After a busy weekend in the American Athletic Conference, there’s a shakeup in the power rankings and a new top team in the conference.
A couple of undefeated teams in the AAC squared off with a somewhat surprising result, the Cougars survived a late comeback attempt and a top-five team struggled with one of the weaker teams in the conference.
The Upper Echelon:
No. 1 Navy Midshipmen – The Navy Midshipmen came into their meeting against the University of Memphis Tigers undefeated in conference, and they showed why their only loss of the season came against the University of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish. The Midshipmen controlled the tempo of the game through their dynamic triple-option offense and cruised to a 45-20 win, knocking the Tigers from the ranks of the unbeaten and looking great in the process.
No. 2 Memphis Tigers – While Memphis suffered its first loss of the year, Navy is a tough game for anyone, especially when you don’t play against an offensive scheme like Navy’s every week. The Tigers looked out of sync that night, but that’s not likely to happen again. They’ll be looking to bounce back this weekend when they come to Houston for a meeting with the Cougars.
No. 3 Houston Cougars – Speaking of, the Cougars were able to hold on to their undefeated record, but the win didn’t look pretty. The Cougars’ offense struggled to find consistency at times, and the defense gave up huge chunks of yards to the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Add in the sprained MCL of senior corner back William Jackson III and the game against Memphis started to look a lot tougher.
No. 4 Temple Owls – This spot is definitely a contentious one, but I gave the Temple University Owls the slight edge over the Cincinnati Bearcats because they won their game. The Owls played the 1-8 Southern Methodist University Mustangs in what should have been a blowout, but was a lot closer than expected. We’ll see if they can regain their strong form against the University of South Florida Bulls.
No. 5 Cincinnati Bearcats – This was a tough decision, and Cincinnati is still one of the top teams in the AAC, despite its overall 5-4 record. In their games against Temple, Memphis and Houston, the Bearcats’ combined margin of loss is just 18 points. Turnovers were a big problem for Cincinnati, but with three easier games coming up, the Bearcats shouldn’t have trouble becoming bowl-eligible.
Best of the Rest:
No. 6 USF Bulls – I thought USF was better than East Carolina University, and I was right. The Bulls retain their spot here because they won the heads-up contest. It wasn’t a pretty game, but a win is a win, and the Bulls move one win closer to a spot in a bowl.
No. 7 ECU Pirates – The Pirates just couldn’t make it happen against the Bulls, despite having two chances at the end of the game. In their final drives, 11 plays yielded just 19 yards, meaning three straight losses for ECU. With their final game of the season coming against the Bearcats, it could be difficult for them to reach the six-win mark, but if the team from the first half of the season shows up, they have a chance to get there.
No. 8 UConn Huskies – Again, not a lot of change here this week. The University of Connecticut Huskies won, but it was far from impressive, with a score of 7-3. The win came against Tulane University, no less, but it’s their fifth win of the season, and head coach Bob Diaco continues to spark a bit of a turnaround in the Huskies program.
No. 9 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes – The Hurricanes’ second-biggest win of the season came against the win-less University of Central Florida Knights. Tulsa has a good chance to become bowl-eligible, but has to go through Cincinnati and Navy before it gets to the easiest game on its schedule. If the Golden Hurricanes can manage to pull off an upset-win over one of those two, this season would be a big step in the right direction for the program.
The…other ones:
No. 10 SMU Mustangs – Southern Methodist University is actually moving up a spot win a win, and I think it’s deserved. The Mustangs played the Owls tough the whole way, which has been a theme for them this season. While the Mustangs didn’t do anything great in the game, there were some good spots. Call me optimistic, but I think this program might finally be turning around.
No. 11 Tulane Green Wave – Tulane’s having a rough year. A 7-3 loss against UConn doesn’t make it any better. On the bright side, it has games against Army and SMU coming up, so there are a couple of chances to improve on its record.
No. 12 UCF Knights – Good on them for putting up 30 points this weekend. Justin Holman passed for 293 yards and two touchdowns, but two interceptions are not good. They’ve got two weeks to get a win and time is ticking.
