From Merican Mania...
The American conference kicked off this week with all 12 teams in actions. With 10 teams winning it was hard to pump out these rankings, but here is the 1st edition. Expect a new edition every Monday.
#1 Houston: Tom Herman and his cougars got a big win over #3 Oklahoma and will climb up from #15 in the polls. This gets Houston into the college football play conversation and they were the easy choice for #1 in this weeks power rankings. I do believe that defense still did not play its best game so the scary thing is that Houston is going to get better and they already have some big play makers on the offensive side of the ball. NEXT vs. Lamar 9/10
#2 South Florida: After having a great 2nd half last year there is some hype around South Florida to win the AAC this year. They did not disappoint in their first game of the season as the Bulls beat down on Towson 56-20. Quinton Flowers played a solid game as the offense seemed to move with ease. USF's schedule seems to get a little harder every week. NEXT vs. NIU 9/10.
#3 Tulsa: Golden Hurricane get the #3 spot because they beat down on a FBS team that made a bowl game last year in the San Jose State Spartans. D'Angelo Brewer ran 164 yards as QB Dane Evans did not have his best outing, but Tulsa still crushed San Jose State 45-10. We will see what Tulsa is made of next week at The Shoe. NEXT @ #6 Ohio State.
#4 Navy: Much like Memphis, Navy was also getting used to life without Keenen Reynolds at QB. The Midshipmen blew away Fordham 52-16. This was a typical Navy win as Forham failed to have any answer for the triple option, but the win proved costly as QB Tago Smith left the game with an injury. His status is still uncertain, but in just one quarter of action he carried 10 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns. NEXT vs UConn 9/10
#5 East Carolina: Here is another with a new coach. ECU beat up Western Carolina 52-7. You really can't put to much into this game because of who they played, but this at least gives them some momentum for their showdown on Saturday. Senor QB Phillip Nelson had himself a day going 28-32 for 398 yards and threw 5 Touchdowns in just 3 quarters of action. Head coach Scottie Montgomery got his first win as the Pirates head coach. NEXT vs. NC State 9/10
#6 Central Florida: UCF pitched a shutout over South Carolina State and won 38-0. This was the Knights first win since they beat ECU on a Hail Mary on December 4th 2014. Former Orgeon ]offensive coordinator got his first win as his defense allowed just over 200 yards of total offense and forced 3 turnovers. NEXT @ #8 Michigan 9/10
#7 Memphis: The Tigers didn't look like they had any trouble adjusting to life without Paxton Lynch. The offense got up 29-3 at halftime over Southeast Missouri. The defense would give up some points in the 2nd half to make the final score 35-17, but a great showing from the Memphis offense and first year head coach Mike Norvell. NEXT vs. Kansas 9/17
#8 Cincinnati: The Bearcats struggled early an actually trailed UT-Martin at halftime 7-6. Cincinnati QB Hayden had no answer for the skyhawk defense, but he regained his composure as UC put up 22 points in the 2nd half and he showed why he won the stating job. The UC defense played very well the entire game and forced some timely turnovers. I know it was against UT Martin but this game was big for the Bearcat defense having been so bad these last two years. On the other hand, the offense may need to work some things out as Cincy won 28-7. NEXT @Purdue 9/10.
#9 SMU: We know what this offense is capable of with triple threat QB Matt Davis, but the questions remains can the defense play well enough to get this team to a bowl game? The Mustangs beat North Texas last night 35-21 after losing to them the last two years. North Texas moved the ball, but had three turnovers so this game could of been closer. We will see what SMU is made of next week. NEXT @ #23 Baylor 9/10
#10 UConn: A lot of hype is around Bob Diaco as the Huskies come off a year in which they went to a bowl game. The UConn defense had a terrible outing, but held tough late. UConn kicked a FG to win as time expired over upset minded Maine 24-21. UConn starts conference play next week. NEXT @Navy 9/10
#11 Temple: Biggest disappointment of week 1 has to go to Temple. The Owls lost 28-13 to Army and the Owls defense has really regressed after losing 8/11 starters from the best defense in the league last year. Temple opened up at 19 point favorites and lost the game 28-13. The Owls offense also so looked sluggish against lowly Army. Back to defense, Matt Rhule is hoping it was just the triple option that threw Temple off and not the fact that they may not be able to recover from all the members of the defense that graduated last year. NEXT vs Stony Brook 9/10
#12. Tulane: The first game of the Willie Fritz experiment was a tight one. Despite only putting up 3 points the Green Wave out gained Wake and had more first downs on the offensive side of the ball. The difference was a Tulane blocked FG in the 4th quarter that would have cut the game from 7-6. Tulane was also 0-3 on 4th down. The good news for Tulane is that the defense looked great. Despite not forcing any turnovers Tulane still held Wake to just 175 yards of total offense. It was a good effort, but Wake just edges out Tulane. NEXT vs. Southern University 9/10.
