NAVY
Navy retained its top spot in the AAC West standings with a back and forth 42-40 shootout win against Tulsa. Quarterback Will Worth accounted for four touchdowns in the win and helped Navy get to 7-2 overall on the year. The Mids gave up a whopping 576 yards of offense but their six touchdowns were enough to get the win.
USF
Quinton Flowers threw and ran for over 200 yards in another wild AAC shootout that saw the Bulls beat Memphis 49-42. Flowers had five total touchdowns, his final one coming on a 20-yard run with under two minutes left to give USF the victory. The Bulls are 7-2 and have a one game lead over Temple with two games left.
TEMPLE
Temple had the week off after four straight wins. The 7-3 Owls will travel to New Orleans to take on Tulane this weekend. They hold a tiebreaker over USF for first place in the East, but would need to have the Bulls lose at least one game.
HOUSTON
The Cougars beat Tulane 30-18 this weekend behind solid play by Greg Ward Jr. and fantastic third-down defense. Ward threw two touchdowns on the day and the defense held Tulane to just 5-19 in third down situations. Houston has recovered from its two conference losses to win two straight, but still trail Navy by one game and do not own the tiebreaker with two games to play. Houston is 8-2 overall and has a rare late-season out of conference game against a very hungry Louisville team this weekend.
TULSA
Dane Evans threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns, but it was not enough for Tulsa to upend Navy. The Golden Hurricane fell to 7-3, and Evans will have to continue to put up huge numbers to keep Tulsa near the front of the pack in the AAC. Tulsa has allowed at least 24 points in all but two games this season.
UCF
After a winless 2015 campaign, the UCF Knights will be bowling this year. The Knights notched their sixth win of the season with a sound 24-3 win over Cincinnati this weekend making them bowl eligible. Their defense forced three turnovers in the game and scored a touchdown on a blocked punt in the third quarter. Next week the Knights host Tulsa.
MEMPHIS
The Memphis offense continued to roll this weekend, but unfortunately their defense played worse than their offense played well. A 49-42 loss to USF dropped Memphis to 6-4 on the year. Riley Ferguson had another big day at quarterback, throwing for 331 yards and three touchdowns.
SMU
The development of Ben Hicks has propelled SMU to the precipice of bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013. It has not been without hiccups, but Hicks has improved vastly since the early season and that showed on Saturday when he threw three touchdowns without a pick in a 55-31 win over ECU. Courtland Sutton also had a big day, reeling in a career high 12 balls for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, the team produced five turnovers, including a pair of long pick-sixes by Horace Richardson, ranking him second nationally in picks. SMU needs to beat either USF or Navy at home to gain bowl eligibility.
CINCINNATI
Cincinnati has not scored a touchdown in 10 quarters. The Bearcats dropped another game, losing 24-3 to UCF, bringing them to 4-6 on the season. Gunner Kiel returned to the bench after going just 6/17 passing and failing to get the team in the end zone. Cincy has now lost three in a row and must win out to make a bowl game.
ECU
Philip Walker and Gardner Minshew threw a combined three picks in the 55-31 loss to SMU. The Pirates are in free fall, losing seven of their last eight games to drop to 3-7 on the year. They have also given up 100 points over the last two games and more than 30 in six of their last seven games.
UCONN
The Huskies had the week off after getting shutout by Temple last time out. UConn is 3-7 on the season and will play at Boston College next week.
TULANE
Tulane could not hang with Houston for a full 60 minutes and ultimately fell 30-18. The Green Wave are 0-6 in conference play and have been poor on both sides of the ball this season, although Glen Cuiellette did throw for 242 yards and to touchdowns this week in what was maybe his best game.
