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The Houston Cougars appeared to have gotten their season back on track, winning three straight games after an 0-3 start before being destroyed on the road by the SMU Mustangs in Dallas. The 72-42 loss was by far the worst of the season for the Cougars under coach Tony Levine, and dropped Houston further down the Conference USA standings.
Houston (3-4, 2-1) has wins against Rice and UAB and will go for their third conference victory of the season when they take on UTEP on Oct. 27. The Cougars currently sit at No. 3 in the C-USA West standings.
Meanwhile, Rice (2-6, 0-4) sits at the bottom of the standings after their fourth conference defeat of the season after a 28-24 loss to Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Oct. 20.
Houston and SMU will be moving to the Big East next season.
Here are the full conference standings:
| C-USA EAST | |
| 1 | UCF |
| 2 | East Carolina |
| 3 | Marshall |
| 4 | Memphis |
| 5 | UAB |
| 6 | Southern Miss |
| C-USA WEST | |
| 1 | Tulsa |
| 2 | Southern Methodist |
| 3 | Houston |
| 4 | Tulane |
| 5 | UTEP |
| 6 | Rice |