In knocking off then-15th ranked Virginia Tech last weekend, East Carolina spread a little inspiration all around Conference USA - literally, all the way from Greenville to El Paso.

And really, most of the league's team's can use all the inspiration they can get, for this may be the toughest week of the nonconference schedule.

That begins at ECU, where the Pirates are scheduled to take on eighth-ranked West Virginia. Southern Mississippi travels to No. 9 Auburn, Texas-El Paso plays host to No. 10 Texas, Tulane visits No. 13 Alabama and Central Florida welcomes No. 17 South Florida. Additionally, Houston faces a tough test at Oklahoma State.

"My hat's off to [ECU coach] Skip [Holtz]. What a great win for him and his program and for our conference," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "A couple of others have a chance to play some BCS teams this week, and that definitely helps."

Indeed, this week presents an opportunity for C-USA to stick its chest out - or to look bad. Recent history and the oddsmakers point toward the latter - only ECU is a less than a two-touchdown underdog in the games in question. UTEP is a 27-point underdog at home, while Alabama is favored by 30 over Tulane.

And that's the way it will be until C-USA teams do something about it.

"Those are the games that get you the respect that you want from the country," said UCF coach George O'Leary. "I have [imposed] that upon our players that we schedule nonconference games to go out and get decent wins. To achieve the recognition, you have to win those games. The conference will take care of itself."

UCF is a 14-point underdog and is still smarting from its 64-12 loss last year at USF.

ECU is carrying a two-game winning streak over ranked teams, something never before done in C-USA. While the Pirates can't pin an entire season on beating Virginia Tech, nobody can take away the joy from their coaches, players and fans.

"I think we got a lot of people's attention from around the country who are sitting there right now saying, 'Wow, maybe what they're doing in Greenville is for real. Maybe we need to look at what East Carolina is doing,' " Holtz said.

Saturday's USF-UCF game is the last one currently scheduled between the schools, and UCF officials will eagerly tell you the folks in Tampa have no interest in continuing, no matter what it brings, attendance-wise, to the schools 60 miles apart.

In commenting on the on-field demise of the brief rivalry, O'Leary made a somewhat bold prediction and major proposal to his league brethren.

"I think it is a natural game, but that is not my decision," O'Leary said. "I think that possibly once [conference] geography changes in a couple of years that it may be a game anyway.

"Right now, I am pushing for nine conference games. I really think that is the way you need to go, and that it is very difficult to find a fourth non-conference game. If you want to play a home-and-home series, then most teams want two for one, and we are not into that game anymore.

In knocking off then-15th ranked Virginia Tech last weekend, East Carolina spread a little inspiration all around Conference USA - literally, all the way from Greenville to El Paso.

And really, most of the league's team's can use all the inspiration they can get, for this may be the toughest week of the nonconference schedule.

That begins at ECU, where the Pirates are scheduled to take on eighth-ranked West Virginia. Southern Mississippi travels to No. 9 Auburn, Texas-El Paso plays host to No. 10 Texas, Tulane visits No. 13 Alabama and Central Florida welcomes No. 17 South Florida. Additionally, Houston faces a tough test at Oklahoma State.

"My hat's off to [ECU coach] Skip [Holtz]. What a great win for him and his program and for our conference," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "A couple of others have a chance to play some BCS teams this week, and that definitely helps."

Indeed, this week presents an opportunity for C-USA to stick its chest out - or to look bad. Recent history and the oddsmakers point toward the latter - only ECU is a less than a two-touchdown underdog in the games in question. UTEP is a 27-point underdog at home, while Alabama is favored by 30 over Tulane.

And that's the way it will be until C-USA teams do something about it.

"Those are the games that get you the respect that you want from the country," said UCF coach George O'Leary. "I have [imposed] that upon our players that we schedule nonconference games to go out and get decent wins. To achieve the recognition, you have to win those games. The conference will take care of itself."

UCF is a 14-point underdog and is still smarting from its 64-12 loss last year at USF.

ECU is carrying a two-game winning streak over ranked teams, something never before done in C-USA. While the Pirates can't pin an entire season on beating Virginia Tech, nobody can take away the joy from their coaches, players and fans.

"I think we got a lot of people's attention from around the country who are sitting there right now saying, 'Wow, maybe what they're doing in Greenville is for real. Maybe we need to look at what East Carolina is doing,' " Holtz said.

Saturday's USF-UCF game is the last one currently scheduled between the schools, and UCF officials will eagerly tell you the folks in Tampa have no interest in continuing, no matter what it brings, attendance-wise, to the schools 60 miles apart.

In commenting on the on-field demise of the brief rivalry, O'Leary made a somewhat bold prediction and major proposal to his league brethren.

"I think it is a natural game, but that is not my decision," O'Leary said. "I think that possibly once [conference] geography changes in a couple of years that it may be a game anyway.

"Right now, I am pushing for nine conference games. I really think that is the way you need to go, and that it is very difficult to find a fourth non-conference game. If you want to play a home-and-home series, then most teams want two for one, and we are not into that game anymore.

"People will have more interest in a conference game because more is on the line. You also have a chance to see more opponents within your conference."

After playing Wisconsin, Marshall players and coaches could easily be back in Huntington to watch the only conference game of the week, Rice at Memphis. Memphis is the Thundering Herd's next opponent, coming to Huntington on Sept. 13.

Rice's 56-27 opening win over Southern Methodist added extra intrigue. If the Owls beat the Tigers, they'll sit atop the West at 2-0 for four weeks.

The Memphis defense, mistake-prone in a 41-24 loss to Mississippi, faces a severe task. Rice's Chase Clement-to-Jarrett Dillard combo is back in top form, striking for three of six passing touchdowns against SMU.

"I thought we were competing pretty well, but I just thought overall our secondary was not very good," said Memphis coach Tommy West. "I thought we lost our guts at corner. We wanted to challenge their wideouts at corner, and we wanted our guys to run with their guys to make their quarterback to make perfect throws with people on them."

The press release e-mailed a week ago to a large number of conference and national media was a chilling flashback to 2005 - Tulane announced the evacuation of its athletic teams in advance of Hurricane Gustav.

Football-wise, it was fortunate the Green Wave didn't schedule an opener last week. But as they boarded a bus for an early trip to Birmingham, Ala., the oldest Tulane players certainly remembered the week they left New Orleans and ended spending the semester out of town.

But at least they were better prepared.

"Twenty-four of our players went through Katrina, and they have given really good leadership to our younger guys," said coach Bob Toledo. "Our situation now is so much better than back in 2005 because we had a plan. We're not sleeping on a gymnasium floor. We're sleeping in a nice hotel. Good food at our access. There's no question that having gone through it and having the experience of that situation has been very helpful for our kids."

Tulane officials secured practice accommodations at Samford University. With the damage from Gustav not nearly as extensive as with Katrina, TU will reopen for classes Monday.

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