2023 College Football Review: American Athletic Conference

Photo by CBS Sports

The college football regular season is officially over.

Which, I have to be honest, super sucks!

The season is far too short for this sport I love.

But I’m not done talking about it, so I decided to go back through each of my preseason conference previews and do a review.

What did I get right? What did I get wrong? What will I make an excuse for being wrong about because I can never be wrong?

Once again, it’ll be alphabetical order. We start with the good ole AAC.

1. SMU Mustangs [Conference Champions] (My Prediction: 3)

No Tanner Mordecai? No problem.

I said SMU would get off to a slow start and get hot late in the season, and they sure did, starting 2-2 before rattling off 9 straight wins and beating Tulane in the conference championship game.

The Mustangs, by the playoff committee’s standards they decided they wanted to play by this year, should be playing in a NY6 bowl.

But alas, they were left out for unbeaten Liberty.

We’ll dive more into that tomorrow, I’m sure…

2. Tulane Green Wave (My Prediction: 1)

Tulane was one win away from back to back AAC championships and back to back NY6 bowl appearances.

And then, before the AAC title game, reports come out that Willie Fritz was leaving to take the Houston head coaching job.

Maybe it affected things, maybe it didn’t.

But I’m going to assume it did.

It’s hard to give it your all when you find out your coach is leaving after the game.

3. UTSA Roadrunners (My Prediction: 2)

The season actually didn’t start off very promising for UTSA and Jeff Traylor.

The Roadrunners started 1-3 with losses to Houston, Army and Tennessee before diving into conference play.

After that, they rattled off 7 wins in a row before falling short to Tulane the last week of the regular season.

Still, for a first year in a tougher conference, 7-1 ain’t nothing shabby.

4. Memphis Tigers (My Prediction: 7)

I said that there was nothing under Ryan Silverfield that inspired confidence he could turn Memphis around.

I was wrong.

Silverfield’s Tigers had an excellent 9-3 season, which gave Silverfield his most wins as the Memphis head coach in his 4th season.

We’ll see whether or not it was a flash in the pan or not, but it’s a good start (and saved his job).

5. USF Bulls (My Prediction: 10)

The first year of Alex Golesh went much better than expected, as the Bulls went 6-6 to make a bowl and even gave Alabama some trouble.

The main issue with the Bulls was defense, which should hopefully be fixed in the future, but offensively, they were one of the best in the conference.

6. Rice Owls (My Prediction: 9)

Mike Bloomgren’s slow build up of Rice continues, as the Owls also went 6-6 and made a bowl game.

They just keep on climbing.

7. Navy Midshipmen (My Prediction: 4)

I bet on the Midshipmen defense being the best in the conference to get them a high level finish in the conference.

I was right about the defense, but not so right about the high level finish as Navy lost to both USF to cost them a tiebreaker spot for 5th.

Still, a good first year for new head coach Brian Newberry.

8. North Texas Mean Green (My Prediction: 11)

I didn’t have high hopes for North Texas after they fired Seth Littrell for not really going much farther with his Mean Green squad than 7 or 8 wins.

I don’t blame them for wanting something new. I just didn’t think it was the right time as they went into a tougher conference.

They went 3-5 in conference, which isn’t great, but it isn’t awful either.

Jury is still out on if the firing was worth it.

9. UAB Blazers (My Prediction: 13)

I didn’t have much belief in Trent Dilfer at UAB.

And, considering he went 3-5 just like Eric Morris at North Texas, I’m not sure if he is the answer there.

But it went better than I expected. That amounts to something.

10. Florida Atlantic Owls (My Prediction: 5)

I predicted that Tom Herman would have immediate success at FAU.

I was wrong.

FAU went 4-8, and even though 4 of those losses were one score losses, where even half of them being wins would make this season look better, it’s still not a great start in Boca for Herman.

11. Charlotte 49ers (My Prediction: 14)

Was Charlotte better than I expected? Yes!

Were their only two wins in the conference against teams who were absolute bottom feeders? Also yes!

But hey, I thought they’d be the bottom feeders.

Can’t blame ‘em for winning those games!

12. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (My Prediction: 8)

The season actually started decently for Tulsa.

They were 3-2 after 5 games, but those two losses were to Washington and Oklahoma. Hardly inexcusable losses.

And then the wheels just completely fell off, losing 6 straight conference games before beating ECU in the final week of the season to avoid the basement.

Yeah.

Not pretty.

13. Temple Owls (My Prediction: 12)

I said patience would be key with Temple, as this program was in a very, very bad state.

Sean Drayton took them from 3-9 and 1-7 in conference play last year to…3-9 and 1-7 in conference this year.

I guess considering the AAC was tougher this is considered progress?

It’s gonna be tough…

14. ECU Pirates (My Prediction: 7)

Hey.

What the hell happened here?

I know they lost a ton of offensive talent, but that doesn’t mean ECU should have capitulated the way they did.

Mike Houston has apparently earned enough of a leash to get another year after this disaster, but the heat is surely on now.

Because there was no reason it should have been this bad.