: It wasn't Tim Couch. Sherrod Gideon , WR, Sr., Southern Miss Gideon led C-USA with 1,303 yards receiving last season, but his leadership this season as one of only three seniors on offense will be crucial. Ibn Green , TE, Sr., Louisville The best pure tight end in the nation. And he's been catching passes from Redman since their days together at Louisville's Male High School. Ketric Sanford , RB, Sr., Houston In his junior year of high school, Sanford set a national record for carries in a season with 475. Injuries have held him to 519 in his first three years at UH. The Cougars desperately need his health to be successful in '99. David Garrard , QB, So., East Carolina The second coming of Jeff Blake. As a freshman, Garrard set the Pirates' record for season completion percentage.

Top Five Defensive Players Adalius Thomas , DE, Sr., Southern Miss League QBs weren't too happy to hear Thomas was returning for his senior season. The 1998 C-USA defensive player of the year already owns the Southern Miss record with 25.5 career sacks. Antonio Roundtree , CB, Jr., Louisville The Cardinals ballhawk led the league with 14 pass deflections in '98. T.J. Slaughter , LB, Jr., Southern Miss With a name like that, how could he not be a force? Opposing players agreed a league-leading 147 times last season. Jeff Kerr , LB, Sr., East Carolina Talk about seek and destroy. Over the last two seasons, Kerr has averaged 14.8 tackles a game and has had 20 or more stops four times. Mike James , WS, Sr., Houston It's not always a good sign when your safety is your top tackler, but James is a big reason why Houston led C-USA in rushing defense last year.

Top Special Teams Player Ryan White, PK, So., Memphis. Unfortunately for Memphis, place-kicker Ryan White was by far the most effective Tiger a season ago. White made all 38 of his kicks in '98 (16-for-16 field goals and 22-for-22 extra points) -- the only kicker in the nation to have a perfect season.

You Don't Know Him Yet, but... Cable Davis, QB, Jr., Southern Miss Leave it to a guy named Cable to try to take the Eagles to prime-time. No incoming player will be asked to do more than Davis, who has yet to even take a snap at USM. The junior-college transfer will attempt to do what Lee Roberts couldn't in '98 -- lead the Eagles to a league title. In Hattiesburg, that's Must See TV.

Hot Coach John L. Smith, Louisville In 1997, the year before Smith's arrival, the Cardinals went 1-10. Last year, they played in the Motor City Bowl after a 7-4 regular season. In 1999, Smith has Louisville poised to win its first conference championship since it shared the Missouri Valley crown in 1972. Quite a turnaround, indeed.

Coach on the Hot Seat Kim Helton, Houston If Helton is ever going to lead the Cougars to success, this is the year. Houston has nine returning starters on both offense and defense. Otherwise, maybe that radio love-advice gig isn't so bad, after all.

Secret Weapon Tinker Keck , S/KR, Sr., Cincinnati It's not just the pregame chili that keeps those Cincinnati fans excited. Tinker Keck, who missed all but four games last season, is not only is one of the league's top safeties, but he may be its best return man as well.

Toughest Schedule Southern Miss Hey, the Eagles have been giant killers before (ask Florida State, Georgia or Auburn) and in '99, they'll try to slay Nebraska, Alabama and Texas A&M, all on the road. USM finishes the regular season with another crucial road game -- at Louisville.

Kansas State Schedule Louisville The schedule is in the Cards' favor for a Tulane-like run to an undefeated regular season. They shouldn't have any non-conference tests, with games against Couch-less Kentucky, Oklahoma, Illinois, Chattanooga and Eastern Michigan.

Mark Your Calendar Louisville at Kentucky, Sept. 4 First team to 75 passes wins. Southern Miss at Nebraska, Sept. 18 Can the Eagles catch another superpower napping? Southern Miss at Louisville, Nov. 20 Forget Ohio State-Michigan. We're talking Papa John's Stadium in late November.