As expected, Southern Miss, Louisville and Cincinnati battled it out all season. The Eagles and Cardinals finished 5-3 in league play, while Cincinnati came in at 6-2. Don't spray the champagne just yet, though, Bearcats. Not if you didn't bring enough to share with. . .what's this? Texas Christian?

The Horned Frogs (9-2, 6-2) have been good for years under Dennis Franchione and now Gary Patterson, but nobody expected them to contend for the league title this season -- especially with three-year quarterback Casey Printers abruptly transferring to Florida A&M rather than starting as a senior.

But that's how it went down, with TCU bouncing back from a season-opening loss to Cincinnati to win its next eight games and reach No. 23 in the national polls while Louisville -- despite a win against Florida State -- and Southern Miss stumbled at inopportune times.

Well, it was an unpredictable season all the way around: East Carolina and Houston fire their coaches. Army beats bowl-bound Tulane, but nobody else. Memphis goes from the cusp of a bowl in 2001 to 2-6 in league play in 2002. Eight league teams win at least three C-USA games, giving an anything-can-happen feel to every Saturday from August to November.

If there was any continuity to a crazy C-USA season, it was the dominance at running back. A whopping five league backs ran for 1,000 yards (Houston's Joffrey Reynolds, Southern Miss' Derrick Nix, East Carolina's Art Brown, Cincinnati's DeMarco McCleskey and Tulane's Mewelde Moore), and a sixth, Louisville's Henry Miller, ran for 12 scores.

MVP: We're bucking tradition here and not giving it to Louisville quarterback Dave Ragone, even though he was named the league's offensive player of the year by league coaches and media. We're going with TCU senior linebacker LaMarcus McDonald, who led the best defense in the league -- and the best rushing defense in the country (62.9 yards allowed per game) -- with 28 tackles for loss among his 113 total hits. He had 10 sacks and recovered three fumbles.

Coach of the Year: TCU won nine games and the C-USA title, and this is how you know coach Gary Patterson's fingerprints are all over those things: The Horned Frogs were second in the nation in total defense, and before becoming head coach two years ago Patterson was -- you guessed it -- the team's defensive coordinator.

Newcomer of the Year: Imagine if TCU running back Lonta Hobbs had played the entire season. After sitting out the first four games, Hobbs removed the "redshirt" from his redshirt freshman year and set school records for rushing yards (950) and touchdowns (12) by a freshman. He finished with five straight 100-yard games.

Biggest surprise: It's a near-TCU sweep, but the league title was supposed to be decided among Southern Miss, Louisville and Cincinnati. The Horned Frogs were off most radars. Honorable mention to ECU tailback Art Brown.

Biggest disappointment: East Carolina not only finished 4-8, but the Pirates were among the worst offenses (No. 99 nationally) and defenses (No. 106) in the country. It was a shocking, but thorough, drop for a program that had been seeing its best years under longtime (and now former) coach Steve Logan.

Army
Army didn't go winless, but it didn't beat Navy, either. All in all? A bad year with a ray of hope. The Cadets were good enough to beat bowl-bound Tulane, and they were good enough to play within a field goal of UAB and to put up 30 points on a pretty good Air Force team. But they weren't good enough to compete with Navy, which entered that regular-season finale with the same 1-10 record but looked to be three levels better than Army.

MVP: Nobody on the Cadets gained more yardage than sophomore William White, who led the team with 30 catches for 384 yards and led C-USA in all-purpose yardage with 149.6 per game. That stat is a bit skewed because White recorded 75 percent of his all-purpose yardage on kickoff returns -- nobody in the league approached White's 55 kick returns -- but it's fitting that 1-11 Army's MVP should be an offensive skill player who didn't score a touchdown all season.

Biggest disappointment: Need you ask? That 58-12 loss to Navy to close the season was devastating.

Did you know: Army was the last Division I team to win a game this season.

