1997 Conference Usa Football
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
* * * * * * Media Relations CONFERENCE Brian Teter, Assistant Commissioner Erika Amstadt Hirschfield, Director of Communications/Creative Services Russell Anderson, Assistant Director of Communications eUSA Jeff Kearney, Assistant Director of Communications 35 East Wacker Drive Suite 650 Phone 312/563-0483 • ........ • Chicago, IL 60601 Fax 312/553-0495 FINAL 1997 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL C-USA All Games W-L Pct. H A Pts Opp W-L Pct. H A Pts Opp x- SOUTHERN. MISS 6-0 1.000 3-0 3-0 198 85 9-3 .750 4-0 *5-3 335 210 TULANE 5-1 .833 3-0 2-1 211 124 7-4 .636 4-2 3-2 375 225 EAST CAROLINA 4-2 .667 2-1 2-1 148 131 5-6 .455 3-2 2-4 214 298 CINCINNATI 2-4 .333 2-1 0-3 127 136 8-4 .667 5-1 **3-3 321 252 MEMPHIS 2-4 .333 2-1 0-3 104 143 4-7 .364 4-2 0-5 218 243 HOUSTON 2-4 .333 1-2 1-2 118 188 3-8 .273 1-4 2-4 216 410 LOUISVILLE 0-6 .000 0-3 0-3 139 236 1-10 .091 1-5 0-5 245 407 x- won regular season championship and earned bid to the AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl *includes neutral field win at AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl. *"includes neutral field win at Humanitarian Bowl HUMANITARIAN BOWL CONFERENCE USA AWARDS ] MONDAY, DECEMBER 29 COACH OF THE YEAR Boise, Idaho (Bronco Stadium) Jeff Bower, Southern Miss Cincinnati 35, Utah State 19 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Shaun King, QB, Tulane Most Valuable Player. Chad Plummer, QB, Cincinnati DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AXA/EQUITABLE LIBERTY BOWL Patrick Surtain, CB, Southern Miss WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31 SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Memphis, Tenn. (Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium) Tinker Keck, PR, Cincinnati (22) Southern Miss 41, Pittsburgh 7 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Jason McKinley, QB, Houston Most Valuable Player: Sherrod Gideon, WR, Southern Miss USM Offensive Player of the Game: Sherrod Gideon, WR USM Defensive Player of the Game: Adalius Thomas, DE C-USA ON THE WEB Information and statistics regarding all 18 Conference USA sports are available at C-USA's site on the internet. Log in at: • www.c-usa.org 1997 C-USA FOOTBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM • OFFENSE OFFENSE Quarterback - Shaun King, Jr., Tulane Quarterback - Lee Roberts, Jr., Southern Miss Running Back- Toney Converse, Fr., Tulane Running Back- Gerard Arnold, So., Memphis Running Back- Harold Shaw, Sr., Southern Miss Running Back- Ketric Sanford, So., Houston Offensive Lineman- Jason Fabini, Sr., Cincinnati Offensive Lineman- Pierre Brilliant, Sr., Cincinnati Offensive Lineman- Ben Fricke, Sr., Houston Offensive Lineman- Daniel Gomez, Sr., Memphis Offensive Lineman- Cory Geason, Sr., Tulane Offensive Lineman- Rick Nord, Jr., Louisville Offensive Lineman- Kasey Keith, Sr., Southern Miss Offensive Lineman- Henry McClendon, Jr., Southern Miss Offensive Lineman- Danny Moore, Jr., East Carolina Offensive Lineman- Brian Uhl, Jr., Cincinnati Tight End- lbn Green, So., Louisvillle Tight End- Terry Hardy, Sr., Southern Miss Wide Receiver- JaJuan Dawson, So., Tulane Wide Receiver- P.J. Franklin, Jr., Tulane Wide Receiver- Sherrod Gideon, So., Southern Miss