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American Athletic Conference – Football Storylines
After losing Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12 last season, American Athletic Conference lost 2023 conference champ SMU to the ACC. It did add Army, but the league is still in a fight to keep its stronger schools. There’s no indication that the ACC and Big 12 will raid the house for more programs in the near future, but Memphis, USF, and Tulane are prime candidates to get plucked at some point.
For now, though, this should still be among the best Group of Five conferences.
My new era of college football. Division realignment @American_Conf #CFB25 #AAC pic.twitter.com/JNbo3e8XmK
— CC22 (@_CC22_) April 12, 2024
The league needs more out of the former Conference USA programs. Last season the conference brought in Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA, and only the Roadrunners of UTSA finished with a winning record. Combine that with a rough 2-10 season from a should-be-stronger East Carolina, and just four current teams came up with winning records last season.
Predictions
Memphis will lose on the road against FSU, but the rest of the slate is manageable enough to come up with a good run for the possible Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers have to go to USF and Tulane, but they get a nice run of four home games in five weeks with the road date at Charlotte. They can get to ten games on the way to playing for the AAC title. If they do, they’ll be deep in the mix for that CFP spot.
USF will keep it all going. There’s a ton of talent returning. Alex Golesh’s team might have problems early with Alabama, Miami, and a trip to Tulane all in the first five games. After that there’s a week off before dealing with a home showdown against Memphis. And then the fun will begin, The Bulls should win their last six games against UAB, at Florida Atlantic, Navy, at Charlotte, Tulsa, and at Rice for its best regular season since 2017.
North Texas will come up with its first winning season since 2018. It might take a bowl victory to do it, but with the addition of former TCU QB Chandler Morris along with other key parts, the offense will be even better. With a favorable schedule, the Mean Green will come up with a hot finish leading into the first bowl will since 2013.
Keep an eye out 👀
— USF Football (@USFFootball) June 12, 2024
📝: https://t.co/uJ4InHGC2u#ComeToTheBay | #StayInTheBay pic.twitter.com/9A4TVSMIJt
10 Best American Athletic Conference Players
1. Seth Henigan, QB Memphis, Sr.
2. Mekhi Hughes, RB Tulane, Soph.
3. Chandler Morris, QB North Texas, Jr.
4. Chandler Martin, LB Memphis, Jr.
5. Leo Lowin, LB Army, Sr.
6. Marion Anderson, RB Memphis, Sr.
7. Mario Williams, WR Tulane, Sr.
8. Colin Ramos, LB Navy, Sr.
9. Jacob Zeno, QB UAB Sr.
10. Jesus Machado, LB Tulane, Sr.
10 Biggest American Athletic Conference Games
Keeping this to just AAC games
1. Memphis at Tulane, Nov. 28
2. USF at Tulane, Sept. 28
3. Memphis at USF, Oct. 11
4. Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Oct. 26
5. USF at Florida Atlantic, Nov. 1
6. UTSA at Memphis, Nov. 2
7. North Texas at UTSA, Nov. 15
8. North Texas at Florida Atlantic, Oct. 12
9. UTSA at East Carolina, Sept. 28
10. North Texas at Memphis, Oct. 19
#ALLIN | #LookAlive25 pic.twitter.com/FkLdUiJW1D
— Memphis Football (@MemphisFB) June 16, 2024
10 Top American Athletic Conference Transfers
1. Mario Williams, WR Tulane (USC)
2. Marion Anderson, RB Memphis (South Carolina)
3. Denver Harris, CB UTSA (LSU)
4. Casey Kelly, TE East Carolina (Oregon)
5. Tahj Ra-El, S Memphis (Old Dominion)
6. Chad Lindberg, OT Rice (Georgia)
7. Phillip Dunnam, S Florida Atlantic (Indiana)
8. Shazz Preston, WR Tulane (Alabama)
9. Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen, WR USF (Purdue)
10. Marylyn Johnson, WR Florida Atlantic (Buffalo)
Top AAC Quarterback Transfers
– Chandler Morris, North Texas (TCU)
– Ty Thompson, Tulane (Oregon)
– EJ Warner, Rice (Temple)
– Cam Fancher, Florida Atlantic (Marshall)
– Katin Houser, East Carolina (Michigan State) & Jake Garcia, East Carolina (Missouri)
– Max Brown, Charlotte (Florida)
– Jake Garcia, East Carolina (Missouri)
– Reese Mooney, North Texas (Liberty)
FBS off-season program of the day.
— College Football Daily (@FBSCFBnews) February 28, 2024
NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN
– RIDICULOUS transfer class (21 players coming in)
– Defensive improvements happening
– REALLY good 2024 schedule
– Chandler Morris is FUN
UNT is close. Played lots of very good teams close in ‘23
Denton is on the up pic.twitter.com/Mpru9QjDCB
New American Athletic Conference Head Coaches
Jon Sumrall, Tulane
The former head coach at Troy won 23 games and two Sun Belt titles in two seasons. Now it’s his job to take what Willie Fritz got rolling and keep it going.
FBS off season program of the day
— College Football Daily (@FBSCFBnews) February 13, 2024
TULANE GREEN WAVE
– New era in NOLA. Jon Sumrall wants to continue BUILDING this program to playoffs
– Great portal class. (Ty Thompson, Traynor, Williams, Preston, etc.)
– Great schedule can put nation on notice Sep. 14
Tulane is HERE pic.twitter.com/pHGWiC46nB
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