Now since we are essentially at midseason I wanted to hear some thoughts about the conference such as best surprise, most disappointing, predictions for the rest of the season.

Here are mine:

Best Surprise: I'm going with Memphis here. They look like they are trending way up and if they can keep Fuente they will be a Top 25 team before long.

Biggest Disappointment: At first I was going to say Houston but it looks like with Ward they now have more production at QB and got a really good bounce back win at Memphis. So I'm going to say Cincy. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying they are a bad team, but they were my preseason favorite to win the AAC and go to the Access bowl, but their defense is really bad.

Prediction for the rest of the season: I'm predicting (and hoping) ECU wins the AAC and UCF finishes 2nd. Tulsa, and SMU are all looking for new coaches in the offseason and Houston is looking for a new OC with Levine on the hot seat for next year.

(10-13-2014 03:05 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Now since we are essentially at midseason I wanted to hear some thoughts about the conference such as best surprise, most disappointing, predictions for the rest of the season.

Here are mine:

Best Surprise: I'm going with Memphis here. The look like they are trending way up and if they can keep Fuente they will be a Top 25 team before long.

Biggest Disappointment: At first I was going to say Houston but it looks like with Ward they now have more production at QB and got a really good bounce back win at Memphis. So I'm going to say Cincy. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying they are a bad team, but they were my preseason favorite to win the AAC and go to the Access bowl, but their defense is really bad.

Prediction for the rest of the season: I'm predicting (and hoping) ECU wins the AAC and UCF finishes 2nd. Tulsa, and SMU are all looking for new coaches in the offseason and Houston is looking for a new OC with Levine on the hot seat for next year.

You sugar coated that disappointment. Cincy is bad right now and they were expected to be an access bowl contender. It took a last minute td to beat a bad mac team. They will be back but that is a major disappointment for the current year.

I'm biased but Houston is the biggest disappointment. 3-3 with our quality win over Memphis. I think Memphis is really improving but when that is the best regular season win your head coach has ever had you are in trouble.

(10-13-2014 03:24 PM)UHDC Wrote:  I'm biased but Houston is the biggest disappointment. 3-3 with our quality win over Memphis. I think Memphis is really improving but when that is the best regular season win your head coach has ever had you are in trouble.

I think you are better moving forward with Ward though. I was actually tempted to put O'Korn as my biggest disappointment. I never really saw him play last season but just heard a lot of great things about him. But I was just not impressed with what I saw this season.

Best surprise in the AAC: Temple. It shouldn't be all that surprising how improved they look, given all the close games they had last year, but it was hard to look past the 2-9 record. I think we all knew the offense would be formidable with PJW running the show, but their defense is playing well, too. Very tough stretch of games coming up for the Owls, so I don't see them winning the AAC this season. But they are definitely a top 4 right now.

2nd choice: ECU. The Pirates are always good, but they really cranked it up this year. I thought they underachieved in their final season in CUSA, so I didn't think they would look THIS good.

Biggest disapointment: That's easy. WHERE is the UC defense? I know there's a new DC, and someone said there are injuries, and I honestly don't know enough about their situation. But.....just damn.

2nd choice: I full admit this is a self-centered choice, but UCF's offense, primarily the OL has been a big letdown so far. Everyone knew the offense would take a step back without Bortles and Johnson, but the issues on the OL have completely stalled the ground game, making life that much tougher on an inexperienced QB.

Prediction for the rest of the season: The UCF "cardiac kids" win out up to the ECU game, yet again barely scraping by in nailbiters against Temple and USF. The AAC title comes down to the UCF @ ECU game in December. In CUSA it was often down to UCF and ECU just to GET to the title game. If things play out like I hope, we will finally meet FOR the title. Let's get ready to rumble.

You won't get much argument from UC fans - they are a huge disappointment to us and the league. The total collapse of the defense is mind boggling.

I will probably agree with you on the best surprise.

My biggest disappointment is some of the OOC games we let slip away....here's some of the thoughts I had around the time of play.

Games that irk me:
UCF to PSU by 2- came to a last second kick, tough way to watch a game end if you're not pulling for the victor.
GT beating Tulane in the 2nd half- entered the half down by 3, was a winnable game IMO.
Maryland escaping USF in the 2nd half- USF entered the half up by 3
ECU losing to SC by 10- Left too many points on the field, couldn't stop that clock eating drive in the 4th.
Memphis losing a close one at the very end to UCLA- I thought the Tigers were going to pull it out.

A big ol' "wtf?":
FAU beating Tulsa
UTSA beating Houston
Texas st. over Tulsa in 3OT
Additional thought here: Tulsa goes and beats Tulane, gives Temple a tough game. C'mon, man!

