Winners and losers: The AAC achieved its goal of getting noticed in October
The American Athletic Conference came into the month of October knowing it had an opportunity to get the nation to sit up and take notice.
With several key games against Power Five opponents, the AAC had a chance to show that while it was a member of the Group of Five, it deserved as much respect as the conferences that were being considered for the four-team playoff.
Mission accomplished.
The conference had four wins against Power Five programs in October, including wins against SEC foes Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. On Saturday, Temple came close to upsetting Notre Dame, a game that needed a late Irish touchdown to seal the victory.
Also, several players have emerged as possible postseason trophy candidates, including Temple running back Jahad Thomas, and quarterbacks Greg Ward Jr. (Houston), Paxton Lynch (Memphis) and Keenan Reynolds (Navy), who tied the NCAA all-time rushing record against South Florida on Saturday.
Despite Temple’s loss, the AAC still has two undefeated teams — Memphis and Houston — that are still in play for a New Year’s Six Bowl, and even Temple has a chance if it wins out.
“I think that what we’ve established for this league is that we’re a good league,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco told the Sporting News earlier in the week. “We’ve won a lot of games. I just wanted to establish that the league is good and establish credibility. Last year we were a good league, but we didn’t win a lot of those non-conference games. This year, that we have undefeated teams as we get closer to conference play means a lot to us. Just the Playoff — we want to be considered for that, but we also have the Group of Five slot which is critical. We hope we can obviously get that.”
Getting into the playoff might take some doing considering those spots are almost exclusively reserved for Power Five teams. Theoretically, a Group of Five team could ascend to the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings, but that team would need to be undefeated against an extraordinary schedule, which likely would include a nonconference slate of some high-level Power Five teams. As of right now, no Group of Five team can boast this, but several have impressive resumes and it will be interesting to see where they all fall when the College Football Playoff rankings first come out on Tuesday.
Coming into this weekend, four Group of Five teams were ranked in the AP and Coaches polls. Memphis is the highest at No. 16 with Houston close behind at No. 18 (19 in the Coaches poll). Those teams defeated Tulane and Vanderbilt respectively, so they could end up higher in the CFP rankings, which are the ones that really matter.
No matter what happens moving forward, the AAC has done its job. It’s made the most of it nonconference games and earned a heavy dose of respect while doing so.
The next goal: inclusion.
Here are the rest of the winners and loser from Week 9:
WINNERS
Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati: Kiel’s season hasn’t lived up to the preseason hype, but Saturday’s performance against UCF was definitely a step in the right direction. Kiel completed all 15 of his passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns in a 52-7 win against the Knights. While UCF hasn’t won a game this season, it was still an effort Kiel needed to get back some of the confidence he’s lost due to mediocre performances and injuries. Kiel did split time in the game with Hayden Moore, who has played well while Kiel was injured, but it looks like Kiel has fully regained his role as the starter and hopefully this will give the entire team confidence as the Bearcats head into a touch contest against Houston next week.
Sean Maguire, Florida State: Everett Golson and Dalvin Cook were both out for Saturday’s game against Syracuse, stirring up uncertainty about how the Seminoles could cope without their two biggest stars. All Maguire did was turn in a dominant performance, throwing for 348 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jacques Patrick stepped up in the backfield to tally 162 yards and 3 touchdowns of his own, showing Florida State has a decent 1-2 punch backup plan.
Corey Clement, Wisconsin: Clement returned to the football field in grand style against Rutgers, rushing for 115 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-10 win against Rutgers. And all of that came in just three quarters of work. Clement played since the season opener against Alabama because of a sports hernia injury that required surgery on Oct. 1. In his absence, the Wisconsin offense has struggled, especially on the ground where the Badgers averaged just 152.5 yards per game, which ranked 75th in the country.
Chase Litton, Marshall: The Thundering Herd moved to 5-0 in Conference USA thanks to a scintillating performance by Litton in the team’s 34-10 win over Charlotte. He threw for 486 yards and two touchdowns while completing 33-48 passes. The passing yards were a career high for for the freshman; he hadn’t thrown over 270 yards in a game this season. Thanks to a loss to Ohio in the second week of the season, Marshall (8-1) isn’t in contention for a New Year’s Six bowl berth. But a second-straight one-loss season looks entirely possible, especially if Litton keeps this up.
