College Football Outpost: American Athletic Conference Week One Review

With one week in the books, who were the biggest winners and losers of the opening week?

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SMU's Offense: A year after being one of the worst in the nation, the Mustangs' offense looked solid in a season opening loss to Baylor. SMU put up 369 yards and 22 first downs, but the most impressive part of the night was 203 yards on the ground. Baylor does not have the greatest defense so it remains to be seen how big the improvements are but this is a good start.
Temple's Defense: Anyone that knows the AAC knows that Temple cna play some defense. While that was expected, what no one saw coming was just how dominant they were over Penn State. The Nittany Lions ended the day with 180 total offensive yards and nine first downs. Penn State had a paltry 2.9 yards per pass attempt.
Memphis: The days when the Tigers could barely contain a FCS program are not that far away, but this Memphis team systematically destroyed Missouri State in the season opener. The Tigers had over 500 yards of total offense while holding the Bears to 125 total yards. Memhpis held Missouri State to 2.27 yards per play on the day.
Chris Hairston, East Carolina: The senior running back became the first Pirate since Chris Johnson to rush for four touchdowns in a game. Hairston ended the day with 154 yards while the Pirates broke 200 yards on the ground as a team.
AAC Week One Record: The conference went 9-3 in total with losses to FIU, Duke, and Baylor. Every other team in the conference held serve and head to week two at 1-0.

Central Florida: The Knights were expected to compete for the AAC title this fall but fell to Florida International in week one. The Knights were outgained by nearly 100 yards with only 295 yards of total offense in the loss. The UCF running game only accounted for 46 yards on 30 attempts.
Tulane's Offense: The Green Wave were going to have a tough time versus Duke no matter what but the offense was terrible throughout the day. Tulane ended the day with 271 total yards and only 25 rushing yards for a 1.1 yards per carry average. The Green Wave had seven drives of 10 or fewer yards.
SMU's Defense: The Mustangs were going up against one of the best offenses of 2014, but also an offense that had to replace signal caller Bryce Petty. The Bears proceeded to torch the Mustangs for 723 yards on 10.48 yards per play.

Offensive Player of the Week: Jahad Thomas, Temple: The Owls running back strapped on for 135 yards on 29 carries versus a solid Penn State defense in the 27-10 win.
Defensive Player of the Week: Tyler Matakevich, Temple: The stud linebacker made seven stops on the day but had three sacks in leading Temple to the win over Penn State.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Mattias Ciabatti, South Florida: The senior punter picked up where he left off in 2014 with a 47.4 yards per punt average including two over 50 yards.
Game of the Week: Tulsa 47, FAU 44 OT. The Golden Hurricanes pulled out a big overtime win over a good CUSA team in Florida Atlantic. 1,181 yards of total offense and 11 touchdowns on the day.
Team of the Week: Temple. I don't think there needs to be an explanation.
Sun Belt Power Rankings: (Post Week One):