2025 College Football Preview: American Conference

Photo by Danny Wild from Imagn Images

We are less than a month away from week 0 of the college football season!

That means it is officially time for preview season!

Much like last year, we will discuss each conference in terms of tiers.

The teams listed in each tier are not listed in any specific order. They’re ordered how they pop into my head.

Today, we dive into the American Conference.

Not the American Athletic Conference. That’s dead.

It’s the American Conference.

And here we go for the 2025 college football season!

Tier 1: Title Contenders

Tulane Green Wave

The turnover Tulane went over isn’t surprising considering how talented they were and how they are a G5 school.

Such is life in this era of college football.

Former starting quarterback Darian Mensah is now at Duke, as well as 7 other starters who got raided by big name conferences.

But Jon Summral is a damn good coach, and was able to restock the Green Wave through the portal, including having former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff fall into his lap.

That retool, alongside their returning production, should mean Tulane are right back in the hunt for the American title.

Navy Midshipmen

How weird is it that a service academy is a title favorite?

But Navy certainly fits the bill.

Head coach Brian Newberry is entering his third season, and his defenses, even at his time as DC, were always solid for what Navy can be.

So when you add in Newberry’s solid defense with quarterback Blake Horvath and running back Eli Heidenreich, who were pivotal in Navy’s incredible offense last season, you have a legitimate championship shot.

Tier 2: Dark Horses

Army Black Knights

Last years American champions start this year as dark horses.

That’s because Army lost star quarterback Bryson Daily who was the driving force of last years team.

Those are big shoes to fill, but Jeff Monken has done an excellent job at Army overall, completely revitalizing the program that never seemed able to beat Navy at any point. So if anyone can replace Daily seamlessly and defend the title, it’s Monken.

But it’s too big of a question mark for me to consider them the favorites.

Memphis Tigers

Memphis, much like Tulane, had to retool a large chunk of their roster.

It might work perfectly.

It might not work out so well.

But I have more faith in Jon Summral not missing a beat with Tulane than I do Ryan Silverfield not missing a beat at Memphis.

Don’t be surprised if these moves work out and Memphis raises the trophy come December.

But Memphis has been a let down before.

UTSA Roadrunners

When Jeff Traylor took over UTSA in 2020, the Roadrunners went 7-5.

They followed that run by going 12-2, 11-3, and 9-4 respectively, before last year going 7-6 with a newer roster.

Now, heading into 2025, Traylor has more stability like he had in past years. That could mean the road back to double digit wins is on the cards for UTSA.

Owen McCown finished the year red hot for UTSA, and returns to pick up where he left off.

That worked wonderfully for UTSA and their former quarterback Frank Harris in past years.

Why not this year?

USF Bulls

Look, I’ll own this one.

This is just wishful thinking on my part.

I like Alex Golesh as a coach, and I think quarterback Byrum Brown can be really good in his offense.

It’ll all click at some point.

It has to!

Frankly, it needs to.

USF’s defense hasn’t been up to snuff in the Golesh era, and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando hasn’t shown enough to think 2025 will be any different.

But it may not have to be if Byrum clicks in Golesh’s offense.

Which it will.

It totally will.

ECU Pirates

Interim coach Blake Harrell turned around the Pirates last year, going 5-1 to close the year out and winning a bowl game.

Does that mean his first full year as a head coach will have the Pirates fighting for the American?

Probably not, but the fact is he came into ECU and just won.

Maybe this is the start of a budding star.

Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound?

North Texas Mean Green

North Texas’ offense last year was absolutely boom or bust.

According to TruMedia, North Texas had the most yards per successful play in the country. That’s very, very good.

They were also bang average in terms of how many times they ran a successful play.

So North Texas is going to have some games where they go full on nuclear.

They will also have some games where nothing works.

Translation? They will hang around 6 wins like they did in the first two years of Eric Morris (5-7 & 6-7 respectively).

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Here’s something fascinating.

Or maybe it’s not. I don’t know.

Before Kevin Wilson, the previous four Tulsa head coaches found a way to make a bowl game in year one of their tenure.

This isn’t a woebegone football program like many others are.

So why can’t Tre Lamb, with his fun offense and previous success at Gardner-Webb and ETSU, make a bowl game in year one like his contemporaries?

Tier 4: Better Luck Next Season

Rice Owls

In the summer of 2023, my brother and I went to a live taping of Split Zone Duo, a college football podcast.

It was there, on that night, that I discovered that Davidson football ran a shotgun triple option.

My mind was blown.

Now, in the summer of 2025, former Davidson coach Scott Abel is the head coach at Rice.

His offense worked at Davidson. I have very few doubts it’ll work at Rice.

But it will take some time, so we should not expect a miracle bowl appearance in year one.

Still, it should be very fun to watch.

Florida Atlantic Owls

FAU, much like so many other schools in this conference, has a first year head coach.

This time, it’s Zach Kittley, who was a smart offensive mind.

And that’s great. It may be exactly what FAU needs, considering their excellent success with Lane Kiffin.

But Kittley has only been a coordinator up to this point (Texas Tech, most recently).

He’s only 33, so he has plenty of time to learn to be a head coach, and I think he will be a good one.

But this is a tough project to turn around in one year as your first head coaching job.

Charlotte 49ers

Charlotte has my favorite new head coaching hire of the bunch.

Tim Albin comes from Ohio, and was an absolutely fantastic head football coach for the Ohio Bobcats.

Albin left the Bobcats for a new challenge in a big city school like Charlotte, where he will have better resources to build a football team than he had at Ohio.

I think Charlotte is going to be very, very good under Albin.

I do not think they will be good this year.

This build is going to take some time.

Temple Owls

My second favorite hiring of the bunch would be K.C. Keeler to Temple.

Temple has had some flat out horrible seasons after the tenure’s of Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins.

But K.C. Keeler was excellent at Sam Houston State and did admirably in their jump up from FCS to FBS with not many resources at his disposal.

He can turn this program around.

But, much like Albin at Charlotte, it’s going to take longer than this year to get it right.

And if he can’t then maybe Temple is truly a lost cause.

UAB Blazers

Trent Dilfer wasn’t a smart higher when he got the job in 2023, and he hasn’t done well since then.

He has cleaned house in his coaching staff in an attempt to save his job this season, but I don’t think that will make much of a difference.

He just doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be a college football coach.

He definitely doesn’t seem to have what it takes at a school where he doesn’t even want his own daughter to go to the school he coaches at.

This whole thing felt like a disaster from the start, and this should be the year it comes to an end.