Week 9 brought us a handful of truly great games, including a barnburning showdown between conference contenders. Week 10 promises more of the same.

Let’s get into it.

Tulane at UTSA (+5.5)

Tonight at 7:30 PM on ESPN

The Tulane Green Wave visit UTSA tonight for a showdown that could make-or-break both teams’ seasons. The Green Wave currently sit 6-1, 3-0 in the American Conference, and if they can hold that pace, they most certainly will go to the College Football Playoff. They already own increasingly good-looking wins over Duke and Northwestern, and their only loss came to current #7 Ole Miss. If a loss to Ole Miss somehow becomes disqualifying, then a few would-be national title contenders might be sad before this season finishes. UTSA hasn’t performed nearly as well on the field, but they have arguably as much talent, a truly incredible running game, and one Hell of a home field advantage. The Roadrunners haven’t lost a home conference contest since long before they joined the American.

Tulane QB Jake Retzlaff started the season as perhaps the nation’s best running quarterback. As he’s gotten more comfortable in the Green Wave’s offensive scheme, however, he’s emerged as a deadly downfield passing threat as well. Retzlaff had to run to be successful through the season’s first five games. But against ECU, he completed just over 72% of his passes for 347 yards and 2 touchdowns. A week later, he completed damn-near 76% of his passes against Army and led two last-minute fourth quarter miracle drives to salvage both that game and his team’s season. Now coming off a bye against a team ranked 108th in pass defense, we might see some fireworks from this emerging Tulane passing attack.

UTSA QB Owen McCown hasn’t played as well over the past few weeks, but he also hasn’t played badly. He’s has gone 137/216 passing for 1,310 yards (63.4%) and 13 touchdowns against just 4 picks and 9 sacks this season. When we add in one-time national rushing leader RB Robert Henry, Jr.’s, contributions — almost 900 rushing yards this season on an overwhelming 8.3 yards/carry alongside 9 rushing touchdowns — this ought to key a dynamic Roadrunner offense. Alas, McCown throws too many short passes, so that when teams successfully bottle Henry up, as Temple did, they often also succeed in significantly slowing the Roadrunners’ passing attack. Add in a defense that looks at best average against the run and which has started struggling against the pass, and well, the Roadrunners now sit 3-4 on the season, 1-2 in the American. The Roadrunners will also come off a bye, but they lost their last game at North Texas in blowout fashion, 55-17.

UTSA still has time to get things turned around and qualify for a bowl game, but they have to start right now. They face a Tulane team that has struggled in the red zone, that doesn’t do anything particularly well compared to the rest of the conference, and that looks primed for an upset based solely on their numbers. However, Tulane also doesn’t do anything badly, and so far, that’s been enough to get them wins against damn-near everybody.

Get up it’s game day! 🌊#UptownFootball pic.twitter.com/KDxM8mzcen

— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) October 30, 2025

Navy (+6.5) at North Texas

Saturday at Noon on ESPN2

This week’s designated track meet will pit the Navy Squids against the North Texas Mean Green for a game that should see a bare minimum of 1200 yards of total offense. To put this into perspective, lowly Army ran for almost 400 yards against this North Texas team on almost 6 yards/carry, and as I keep reading everywhere, Army’s offense is terrible. By comparison, Navy has the nation’s best rushing offense, currently averaging 318 rushing yards/game on an otherworldly 6.6 yards/carry, and they’ve scored *28* rushing touchdowns. 

Not to be outdone, North Texas has the nation’s best scoring offense, putting up a truly unbelievable 46.1 points/game on an average of almost 500 yards of total offense per week. North Texas has the nation’s 6th ranked passing attack and the 46th ranked rushing attack, and honestly, the only reason their rushing attack isn’t ranked higher is because no one makes football fields more than one hundred yards long. North Texas might have a pass-happy offense led by one of the nation’s most dynamic quarterbacks, but they also rush for every bit of 5 yards/carry and have *26* rushing touchdowns this season. 

They only run the ball as a change of pace!

