Heading into the bowl season this year it seemed pretty clear there was no Group of Five conference that could go toe-to-toe with the American Athletic Conference. Four bowl games into the postseason though and the story appears to be a little different. The good news is there is still time to redeem the image of the conference in this current postseason and make up for early woes.
The American Athletic Conference has lost each of its four bowl games played to date. South Florida lost to Western Kentucky, 45-35, in the Miami Beach Bowl. Temple took a 32-17 loss in the Boca Raton Bowl against Toledo. Cincinnati was clobbered by San Diego State, 42-7, in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.On Saturday, Connecticut lost to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl (16-10) and Tulsa was edged by Virginia Tech in a wild shootout in the Independence Bowl, 55-52. That is a record of 0-4 with losses to Conference USA, the MAC and Mountain West Conference included in the mix. When comparing Group of Five conferences against each other, those are not good results for the AAC. It is also strange, because the AAC was fairly good against other Group of Five conferences this season. The conference has already clinched a losing record in postseason play with three games left to play.
The question for the AAC now is whether or not three wins in the final three games can outweigh the weight of the four losses. There is no question the three games left to play are to be considered the most notable matchups for the conference, although Temple vs. Toledo was respectable as well. Navy will play Pittsburgh in the Military Bowl in Annapolis on Monday afternoon. Memphis will take on 6-6 Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl on Wednesday afternoon and Houston faces Florida State in the Peach Bowl on New Years Eve. If the AAC managed to go 3-0 in those games, the conference would regain some credibility among Group of Five conferences, but that will not come easily..
It is far from impossible to believe though. Navy is practically playing at home. Despite coaching changes ongoing, Memphis still has an offense that should give Auburn plenty of trouble (remember, Memphis beat Ole Miss, and Ole Miss beat Auburn). Houston may not be as deep as Florida State is, but its first team offense has potential to give Florida State some trouble. Can the AAC win all three? Sure, it’s possible. Is it expected? Probably not, but for a conference that was pumped up as much as it has been this season from multiple voices (myself included), the AAC needs to go 3-0 in their final games to regain its footing. The AAC is clearly not a power conference, but being the top of the Group of Five is not a bad place to sit either.