Cincinnati
After coming close for several years, the Bearcats finally pulled ahead of league bullies Southern Miss and Louisville, and given their victory against co-champion TCU, Cincinnati can lay unofficial claim to outright champion, if it so chooses. Quarterback Gino Guidugli was again masterful, tailback DeMarco McCleskey ran for more than 1,000 yards and end Antwan Peek led a defense that ranked among C-USA leaders in most categories. Add it up, throw in that near-win against Fiesta Bowl-bound Ohio State, and 2002 was a fine year for the Bearcats.

MVP: Although Louisville's Dave Ragone claimed the C-USA offensive player of the year award and spot on the all-league first team, Guidugli put up comparable numbers. He threw for more yards per game (249.7 to 223.9) but less touchdowns (17 to 23) and more interceptions (15 to 10).

Biggest disappointment: The Bearcats could have pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, but Guidugli was intercepted throwing into the end zone in the final seconds of that 23-19 loss to Ohio State.

Did you know: Four of Cincinnati's six losses were by five points or less.

East Carolina
Steve Logan's 11-year run as coach is over. He and the Pirates "mutually agreed," according to the school's press release, that he would step down as coach after the Pirates went 4-8. Logan's final season was marked by bad offense, bad defense and a fractured relationship with athletics director Mike Hamrick, who rescheduled the Pirates' home game with Cincinnati for a Friday in December, angering high school football coaches in the state and violating a clause in Logan's contract that he be consulted about scheduling matters. The good news? Sophomore quarterback Paul Troth got most of his rookie mistakes out of the way while putting up 2,315 passing yard and 15 touchdowns (to go with 20 interceptions).

MVP: Tailback Art Brown cushioned the loss of 2001 rushing star Leonard Henry by rushing for 1,029 yards and scoring a league-best 17 touchdowns. Imagine the heat that would have been on Troth had Brown not been good for 20 carries and 100 yards per game.

Biggest disappointment: ECU fans like to say they've got the No. 1 football program in a basketball-crazy state, but it's hard to make that argument in a season that began with losses to Duke and Wake Forest.

Did you know: The Pirates went 4-4 in league play -- but 0-4 outside the conference.

Houston
The Cougars began the season with one coach and practically ended it with another. Dana Dimel was relieved of his duties before the 5-7 season ended, though he was allowed to finish out the year. His replacement, former Houston star Art Briles, was named before some league teams had finished their seasons. Briles, a longtime high school coach in Texas before spending the past three seasons coaching running backs at Texas Tech, inherits a team that defeated Louisville 27-10 and would have finished .500 had it not lost in triple overtime to ECU.

MVP: Senior running back Joffrey Reynolds set a C-USA record with 1,545 yards -- 351 yards more than runner-up Derrick Nix of Southern Miss. Reynolds also scored 13 touchdowns, two coming on receptions.

Biggest disappointment: Dimel, hoped to be the man who would lead the Cougars back into national prominence, was fired.

Did you know: Briles won four Texas state titles at Stephensville High, and his 1998 team set a national record with 8,650 yards of total offense.

Louisville
The Cardinals couldn't get it done in quarterback Dave Ragone's senior year, failing to win a share of the league title or get into a high-profile bowl. Ragone's numbers were down from his average production as a sophomore and junior, but a new offensive line that struggled to protect him shares the blame. Uncharacteristically undisciplined play cost the Cardinals most of all; they were last in the league in penalties, and committed 13 more turnovers than they created.

MVP: Despite fleeing for his life most of the season, Ragone threw for 2,687 yards, 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and led Louisville past Florida State in one of the program's biggest victories.

Biggest disappointment: The Cardinals had high hopes -- rising into the national Top 10, competing for an at-large bid to the BCS -- but realized those were gone after losing their opener to state rival Kentucky, 22-17.

Did you know: Louisville blocked at least one kick in 10 of 12 games.

Memphis
Memphis probably was better than its 3-9 record would suggest, but still not good enough to pull out victories in close losses to TCU, Louisville, South Florida and TCU. The Tigers were hurt by poor kicking and ineffective rushing defense, and also hurt by an inconsistent running game that couldn't complement the breakout season of quarterback Danny Wimprine.

MVP: Wimprine tied Louisville's Dave Ragone for the C-USA lead with 23 touchdown passes. Only Cincinnati's Gino Guidugli threw for more yards than Wimprine's 2,820.