Some close(ish) losses I can't be too upset about:
Memphis D holding strong against Ole Miss for most of the game
Temple vs Navy- Future AAC member anyway
Houston vs BYU- After an early season struggle, we saw some good things out of the Coogs.
USF vs Wisky- Kept Wisconsin in check

I get that we've escaped with a few close W's, but taking 1-2/5 of the first group, 2/3 of the 2nd group, and 1/4 of the third group of games would've really changed the season for the American. I was also thinking that Tulane would take at least 1/3 of the P5 OOC games, but Duke, Rutgers and GT have all turned out to be pretty solid teams. Also disappointed that SC has shat the bed.

Biggest surprise is Memphis and Temple. Very impressed with these two teams. I don't consider ECU a surprised because I know they were going to be good just like normally (really happy they are in the AAC).

Biggest disappoint: #1 Cincy. I really thought they would be very strong this year. #2 UH offense. Can't even state how bad we took a step back. JOK is really lost and needs he offseason to gather his thoughts. I like Ward but I think JOK is still the answer.

Prediction for the rest of the season: I hope ECU wins the league and gets into a NY6 bowl and wins. That would give us 2 different champs that beat P5 schools in a major bowl. UCF continues to play good and the ECU/UCF is must see TV. For my school I hope we salvage the rest of the season to get into a bowl (I hope Armed Forces against a B12 team). In the offseason hire a QB/OC to get the offense back on track. Also, somehow we keep Gibbs.

Biggest surprise is Memphis and Temple.

Cincy falls in the disappointment column but can still have a decent season if they can sure up the defense some.

Prediction is ECU probably drops a close one to Temple or UCF, but still wins the AAC and still gets the nod for the big bowl with 2 losses. I would rather be surprised by ECU winning out but we all know how tough that is to do.


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The AAC is operating exactly how I expected.


As a prominent G5 conference.


ECU and Temple did their job; but the rest placed a poor showing for OOC opponents (FBS)

we'll get our oppurtunity to redeem ourselves in bowl season..

Most current Bowl projections are 6 teams 100% vs P5 or BYU

(10-13-2014 05:56 PM)Bear Wrote:  The AAC is operating exactly how I expected.


As a prominent G5 conference.


ECU and Temple did their job; but the rest placed a poor showing for OOC opponents (FBS)

We went 2-2 OOC. Maybe USF didn't lay cow turds you be happier

(10-13-2014 06:18 PM)Ramen_Tiger Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 05:56 PM)Bear Wrote:  The AAC is operating exactly how I expected.


As a prominent G5 conference.


ECU and Temple did their job; but the rest placed a poor showing for OOC opponents (FBS)

We went 2-2 OOC. Maybe USF didn't lay cow turds you be happier

Oh yeah, that Austin Peay win will definitely get your program some recognition with the P5.

Disappointment: UCF likely ends up in Birmingham or St. Pete.

Shoot me now.

(10-13-2014 07:28 PM)KnightMan Wrote:  Disappointment: UCF likely ends up in Birmingham or St. Pete.

Shoot me now.

espn projections are projecting st pete vs a pac 12.. which isnt even a bad thing

the other is projecting bbva vs a sec team

I think Temple is a surprise so far, but look at their remaining schedule. It's possible they won't have another win.

A disappointment for me with the ECU season is how we handled South Carolina. I thought we could have easily won that game. We didn't execute the oppurtunities we had to score.

I'm thoroughly enjoying ECU's first season in the AAC. It's been awhile since I've enjoyed college football, much less the conference ECU has been in, this much.

(10-13-2014 03:22 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 03:05 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Now since we are essentially at midseason I wanted to hear some thoughts about the conference such as best surprise, most disappointing, predictions for the rest of the season.

Here are mine:

Best Surprise: I'm going with Memphis here. The look like they are trending way up and if they can keep Fuente they will be a Top 25 team before long.

Biggest Disappointment: At first I was going to say Houston but it looks like with Ward they now have more production at QB and got a really good bounce back win at Memphis. So I'm going to say Cincy. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying they are a bad team, but they were my preseason favorite to win the AAC and go to the Access bowl, but their defense is really bad.

Prediction for the rest of the season: I'm predicting (and hoping) ECU wins the AAC and UCF finishes 2nd. Tulsa, and SMU are all looking for new coaches in the offseason and Houston is looking for a new OC with Levine on the hot seat for next year.

You sugar coated that disappointment. Cincy is bad right now and they were expected to be an access bowl contender. It took a last minute td to beat a bad mac team. They will be back but that is a major disappointment for the current year.

Cincy is a disappointment, but I don't even know what game you're referring to. There was no game where we played a MAC team and got anywhere near a last minute TD. We led Toledo by anywhere 20-40 pts most of the game and didn't score a single point in the 4th QTR against Miami, but hung on to win.

Biggest surprise... UCF and ECU getting along.