If you are looking to see who is performing above specs, and who may be performing above or below expectations in college football, this is your place to be this week, as I take a look at each of the FBS conference to examine what each school is doing to improve, and what teams are falling back in the pack. Here is my look at the AAC:
Surprising Teams
While everyone is already focused on UCF cruising to the conference title and NY6 bowl appearance, one team that has shot up unexpectedly is Cincinnati. The Bearcats are a shocking 3-0 with wins over UCLA, Miami (Ohio), and Alabama A&M. The Bearcats defense has been massively improved under Luke Fickell, as UC is allowing just 8 points per game in 3 wins, while they are scoring 36.7 per game. Of course, much of the uptick in scoring average comes from the blowout of Alabama A&M last weekend, so that number may be skewed a bit, but there is no ignoring that Cincinnati is a shock at 3-0. What's even more interesting is that the Bearcats could very well be the favored team in their next 4 games.
USF was supposed to be in for a touch of rebuilding offensively in 2018, but the play of Blake Barnett has been mostly solid, despite and underwhelming overall look against Illinois last weekend. Still, the Bulls are 3-0, and rushing for 194 yards per game, and look like they may not miss a beat this season.
Disappointments
Houston looked solid when they dismantled Arizona earlier in the young season, but against Texas Tech last weekend, the Cougars were completely exposed in every way defensively. Having Ed Oliver was supposed to make Tech scoring 63 on them impossible, but yet it happened, and you have to wonder when the Cougars will stop losing games they should win.
Tulane is a team that always seems on the cusp of breaking over the hill, but again, Tulane keeps on losing winnable games, including a close loss to Wake Forest, and a loss to a UAB team coming off a 23 point loss to Coastal Carolina the week before. Willie Fritz is losing stock value with losses like that.
Memphis
The Tigers had some serious personnel losses coming off the 2017 season, but they still should have showed offensively in a loss to Navy, and they did not. Inconsistency has been the name of the game for Mike Norvell's team early on, and while there is still time to solve the issue, they don't have forever to do so.
SMU
Nobody really expected much for SMU in 2018, but that is more of an indictment on how little of a foundation that Chad Morris left in Dallas, rather than an issue with Sonny Dykes, even if Dykes doesn't know anything about defense. The Mustangs have been outclassed every single week to start, and Chad Morris has not fared much better at Arkansas.
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