The guy from the SMU Rivals site dropped Tulsa three spots (from 6th to 9th) and TU didn't even play a game. Interesting...
1. Temple (3-0, 1-0). After three straight wins, one over a big AAC opponent in Cincinnati, the Temple Owls enjoyed a well-deserved bye week. The Owl's next match up will be with the Charlotte 49ers who own a 2-2 record and are currently winless in their own conference.
2. Memphis (4-0, 1-0). The Tigers scored more than 50 points for the third time this season on Thursday night, hanging 53 on the Cincinnati Bearcats. This offense is on a different level right now as Paxton Lynch is finding receivers Anthony Miller and Roderick Proctor open for long touchdowns almost every week. Lynch finished his night with 464 all-purpose yards and was locked in a quarterback duel with Bearcat freshman Hayden Moore all night. The Tigers are fun to watch and will look to move to 5-0 against South Florida next week.
3. Houston (3-0, 0-0). Houston exploded for 28 points in the second quarter against a very-outmatched Texas State team and eventually rolled over the Bobcats in a 59-14 win. Junior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. threw four touchdown passes and only missed on four attempts all game. This team can put points up quickly. They have yet to play a real contender though and thanks to their schedule they look to be in cruise control for a while.
4. Navy (3-0, 2-0). In their 28-18 win over the Connecticut Huskies, Keenan Reynolds showed again how dangerous he is when he can run in the open field. 28 carries for 142 yards and three touchdowns helped Reynolds lead Navy to a 3-0 record and an early lead in AAC play This Navy team is very one-dimensional on offense and extremely reliant on Reynolds to make plays for them, yet they have a winning formula at the moment. Next week they will host the Air Force Academy, then travel to South Bend to take one the now sixth-ranked Fighting Irish.
5. Cincinnati (2-2, 0-2). Hayden Moore did anything that could ever be asked of a freshman quarterback making a road start against a conference rival. On Thursday night, Moore led the Bearcats into Memphis and in one night threw for 557 yards and four touchdowns in an exciting 53-46 defeat to the Memphis Tigers. The offenses dominated for both teams and it seemed like the defenses would only take the field as a formality. A really great game but a tough loss for Cincinnati, they are now 0-2 in AAC play and must play two non-conference games against Miami and at BYU.
6. East Carolina (2-2, 0-1). It didn't really seem to matter which quarterback was throwing the ball on Saturday, Blake Kemp and James Summers in their own way took turns lighting up the Virginia Tech defense. Summers had more yards on the ground then he did in the air as he carried the ball 21 times for 169 yards and two scores, in addition to the one that he threw for. ECU's offense can be explosive at times and because of this the defense can afford to give up 20 plus points in every game, but it may come back to haunt them eventually.
7. Connecticut (2-2, 0-1). Against a talented running team in the Navy Midshipmen, the Huskies were able to survive the onslaught from quarterback Keenan Reynolds in the first half and go into the break trailing only 21-10. Unfortunately for Connecticut they could not produce any legitimate offense in the second half and the run game from Navy finally wore them down as they lost 28-18. The Huskies have been competitive playing with Bryant Shirreffs under center. The sophomore tossed two touchdown passes in the loss, and that is what fans were hoping to see. A matchup at BYU this Saturday will be a big test for this 2-2 squad.
8. USF (1-2, 0-0). The last game that South Florida played in was a 35-17 loss to the Maryland Terrapins, hopefully after a week of rest for the players and game planning from the coaches the Bulls will be ready for the Memphis Tigers. This will be the first conference game for the Bulls, while the Tigers look to remain undefeated after beating Cincinnati on Thursday night 53-46.
9. Tulsa (2-1, 0-0). Coming off the bye week, Tulsa looks to turn things around with a win against Houston after a 52-38 whipping from in state rival Oklahoma the week before. Houston is coming off a commanding win over Texas State and unfortunately it looks like Tulsa will fall to 2-2 as the Cougars will be too much to handle for the struggleng Hurricane defense.
10. SMU (1-3, 0-0). A lot has been said about how poorly the defensive line and linebacker units played as they allowed a staggering 276 rushing yards to James Madison quarterback Vad Lee. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, most of it is true. When it counted most on the final defensive drive, SMU could not get a stop, just like it couldn't get a stop at any other point in the game. Matt Davis had very little time to throw in the first half thanks to the offensive line giving up five sacks yet he still managed to make plays when it seemed to matter most. The offense was good all-around but there were too many fumbles. Running backs Xavier Jones and Braeden West played well helping to take the pressure off of Davis. Courtland Sutton continues to be a monster as No. 16 caught five passes for 137 yards and one score. This was a good JMU team but there is no doubt that SMU should have won this game. East Carolina comes to Dallas next week as the Mustangs open American Conference play.
11. Tulane (1-2, 0-0). Coming off of a bye week Tulane will take on UCF on Saturday as the Green Wave look to build a winning streak. Tulane beat Maine 38-7 in week three and they played their best ball of the season in that game. Hopefully they can replicate their play as the Knights will be looking for their first win of the year.
12. UCF (0-4, 0-0). Surprisingly for much of the first half in Williams-Brice Stadium, the Knights kept the game with the South Carolina Gamecocks relatively close. In fact, at halftime UCF was leading USC 14-8. Now most of this may have been due to the Gamecocks coming out rather flat and playing down to the level of the Knights, however this is the most fight that this team has had for one half of football this entire season. That being said, the bottom line is that this team is 0-4 with three of their next five games coming against brutal in-conference teams. A road victory against Tulane this Saturday might be their only chance for a W in a while.
