AAC Recap - Week 2

A look around the AAC and how teams fared in week 2.

Best wins for AAC teams

UCF beats FAU

Some people actually had UCF on upset alert during the week, thinking Lane Kiffin’s Owls could pull off a stunner. UCF won 48-14, to maintain their regular season win streak.

Both Brandon Wimbush and freshman Dillon Gabriel took snaps at QB for UCF, as expected. Gabriel did not disappoint. He completed 7 passes for 245 yards and 2 touchdowns and also ran for a TD. RB Greg McCrae averaged 6.6 yards per carry, finishing with 93 yards.

SMU beats North Texas

The other fun game between Group of Five teams featured SMU vs in-state rival North Texas. UNT is trendy because of the presence of QB Mason Fine, who threw for just 152, completing less than 50% of his passes. SMU QB Shane Buechele threw for 292 yards and 3 TD and for the second straight week, RB Xavier Jones ran for 3 TD (16 carries, 127 yards) to help lead the Mustangs to a 49-27 victory. SMU is 2-0 with two impressive wins over Arkansas State and North Texas.

Tough losses

USF loses to Georgia Tech

For the 8th consecutive time, the USF Bulls lost. After a 49-0 home loss to Wisconsin in week 2, USF went on the road and lost 14-10 to a Georgia Tech team that is undergoing a major transition as they shift from a triple option offense to a more traditional offense. Despite that transition, USF gave up 600 yards of offense to GT. Remember, Bulls head coach Charlie Strong is a defensive “guru”, yet his defense allowed 600 yards.

UConn loses to Illinois

Huskies actually led 10-0 at one point, but ultimately Illinois proved to be too tough and won 31-23. UConn freshman QB Jack Zergiotis played in place of an injured Michael Beaudry. As a team, Huskies had 10 yards rushing, while giving up 130 to Illinois.

Tulane loses to Auburn

Similar to Cincinnati, no one expected Tulane to beat Auburn but I’m not sure too many people expected a competitive game. They lost 24-6 and led 3-0 after the first quarter and trailed 14-6 at halftime. Auburn, one week after a major win over Oregon, was clearly dragging their feet in this one.

The rest

Memphis (55-24 vs Southern), Houston (37-17 vs Prairie View), East Carolina (48-9 vs Gardner Webb) all beat FCS teams.

Tulsa went on the road to San Jose State and won 34-16. One week after rushing for -73 yards against Michigan State, Tulsa ran for 256 yards.

What to Watch For - Week 3

Two games vs ranked opponents - Houston vs #20 Washington State and Temple vs #21 Maryland.

UCF plays their biggest non conference game in years, hosting Stanford.

And Navy plays East Carolina in the year’s first AAC game.

Stay tuned for full week 3 preview later in the week.