Wide Receiver- Miguel Montano, Sr., Louisville DEFENSE DEFENSE Defensive Lineman- Robert Brown, Sr., Southern Miss Defensive Lineman- Terence Cook, Sr., Tulane Defensive Lineman- Marquis Bowling, Jr., Memphis Defensive Lineman- Keaton Cromartie, Sr., Tulane Defensive Lineman- Kendrick Gholston, Sr., Louisville Defensive Lineman- Derrick Ransom, Sr., Cincinnati Defensive Lineman- Adalius Thomas, So., Southern Miss Defensive Lineman- Leonta Rheams, Sr., Houston Linebacker- Phillip Curry, Sr., Cincinnati Linebacker- Roderick Coleman, Sr., East Carolina Linebacker- Brad Jackson, Sr., Cincinnati Linebacker- Jeff Kerr, Jr., East Carolina Linebacker- Marchant Kenney, Sr., Southern Miss Linebacker- Terry Rice-Locket, Sr., Louisville Defensive Back- Tinker Keck, Jr., Cincinnati Defensive Back- Jamaal Alexander, Sr., Southern Mi•ss Defensive Back- Mike McKenzie, So., Memphis Defensive Back- Courtney Dinkins, So., Louisville Defensive Back- Perry Phenix, Sr., Southern Miss Defensive Back- Dwight Henry, Sr., East Carolina Defensive Back- Patrick Surtain, Sr., Southern Miss Defensive Back- Michael Jordan, Jr., Tulane SPECIAL TEAMS SPECIAL TEAMS Place kicker- Brad Palazzo, Jr., Tulane Placekicker- Sebastian Villarreal, Jr., Houston Punter- Brad Hill, Sr., Tulane Punter- Andrew Bayes, So., East Carolina Return Specialist- Tinker Keck, Jr., Cincinnati Return Specialist- Eric Booth, Sr., Southern Miss - C-USA - • 1997 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL AXA/Equitable ~ C-USA All-Americans C-USA All-Stars Liberty Bowl Here's a look at C-USA's players that have Here's a look at Conference USA players that • Conference USA completed received All-American honors in 1997: were scheduled to participate in 1997 ...UBERTY its second year of a multi-year postseason all-star games: agreement with the ASSOCIATED PRESS Bl'Wl.... .. AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl to Second Team BLUE-GRAY Houston send its champion to the Ben Fricke C Dan Gonzalez QB East Carolina Third Team Memphis, Tenn.-based game. This year's Terry Rice-Locket LB Louisville Brad Palazzo PK Tulane game was played on Wednesday, December 31 Leonia Rheams DT Houston Patrick Surtain CB Southern Miss and was televised by ESPN. Southern Miss Derrick Singleton LB Tulane defeated Pittsburgh, 41-7 to earn their first bowl FOOTBALL WRITERS ASSOC. OF AMERICA SENIOR BOWL victory since 1988. First Team Artrell Hawkins DB Cincinnati Ben Fricke C Houston C-USA SCHOOLS IN THE LIBERTY BOWL Derrick Ransom DL Cincinnati 1997 Southern Miss 41, Pittsburgh 7 FOOTBALL NEWS Larry Shannon WR East Carolina 1996 Syracuse 30, Houston 17 Second Team Patrick Surtain DB Southern Miss 1995 East Carolina 19, Stanford 13 Patrick Surtain CB Southern Miss 1994 Illinois 30, East Carolina 0 Third Team HULA BOWL 1993 Louisville 18, Michigan State 7 Jason Fabini OL Cincinnati Mike Parker LB Houston 1979 Penn State 9, Tulane 6 Brad Jackson LB Cincinnati 1970 Tulane 17, Colorado 3 Brad Palazzo PK Tulane EAST-WEST SHRINE BOWL Honorable Mention Jason Fabini OL Cincinnati Marquis Bowling WR Memphis UC wins Humanitarian Bowl JaJuan Dawson WR Tulane Cincinnati represented Conference USA in the Ben Fricke C Houston Polling Place inaugural Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Kendrick Gholston DL Louisville Here are the final 1997 