Week 7 is upon us and it is beginning to become clear who is a contender and pretender in the AAC. There is still time to turn it around for some teams however it is running out and while some teams benefit from a much needed bye, others will need a win to keep their season afloat.
In week 6, Tulane kept on rolling, running all over UAB 71-20 and sending the Blazers and Trent Dilfer into scramble mode as the fanbase is slowly losing faith in Dilfer due to off the field comments and a lack of on the field success.
Charlotte won the battle of North Carolina, rolling over ECU 55-24, getting a dominating day on the ground and leaving the Pirates with many questions following another lackluster QB performance.
The service academies did what they did, as Army rolled over Tulsa 49-7 getting 321 yards on the ground and Navy won the first leg in the Race for the Commander in Chief’s Trophy, defeating Air Force 34-7, rushing for 329 yards and 5 TDs.
Lastly, Temple gave UConn everything they could handle driving down to the 1 with a chance to score a game winning touchdown on the goalline, however they fumbled and UConn ran it 96 yards to the house to win 29-20. Temple fell to 1-5, however they were able to get 136 yards rushing and will look to capitalize on that positive against Tulsa in week 8 following the bye.
Week 7 brings the smallest slate of the season, as only 8 AAC teams are in Action, however there are multiple storylines to follow including FAU needing a win at home over a red-hot UNT squad, while USF takes on Memphis in Orlando due to Hurricane Milton, with both teams needing a victory, while UAB takes on a redhot Army team in what may be an uphill battle.
Week 6 Headlines:
UAB on the Verge of Collapse-
Week 6 went as bad as possible for UAB, as on the heels of questionable off the field comments from Trent Dilfer the Blazers collapsed at home in front of a sparse crowd falling to Tulane 71-20.
It got away from them quickly as they found themselves down 37-6 at halftime and it didn’t get much better from there, as Tulane rushed for 317 yards and 6 scores, getting 6.3 yards per carry, bullying the Blazers on their home field.
UAB went into it without star quarterback Jacob Zeno and backup Jalen Kitna struggled, completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing 3 interceptions and although they found success with Lee Beebee Jr. they had to move away from the run game as they trailed big early.
It was a disheartening effort for the Blazers and leaves them at 1-4 and with Dilfer’s both on and off the field struggles, it has started up hot seat rumors amongst the fans and college football landscape as a whole.
For Tulane, its a showing of dominance as although UAB has struggled, 71 points is a lot no matter who the opponent is and against an AAC team, this win shows Tulane is ready to make a statement during conference play.
With how well Darian Mensah has played, if this team can get rushing performances similar to what they got against UAB, Tulane will be dangerous and potentially make a run at the conference title.
Charlotte dominates ECU
There will always be fireworks between 2 in-state rivals and last Saturday most of those fireworks came from Charlotte’s offense as the 49ers defended their home turf and dominated ECU 55-24.
Rookie QB Deshawn Purdie was efficient, completing 13 of 22 passes for 206 yards, averaging nearly 10 yards per completion and he was aided by 311 yards rushing as a team, which was a season high for Charlotte.
Their defense got after East Carolina’s array of QBs, consistently putting pressure in the backfield and chasing Jake Garcia after an early turnover and failure to generate much offense. The move did not yield much, as Katin Houser struggled completing only 11 of his 28 attempts for 84 yards and although ECU rushed for 148 yards on the ground their lack of a pass game severely hampered their offense.
For Charlotte, that is back to back conference wins and albeit victories over teams near the bottom of the AAC, conference wins are wins nevertheless and the 9ers now sit at 3-3 after the early portion of the season saw some struggles. Charlotte will be tested during the upcoming weeks, as they have a tough matchup on the road against Navy out of their week 7 bye, and it will only get more difficult from there as following their matchup with the Midshipmen they will head to Memphis and host Tulane and USF.
The Jake Garcia experiment has not worked for ECU, as the Miami transfer has tossed 12 interceptions in 6 games and it has left the Pirates at .500 after 6 games which coming into the season was not the expectation. The ground game is still working, however ECU has to find their rhythm passing, or they will find themselves struggling to make a Bowl.
Week 7 Headlines
USF vs Memphis
On the heels of Hurricane Milton, USF battles Memphis in Orlando in a must win matchup for both squads as Memphis looks to make a push for the CFP spot and USF attempts to turn things around before it gets too late.
Memphis is fresh off their bye week, and sit right outside the CFP playoff spot with a loss to Navy being their lone stain on their resume, but still recoverable should they find a way to pull this one out.
Seth Henigan has been solid so far this season and has been able to stretch the field by utilizing all of his weapons. Roc Taylor has been the leading receiver so far this season by a large margin, however Anthony Landphere has been a trusty target in the red zone, while Demeer Blankumsee and Koby Drake have served as trusty secondary targets behind Taylor at receiver.
Mario Anderson Jr at running back has been a consistent weapon, with 438 yards and 8 TDs on the year and he may be in for a big game against a USF defense which may be on the field a lot in this one.
USF may potentially be without star Quarterback Byrum Brown as he went down against Tulane 2 weeks ago and there hasn’t been an update on his progress heading into the matchup. Should he be out, Memphis may win this game handily as backup QB Bryce Archie has struggled in relief of Brown this season and it may lead to this USF high octane offense being severely handicapped.
Kelly Joiner and Nay’Quan Wright have both been solid at RB, however this offense cannot function without their leading passer and rusher in Brown and if he misses this game they will have to lean on their backs, but even if they are able to get a big day it may not be enough.
Memphis has been able to rush the passer at a fairly solid rate this season and if they are able to put pressure on Archie, that combined with his lack of experience may lead to some serious struggles for USF.
USF’s defense has been up and down this season and they may find themselves on the field quite a bit, but they will need their best performance of the season to slow down a Memphis team which needs a win. It will start with them bottling up Mario Anderson JR. and from there they have to hope they can slow down Henigan, but even then if Brown is out, there might not be much USF can do to stay in this game.
Now or Never for FAU
FAU takes on North Texas at home under the lights at 7 pm on Saturday, and after the early portion of the season saw them struggle offensively the Owls found their stride in week 5 and now coming off the bye they have to find a way to replicate the success they had previously.
The Owls will have a healthy Cam Fancher for the first time since week 1, as the mobile QB has been dealing with a thumb injury and it has led to the offense being a bit handicapped over the past few weeks. He looked good in week 5 against Wagner besides 1 interception, including completing his longest pass of the season and showing an improved ability to move it downfield.
He will need to do that against a UNT team which has aired it out with success this season and will be able to put up points consistently. With that in mind, FAU will also need to tap into their run game which has been the driving force in both of their victories this season and will help slow this game down.
Zuberi Mobley and CJ Campbell Jr. both will need to have big games and grind out yardage consistently against UNT, which will help an Owls pass game that is looking for improvement open up.
North Texas comes into this game at 4-1 and has only struggled once this season, falling to Texas Tech in a blowout, but other than that they have handled all of their opponents without issue. That has been in part due to their ability to score with ease, having the energy to put up points in the second half and explosiveness to score early.
FAU has one of the better AAC secondary groups and they will be called upon to help slow down this dynamic UNT offense, but they will need the Owls offense to provide some relief, something which at times this season has been an issue.
This game has a chance to go either way, as if the FAU offense comes to play, the Owls have the defense to slow down UNT and make this a battle, however if the Owls fail to move the ball offensively UNT may outpace them quickly which could lead to a lopsided affair at home.