We've been writing and reading that the two teams most likely to represent Conference USA in the St. Petersburg Bowl -- most likely against USF -- were Memphis and Southern Miss.

Wednesday's news that C-USA had announced two bowl pairings -- Southern Miss to New Orleans and Rice to the Texas Bowl -- opens up another intriguing possibility that might be more inviting for fans: East Carolina, which like USF made a jump in the national rankings in September only to fall out of the polls with four losses. And again, USF still has a small shot at the Meineke Car Care Bowl, but let's focus on St. Pete for the moment.

Hear me out on this: Conference USA now has four teams for four bowls. The winner of Saturday's Tulsa-ECU championship game (at Tulsa) will go to the Liberty Bowl. Let's presume that Tulsa win -- they're 13-point favorites. The GMAC Bowl in Mobile has C-USA's second choice, but that isn't necessarily ECU and could easily be Houston, which has the same conference record at ECU at 6-2 and got a 41-24 road win against the Pirates.

That would leave ECU and Memphis for bowls in Fort Worth and St. Petersburg, so geography would point to Memphis staying west and ECU coming to St. Pete. It also makes sense that C-USA might want the better team in St. Pete, against a BCS-conference opponent, rather than in Fort Worth against a Mountain West team, likely Air Force.

Memphis is still certainly a possibility -- perhaps the most likely opponent -- but the door is certainly open for ECU and USF reuniting for a rematch of the 2006 Papajohns.com Bowl. Just something to think about between now and Saturday ...