"American" Recap & Power Rankings

Power Rankings:

1. Louisville

2. UCF

3. Houston

4. Cincinnati

5. Rutgers

6. SMU

7. Memphis

8. UConn

9. Temple

10. USF

Louisville made it look easy against Eastern Kentucky. They didn't give up points until the 4th quarter. Bridgewater torched a team through the air for the second week in row with 397 yards passing and 4 touchdowns in a 44-7 win. I'll be interested to see how they play this week against Kentucky. The Wildcats aren't world beaters by any means, but they are definitely more competent than UofL's first two opponents.

UCF did exactly what they should do to a bad team. FIU really isn't very good, they've had numerous guys dismissed from the team for arrests or other misconduct which could be a reason why. The Knights were up 24-0 at halftime and finished with the shutout, 38-0.

Houston won the first conference game in AAC history against Temple. The game was only available on ESPN3, which should tell you all you need to know about where this conference stands in the eyes of its television “partner.” I can't remember for sure, but I believe all conference games last year were on some sort of TV. A low scoring game, it was 15-13 in the 4th quarter when the Cougars scored with a minute left to push the lead to 22-13, which would be the final tally. Houston moves up to 3rd in the rankings this week as they are 2-0, while everyone else behind them has at least one loss.

Cincinnati: Raise your hand if you saw that coming? A 45-17 beat down of the Bearcats by an Illinois squad that won 2 games total in 2012. UC looked disorganized, sluggish and just straight uninterested in being on the field; all of which was before Munchie Legaux's gruesome injury. (Watch at own risk)

Maybe they were looking ahead to the powerhouse that is Northwestern State? Tuberville has some work to do and hopefully it can be corrected.

Rutgers rolls over Norfolk State as was expected. 38-0. I debated for a while on if I should have Rutgers in front of UC or behind them. With both teams at 1-1, I settled on behind them simply because UC has played Purdue and Illinois while Rutgers has played Fresno State and an FCS opponent.

SMU is still at 6th for now. I think the bottom 4 or 5 of this league will flip flop quite frequently though. The Mustangs were down 22-5 at one point to FCS Montana State. It would take until 12 seconds left in the game when SMU would take the lead. Garrett Gilbert threw to Darius Joseph for the score to save the American from another loss to an FCS school. Final 31-30.

Memphis lost to Duke 28-14. This wasn't the same Memphis team we've seen for years though. They were fired up, playing fast and had a "don't quit" attitude about them. Fuente is going to have this team ready to play on a weekly basis and no team should just assume a win against them.

UConn didn't play this week, which is probably a good thing because they might of found themselves lower than 8 if they had.

Temple lost to Houston (see above). They move up to 9 this week even with an 0-2 start. They just have not looked as bad as USF.

USF kept it close against Michigan State for a majority of the game. The problem is, they don't have anything even resembling an offense. Bobby Eveld was 6-25 for 66 yards passing. With those kind of numbers from your quarterback, you're not beating anyone, much less a solid Michigan State team. MSU wins 21-6.