AAC Week Four Review

Another week is in the books for the 2015 college football season with American Athletic Conference going 4-4 with two conference games taking place, Memphis-Cincinnati and Navy-Connecticut. Let's take a look at the good, bad, and ugly of week four AAC football action.

Week Four Scoreboard:

• Memphis 53, Cincinnati 46
• Navy 28, UConn 18
• South Carolina 31, UCF 14
• East Carolina 35, Virginia Tech 28
• James Madison 48, SMU 45
• Houston 59, Texas State 14

Who/What Looked Good:

• East Carolina: From an excellent day punting the football to the great call of going with a backup quarterback, the Pirates made all the right moves. ECU deserved the win and this could easily be the game that sends their season in a good direction.
• Memphis Offense: Paxton Lynch threw for 412 yard and the team added 158 yards on 37 carries in putting up 572 total yards. Any coach will take 11.1 yards per pass attempt on the day. 53 points makes Memphis 4-4 in scoring 40+ points on the season. They have only been held under 50 by Bowling Green.
• Greg Ward Jr.: The Houston quarterback accounted for 274 yards and four touchdowns in the air to go along with 91 yards and another two touchdowns on the ground in a 59-14 route versus Texas State.

Who/What Looked Bad:

• Defense in the Memphis-Cincinnati Game: In this 53-46 final, the two teams combined for 99 points, 60 first downs, 1322 yards, and 11 offensive touchdowns. Can Memphis continue to get gouged on defense, but win with insane offensive performances?
• SMU: Yes, they were playing one of the best in the FCS in James Madison, but when you are trying to prove that you are competitive again, losing to an FCS school cannot happen. The Mustang defense gave up 729 yards, 8.5 yards per carry, and 34 first downs in the loss.
• UCF: How can a team that won a share of the AAC last season be so bad this season? The Knights were held to 15 or fewer points for the fourth straight game in the loss to South Carolina.

AAC Power Rankings:

1. Temple
2. Memphis
3. Navy 
4. Houston
5. Cincinnati
6. East Carolina
7. Tulsa
8. South Florida
9. Connecticut
10. Southern Methodist
11. Tulane
12. Central Florida

Week Five Schedule:

• Miami (FL) at Cincinnati
• Memphis at South Florida
• Temple at Charlotte
• Connecticut at BYU
• UCF at Tulane
• Houston at Tulsa
• Air Force at Navy
• East Carolina at SMU

Bye Weeks: 

• None