By Lucas Owens
Between watching the San Francisco Giants choke three straight at home to miss the playoffs, watching the Atlanta Falcons blow yet another lead, this time to the Chicago Bears, seeing one of my favorite players of all time, Joe Pavelski, miss out on the Stanley Cup for the umpteenth time, watching Mizzou lose to Alabama by a predictable amount from the comfort of my room, and also chipping a tooth, I did have the pleasure of watching some American Athletic Conference Games. The good news, for the AAC at least, is that this week went well for most teams not named ECU, and even for the Pirates it did not go nearly as badly as some thought it would.
No. 13 UCF 51 – 28 ECU
To the shock of absolutely nobody, UCF manhandled ECU all day and took home a good victory over the Pirates. Well, that is a little misleading, as the Knights of UCF did have some trouble in the first quarter, but as always, they broke out of that funk and went off for 20 unanswered for the rest of the first half. The star of the show for the Knights was quarterback Dillon Gabriel, and the sophomore from Hawaii continues to excite, as he threw for 408 yards and four touchdowns against a suspect Pirates defense to the tune of a total QBR of 73.1. For East Carolina, quarterback Holton Ahlers continues to struggle somewhat behind center, as he threw for only 215 yards and three touchdowns, while giving up an interception. UCF’s defense showed their mettle all day, and the Knights took home a decisive victory.
No. 14 Cincinnati 24 – 10 No. 22 Army
After falling behind early in the first quarter, the Bearcats of Cincinnati came back and controlled the entire game against Army, quite a feat in and of itself. Paramount to their success was quarterback Desmond Ridder, who while only going for 258 yards and two touchdowns passing, controlled the ball exceptionally well and led many long drives to ensure Army did not control possession. While Ridder’s performance was important, the largest factor in the game was Cincinnati’s defense, which kept Army quarterback Christian Anderson to just 94 yards passing, and also did not allow a touchdown past the Black Knights’ first drive.
Tulane 66 – 24 Southern Mississippi
I do not think I have ever been more surprised by a complete rout than I was Saturday by this game. Going into this game, I thought Southern Mississippi’s rush defense was going to be their x-factor, instead it was their Achilles heel. The Golden Eagles were absolutely trounced by Tulane’s rushing attack, as the Green Wave went for an incomparable 430 yards and seven touchdowns rushing. Not to be a pessimist or anything, but when your opponent does that, it is typically hard to win games, especially if Southern Mississippi’s offense continues to produce at this level.
SMU 50 – 7 Stephen F. Austin
It appears that SMU finally got the tune-up game that they so badly needed, as they completely destroyed Stephen F. Austin this week. Quarterback Shane Buchele did only have 141 yards passing and two touchdowns for the Mustangs, but he was not really in the game that long so that’s a wash. Surprisingly, SMU only had 432 total yards gained Saturday, but they did make the most of that and score a lot of touchdowns. 
Pow6r Rankings:

1. No. 11 UCF Knights
2. No. 15 Cincinnati Bearcats
3. No. 25 Memphis Tigers
4. SMU Mustangs
5. Navy Midshipmen
6. Tulane Green Wave
7. Temple Owls
8. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
9. ECU Pirates
10. Houston Cougars
11. USF Bulls

Edited by Emma Moloney