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Official Thread of the American Athletic Conference


naptownskinsfan

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3 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

Are there rumors of more teams leaving?  It's not something I've heard recently. Marshall would be a good addition.  

I haven't heard of anything yet, but I imagine the usual suspects are being looked at (UCF, USF, Cincy, Houston, maybe Memphis) by conferences looking to bolster divisions (looking right at you BIG12). 

I'm not a big enough fan of other sports to know how much of a tie some teams have to conferences in basketball or whatever, but I've often wondered if the Big10 would ever look into dropping Rutgers for a Cincinnati type team. 

If I'm the AAC and needed replacement teams though, I think I'm looking at Marshall, FAU, UAB, App St.

Marshall seems like a natural fit. 

App St. has looked good to really good for a while. I think they have at least a little name recognition nationally still. 

FAU would seem to be a natural replacement for a loss in the Florida market. Plus, if they keep Kiffin around, he's enough of a name draw to make it a splash move (for better or worse). 

UAB (or possibly Southern Miss) are large enough schools and could replace the SEC territory footprint left by Memphis if they were to leave. UAB would be my first choice given Bill Clarke and how quickly they became relevant after folding a few years ago. 

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As for the future of UConn...

Randy Edsall will probably be fired at the end of the season.

At the same time I believe Notre Dame will realize that they will never win a national title under Brian Kelly and thus can him.

This would give UConn the opportunity to hire Kelly as Edsall's replacement, based mainly on his success with Cincinnati.

If this all happens, and football experiences a renaissance under Kelly and men's basketball also experiences one in the Big East, I believe then the ACC will come calling (Cincinnati would also be added to provide the conference the ability to have North and South divisions).

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Big weekend for Navy with their rivalry game against Notre Dame.  Memphis and Cincinnati are hoping they win while on the road.  

Tulane @ Temple 12:00 PM ESPNU

#23 Navy @ #16 Notre Dame 2:30 PM NBC

#18 Memphis @ Houston 3:30 PM ESPN2

#17 Cincinnati @ South Florida 7:00 PM CBSSN

Bye Week: UCF, Connecticut, East Carolina, SMU, Tulsa 

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12 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

Big weekend for Navy with their rivalry game against Notre Dame.  Memphis and Cincinnati are hoping they win while on the road.  

Tulane @ Temple 12:00 PM ESPNU

#23 Navy @ #16 Notre Dame 2:30 PM NBC

#18 Memphis @ Houston 3:30 PM ESPN2

#17 Cincinnati @ South Florida 7:00 PM CBSSN

Bye Week: UCF, Connecticut, East Carolina, SMU, Tulsa 

Temple-Tulane should be fun. Temple 28-24

Navy with a statement game opportunity that could lead to calls for Kelly to be replaced. Notre Dame 20-17

Memphis looking to stay hot heading towards what should be a pretty good bowl if the selectors know what's good for them. Memphis 36-10 while Brady White builds on his spectacular season and starts garnering some draft hype. 

Cincinnati looking to keep their momentum up as well in hopes of a New Year's bowl appearance. Cincinnati 30-13

 

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If all my realignment dreams come true in the next cycle, this is what the American could look like by the turn of the 2030s:

East:

Charlotte
East Carolina
FIU
Florida Atlantic
Marshall
UAB

West:
Navy (football only)/Wichita State (other sports)
Rice
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UTEP

The Thanksgiving week schedule could look like this:
Charlotte-ECU
FAU-FIU
Marshall-UAB
Rice-UTEP
USM-Tulane
Navy-Tulsa

Four are regional rivalries, the other two more or less leftover teams meeting. FAU-FIU could move to Hard Rock Stadium yearly at the request of the American, which makes the game more attractive for ABC to air on Black Friday (or even the actual Thanksgiving holiday if more CFB games are scheduled for that day).

Edited by pf9
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Wow, big win for Navy today.  Almost a full sell out in Annapolis to see Navy go ahead late and hold onto the victory.  Malcolm Perry is such a fun player to watch run the triple option- 360 yards of offense and three touchdowns.  And our defense responded well against a good offense after the Notre Dame fiasco.  

Now we have to rely on a shaky Cincinnati team to beat Memphis in the Liberty Bowl for us to get into the conference championship, plus beat Houston on the road. 

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After realignment I'd like to see trophies instituted for the Charlotte-ECU and Rice-UTEP games.

Charlotte-ECU could play for a trophy called the Treasure Chest Trophy. It would be a replication of a treasure chest and be filled with real gold coins. Gold is something that would be of interest to both 49ers and Pirates.

Rice and UTEP could play for an enlarged Texas Ranger badge.

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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Malcolm Perry, QB, Navy

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Quincy Roche, DE, Temple

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CO-SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Dane Roy, P, Houston
Antonio Gibson, WR/KR, Memphis

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Memphis

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy

The All-AAC teams were also unveiled, with just two players being unanimous selections — Memphis redshirt freshman running back Kenneth Gainwell, SMU senior wide receiver James Proche

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One heck of a turnaround for Navy this year after one of Ken's worst years on the job.  Malcolm Perry bought into playing QB this time around, and was a beast on offense, and is going to pass Napoleon McCallum's single-season rushing mark next weekend.  I love the story around Jamale Carothers, who scored five TDs against Houston (13 total) despite starting the season on the JV squad.  I gave the defense a lot of crap at the beginning, but except for the Notre Dame game, Brian Newberry has done a great job with the defense this year off of the recommendation of many, including Bill Belichick.  

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