News/Commentary

American Conference Preview

August 20, 2017 by CFP Staff

Temple captured the 2016 conference title with a 34-10 win at Navy. It was the first conference football title for the Owls since 1967 when it was a member of the Mid-Atlantic Conference.

The computer had picked a USF-Houston showdown and it didn't miss by much. The Bulls (7-1) tied for their division title and the Cougars (5-3) finished 2 games out in their division.

This year, the Congrove Computer Rankings project a title matchup between USF and Tulsa, with the Bulls hosting the conference championship tilt as 2.98-point favorites. That game will be rematch of a regular season tussle in Tampa on November 16.

The computer gives USF a clear path to the East Division crown with an unblemished slate (12-0, 8-0) and a projected No. 6 ranking heading into the conference title game. Temple is picked to finish a distant second at 7-5 over-all and  5-3 in the conference.

Tulsa's path will be much tougher, with the Golden Hurricane (10-2, 7-1) edging out Houston (10-2, 6-2) and Memphis (10-2, 6-2). Tulsa gets both of those teams at home.

Connecticut, Houston, Temple and USF will all open the 2017 season with a new head coach. UConn brought back former head coach Randy Edsall, while Houston promoted offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to fill the shoes of Tom Herman who moved over to Texas. Meanwhile, Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins takes Matt Rhule's post at Temple (Rhule moved to Baylor) and USF tapped Charlie Strong to fill the vacancy left by Willie Taggart when he moved to Oregon.

2017 Projected Order of Finish

AAC East

  Team W-L CW-CL Rank Power SOS
1 South Florida 12-0 8-0 6 78.84 110
2 Temple 7-3 5-3 59 71.07 80
3 Central Florida 5-7 3-5 80 64.22 85
4* East Carolina 2-10 1-7 113 56.25 66
4* Connecticut 2-10 1-7 117 54.74 89
4* Cincinnati 2-10 1-7 122 52.45 95

*-Tie-breakers: All 3 go 1-1 vs. the other 2.

AAC West

  Team W-L CW-CL Rank Power SOS
1 Tulsa 10-2 7-1 21 78.86 22
2* Houston 10-2 6-2 23 78.05 61
3 Memphis 10-2 6-2 29 73.65 78
4* Navy 7-5 4-4 47 72.80 45
5 So. Methodist 7-5 4-4 62 64.27 82
6 Tulane 4-8 3-5 90 66.45 54

*-Tie-breakers: Houston beats Memphis, Navy beats So. Methodist