Last week we started our American Conference Preview with 2025’s top contenders. This week we’ll go Around the American to discuss the UTSA Roadrunners and the conference’s parliament of Owls — Temple, FAU, and Rice.
UTSA fans may well be asking themselves, “If not now, when?” The Roadrunners have a good team that somehow has never quite leveled up in the conference. For the others, expectations may be somewhat more modest, though all three have shown flashes over the past few seasons.
Let’s get into it!
Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners
Is this UTSA’s year? After dominating Conference USA on their way out, winning back-to-back conference titles in 2021 and 2022, UTSA has been unable to reach the same heights in the American. That could change this year with one of the most experienced squads in the conference returning for another shot at the title.
QB Owen McCown headlines the returnees. McCown exceeded his impressive 2024 campaign with 2995 passing yards in 2025 along with 29 touchdowns. McCown also lowered his interception percentage from 2.1% to 1.7%. McCown might be the best quarterback in the American, but he probably isn’t the most talented skill player on UTSA’s offense.
RB Will Henderson III made the most of his opportunity after Robert Henry missed time due to injury. Henderson III had three 100-yard games last season, including 185 and 146-yard outings against Charlotte and East Carolina, respectively. Like Henry, he has real potential to make a run at the Doak Walker Award.
WRs AJ Wilson and David Amador are the most proven receiver tandem in the conference, combining for 86 receptions and 971 yards last season. Both will take on a bigger role with 2025’s leading receiver Devin McCuin off to Ohio State.
Alas, UTSA’s defense looks less certain. The Roadrunners lost their top five tacklers but will return multiple key pieces. LB Owen Pewee made 31 stops, including four for negative yardage. CB Jakevian Rogers broke up four passes as a rotational player last year. LB James Walley Jr. had 5.5 tackles-for-loss last year, also in limited playing time.
With Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Tulane, and USF all in flux, UTSA’s window to finally reach the top of the American Conference may finally be open. Can they get there, or will we see another midseason implosion?
A Brand New Day #210TriangleOfToughness | #BirdsUp🤙 pic.twitter.com/JuYvDMbsHt
— UTSA Football 🏈 (@UTSAFTBL) August 6, 2026
Temple Owls
Temple almost culminated a remarkable turnaround season with their first bowl appearance since 2019 under then-new Head Coach K.C. Keeler last year. Keeler is one of the best evaluators of talent out of the transfer portal in all of college football and an excellent coach overall. His second year with the Owls should be interesting to say the very least.
Departed QB Evan Simon and RB Jay Ducker left the biggest gaps on offense. Simon threw for 2097 yards and 25 touchdowns, while Ducker ran for 809 and seven more. New QB Ajani Sheppard and returning RB Hunter Smith should replace Simon and Ducker in 2026. Sheppard arrives in Philadelphia after playing sparingly at Rutgers and Washington State, while Smith averaged six yards per carry on 62 rushes last season playing behind Ducker.
Temple may also have the deepest receiving corps in the conference. Leading receiver JoJo Bermudez returns after catching 38 passes for 500 yards last season. WR Colin Chase also returns after leading the Owls in total catches last year with 40. TE Peter Clarke is a Mackey Award candidate after averaging 16 yards per catch on 30 receptions and scoring on six of his catches last season. To this mix, Temple added a pair of accomplished wide receivers through the transfer portal in Demonte Green and Jayce Freeman. Green caught 94 passes for 1344 yards and 12 touchdowns for Division II Midwestern State last season, while Freeman was an underrated deep threat at Stony Brook the last two years. He averaged 20 yards per catch and scored 14 touchdowns, putting up a whopping 506 yards and six touchdowns on just 23 receptions in 2024.
On defense, the Owls return three of their top four tacklers and add 2nd Team Associated Press Division II All-American LB JaMar Diaz from Glenville State. A bowl game seems likely for Temple this season, and they could factor into the conference title race as a spoiler or even as a dark horse if they can catch a few breaks.
No turning back 😤#TempleTUFF pic.twitter.com/0lhLKEK4VD
— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) August 4, 2026
Rice Owls
Rice should make strides in their second year in Head Coach Scott Abell’s shotgun option scheme. RB Quinton Jackson had an underrated 2025 season as the Owls’ feature back with 889 yards on five yards per carry. RB De’Andre Hardemon should complement him once again after rushing for 331 yards. Although QB Chase Jenkins transferred, Miami (FL) and UCF transfer QB Ja’Curri Brown is well-equipped to run the offense with 821 career rushing yards and six yards per carry in his career.
For better or worse, however, Rice remains a difficult place to put together a championship caliber football team. The Owls have gone a lowly 91-140 over the last twenty seasons under four different head coaches. They have just eight bowl appearances over that same span, some of which have gone to 5-7 teams with good Academic Progress Rates (APRs). Maybe Abell can get them back over .500 in 2026, but it won’t be easy. The rest of the conference is also trying to improve, and no one wants to give the Owls an inch.
Business Hours ⌚️#WE | #ReptheR pic.twitter.com/ItJjfzJzld
— Rice Football (@RiceFootball) August 7, 2026
Florida Atlantic Owls
Florida Atlantic should have a high ceiling in the second year of Head Coach Zach Kittley’s tenure. The connection between QB Cayden VeltKamp and WR Easton Messer looks fearsome. VeltKamp threw for 3641 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2025, while Messer caught 104 passes for 1052 yards. Still, VeltKamp must cut down on the interceptions. He threw 17 last season. WR Dominique Henry also returns to the receiving room after 575 yards in 2025.
However, the defense, particularly the pass defense, must get better. Florida Atlantic intercepted just three passes in all of last season. 2025 Division II All-American DB Ahlston Ware and former 4-star Ohio State commit JK Johnson should improve this unit.
Realistically, the defense will just need to be serviceable if VeltKamp and the passing game can score as often as their potential allows. If they want to move up, they’ll have to knock some other teams off. FAU has the talent to score with anyone, but the defense must stop someone if they’re going to take that next step.
10➡️8 @crveltkamp @EastonMesser #WIP🏝️ pic.twitter.com/6S4ianNkMP
— Florida Atlantic Football (@FAUFootball) August 9, 2026
Final Thoughts
We’re in for a really interesting year in the American Conference and not just at the top of the league. Several of these teams could be standouts in lesser conferences in the Group of Six, and all of them look like legitimate bowl threats. We’ll just have to see how things shake out on the field to get a sense for how the conference itself is actually going to go in 2026.
Go Army! Beat Bryant!!!
