1. Trent Richardson, Alabama-Richardson has a combined 1,910 rush/rec yds with 23 TD’s while being the best player on one of the two best teams in the country this year! When breaking down Richardson’s numbers even further, it is remarkable considering the fact that he has faced EIGHT total defenses that rank in the top 51 with FIVE of them in the top 20! If you want to compare Richardson’s numbers to former Alabama RB Mark Ingram who won the Heisman in 2009 they are better! Thru 12 games, Richardson has 1,583 rush yds (6.0) with 20 TD’s with 27 receptions for 327 yds (12.1) and 3 TD’s. Ingram (thru 12 gms) meanwhile had 1,429 yds (6.5) and 12 TD’s to go along with 28 receptions for 246 yards (8.8) and 3 TD’s. To top it off Richardson has put together his best performances this year in the biggest games. He had 111 rush yds (4.3) and 2 TD’s vs Penn St’s #11 D, 211 combined rush/rec yds vs Arkansas, 208 combined rush/rec yds vs Florida’s #11 D, 169 of Alabama’s 295 total yards vs LSU’s #2 D and in the Iron Bowl needing a big performance to top it off he ran for a career-high 203 yards (7.5) with another Heisman-caliber run similar to his outstanding run vs Ole Miss earlier this year. Simply put, Richardson is the best player in college football this season playing a top notch schedule and putting forth clutch performances to help his team win games. Read more…

CUSA has been making huge strides the past couple of years. After going 3-8 in bowls in ’06-’07, they have gone 6-6 the last 2 years. In ’08 both East Carolina and Tulsa were considered possible BCS bowl busters and last year Houston climbed all the way to #12 after big wins against Oklahoma St and Texas Tech.

Until last year there had been a different CUSA league champ for SEVEN straight years with TCU in ’02, SMiss in ’03, L’Ville in ’04, Tulsa in ’05, UCF in ’07 and East Carolina in ’08. The Pirates ended that streak in ‘09 as they repeated with a 38-32 win over Houston in the title game. This year East Carolina loses HC Holtz who left for South Florida and welcome new coach Ruffin McNeil who served as the DC at Texas Tech for the last 3 seasons and was the interim HC in the Red Raiders’ bowl win over Michigan St last year. Can the Pirates 3-peat or will Houston, UTEP or SMU start another streak of different conference champs?

2010 figures to be an exciting year for the conference with record setting players like Houston’s Case Keenum and UTEP’s Donald Buckram back. SMU fresh off their 1st bowl win in 25 years returns QB Kyle Padron and looks to make it to a bowl for the 2nd straight year. Southern Miss is just 1 of 4 teams to have 16 straight winning seasons (Florida, Florida St and Va Tech) and returns their top 2 QBs in Austin Davis and Martevious Young. 

CUSA announced their 2010 football schedules yesterday. Here is a quick breakdown of the schedules for each team… Read more…