2026 College Football Preview: American

Photo from The Associated Press

The American, widely considered the top end of the G6 conferences, seems to be in for a strange season.

A lot of top schools have new coaches, new quarterbacks, and everything in between.

So who will come out on top?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But let’s try and find out together, shall we?

Better Luck Next Year

UAB Blazers

Trent Dilfer was an abject disaster hire for UAB.

Not that anyone could have seen that coming…

And after he was fired, interim coach Alex Mortenson took over and went 2-4 to end the year.

And that’s all well and good, but he still is a first time head coach with a wide spread of new FCS transfers, underclassmen returners, and a new defensive coordinator in Todd Grantham.

I do think Alex Mortenson could work out in Birmingham, but it won’t be this year.

Charlotte 49ers

Tim Albin showed at Ohio that he is a good coach.

I still think he is a good coach.

And I appreciate him going to a Charlotte school that many think could be a sleeping giant due to being in a major metropolitan city and being able to draw in transfers.

I also think they’ll improve from year 1 to year 2!

But when year 1 was a 1-11 season, that’s not exactly difficult.

And despite the new receiver transfers coming in to help quarterback Conner Harrell such a Jaden Barnes and Zyheem Collick, it will take a miracle for them to get to 6 wins.

Albin may have bit off more than he can chew.

Bowl Game Bound

USF Bulls

Last season, I bet on Alex Golesh and USF.

I knew that at some point it would work.

And I was exactly right, as USF had a great season and was in the thick of the playoff race by seasons end.

The aftermath of that means Alex Golesh, and quarterback Byrum Brown, are now at Auburn, and USF has to start over with first time head coach Brian Hartline.

But the Bulls could do a lot worse than the former Ohio State wide receiver coach who was by far their best recruiter and continuously brought in incredible receivers to Columbus.

And Hartline picked up where he left off in the portal, bringing in Michael Van Buren Jr from Mississippi State at QB, Cameron Seldon from Virginia Tech, and Kenny Odom from UTEP.

USF is in good hands, but let’s temper expectations a bit for year one and just focus on going bowling, shall we?

Florida Atlantic Owls

Zach Kittley year one went 4-8 in Boca Raton, which isn’t bad.

Now, in year two, he gets to build off of what he started and does so with a bunch of Power 4 conference transfers, such as WR Tucker Holloway from Virginia Tech, WR Kelby Valsin from Texas Tech, and DT Corey Clark from Mississippi State, as well as former Western Kentucky QB Caden Veltkamp.

It’s not hard to see how FAU gets an extra couple of wins this year.

UConn Huskies

And here, we have our other independent, who I put here because they used to be here. Deal with it.

Jim Mora Jr. did a phenomenal job turning UConn around, but felt he had hit his ceiling at this level, so he left for Colorado State as they join the new PAC-12.

Replacing him is another coach who felt he had hit his ceiling at his former level, Jason Candle from Toledo.

Candle brought 19 of his former Toledo players with him, as well as 56 overall transfers, so this is a brand new squad.

But Candle has shown for years that he can coach, has guys that he knows he can win with, and UConn does not have a hard schedule this year.

As long as they win the games they’re expected to win, they’ll hit 6 wins.

Temple Owls

KC Keeler knows how to coach.

I loved that hire when Temple made it last year, and I love it even more so now that he’s coming off a 5-7 season in year one after Temple hadn’t won more than 3 games since 2019.

Now he brings back almost his entire offensive line and a solid running back room, and former Penn State QB Jaxon Smolik.

A step up should be on the cards for the Owls.

North Texas Mean Green

Who here is trusting the climb???

Former head coach Eric Morris hightailed it to Oklahoma State after a great year with the Mean Green, and he took star QB Drew Mestemaker with him.

In steps former West Virginia head coach Neal Brown, and he brings a BRAND new team with him.

Only one starter for North Texas returns this year, so Brown is betting heavily on a strong transfer class, led by former WVU running back Jahiem White who had plenty of success under Brown, as well as Brendon Haygood from Missouri.

Their season depends on those transfers hitting, and Brown getting back to the level he hit at Troy.

Would I bet on them going bowling? Probably not.

But I certainly can’t rule it out.

