Friday, December 26, 2014

State of the American

This is part of a series of posts going up on December 26.  Let's look back at everyone's performance in the non-conference schedule and take inventory on where everyone is at.

There's an impending disaster in the AAC.  Let's go and see why.

SMU (8-3) fixed their SoS issues from last year.  A top 15 non-con SoS as of right now.  Bigtime.  I just wish they would've won @Gonzaga or @Indiana or at least beat Arkansas.  UCSB and Wyoming are fine wins but not signature ones.  They need signature wins, and they're out of chances (thanks for nothing, Michigan!)

UConn (5-4) has played a very good schedule but couldn't do a lot against it.  Losing to Yale is the kicker.  Dayton is the signature win, which is okay, but man, losing on a neutral to both WVU and Texas hurts right now.

Cincinnati (8-3) is another team with a bigtime non-con SoS.  But the losses to N-Ole Miss and @Nebraska don't look good right now.  The signature win over SDSU will mask some of it but not all.

Memphis (7-4) actually doesn't have a bad loss marked against them, but no quality win.  Quintessential bubble team.  Of these top 4, I have to imagine 3, and maybe all 4, will be fine eventually.  But right now, the situation looks bleak.

The one pleasant surprise in the conference is Temple (8-4).  The losses aren't great (@St Joe's and N-UNLV are mixed in), but the signature win over Kansas is a real good look, and there's a pocket collection of wins (N-Temple, LaTech, American) behind it.  We'll pay attention, they may yet be relevant.

The bottom 6 aren't looking so hot.  I had higher hopes for Tulsa (7-4), and while there's just one bad loss (@ORU), there's no wins of substance to lean on.  Tulane (8-2) has racked up wins, but none of them have any real value.  South Florida (5-6), Houston (6-4), East Carolina (4-6), and Central Florida (6-4) are putting up marginal records against marginal-to-bad schedules and will likely just drag down the conference.

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