Associated Press and The game was played on Monday, December lbn Green TE Louisville ESPNIUSA Today Coaches Polls: 29 and was televised by ESPN2. The Bearcats Dwight Henry DB East Carolina ed 21-0 at halftime and finished with a 35-19 Brad Hill p Tulane Associated Press ESPN/USA Today •,ictory over Utah State, champions of the Big Tinker Keck DB Cincinnati 1 -Michigan 1-Nebraska West Conference. The bowl bid was Danny Moore OL East Carolina 2 -Nebraska 2-Michigan Cincinnati's first since Sid Gillman coached the Sebastian Villarreal K Houston 3 - Florida State 3-Florida State Bearcats in the 1951 Sun Bowl. UC is now 3-1 4 -Florida 4-North Carolina all-time in bowl games. SPORTING NEWS 5 -UCLA 5-UCLA Second Team 6 - North Carolina 6-Florida Ben Fricke C Houston 7 - Tennessee 7 -Kansas State C-USA's Happy Holidays Patrick Surtain CB Southern Miss 8 - Kansas State 8-Tennessee C-USA was the only conference that was Third Team 9 - Washington State 9-Washington State unbeaten in the 1997-98 bowl season. Here's a Brad Jackson LB Cincinnati 10 -Georgia 10-Georgia look at each conference's record: Brad Palazzo PK Tulane 11-Aubum 11-Aubum 12 - Ohio State 12-Ohio State Conference Record Pel SPORTING NEWS FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN 13-LSU 13-LSU Conference USA 2-0 1.000 First Team 14 -Arizona State 14-Arizona State Pac-10 5-1 .833 John Nix DT Southern Miss 15-Purdue 15-Purdue SEC 5-1 .833 Kamal Shakir LB Memphis 16 - Penn State 16-Colorado State ACC 3-1 .750 Second Team 17 -Colorado State 17-Penn State Orlando Iglesias WR Houston Big 12 2-2 .500 18 -Washington 18-Washington 19-Southem Miss WAC 1-2 .333 19 -Southern Miss 20 - Texas A&M 20-Syracuse Big 10 2-5 .286 Booth Goes the Distance 21 - Syracuse 21-Texas A&M Mid-American 0-1 .000 Southern Miss kick returner Eric Booth received 22 - Mississippi 22-Mississippi Big West 0-1 .000 the AT&T Long Distance Award after leading the 23-Missouri 23-Missouri Big East 0-4 .000 nation in kickoff return average at 34.8. Booth returned kickoffs for touchdowns against 24 - Oklahoma State 24-Oklahoma State Tennessee and Houston. 25 -Georgia Tech 25-Air Force Double Zero OTHERS: Tulane was one of eight Division I-A teams that Academic Awards -- Cincinnati ---Cincinnati recorded two or more shutouts during the 1997 --Tulane Two Conference USA players were named to the season. The Green Wave is joined by Air Force, GTE CoSIDA Academic All-American First Team . '=lorida State, Idaho, Nebraska, Syracuse and Southern Miss offensive lineman Jeremy Lindley • Virginia Tech with a pair of blankings, while Iowa and Cincinnati defensive lineman John Kebalka recorded three shutouts. were honored, as C-USA joined the ACC, Big 12 and SEC as the only Division I-A leagues to place two or more players on the 24-man squad. ' 1997 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL Players of the Week Tulane 2nd-Most Improved Future of C-USA Conference USA named an Offensive, Defensive Tulane posted the second-largest improvement and Special T earns Player of the Week each week in Division I-A in 1997. Here's a look at the • Army this season. Here's a look at this season's most improved programs this season: The United States Military winners: Academy (Anny) will join School 1997 1996 Imp. OFFENSE Conference USA as a football- Western Michigan 8-3 2-9 -+B .