Week 13: Tulane at East Carolina

Behind its 2,000-yard rusher, Tulane is threatening to finish coach Bob Toledo's first season on a three-game win streak.

Of course, knocking off East Division contender East Carolina will be a challenge for the Green Wave despite the presence of Matt Forte, who leads the nation with a 182-yard average. East Carolina needs to defeat Tulane and hope for C-USA upset: a UTEP win over UCF.

If UCF loses and East Carolina wins, UCF and ECU finish with 6-2 league records, but ECU claims the East Division crown by virtue of a tiebreaker, its 52-38 win over the Knights Oct. 6.

East Carolina had last weekend off, giving the Pirates time to recover from one of the league's biggest upsets of the season. A 1-8 Marshall team knocked off East Carolina, 26-7 two weeks ago, ending its hopes of winning out and earning a spot in the title game.

The Pirates remain the league's top team in turnover margin and are ranked third in rush defense, a decent combination.

“One positive thing that happened during the bye week is that we were able to clinch a bowl game without even playing,” said ECU coach Skip Holtz. “With UTEP losing (last weekend), only six teams in the conference are eligible for six guaranteed bowls for Conference USA. At this point, we are playing for where are going bowling.”

Tulane's fast finish isn't surprising when one looks at how the Green Wave has played since a midseason overtime loss at Army. The Green Wave lost by five at UAB, also in OT, and were driving for the potential go-ahead field goal against Memphis when time ran out on a controversial play.

During the past two weeks, the Green Wave has handily defeated UTEP and Rice. In the win over Rice, Forte rushed for 194 yards and five touchdowns. With 2,007 yards rushing, he has broken the C-USA single-season record established by former Memphis All-America and NFL running back DeAngelo Williams.

Forte also became only the 11th player in Bowl Subdivision (formerly 1-A) history to surpass 2,000 yards in a season.

With no possibility of a postseason trip, the Green Wave will attempt to get Forte one more record in the finale. Forte, who has 4,145 career yards, needs 219 to become the school's career rushing leader, breaking Mewelde Moore's mark.

East Carolina by 7