What Happened in the Rest of the AAC in Week 11?

It was another fruitless offensive endeavor for the Cincinnati Bearcats against UCF on Saturday. But the weekend was full of other American Athletic Conference games that will impact the league standings. Here’s what you might have missed while torturing yourself watching UC.

SMU 55 East Carolina 31

Now here’s a game that featured some offense. Like UCF, SMU has risen from the proverbial ashes and now finds itself just one win away from bowl eligibility. In fact, at 5-5, the Mustangs have their highest win total since 2013. Ke’Mon Freeman rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown and Braedon West tallied 104 on the ground while Courtland Sutton ate up just about every pass from quarterback Ben Hicks, tallying 12 receptions for 166 yards and two scores. Hicks completed a total of 18 pass attempts for 235 yards and three scores.

Offense wasn’t the only thing that was in full force, as SMU’s defense created five turnovers to power past ECU, which finished with 466 yards of total offense to SMU’s 477.

Navy 42 Tulsa 40

Hey, look at that, more offense. Will Worth rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns and added 111 yards and an additional score through the air as the Midshipmen maintained their hold on first place in the AAC West. Tulsa’s Dane Evans only completed 16 passes in the contest, put turned those into 369 yards and four touchdowns, although he was intercepted once. His fourth touchdown pass came midway through the fourth quarter, and pulled Tulsa to within two points, but Navy used its powerful run attack to grind out the clock and keep the Golden Hurricane from ever getting the ball back.

Houston 30 Tulane 18

It was an interesting game between Houston and Tulane. The Green Wave had more first downs than the Cougars (17-15) and out-gained them in total offense (341-287). So props are owed to the Tulane defense, but it didn’t end up mattering, as Greg Ward Jr. and the offense did enough in the first half to earn a victory. Ward threw both of his touchdown passes in the first half and added one on the ground, while producing only 189 yards through the air.

South Florida 49 Memphis 42

Quinton Flowers went absolutely off, completing just about every pass he threw (24-of-29) for 263 yards and two touchdowns. That might not sound all that impressive until you remember that he also ran for 210 yards and three touchdowns. That is quite a game. His final score, a 22-yard run late in the fourth quarter, proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth game that went down to the wire.

Current AAC Standings

East Division

Temple 7-3, 5-1

USF 8-2, 5-1

UCF 6-4, 4-2

Cincinnati 4-6, 1-5

ECU 3-7, 1-5

UConn 3-7, 1-6

West Division

Navy 7-2, 5-1

Houston 8-2, 5-2

Tulsa 7-3, 4-2

Memphis 6-4, 3-3

SMU 5-5, 3-3

Tulane 3-7, 0-6