1. Temple (3-0, 1-0). After three straight wins, one over a big AAC opponent in Cincinnati, the Temple Owls enjoyed a well-deserved bye week. The Owl's next match up will be with the Charlotte 49ers who own a 2-2 record and are currently winless in their own conference.
2. Memphis (4-0, 1-0). The Tigers scored more than 50 points for the third time this season on Thursday night, hanging 53 on the Cincinnati Bearcats. This offense is on a different level right now as Paxton Lynch is finding receivers Anthony Miller and Roderick Proctor open for long touchdowns almost every week. Lynch finished his night with 464 all-purpose yards and was locked in a quarterback duel with Bearcat freshman Hayden Moore all night. The Tigers are fun to watch and will look to move to 5-0 against South Florida next week.
3. Houston (3-0, 0-0). Houston exploded for 28 points in the second quarter against a very-outmatched Texas State team and eventually rolled over the Bobcats in a 59-14 win. Junior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. threw four touchdown passes and only missed on four attempts all game. This team can put points up quickly. They have yet to play a real contender though and thanks to their schedule they look to be in cruise control for a while.
4. Navy (3-0, 2-0). In their 28-18 win over the Connecticut Huskies, Keenan Reynolds showed again how dangerous he is when he can run in the open field. 28 carries for 142 yards and three touchdowns helped Reynolds lead Navy to a 3-0 record and an early lead in AAC play This Navy team is very one-dimensional on offense and extremely reliant on Reynolds to make plays for them, yet they have a winning formula at the moment. Next week they will host the Air Force Academy, then travel to South Bend to take one the now sixth-ranked Fighting Irish.
5. Cincinnati (2-2, 0-2). Hayden Moore did anything that could ever be asked of a freshman quarterback making a road start against a conference rival. On Thursday night, Moore led the Bearcats into Memphis and in one night threw for 557 yards and four touchdowns in an exciting 53-46 defeat to the Memphis Tigers. The offenses dominated for both teams and it seemed like the defenses would only take the field as a formality. A really great game but a tough loss for Cincinnati, they are now 0-2 in AAC play and must play two non-conference games against Miami and at BYU.
6. East Carolina (2-2, 0-1). It didn't really seem to matter which quarterback was throwing the ball on Saturday, Blake Kemp and James Summers in their own way took turns lighting up the Virginia Tech defense. Summers had more yards on the ground then he did in the air as he carried the ball 21 times for 169 yards and two scores, in addition to the one that he threw for. ECU's offense can be explosive at times and because of this the defense can afford to give up 20 plus points in every game, but it may come back to haunt them eventually.
7. Connecticut (2-2, 0-1). Against a talented running team in the Navy Midshipmen, the Huskies were able to survive the onslaught from quarterback Keenan Reynolds in the first half and go into the break trailing only 21-10. Unfortunately for Connecticut they could not produce any legitimate offense in the second half and the run game from Navy finally wore them down as they lost 28-18. The Huskies have been competitive playing with Bryant Shirreffs under center. The sophomore tossed two touchdown passes in the loss, and that is what fans were hoping to see. A matchup at BYU this Saturday will be a big test for this 2-2 squad.
8. USF (1-2, 0-0). The last game that South Florida played in was a 35-17 loss to the Maryland Terrapins, hopefully after a week of rest for the players and game planning from the coaches the Bulls will be ready for the Memphis Tigers. This will be the first conference game for the Bulls, while the Tigers look to remain undefeated after beating Cincinnati on Thursday night 53-46.
9. Tulsa (2-1, 0-0). Coming off the bye week, Tulsa looks to turn things around with a win against Houston after a 52-38 whipping from in state rival Oklahoma the week before. Houston is coming off a commanding win over Texas State and unfortunately it looks like Tulsa will fall to 2-2 as the Cougars will be too much to handle for the struggleng Hurricane defense.
10. SMU (1-3, 0-0). A lot has been said about how poorly the defensive line and linebacker units played as they allowed a staggering 276 rushing yards to James Madison quarterback Vad Lee. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, most of it is true. When it counted most on the final defensive drive, SMU could not get a stop, just like it couldn't get a stop at any other point in the game. Matt Davis had very little time to throw in the first half thanks to the offensive line giving up five sacks yet he still managed to make plays when it seemed to matter most. The offense was good all-around but there were too many fumbles. Running backs Xavier Jones and Braeden West played well helping to take the pressure off of Davis. Courtland Sutton continues to be a monster as No. 16 caught five passes for 137 yards and one score. This was a good JMU team but there is no doubt that SMU should have won this game. East Carolina comes to Dallas next week as the Mustangs open American Conference play.
11. Tulane (1-2, 0-0). Coming off of a bye week Tulane will take on UCF on Saturday as the Green Wave look to build a winning streak. Tulane beat Maine 38-7 in week three and they played their best ball of the season in that game. Hopefully they can replicate their play as the Knights will be looking for their first win of the year.
12. UCF (0-4, 0-0). Surprisingly for much of the first half in Williams-Brice Stadium, the Knights kept the game with the South Carolina Gamecocks relatively close. In fact, at halftime UCF was leading USC 14-8. Now most of this may have been due to the Gamecocks coming out rather flat and playing down to the level of the Knights, however this is the most fight that this team has had for one half of football this entire season. That being said, the bottom line is that this team is 0-4 with three of their next five games coming against brutal in-conference teams. A road victory against Tulane this Saturday might be their only chance for a W in a while.
