RADICAL, EARTH-SHAKING change is coming to Conference USA.

OK, I was pulling your chain. After the 2005 realignment, all changes are small by comparison. The following is downright minuscule.

We're talking about the preseason polls in football and men's basketball. Yeah, heavy stuff, right?

Anyway, as the league's members brainstormed over cost-cutting measures in the latest spring meeting, the coaches quietly decided to discontinue their preseason survey.

 No big loss, as the football poll had its "3 yards and a cloud of dust" tendencies. After the 2005 season, the coaches boldly picked the previous year's division champs to repeat every year. As you know, it never happened, and it says here it never will.

The poll void will be filled by your lovable representatives of what's left of the print media, and the football survey will be released on July 27 or thereabouts. For the first time since Marshall's MAC days, I'm going to have to mull this over in my Thinking Chair, with more than three clues at my disposal.

I don't have a firm top six on each side, but I do have some guidelines. Here goes ...

That's the easiest pick I have. Phil Steele's preview cops out and picks Houston, Tulsa and Texas-El Paso as co-No. 1s, but I simply can't see it.

Forget about Houston's aberration of a 37-23 loss at Marshall last year. Quarterback Case Keenum won the league's Offensive Player of the Year award, and should compete for the 2009 MVP award (yes, they are separate). His skill players are back, as are the center and guards. Coach Kevin Sumlin may have filled the tackle spots well, with a Kansas transfer and a highly touted juco import.

After the Marshall debacle, the Cougars resumed their scoring spree, finishing with a 40.6-point average. These guys are so loaded on offense, it's tough to care about their defense.

Tulsa won't collapse. Much of its defense is back, and by C-USA West standards it was pretty good. Many of the skill players return on offense, as well, and the quarterback position remains in good hands with 6-foot-3, 242-pounder (and still mobile) Jacob Bower.

The big, big question is how the Golden Hurricane copes with the loss of co-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who went to Auburn. Herb Hand, the former West Virginia assistant, runs the show.

UTEP showed flashes of brilliance with quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, and seems to have the league's most favorable schedule. The defense, which was riddled with injuries and allowed 70 points to Tulsa in three quarters, is an obvious question.

But the Miners' penchant for poor finishes is another one. They are 0-8 in the final two games since joining C-USA, and are 3-17 after Oct. 17 in the last three years.

Keep a nervous eye on the Mustangs, who play at Marshall in the 11th game. Bo Levi Mitchell threw most of his 23 interceptions early in 2008, as new coach June Jones tossed the true freshman to the wolves. Mitchell will be a bunch better, and he has receivers to work with.

If a sieve-like defense of the past two seasons improves at all, do not be surprised if the Mustangs go from 1-11 to the Hawaii Bowl.

It will be miraculous for the Owls, who lost all their offensive weaponry, not to collapse. The Green Wave would have been 0-8 in the league last year if it didn't play SMU in September.

OK, I was pulling your chain. After the 2005 realignment, all changes are small by comparison. The following is downright minuscule.

We're talking about the preseason polls in football and men's basketball. Yeah, heavy stuff, right?

Anyway, as the league's members brainstormed over cost-cutting measures in the latest spring meeting, the coaches quietly decided to discontinue their preseason survey.

 No big loss, as the football poll had its "3 yards and a cloud of dust" tendencies. After the 2005 season, the coaches boldly picked the previous year's division champs to repeat every year. As you know, it never happened, and it says here it never will.

The poll void will be filled by your lovable representatives of what's left of the print media, and the football survey will be released on July 27 or thereabouts. For the first time since Marshall's MAC days, I'm going to have to mull this over in my Thinking Chair, with more than three clues at my disposal.

I don't have a firm top six on each side, but I do have some guidelines. Here goes ...

That's the easiest pick I have. Phil Steele's preview cops out and picks Houston, Tulsa and Texas-El Paso as co-No. 1s, but I simply can't see it.

Forget about Houston's aberration of a 37-23 loss at Marshall last year. Quarterback Case Keenum won the league's Offensive Player of the Year award, and should compete for the 2009 MVP award (yes, they are separate). His skill players are back, as are the center and guards. Coach Kevin Sumlin may have filled the tackle spots well, with a Kansas transfer and a highly touted juco import.

After the Marshall debacle, the Cougars resumed their scoring spree, finishing with a 40.6-point average. These guys are so loaded on offense, it's tough to care about their defense.

Tulsa won't collapse. Much of its defense is back, and by C-USA West standards it was pretty good. Many of the skill players return on offense, as well, and the quarterback position remains in good hands with 6-foot-3, 242-pounder (and still mobile) Jacob Bower.