Brett Rypien, Boise State: There was a lot of hype surrounding freshman quarterback Brett Rypien as he began his Boise State career, but no one expected him to be this good. In a 55-27 road win over UNLV on Saturday, Rypien threw for 469 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. That 469-yard total set a Boise State program record for most passing yards in a single game by a freshman. Rypien’s big day broke the previous record held by BSU great Kellen Moore, who threw for 414 yards against Nevada in 2008. Rypien’s 469 yards is also a Mountain West record for a freshman. Rypien now has 2,036 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven games.
BONUS WINNER
North Texas and New Mexico State: Congratulations, Mean Green. You’re no longer winless. North Texas beat UTSA 30-23 on Saturday.
Same goes to you, New Mexico State. The Aggies scored a dramatic 55-48 overtime win over Idaho. Here’s how the game was won. NMSU was down 30-7 early in the third quarter at one point and came back to deny Idaho its third win of the season.
The only winless teams that remain are UCF and Kansas. Will either get a win?
LOSERS
Dana Holgorsen: Once the pride of Morgantown and an Orange Bowl champion, this feels like a nadir for Holgorsen during his time at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are now 3-4 and winless in Big 12 play this season after a 40-10 blowout at the hands of TCU in Ft. Worth. Yes, TCU is very good, and yes, West Virginia’s schedule is front loaded in conference with Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and TCU all out of the way already. Wins, and bowl eligibility may still come into focus in 2015, but Holgorsen’s frustration showed in the post game press conference, saying in no uncertain terms that he feels like he’s failing at his job.
Nebraska: Right about now, Huskers fans have to wonder what they ever did to deserve this. Nebraska lost 55-45 to Purdue on Saturday, the lowest of low points in a season that’s included five, count them – five, heartbreaking, hard fought losses. And then they found themselves chasing the Boilermakers in Lafayette in a mostly empty stadium, and didn’t have enough in the tank to come all the way back. They are 3-6 with Michigan State, Rutgers, and Iowa still remaining. A 3-9 season seems entirely possible.
Georgia’s QB situation: The decision to start Faton Bauta against Florida did not work out. At all. Bauta completed less than 50 percent of his passes and threw four interceptions in Georgia’s 27-3 loss to Florida. The Bulldogs are out of contention for the SEC East now and it’s unclear who the heck will be the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback in the near future. Is it Greyson Lambert, who was benched for Bauta? Does Bauta keep the job? Does Georgia turn to Brice Ramsey, who served as the team’s punter (yes, really) on Saturday?
Texas: Oh, this was bad. The Longhorns were shut out Saturday night by Iowa State 24-0. Texas barely had over 200 yards of total offense as both Tyrone Swoopes and Jarrod Heard struggled at quarterback. Swoopes was 6-13 for 59 yards passing while Heard was 6-9 for 26 yards and an interception. But hey, Swoopes was the leading rusher with 10 carries for 58 yards.
The loss means Texas is now 2-3 in the conference after consecutive wins against Oklahoma and Kansas State. The Longhorns likely win against Kansas next week to go to 4-5 overall, but bowl eligibility hinges on two wins against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor. Another bowl berth didn’t look too promising before Saturday night. But now? Ugh.
Texas Tech’s defense: Are the Red Raiders trying to match 2014? Saturday’s 70-53 loss to Oklahoma State was the third time this season Texas Tech has given up more than 60 points and the fourth time that the team has given up 55 or more. Brutal.
Tech is averaging 46 points per game itself but is giving up more than 40 per game. That’s good for 121st in scoring defense. Consider Texas Tech the opposite of Missouri. If we combined Mizzou’s defense (No. 5 in scoring defense) with Texas Tech’s offense, this may be one of the best teams in college football. We shudder what to think a team with Missouri’s offense and Tech’s defense would look like, however.
