News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

PREVIOUS NUGGETS

11.21.05: College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.20.05: C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule ... Falwell cleans house to jumpstart drive to I-A

11.19.05: Falwell cleans house to jumpstart drive to I-A ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.18.05: Regional cable network strikes deal with CSTV ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.17.05: NCAA wraps up investigation of South Carolina ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.16.05: Fall signing period nets tall timber for Pirates ... Tigers, 'Cocks to kiss and make up before game ...
C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.15.05: Calipari primes young Tigers for Preseason NIT ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.14.05: College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines ... Updated C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.13.05: ECU tested by Eagles in exhibition hoops victory ... Updated C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.12.05: Pirate basketball edging toward the limelight ... ECU in league's upper tier in football attendance ... C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.11.05: Tangle with Titans headlines ECU baseball slate ... C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.10.05: East Carolina football hire rates a "B" from BCA ... C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.09.05: Southern Miss escapes Huntington with OT win ... Updated C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.08.05: Holland beefs up rivalries with Wolfpack, Hokies ... ECU's Lee makes semifinal cut for Groza Award ... C-USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.07.05: College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.06.05: Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.05.05: Litke: Politically correct or not, blacks run faster ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.04.05: Throat-slash gesture nets trouble for Callahan ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.03.05: Green Wave's road trip to Navy on the house ... Tulane coming home for C-USA hoops schedule ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.02.05: Fledgling FIU program lands series with Miami ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

11.01.05: Fledgling FIU program lands series with Miami ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.31.05: College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.30.05: C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.29.05: Wake football team loses four to suspension ...
C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.28.05: UTEP QB Palmer gaining his own slice of respect ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.27.05: Renewal of USM-NCSU series set for television ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.26.05: Pirate basketball set for lights, camera, action ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.25.05: Stokes' first squad opening act for Homecoming ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.24.05: College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines ... Conference USA Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.23.05: C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.22.05: C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.21.05: ECU injury report a mixed bag for U of M game ... NCAA tinkers with experimental basketball rules ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

10.20.05: Storm-weary Tulane blown off course again ... Video company repents for N.C. State incident ... C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

Corey Rouse, who lived up to his billing as a all-star candidate with a spectacular performance in helping East Carolina open its basketball season with a victory, has been named Conference USA Player of the Week, the league announced Monday from its Irving, TX, office.

The senior forward from Kinston picked up the honor for the first time in his career after a 35-point, 17-rebound outing in the Pirates 86-75 home win over North Carolina A&T last Friday.

Rouse, C-USA's leading rebounder a year ago, compiled career highs in points and rebounds versus the Aggies in recording his 12th career double-double. His productive night helped ensure a successful outcome in Ricky Stokes' first game as ECU's head coach.

The next game for Rouse and his teammates will be tonight when they host Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m.

The Conference USA Football Championship Game will kick off at noon on Saturday, Dec. 3, with Microsoft's just-released Xbox 360 video gaming system as the presenting sponsor.

ESPN will televise the game and ISP Sports will provide national radio coverage of C-USA's first title showdown.

The sponsorship tie-in and the kickoff time and broadcast arrangements were announced Monday be conference commissioner Britton Banowsky.

Central Florida will represent the league's East Division in the game, which will be played at the Florida Citrus Bowl, the Knights' home stadium. UCF, which finished 0-11 in 2004, completed its remarkable 2005 turnaround by closing its regular season 8-3 (7-1 C-USA) with a 31-28 win at Rice last Saturday.

The Knights' West Division opponent will be Texas-El Paso (8-2, 5-2) or Tulsa (7-4, 6-2). If UTEP wins this Saturday at Southern Methodist, the Miners will tie Tulsa for the Division championship and will earn the berth based on a head-to-head victory over the Golden Hurricane. If the Miners lose, Tulsa will win the West Division outright and face UCF in the championship game.

UCF, which has become just the 7th team in NCAA history to become bowl-eligible one season after going winless, will enter the championship having won eight of its last nine games.

In accordance with NCAA guidelines, Conference USA was permitted to launch an annual football title game after reconfiguring itself into a 12-team league with two divisions. Each season, the contest will pair the division champions against each other.

A number of tie-breaking formulae are in place to determine each team in the event of ties in the standings. Central Florida locked up the privilege to host the game by finishing with the best conference record.

Tickets for the game go on sale Tuesday morning. Ticket information can be obtained at www.ucfathletics.com/tickets.

(Through games of Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005)

CONFERENCE USA STANDINGS

EAST DIVISION

TEAM                  C-USA ALL
Central Florida        7-1   8-3
Southern Miss          4-3   5-5
Memphis                4-4   5-5
UAB                    3-4   5-5
East Carolina          3-4   4-6
Marshall               3-4   4-6

WEST DIVISION

TEAM                  C-USA ALL
Tulsa                  6-2   7-4
Texas-El Paso          5-2   8-2
Houston                3-4   5-5
Southern Methodist     3-4   4-6
Rice                   1-6   1-9
Tulane                 1-7   2-8

SCORES

[C-USA teams in bold; ECU opponents in red.]

SUNDAY, NOV. 13

Houston 27, Southern Mississippi 24

SATURDAY, NOV. 19

   Tulsa 38, Tulane 14
   Central Florida 31, Rice 28
   East Carolina 34, Marshall 29
   Southern Methodist 29, Houston 24
   UAB 35, Texas-El Paso 23
   Memphis 24, Southern Mississippi 22
   North Carolina 24, Duke 21

SCHEDULE

[C-USA teams in bold; ECU opponents in red.]

SATURDAY, NOV. 26

   UAB at East Carolina, 12:00 pm
   Tulane at Southern Mississippi, TBA
   Marshall at Memphis, 2:00 pm
   Texas-El Paso at Southern Methodist, 3:00 pm
   Rice at Houston, 4:00 pm
   Pittsburgh at West Virginia, 8:00 pm

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.