The American conference kicked off this week with all 12 teams in actions. With 10 teams winning it was hard to pump out these rankings, but here is the 1st edition. Expect a new edition every Monday.
#1 Houston: Tom Herman and his cougars got a big win over #3 Oklahoma and will climb up from #15 in the polls. This gets Houston into the college football play conversation and they were the easy choice for #1 in this weeks power rankings. I do believe that defense still did not play its best game so the scary thing is that Houston is going to get better and they already have some big play makers on the offensive side of the ball. NEXT vs. Lamar 9/10
#2 South Florida: After having a great 2nd half last year there is some hype around South Florida to win the AAC this year. They did not disappoint in their first game of the season as the Bulls beat down on Towson 56-20. Quinton Flowers played a solid game as the offense seemed to move with ease. USF's schedule seems to get a little harder every week. NEXT vs. NIU 9/10.
#3 Tulsa: Golden Hurricane get the #3 spot because they beat down on a FBS team that made a bowl game last year in the San Jose State Spartans. D'Angelo Brewer ran 164 yards as QB Dane Evans did not have his best outing, but Tulsa still crushed San Jose State 45-10. We will see what Tulsa is made of next week at The Shoe. NEXT @ #6 Ohio State.
#4 Navy: Much like Memphis, Navy was also getting used to life without Keenen Reynolds at QB. The Midshipmen blew away Fordham 52-16. This was a typical Navy win as Forham failed to have any answer for the triple option, but the win proved costly as QB Tago Smith left the game with an injury. His status is still uncertain, but in just one quarter of action he carried 10 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns. NEXT vs UConn 9/10
#5 East Carolina: Here is another with a new coach. ECU beat up Western Carolina 52-7. You really can't put to much into this game because of who they played, but this at least gives them some momentum for their showdown on Saturday. Senor QB Phillip Nelson had himself a day going 28-32 for 398 yards and threw 5 Touchdowns in just 3 quarters of action. Head coach Scottie Montgomery got his first win as the Pirates head coach. NEXT vs. NC State 9/10
#6 Central Florida: UCF pitched a shutout over South Carolina State and won 38-0. This was the Knights first win since they beat ECU on a Hail Mary on December 4th 2014. Former Orgeon ]offensive coordinator got his first win as his defense allowed just over 200 yards of total offense and forced 3 turnovers. NEXT @ #8 Michigan 9/10
#7 Memphis: The Tigers didn't look like they had any trouble adjusting to life without Paxton Lynch. The offense got up 29-3 at halftime over Southeast Missouri. The defense would give up some points in the 2nd half to make the final score 35-17, but a great showing from the Memphis offense and first year head coach Mike Norvell. NEXT vs. Kansas 9/17
#8 Cincinnati: The Bearcats struggled early an actually trailed UT-Martin at halftime 7-6. Cincinnati QB Hayden had no answer for the skyhawk defense, but he regained his composure as UC put up 22 points in the 2nd half and he showed why he won the stating job. The UC defense played very well the entire game and forced some timely turnovers. I know it was against UT Martin but this game was big for the Bearcat defense having been so bad these last two years. On the other hand, the offense may need to work some things out as Cincy won 28-7. NEXT @Purdue 9/10.
#9 SMU: We know what this offense is capable of with triple threat QB Matt Davis, but the questions remains can the defense play well enough to get this team to a bowl game? The Mustangs beat North Texas last night 35-21 after losing to them the last two years. North Texas moved the ball, but had three turnovers so this game could of been closer. We will see what SMU is made of next week. NEXT @ #23 Baylor 9/10
#10 UConn: A lot of hype is around Bob Diaco as the Huskies come off a year in which they went to a bowl game. The UConn defense had a terrible outing, but held tough late. UConn kicked a FG to win as time expired over upset minded Maine 24-21. UConn starts conference play next week. NEXT @Navy 9/10
#11 Temple: Biggest disappointment of week 1 has to go to Temple. The Owls lost 28-13 to Army and the Owls defense has really regressed after losing 8/11 starters from the best defense in the league last year. Temple opened up at 19 point favorites and lost the game 28-13. The Owls offense also so looked sluggish against lowly Army. Back to defense, Matt Rhule is hoping it was just the triple option that threw Temple off and not the fact that they may not be able to recover from all the members of the defense that graduated last year. NEXT vs Stony Brook 9/10
#12. Tulane: The first game of the Willie Fritz experiment was a tight one. Despite only putting up 3 points the Green Wave out gained Wake and had more first downs on the offensive side of the ball. The difference was a Tulane blocked FG in the 4th quarter that would have cut the game from 7-6. Tulane was also 0-3 on 4th down. The good news for Tulane is that the defense looked great. Despite not forcing any turnovers Tulane still held Wake to just 175 yards of total offense. It was a good effort, but Wake just edges out Tulane. NEXT vs. Southern University 9/10.