The big, big question is how the Golden Hurricane copes with the loss of co-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who went to Auburn. Herb Hand, the former West Virginia assistant, runs the show.

UTEP showed flashes of brilliance with quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, and seems to have the league's most favorable schedule. The defense, which was riddled with injuries and allowed 70 points to Tulsa in three quarters, is an obvious question.

But the Miners' penchant for poor finishes is another one. They are 0-8 in the final two games since joining C-USA, and are 3-17 after Oct. 17 in the last three years.

Keep a nervous eye on the Mustangs, who play at Marshall in the 11th game. Bo Levi Mitchell threw most of his 23 interceptions early in 2008, as new coach June Jones tossed the true freshman to the wolves. Mitchell will be a bunch better, and he has receivers to work with.

If a sieve-like defense of the past two seasons improves at all, do not be surprised if the Mustangs go from 1-11 to the Hawaii Bowl.

It will be miraculous for the Owls, who lost all their offensive weaponry, not to collapse. The Green Wave would have been 0-8 in the league last year if it didn't play SMU in September.

Southern Miss' five-game winning streak to finish after a 2-6 start was most impressive, and I figure the Golden Eagles will hit the ground running in coach Larry Fedora's second year. Almost everybody is back, including running back Damion Fletcher and super receiver DeAndre Brown.

ECU gets Patrick Pinkney back after the NCAA awarded him a sixth year. That leads him and Rob Kass intact at quarterback, and the Pirates didn't lose a lot elsewhere, besides tight end Davon Drew and defensive end Zach Slate (the guy who broke up the gadget play in overtime against Marshall). And keep this in mind: ECU was hit hard by injuries and suspensions, making its 9-5 season more remarkable.

Yes, I remember Rob Calabrese going 4-of-17 with a crew of granite-handed receivers last year in Huntington. He's back at quarterback and may be entrenched - the Knights switched Michael Greco to safety.

Not only is the offense suspect, but the defense lost a combined 186 career starts and 50 interceptions in the secondary. One of those defensive backs was Joe Burnett, a kick returner with few peers.

But you know the pattern under coach George O'Leary - 0-11, 8-5 and division title, 4-8, 10-4 and league title, 4-8. Team speed has never been an issue and, hey, the Knights are 4-0 in C-USA play against Marshall?

Are these guys due, somehow? If they split September roadies against Southern Miss and East Carolina, watch out.

Steele's preview picks the Thundering Herd third for the second year in a row. At times last year, that looked like a savvy pick. And then the UAB game came along. And then there was November, which was not so nice.

In one way, Marshall will have an easier schedule - with the new rotation, there's no way the cross-division opponents will combine to go 20-4, as Tulsa, Houston and Rice did last year. If you want a nasty schedule, check out Memphis, which closes at Houston and at Tulsa.

But there are things I don't like about the Herd's draw.

Just a hunch, but I'd rather play SMU on Oct. 10 and Tulane on Nov. 21, instead of the other way around. As it is, another 0-4 November is possible for the Herd - a dreadful Sunday night game at UCF, a revenge-minded Southern Miss, potentially improved SMU and that looong trek to UTEP. I know the Miners are a bad November team, but the season finale is the worst week to make that journey.

But more than anything, the offensive question marks and the recent history of critical mistakes will keep me from picking Marshall third. The East order, right now: Southern Miss/ECU, UCF, Marshall/Memphis, UAB.

Here's an update on Jim Boone, the Winfield native who valiantly took on the impossible task of coaching Eastern Michigan basketball from 2000-05.

Boone has been named a finalist for the head coaching at University of West Florida. He has re-established himself as a formidable coach in Division II since leaving EMU, rebuilding at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn.

This past season, he led the Pioneers to their first 20-win season in 16 years, and their first at-large berth in the NCAA Division II tournament.

His 381-win resume doesn't guarantee his migration to UWF, the Pensacola school that is at least exploring a move to Division I. Ten finalists have been named, and the field is loaded.

Greg Zimmerman, who has turned Alderson-Broaddus into a perennial contender, is on the list. So is Robert "Happy" Osborne of Georgetown, Ky., a powerful conference rival of WVU Tech. So is Jeff Price, the just-deposed head coach at Georgia Southern, and longtime Central Florida assistant Craig Brown, among others.

Earlier, Boone had pulled his name from consideration for the vacancy at Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah, Ga. Take extra credit if you remember AASU as the job for which Jeff Burkhammer departed Greg White's Marshall staff.

Burkhammer, who left for the job at Lander University in Greenwood, S.C., didn't do poorly at AASU. In seven seasons, he compiled a 134-73 record, going to the NCAA tournament four times. AASU was 23-7 last season.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.