As For Football
An insider's guide for cadets, Old Grads, and Army Football fans.

Around the American: Week 12

|

Young quarterbacks headlined the As For Football AAC preview for Week 11. Those kids delivered. However, we saw dominant running back performances and a seasoned signal caller steal the headlines this past Saturday. Meanwhile, League front runners continued to set the stage for a pair of climactic final battles, featuring national-level implications.

Tulane Struggles While SMU and UTSA Roll

As predicted in last week’s preview, New Year’s Six frontrunner Tulane (9-1, 6-0) just barely squeaked by another lowly AAC squad. This time, the Green Wave nearly fell to lowly Tulsa (3-7, 1-5). The Golden Hurricane fought back from 11-down and came within a failed two-point conversion of sending the game to overtime. 

Tulane escaped with a 24-22 victory, but this was their third straight lackluster performance against an AAC bottom-feeder. Alas, freshman RB Makhi Hughes’ streak of six straight 100-yard rushing games has been all but lost in the Green Wave’s struggles. Hughes continued his campaign admirably with 131 yards rushing this week on just 19 carries (6.9 yards/carry!). This brought him over 1000 yards on the season with two regular season games plus a potential AAC Championship game remaining.

To make matters worse for the Green Wave, fellow AAC leaders SMU (8-2, 6-0) and UTSA (7-3, 6-0) both easily defeated teams that gave Tulane trouble. SMU QB Preston Stone only threw 20 passes against North Texas (3-7, 1-5), while SMU RB Jaylan Knighton galloped to a 129 yards game on the ground. With that, the Mustangs whooped up on the Mean Green, winning 45-21. Similarly, UTSA out-rushed Rice (4-6, 2-4) 199 yards to 47 on their way to a sterling 34-14 win over the Owls. 

Two games will define what remains of the AAC season. First comes this week’s big showdown, SMU at Memphis (8-2, 5-1). Second, Black Friday’s marquee AAC match-up, UTSA at Tulane. If Tulane defeats UTSA the day after Thanksgiving, they will still probably struggle against either SMU or Memphis (8-2, 5-1), both of whom have mostly been a good bit better than their 8-2 records would seemingly indicate.

Memphis Stays in the Hunt

With four teams vying for spots in the conference title game and numerous near-upsets, the American has arguably the most parity of any league in the FBS. Charlotte’s (3-7, 2-4) overtime loss to Memphis proves this point. Memphis needed a field goal with just 35 seconds remaining to force overtime. RB Blake Watson then scored in extra time, allowing the Tigers to escape with a win. 

This week’s struggle aside, Memphis still only has one conference loss. They therefore still have a realistic path both to the AAC title game and perhaps to the New Year’s Six if they can win out.

Meanwhile, Charlotte continues to show promise and could perhaps become a bowl team next year. Sophomore RB Hahsaun Wilson put up 198 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns for the 49ers after notching just one carry in his two-year career. Getting that kind of production off the depth chart shows the potency of Charlotte’s offense, giving them something to build on going forward.

Young Movement Delivers in Tampa

Last week’s preview spotlighted the quarterback matchup between Temple’s E.J. Warner and USF’s Byrum Brown. That matchup delivered. Warner went 24/47 passing for 280 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Brown bettered that by going 18/26 for 316 yards through the air, though he threw for just 1 touchdown and 1 interception, and he took *6* sacks. 

With all those sacks, Temple (3-7, 1-5) actually held Brown to -14 yards rushing on the day. Thankfully, the rest of the Bulls’ rushing attack picked up the slack. USF (5-5, 3-3) ran for 135 yards and held the ball for 32:14 time-of-possession. The Bulls got up 20-10 at the half and 27-10 by the end of the third quarter. Warner and the Owls rallied to score 13 unanswered in the final period but fell just short of completing the comeback.

Final score: USF 27, Temple 23.

The Bulls now need either a massive upset on the road this week at UTSA or a home win against Charlotte in their final home game in order to play in the postseason.

Arline Takes To The Skies For Navy

Navy QB Xavier Arline is doing his best Geno Smith impersonation. Navy fans tried to write him off, but “he ain’t write back”. Arline’s comeback has become one of college football’s best feel-good stories this season.

In 15 career games before his start at Temple, Arline had gone just 15/41 passing for a meager 254 yards. In his last two starts alone, however, he has nearly doubled his career output in both completions and yards, going 13/25 through the air for 218 total yards. His efficiency made the difference against UAB (3-7, 2-4). He completed a career-best 7/10 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, providing his beleaguered offense a much-needed spark in a must-win game. Navy DB Rayuan Lane’s Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium-record 97-yard pick-six then sealed a dominant 31-6 win over the Blazers. 

Navy (4-5, 3-3) could cause chaos for bowl committees should they beat either East Carolina (2-8, 1-5) or SMU in the next two weeks. They would then head into America’s Game with a 5-6 record.

Conrad Kicks East Carolina To An Upset Win

East Carolina continued their upward trajectory since losing to Tulane. This week, they got an upset win over bowl-hopeful FAU (4-6, 3-3). Pirates’ K Andrew Conrad kicked 5 field goals to bring his season total to an impressive 16. The Pirates’ defense then held the Owls to 172 yards of total offense and sacked FAU QB Daniel Richardson 5 times.

East Carolina goes into this week’s game against Navy with significant momentum. Despite their struggles earlier in the year, the Pirates could realistically walk away from Annapolis with a season-ruining upset over the Midshipmen this Saturday.

Current Bowl Projections

Peach Bowl

Tulane vs. Alabama

Military Bowl

Memphis vs. Virginia Tech

Fenway Bowl

UTSA vs. Syracuse

First Responder Bowl

SMU vs. West Virginia

Hawaii Bowl

Rice vs. Boise State

Birmingham Bowl

USF vs. South Alabama

Go Army! Beat Coastal Carolina!!!

About the Author

Omar-Rashon Borja

Just a guy being a dude and writing mostly about college football and occasionally other things. Writing helped me through my first heartbreak and my other interests are playing R&B songs on the keyboard, ballroom dance, and most importantly Jesus :) Read more of Omar's work at Redshirt Sports.

Share via
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Mix
Email
Print
Copy Link
Powered by Social Snap
Copy link
CopyCopied
Powered by Social Snap
✕
AFF

FREE
VIEW