College Football 2024 Conference Preview: American Athletic Conference
Photo by Morgan Tencza from USA TODAY Sports
It’s August THIS. WEEK.
Which means we are almost in the month where college football will, once again, be gracing our screens.
Which means it’s conference preview time!
Conferences have changed dramatically in college football this year, and schedules are now all up in the air.
So instead of the normal previews where I’d rank teams from top to bottom, I decided to put them into tiers.
Otherwise, I’d be looking at each teams schedule and cross referencing and stuff and look, I don’t get paid for this. I’ll do it how I want to do it.
I’ll still predict a conference championship game though. Just for fun.
So let’s get straight into it with the AAC.
Tier 1: Conference Championship Contenders
Memphis Tigers
I still don’t love Ryan Silverfield.
His tenure at Memphis was going downhill until last year when he had, admittedly, an excellent season with the Tigers.
Is that a corner turned, or just a one off?
I guess we’ll find out, but sold or not with Silverfield, I am extremely sold with the Memphis offense.
Quarterback Sean Henigan and receiver Roc Taylor will create fireworks no matter what, and Memphis might just end up as one of the best offenses in all of college football.
Even if Silverfield isn’t a top tier head coach like his contemporaries in the conference, Memphis should be more than fine.
UTSA Roadrunners
One such top tier head coach is Jeff Traylor at UTSA, who, since 2020, has dominated conference play in Conference USA and in the AAC with a total conference record of 27-4 in that time frame.
Where Memphis thrives offensively, UTSA thrives defensively, with 6 starters set to return from one of the best in the conference a year ago.
I’ll doubt UTSA when they give me a reason to doubt them.
USF Bulls
Alex Golesh coaches one of the most dynamic and fun offenses in college football, and USF managed to keep their excellent quarterback Byrum Brown.
The defense last year was putrid, but if it’s improved in year 2 of this coaching staff, the Bulls will find themselves in contention come November.
Even an average defense will give Golseh’s offense the opportunity to thrive.
Tier 2: Dark Horses
Tulane Green Wave
Coach Jon Summral comes over from Troy and takes over a Tulane team who has lost a ton of talent, whether it be through graduation, following former head coach Willie Fritz to Houston, or transferring elsewhere.
However, Summral has shown nothing but success in his time at Troy, and should find success quickly at Tulane with some excellent portal signings from some top tier programs like Oregon, USC and LSU.
Too much turnover means I can’t put Tulane firmly in title contention, but if it clicks quickly for Summral, they could do it.
Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound
Florida Atlantic Owls
FAU’s offense a year ago underperformed severely, while the defense sort of carried the Owls to 4-8.
It’s year 2 for coach Tom Herman in Boca, and Herman knows offense.
Getting that fixed was likely priority number one for Herman and his staff, and the defense should still be fine.
That jump might get FAU back to a bowl.
Rice Owls
Defense, defense, defense.
Rice not only had a great defense a year ago, but they return almost everyone from said defense.
The fix needed to be on the offensive side of the ball, and they answered that by adding E.J. Warner at quarterback.
Even if the offense isn’t fixed at all, Rice should find their way to 6 wins.
Army Black Knights
Jeff Monken is one of, if not the best coach in this conference considering what he’s done in West Point.
As long as Army doesn’t mess around and try to change it’s offense again like it did last year before smartly switching back to the option, they should find success in year one in their new conference.
Tier 4: Bowl Game Possible
Navy Midshipmen
The Navy defense a year ago was solid, and should be solid again in year two under Brian Newberry.
Offense was the issue, and new offensive coordinator Drew Cronic hopes to be the answer.
If he is, Navy might find themselves playing football in December once again.
ECU Pirates
Mike Houston’s tenure at ECU has been weird.
It started as a rebuild, and in year 3 and 4 he found himself heading to bowls. Everything looked on the up and up.
And then, in 2023, they dropped a 2-10 stinker.
Was that a fluke? Were the two bowl game years flukes?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that the offense for ECU has to be better.
If it is, they should get back to a bowl.
If it’s not, they may find themselves head first into the coaching carousel.
North Texas Mean Green
North Texas lost 5 games last year by one score.
If you have read my football previews before, you know that I feel those are the most likely things to flip flop year to year.
The talent is there for a bowl, but maybe Eric Morris is a bad late game coach.
He wouldn’t be the first.
UAB Blazers
Offensively, UAB is more than fine.
Defensively, UAB was a disaster last year and only returns 4 starters from that group.
That may be a good thing if the replacements are improvements, but if they aren’t and there’s no cohesion with the group, they may find themselves short of 6 wins once again.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Alright. I looked at the schedule a little bit.
Tulsa’s defense isn’t great, or even good, but the offense is definitely good, and their schedule this season benefits them greatly, as they play lots of AAC teams with questions on defense as well.
If they can simply outgun them, they’ll hit their 6 wins.
Tier 5: I’d Be Baffled
Charlotte 49ers
It’s year two for Biff Poggi in Charlotte, and he hit the portal HARD this offseason to try to turn things around from their 3-9 disaster a year ago.
Will it work?
Maybe! It depends on how good of a coach Biff Poggi is.
But even still, this isn’t a video game.
Making all those new players gel enough to turn things around from 3 wins to 6 wins in a tough conference like the AAC is not easy.
Temple Owls
Another team full of new transfers is Temple.
But this is year three for Sean Drayton.
Drayton spent his first two seasons trying to build Temple back up.
Not even to the level that Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins had it, but just fighting for bowls.
But after back to back 3-9 seasons, Drayton hit the portal to try and turn things around.
That says to me that Drayton knows his job is in jeopardy and he wants to push hard to save it this season.
Maybe it will work, but it sure doesn’t help that their best offensive player up and left for conference rival Rice.
I just don’t see a path towards success for Temple.
Conference Championship Game Prediction
There is absolutely no reason Memphis shouldn’t make the title game this season.
They are stacked, and definitely playoff contenders as one of the 5 best conference champions.
And I think they will make the game.
But I’ll take the coach I trust more.
UTSA wins the American Athletic Conference.
