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Oct. 31 C-USA MenÂ�fs Soccer Notebook
MSOC Notebook

	SMU

Oct. 31, 2012

IRVING, Texas - The Conference USA regular season comes to a close this week with six league matches set to determine seeding at the 2012 C-USA Men's Soccer Championship, Nov. 7-11, in Birmingham, Ala. No. 14 SMU has secured one of the top two seeds at the Championship, while Kentucky, Tulsa and UAB have stamped their tickets to the field as well.

No. 14 SMU controls its own destiny and can secure the No. 1 seed at the Championship with a win or tie at Memphis Friday or with a Kentucky tie or loss Wednesday against UCF. The match will be shown live on FOX Soccer Channel at 7 p.m. CT.

Complete C-USA Men's Soccer Notebook

Three teams are separated by just one point in the league standings as they battle for the sixth and final spot at the tournament. UCF and Marshall each have nine points, while Memphis holds eight. Marshall has just one match remaining against UCF. Memphis will close the regular season with matches against UAB and SMU. UCF faces Kentucky and Marshall.

Strength Throughout

The latest NCAA RPI report slots all nine C-USA teams among the top 117 in the country, making it one of the strongest top-to-bottom leagues in the country. Among conferences with at least eight teams, only Conference USA and the ACC have all of their teams in the top 117.

RPI Report

Four Conference USA teams rank among the nation's top 26 in the most recent NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) report (10/30). Just three leagues boast as many as four teams among the nation's top 26: Conference USA, the Big East and the ACC.

C-USA RPIs

14 - Kentucky

18 - SMU

22 - Tulsa

26 - UAB

58 - Marshall

72 - South Carolina

74 - Memphis

101 - UCF

117 - FIU

What's Left?

Here's a look at the remaining C-USA matches for each side:

FIU: TLS

Kentucky: UCF, South Carolina

Marshall: UCF

Memphis: UAB, SMU

South Carolina: at UK

SMU: at MEM

Tulsa: at FIU

UAB: at MEM

UCF: at UK, at MAR

C-USA: Elite Slates

According the most recent Massey Ratings (10/28), five C-USA teams have played top-27 strength of schedules - the same number as the Big East and Pac 12 and one fewer than the ACC.

Team - SOS

Kentucky - 13

South Carolina - 14

Tulsa - 22

SMU - 23

UAB - 27

NSCAA Regional Polls

Conference USA teams hold six spots in the NSCAA Midwest Regional Poll, with SMU at No. 1. UCF holds a regional ranking in the South.

Hobbs Named Senior CLASS Candidate Finalist

FIU senior defender Anthony Hobbs has been named as one of 10 men's soccer finalists for the 2012 Senior CLASS Award.

Online voting will take place until Nov. 19 at the Senior CLASS Award website.

The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 men's candidates and 30 women's candidates announced in September. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner.

This week's matches

Wednesday, October 31

UCF at Kentucky* 6 p.m.

UAB at Memphis* 7 p.m.

Friday, November 2

(19) SMU at Memphis* (FOX Soccer) 7 p.m.

Saturday, November 3

UCF at Marshall* 6 p.m.

(23) Tulsa at FIU* 6 p.m.

Sunday, November 4

South Carolina at Kentucky*12 p.m.

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