Another college football season nearly wrapped up and another season with The American claiming its spot as the top Group of Five conference in the country.
In Weeks 12 and 13, the AAC had three teams ranked in the AP Top 25 — the same number of teams as the Big 12 in both of those weeks.
For the most part, there was parity throughout the league and the quality of its teams showed during bowl season. Houston defeated Louisiana by a touchdown, East Carolina defeated Coastal Carolina 53-29, Memphis beat Utah State 38-10, and SMU lost to BYU 24-23.
Interestingly enough, two of the top three teams — UCF and Cincinnati — both lost their bowl games by multiple scores. A lot was going on within those programs between coaching changes and transfers, however.
The conference went 4-3 in bowl games with wins over two Sun Belt teams and a Mountain West squad. And of course, the other win coming for Tulane over USC. We could get started talking about the AAC with Tulane’s ascension and its performance in the Cotton Bowl, but you can check that out here.
Instead, we’ll start with ECU, who didn’t defy expectations by any means, but it was one of the toughest teams to put away. Three of its five losses came by three points or less, and two of those were to conference foes. Things didn’t look the greatest toward the end of the season with a 42-3 loss to Houston and barely squeaking by Temple, but the Pirates responded with that win over Coastal while longtime QB Holton Ahlers finished his career strong.
Picked to finish as the top team in the conference, Houston knocked off UTSA in its first game of the season before things spiraled and the Cougars were suddenly 3-3. Things merely looked a little bit better through the remainder of the season, especially losing to Tulsa in the regular-season finale. They were at least able to cap the season with a win, finishing 8-5 and 5-3 in AAC play.
One of those conference losses came to SMU in a shootout. The Mustangs finished fourth in the conference, right in line with expectations. They beat who they were probably supposed to and lost games to better teams, even losing by only eight points to TCU. SMU did do something that ECU and even UCF couldn’t say they did this season though: beat Navy.
As always, the Midshipmen made things rough for their opponents all season long, pulling out an unlikely upset over UCF to finish 4-4 in the conference. That was good enough for a sixth-place finish, and above ECU and Memphis. Navy was tabbed to finish 10th in the AAC preseason media poll.
While Memphis earned a bowl bid, the conference slate wasn’t very kind to the Tigers. Sitting at 4-1 and 2-0, the Tigers went on a four-game AAC losing streak. This included a one-point loss to Houston, a two-point four-overtime loss to ECU, and a seven-point loss to UCF. A brutal stretch.
All in all, UCF had a solid campaign, knocking off Tulane and Cincinnati in the regular season, but falling to Navy and ECU. They landed in the AAC title game because of a higher CFP ranking than the Bearcats, before losing to Tulane.
Like the Knights, Cincy didn’t meet expectations after not making it to the AAC championship but still rolled through most of the conference. The Bearcats just weren’t one of the top two teams in the league this year like they normally are.
Now, UCF and Cincinnati (along with Houston) are headed off to bigger and better things in the Big 12. Things are changing and the league will look different next year. Most of the top teams are gone but the bottom of the pack like Temple, Tulsa, and USF will remain.
One thing is certain though, the rest of that conference that’s staying is glad none of those teams left on a high note hoisting the AAC trophy.