Oh by the way, North Texas has the nation’s 120th ranked rushing defense, allowing almost 200 rushing yards/game. Again, not to be outdone, the Midshipmen have the nation’s 117th ranked passing defense, giving up a mindnumbing 256.6 yards/game through the air.

In this match-up, we have one of those rare contests in which the coin flip might become the most important play in this game. Whoever wins will be able to take the ball second. If that team can also manage the clock, so that they score going into and coming out of the half, they will almost certainly win this game.

Playmaker Mixtape🔥#GMG🦅 pic.twitter.com/E09q0OjVnk

— UNT Football (@MeanGreenFB) October 29, 2025

East Carolina at Temple (+5)

Saturday at 2:00 pm on ESPN+

We can break the American Conference into tranches. The top tranche — Navy, Tulane, Memphis, South Florida, and North Texas — all have a very real shot at winning the conference championship and qualifying for the College Football Playoff. The next group consists of teams looking to make a bowl game, appease boosters, and end a basically successful season on a positive note. ECU at Temple matches the top two teams in this second tranche to see which might possibly reach that top level. Moreover, both ECU and Temple have just one conference loss, so neither is out of the conference championship hunt. However, neither has anything like the resume to qualify for the College Football Playoff.

This should be quite an interesting game. Among other things, we’ll see an inversion of the Navy at North Texas dynamic. ECU features a strong passing attack led by QB Kaitin Houser and a decent running game. They’ll go up against a Temple defense that’s been excellent against the pass but more susceptible against the run. By comparison, Temple’s offense has been more balanced, but it leans heavier on the run. It will face an ECU defense that has been outstanding on the ground but much more porous through the air.

Both these quarterbacks have played good football. Houser has gone 163/248 passing for 1,989 yards (65.7%) and 10 touchdowns against just 4 picks and 8 sacks. Temple QB Evan Simon throws a little less, but he’s still completed 63.2% of his passes for just over 1600 yards, and he’s thrown 21 touchdowns against *0* interceptions this year. However, he’s taken 12 sacks.

ECU probably has the edge along the offensive and defensive lines, and perhaps that will prove decisive. However, Temple won’t beat themselves. They cause turnovers instead of committing them, and they play generally sound football. ECU doesn’t always play that clean, and they certainly don’t always lean into their running game, even when it’s working.

We could wish that ESPN hadn’t stuck this game on the Plus, but what can you do? There’s just too much good football out this week. But who’s complaining about that?

Scenes from last Thursday 📸 pic.twitter.com/UucRsIqYNz

— ECU Football (@ECUPiratesFB) October 21, 2025

Other Conference Contests

#25 Memphis (-13.5) at Rice

Rice beat a good UConn team last week, so maybe they can keep it close with the Tigers. The AFF Crew probably wouldn’t bet on that, though. Memphis looked to have gotten their wake-up call by the middle of the fourth quarter last week in their game against USF.

UAB (+12.5) at UConn

UConn needs just one win to qualify for a bowl. Can they get it against a perhaps resurgent UAB squad? Last week’s overtime loss at Rice reminded Husky fans all too vividly of years gone by and lots of bad football.

A Note About Betting Lines

AFF always lists lines against their direction of movement. For example, Sam Houston State opened (+9.5) on the road at Western Kentucky in Week 1. That line then slid to SHS (+10). Since the latter is obviously a better bet, we listed it on SHS’s side. WKU (-9.5) might be another way to list those same odds, but given the choice, you’d rather bet against the direction of movement.

Note that we do not encourage you to gamble. In fact, most of the AFF Crew does not bet on sports. However, sports betting lines provide such a quick and easy shorthand to express overall expectations for various contests that we refer to their implied math all too frequently.

Final Thoughts

We’ve got an embarrassment of riches this week. I mean, we didn’t even talk about Army-Air Force, but that should also be a great game, if hopefully not the pure offensive explosion we’re expecting from Navy-UNT.

Enjoy the games, friends. Tell us what you’re watching!

Go Army! Beat Air Force!!!