I am in Arlington for the AAC Media Day. The print media portion is tomorrow, with the media poll being released at 8 a.m. I will focus on that and the apparent troubles for the AAC, which is consistently rated below the Sun Belt and Mountain West conferences this year after being the clear No. 1 group of five conference before losing Cincinnati, UCF and Houston to the Big 12 and adding mostly dreck to replace them. It is not automatic that an AAC champion will get the nod over another champion with a similar record for a playoff berth, although Tulane' nonconference schedule of Kansas State and Oklahoma will help the the Wave immensely (not to mention the game at ULL, which is rated higher than Tulane in Phil Steele' power poll).
Here are a few nuggets. Makhi Hughes is the only 1,000-yard back returning from last year. Only four team return their starting quarterback, and Seth Henigan of Memphis is the only multi-year starter returning. Eight of the 14 teams, including Tulane, likely will rely on transfer starting QBs. Obviously Ty Thompson was very highly rated coming out of high school. Rice took Temple's QB, North Texas took a backup from TCU, UTSA a backup from Colorado, ECU a backup from Miami (Fla.), FAU took Marshall's starter, Charlotte took a Florida backup and Temple took a QB from Rutgers. Only five coaches have been with their current school for more than three years, and seven are in their second year. Jon Sumrall is the only newcomer.
Here is the last time each of the league' team won more than eight games in a season:
Tulane, UTSA and Memphis: 2023
ECU: 2022
Army and UAB: 2021
Navy and FAU: 2019
North Texas: 2018
USF and Tulsa: 2017
Temple: 2015
Rice: 2014
Charlotte: never
The AAC really struggled out of conference last year. For Tulane, it was a case of what might have been, nearly beating Ole Miss without the injured Michael Pratt. But UTSA lost to Houston and Army, barely beat Texas State and got blown out by Tennessee before winning its first seven conference games. SMU, which ended up dominating the league, lost respectably to Oklahoma but fell 34-17 to a TCU team that finished with a losing record. Memphis' 35-32 home win over Boise State was the only non-league win of consequence. USF lost to Western Kentucky and barely beat UConn. ECU lost to Marshall and Appalachian State. FAU lost to Ohio. North Texas lost to FIU. UAB lost to Georgia Southern. Rice beat Houston (which finished 4-8) but lost to UConn. Navy lost to Air Force and Army. Charlotte lost to Georgia State. Tulsa was outscored 109-27 by Washington and Oklahoma. Temple lost 36-7 to Rutgers. It was ugly.
That home against Kansas State will be massive for Tulane. Winning at Oklahoma in week 3 will be a Herculean (though not impossible) task, so the Wave needs a statement win to separate it from the pack. It's hard to see any group of five team outdoing the Wave's non-conference performance if it goes 2-1 against K State, Oklahoma and ULL.
Tulane is bringing Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy. Hughes has never gotten comfortable talking to reporters, so I am assuming that's why he did not make the trip. Last year, Willie Fritz decided to bring four players, and when other coaches found out about it, they brought four as well, leaving multiple guys just sitting around in the breakout room for interview at the sparsely attended event. This time, teams are strictly limited to two players.
Here are a few nuggets. Makhi Hughes is the only 1,000-yard back returning from last year. Only four team return their starting quarterback, and Seth Henigan of Memphis is the only multi-year starter returning. Eight of the 14 teams, including Tulane, likely will rely on transfer starting QBs. Obviously Ty Thompson was very highly rated coming out of high school. Rice took Temple's QB, North Texas took a backup from TCU, UTSA a backup from Colorado, ECU a backup from Miami (Fla.), FAU took Marshall's starter, Charlotte took a Florida backup and Temple took a QB from Rutgers. Only five coaches have been with their current school for more than three years, and seven are in their second year. Jon Sumrall is the only newcomer.
Here is the last time each of the league' team won more than eight games in a season:
Tulane, UTSA and Memphis: 2023
ECU: 2022
Army and UAB: 2021
Navy and FAU: 2019
North Texas: 2018
USF and Tulsa: 2017
Temple: 2015
Rice: 2014
Charlotte: never
The AAC really struggled out of conference last year. For Tulane, it was a case of what might have been, nearly beating Ole Miss without the injured Michael Pratt. But UTSA lost to Houston and Army, barely beat Texas State and got blown out by Tennessee before winning its first seven conference games. SMU, which ended up dominating the league, lost respectably to Oklahoma but fell 34-17 to a TCU team that finished with a losing record. Memphis' 35-32 home win over Boise State was the only non-league win of consequence. USF lost to Western Kentucky and barely beat UConn. ECU lost to Marshall and Appalachian State. FAU lost to Ohio. North Texas lost to FIU. UAB lost to Georgia Southern. Rice beat Houston (which finished 4-8) but lost to UConn. Navy lost to Air Force and Army. Charlotte lost to Georgia State. Tulsa was outscored 109-27 by Washington and Oklahoma. Temple lost 36-7 to Rutgers. It was ugly.
That home against Kansas State will be massive for Tulane. Winning at Oklahoma in week 3 will be a Herculean (though not impossible) task, so the Wave needs a statement win to separate it from the pack. It's hard to see any group of five team outdoing the Wave's non-conference performance if it goes 2-1 against K State, Oklahoma and ULL.
Tulane is bringing Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy. Hughes has never gotten comfortable talking to reporters, so I am assuming that's why he did not make the trip. Last year, Willie Fritz decided to bring four players, and when other coaches found out about it, they brought four as well, leaving multiple guys just sitting around in the breakout room for interview at the sparsely attended event. This time, teams are strictly limited to two players.