I normally get several CFB magazines, but stand there and pre-read them before buying. The sooner they hit the newstands the better. I am most interested in the preseason predictions and where we stand in the league - at least according to the national prsss. Whether we like it or not, there is a starting point in the collective minds of the pollsters and these FB magazines are the beginning of that. Most of the time we are relegated to the lower middle of the pack in the preseason and the pundits seem to be anxiously awaiting for us to falter, but there is only one way to solve that problem . . . WIN!

SportingNews is one of the mags i read pretty thoroughly before buying because their history isn't good at covering teams outside the so called P5.

I was glad to see this years edition pass the rabid-test of interest. I am more interested these days in reading about everything BUT the overhyped P5, so the less of them and the more of everyone else the better. SN achieved that with more coverage of the FCS. But the caveat was that many of the non-P5 teams had diminished coverage. For instance a crappy team/program like Kansas got twice the space as us, Navy, Cincy and UCONN. But again, they are just pushing what they think will sell.

AAC Predictions 2016

East-------
Temple
USF
Cincy
ECU
UCONN
UCF

West-------
Houston
Memphis
Navy
Tulsa
SMU
Tulane

More Later

The main reason I purchased SN was it gives extensive coverage of the FCS and of course we are going to have to play an FCS program from NC this year which I was and am highly critical of on this forum. But TBH I had no idea whether NCAT was any good or not. Well, evidently they ARE, at least at their level which is a huge mistake regardless of the outcome next season. NCAT is in the MEAC and is favored by SN to win that league this year, evidently has the preseason POY in that league - RB Tarik Cohen. Also, SN rates them the #22 FCS team in the nation. So imo we are in a no win scenario here. Win as expected and noone cares, lose and it is a disaster that may ruin the season. Thanks goes to the Athletic Director on that.

Last year after losing to Baylor and TCU (both ranked) as expected and beating North Texas, SMU had scheduled an FCS opponent on the 26th of Sept - James Madison at home and were promptly beaten 48-45. So a 1-2 AAC team was beaten by an FCS team from the east at home and gave up 48 points. SMU did not win another game that year until beating Tulane in their next to last contest on November 21. Obviously that JM game was scheduled as a breather for the Mustangs and we are doing the same this year.

Will NCAT bring any fans to Tulsa? Will anyone care about the game in the first place? That game will obviously be a bigger deal to NCAT than to us. Should we win? Of course. But scheduling this game is an obvious blunder by the AD imo.

Ranking of AAC Schools

East
Temple
USF
Cincinnati
ECU
UCONN
UCF

West
Houston
Memphis
Navy
Tulsa
SMU]
Tulane

SN rated Houston the #14 team in the country and they were the only non P5 team in that grouping.

Maybe NCAT will bring their band. That might be entertaining.

I hope they bring something. I just don't have much faith it will be many fans - theirs or ours. :)

This game goes against my scheduling philosophy because its the "no win" game - no matter what we do (win or lose) it will be viewed as a loss in some manner - unless we humiliate them in some way which I'd rather not do. But it seems like every year a DI team gets upset by an FCS school. This could really hurt us in the perception dept like it did with SMU last year and I doubt they(SMU) have recovered from that loss. If we were to beat say Houston or Ohio St, that would not necessarily be a devastating loss for them because we have a history of playing tough against the top and aren't too far removed from the Notre Dame win, but a loss to NCAT would ruin at least part of our rebuilding of the program.

IMO

SN National Top Ten

1 Bama
2. Clemson
3. OU
4. Ohio St
5. Baylor
6. Fla St
7. Ole Miss
8. Michigan
9. Stanford
10. Notre Dame

SN predicts TU to go to the Miami Beach Bowl, but strangely not a single TU player made the All AAC first team - that is the kind of mistake that shows me they haven't done their homework like PS will do later on. UCF has one player on it and Tulane has 2 BTW.