Biggest disappointment: Memphis went 0-3 against its neighbors to the south, losing to Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Mississippi State by a combined 53 points.

Did you know: Wimprine set school records for completions (235), attempts (435), yards and touchdown passes.

Southern Miss
Even with the return to 1999 form of Derrick Nix (1,194 rushing yards), the Southern Miss offense couldn't provide enough support for a staunch defense -- undermining a season that, with Louisville's vulnerability, might have produced a league title. The Eagles had to settle for a tie for third and a spot in the Houston Bowl. A look back at the season will reveal painfully close losses to Louisville and South Florida and disappearing acts against Tulane and TCU that produced losses by a combined 51 points.

MVP: Southern Miss had the No. 1 scoring defense in the league, and linebacker Rod Davis deserves much of the credit. He led the league with 155 tackles, 11 sacks and 20 tackles for a loss.

Biggest disappointment: The Eagles could have beaten rival Louisville, but they couldn't hang onto a 17-3 lead, had a field goal blocked late in regulation, then missed a field goal that would have won in overtime of a 20-17, double-OT loss.

Did you know: With 3,574 career rushing yards, Nix needs just 12 yards in the Houston Bowl to become the school leader.

TCU
League champs, spot in the Liberty Bowl, the C-USA coach of the year (Gary Patterson) and rookie of the year (Lonta Hobbs). Yep, 2002 was a banner year for the Horned Frogs, who rebounded from an opening-game loss to Cincinnati to win their next eight, including back-to-back dominations of Louisville and Southern Miss that confirmed their legitimacy. TCU won those games by an average of 22 points.

MVP: McDonald and Hobbs got their props above, so let's go with another member of the TCU offense here -- say, quarterback Tye Gunn, who replaced the injured Sean Stilley after Stilley had replaced Casey Printers (transfer) and held the offense together.

Biggest disappointment: TCU could have claimed the outright league title but stumbled in a 31-28 loss on Nov. 23 at East Carolina. In August, the Horned Frogs surely would have been thrilled to know they would go 9-2 with a share of the league title. Still. . .

Did you know: The TCU defense has posted 43 sacks and 19 interceptions, an average of six momentum-changing plays per game.

Tulane
Would the real Tulane please stand up? The Green Wave lost to East Carolina, Memphis and Army (combined record: 8-28) but defeated Cincinnati and Southern Miss (combined record: 14-11) by decisive margins. It was an unusual season, but all in all a successful season given Tulane's 7-5 regular-season record and spot in the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl.

MVP: The Green Wave was only so-so on offense and defense, but stellar in turnover margin. Give some credit to defensive back Lynaris Elpheage, who led the league with eight interceptions and also forced two fumbles to go with his league-best 22 pass breakups and 62 tackles.

Biggest disappointment: Army won just one game this season, and it came at the expense of the Green Wave -- a 14-10 win by the Cadets on Nov. 16.

Did you know: Tulane leads the country with 40 forced turnovers.

UAB
At 5-7 this season, the Blazers seem to have reached the point where they win all the games they should -- having defeated Troy State, Houston, Army, Memphis and East Carolina. The next step would be to start taking games people aren't sure UAB can win, such as losses by a touchdown or less to Pittsburgh, Southern Miss and Cincinnati. That could happen next year, with so much firepower back at the skill positions and another year with Division I status under its belt to recruit the state.

MVP: Freshman quarterback Darrell Hackney threw for 1,977 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and played with a poise that belied his age. He helped UAB go 7-for-12 on fourth downs and lead the league with 30 scores in 32 red-zone appearances. That's clutch.

Biggest disappointment: The Blazers lost three of their final four games to fall out of bowl eligibility. True, the losses were to Louisville, Southern Miss and Cincinnati. But UAB was so close!

Did you know: The Blazers will return their top three rushers, top two passers and three of their top four receivers -- plus leading tackler Zac Woodfin.

Gregg Doyel covers college football for The Charlotte Observer and can be reached at gdoyel@charlotteobserver.com.