Rice Owls

Scott Abell came to Rice from Davidson where he implemented a fun, shotgun triple option style of offense.

I was very excited to see it at this level.

And then I did.

And it wasn’t great!

But I’m chalking that up to just a tough first year in a school where it’s difficult to succeed.

Now he brings in a pure runner at QB in Jacurri Brown as well as three returning running backs.

The offense SHOULD be better.

And if it is, they should get to 6 wins.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

If you’ve read my previews before, you know I love continuity in this sport.

A good transfer class is good, but I think it’s much more important to have something you know works come back for another year.

And that’s what Tulsa has despite their 4-8 season in year one with Tre Lamb.

QB Baylor Hayes returns, as does most of their offensive line and defensive secondary.

Another year with this staff and this system, and the results should speak for themselves.

I like what I see here.

Dark Horses

Army Black Knights

Here’s the rule for service academies.

“Do you have a quality veteran QB returning?”

If the answer to that question is yes, congratulations. You are a dark horse for the conference title.

It’s why Army won the American two years ago, and why they took a slight step back last year.

But now, Cale Hellums returns with more experience under his belt, and that alone is enough to have Army be a threat for the title.

Control the clock. Score points. Win games.

Simple as that.

Navy Midshipmen

Now, Navy does NOT return their star QB Blake Horvath, nor Eli Heidenreich who went to the NFL.

But where Navy lacks in QB experience, they make up for it in defensive experience, which is where head coach Brian Newberry thrives.

And look, nobody knew Blake Horvath would be a star until we saw him.

So if the defense holds up, and Braxton Woodson shows that he can handle the workload, Navy will be very good once again.

Tulane Green Wave

Trust in Tulane.

Willie Fritz had the Green Wave playing in New Years Six bowls before he left for Houston.

They replaced him with Jon Summral, who had Tulane playing in the college football playoff before he left for Florida this offseason.

In steps Will Hall, the former Southern Miss head coach before he got fired in 2024.

He’s not the same caliber of coach coming into it that Willie Fritz and Jon Summral were, but he was the Tulane offensive coordinator last year, and does have backing of the school to be successful with a very good transfer class headlined by Jaylin Lucas from Florida State and Marquez Stevenson from Texas Tech.

I have no reason to doubt Tulane right now until they give me one.

East Carolina Pirates

I’m just going to take a quick victory lap, real fast.

When Blake Harrell took over as interim coach in 2024, he went 5-1 and finished the year with the Pirates playing their best ball, I said it’s possible that Harrell is the next young stud coach in the sport.

And he rewarded my faith with a 9-4 season that had ECU in the thick of the American title mix by seasons end.

And even though they lost both coordinators and a ton of starters in the transfer portal, I am keeping that faith in Harrell and the Pirates.

Mitch Griffis and Emory Williams come in as QB options in the portal, as well as a bunch of G6 transfers from schools below their level such as Hayes Creel from Southern Miss and Ashton Levells-Mitchell from FIU.

Look, if the big boys are going to steal your guys, you have to steal from others.

UTSA Roadrunners

When Jeff Traylor had a QB like Frank Harris, UTSA was phenomenal.

When he didn’t, UTSA underperformed.

And even though they only went 7-6 these past two years with Owen McCown, McCown took a leap forward last year with 30 touchdowns.

So in McCown’s final year in college ball, another leap forward could see Traylor’s squad flirting with 10 wins once again.

The Favorites

Memphis Tigers

Memphis under Ryan Silverfield was never able to get over that hump and win the conference title.

Now, Silverfield is gone, and Charles Huff takes over.

And while Huff has left his last two fan bases very, very angry, it’s not for a lack of winning.

Huff led Marshall to the Sun Belt title in 2024 before skipping town to go to Southern Miss, where he turned around a one win program to go 7-5, bringing many Marshall players along with him.

And guess what, he did it again!

53 new transfers come to Memphis with Huff, including 17 from Southern Miss.

But more importantly for Huff, being at Memphis means he can pull some bigger transfers as well, such as linebacker Christian Thatcher from Utah and tackle K.J. Miles from Georgia Tech.

It’s a transition year for the American, so this feels like a great opportunity for Huff to hit the ground running and succeed year one.