2023 College Football Predictions: AAC

Photo from Tulane Athletics

It’s August!

There are college football games happening this month!

Ah!

And while college football is constantly in the news recently due to loads of conversations regarding conference realignment, it’s time for actual season previews.

These will be done in alphabetical order, so we’ll begin with the wonderful American Athletic Conference, who has some new members of there own.

So let’s get started, and let’s get excited for college football.

1. Tulane Green Wave

Losing Tyjae Spears to the NFL doesn’t help Tulane build off of their absolutely wonderful 2022 season, but keeping head coach Willie Fritz despite rumors of him headed elsewhere, and a second year of quarterback Michael Pratt means Tulane is prepared to build off that year and continue growing.

Hell, a couple good years and living in New Orleans might be a good way to get Tulane as a perennial top tier G5 school (or whatever we’re calling it now).

2. UTSA Roadrunners

UTSA is one of the newbies to the AAC, joining from Conference USA along with 5 other schools, and of all the 6 joining they are in the best shape to contend immediately.

The reason for that is consistency and familiarity.

The coach, quarterback, and receiving corps all remain from the last two conference titles, and even though this one should be harder overall, the Roadrunners should still be considered top dogs right away.

3. SMU Mustangs

I’d be a lot higher on SMU if they had kept Tanner Mordecai, who has since left for Wisconsin, but that doesn’t mean things are doom and gloom in Dallas.

The receiving group is still one of if not the best in the conference, and head coach Rhett Lashlee knows how to develop an offense quick.

They’ll look like a very good team by years end, but the slow start will have them chasing Tulane and UTSA for a conference title bid.

4. Navy Midshipmen

Look, I’m not going to lie to you guys.

I am very, very high on Tulane, UTSA and SMU.

I am not very high on the rest of the conference.

Navy is coming off of a 4-8 season, which is not good, but they were still 4-4 in conference last year and while they have a new head coach, it’s Brian Newberry who was the defensive coordinator under the old regime, so there is still continuity there.

With that said, and a Navy defense that looks like it could be one of the better ones in the conference, I give them the edge at 4th.

5. Florida Atlantic Owls

Tom Herman is, and continues to be, a good head coach.

Texas (go figure) fired him too early, right when he was starting to get things going his way in Texas.

Now, he takes over at Florida Atlantic, already inheriting a veteran offense to have first year success.

6. East Carolina Pirates

The offensive playmakers? They’re gone.

But the defense should remain very good coming into this season.

It won’t be a bad year for ECU, maybe just a “retooling” year.

7. Memphis Tigers

Alright.

I guess I’ve put it off for long enough.

Mike Norvell left Memphis when they were at their highest, so it was understandable that Ryan Silverfield took a step back.

However, the step back was a 4 loss difference. Followed quickly by 2 more losses added to that. And then a similar 6-6 season.

There’s been nothing under Ryan Silverfield that inspires any confidence Memphis will turn it around this season, so I’m not going to bet on it at all.

8. Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Tulsa’s offensive return does spark some interest for sure.

The issue is, Tulsa’s defense was bad last year, and it sure doesn’t look like it’s going to get better, ranked 127th in Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings.

But hey, at least they’ll be fun!

9. Rice Owls

Mike Bloomgren took over an absolute disaster in Rice, and has slowly but surely built them up to be a respectable team.

Now, they have former 5 star recruit and college football journeyman JT Daniels leading the line, and while JT failed to stay healthy or live up to expectations at USC, Georgia and West Virginia, he can now have hardly any eyes or any pressure on him.

It might do him some good!

10. USF Bulls

If it’s early season and there’s no interesting non conference games on Saturday, turn on USF.

New head coach Alex Golesh was the old Tennessee offensive coordinator, which was a must watch offense.

USF should be fun to watch offensively.

And even better than that, if you like points, they are garbage defensively, so they will probably give up a ton of points too!

11. North Texas Mean Green

This is weird.

North Texas has been nothing but solid the past few years. Why are they so low?

Well, when you fire a coach that has done nothing but be successful at a school that isn’t exactly “top tier” in college football completely out of the blue, just because a new athletic director came to town and he isn’t “his guy”, I’m going to have some serious doubts about their success this season.

Time will tell on if it was the right move or not, but I’m not expecting it to be.

12. Temple Owls

Temple head coach Stan Drayton took over a terrible situation and, while he didn’t show improvement, at least stabilized things before they could get any worse.

It will continue to be a work in progress this season, and it likely won’t be good, but patience is the key with Temple.

Let’s see if they can make a slight step forward.

13. UAB Blazers

In the mid 2010’s, the UAB athletic department announced they were getting rid of football.

The players and student body were outraged, and shortly the Blazers brought back football.

Since then, they have done nothing but make bowl games.

Seriously. They’ve made a bowl every single year since their return.

So why are they so low?

Well 1. They now face a tougher challenge in the AAC and 2. They have a former TV analyst and high school football coach as the head coach, and maybe he’ll continue the success he had from high school to college.

But uh.

Yeah. It doesn’t inspire much confidence for me.

14. Charlotte 49ers

Charlotte is bad offensively. Charlotte is bad defensively.

Charlotte is now facing tougher competition.

God help ‘em.

AAC Championship Game: Tulane vs UTSA

Even without Tyjae Spears, who was so crucial for the Wave last year, I expect another NY6 bowl appearance for Tulane, and it starts with a conference championship.

Tulane wins the AAC.