By Lucas Owens

Only nine teams in the American are playing this week, with one game sticking out: No. 19 SMU at Tulsa. Outside of that, there are games that could be competitive, but do not be too surprised when there really is not much going on this week in college football.

ECU (+28) @ No. 7 Cincinnati

To say this game is going to be a massacre would be to put it lightly. I won’t write much just because this game has approximately a 99% chance of going in Cincinnati’s favor, but look out for quarterback Desmond Ridder to finally have a breakthrough in terms of yards passing this week.

Prediction: ECU 10 – 45 Cincinnati

Army (+3.5) @ Tulane

Army’s only loss so far this year was to Cincinnati, but it is looking more and more like the Black Knights could actually struggle in this matchup against Tulane. Army has not played in a while, and Tulane has been rolling through their last few opponents. The key for Tulane, like it always is against the triple option, will be to limit Army’s time of possession. If they can do that, the Green Wave could come out with a huge victory in New Orleans Saturday. Army will need to start strong to counter Tulane’s slow starting spread option offense this year, but the key for them will be how their defense does in the later parts of the game, which is where Tulane gets most of their points.

Prediction: Army 21 – 25 Tulane

USF (+14) @ Houston

The Bulls of USF have been improving lately, but this matchup really does not suit them. Where they have been succeeding lately is pass defense, but Houston relies mostly on running the ball to open up passing routes, so that should be a big problem for the Bulls. Combine that with how deep they are into their rebuild, and Houston should easily come out on top here.

Prediction: USF 17 – 31 Houston

No. 19 SMU (+2.5) @ Tulsa

The real heavy hitter matchup this week, SMU and Tulsa both come in off a strong start to the season. The key matchup here will be between quarterback Shame Buchele and Tulsa’s defensive line. If Buchele is able to get through that line, SMU should be able to come away with this win. However, Tulsa’s offense could easily work through SMU’s defense, and that is where the real trouble lies for the Mustangs. With that said, this should be a fun game and definitely the best in the conference this week. 

Prediction: SMU 35 – 42 Tulsa

Temple (+25.5) @ UCF 

In case you could not tell, this is one of the three games in the conference that really should not be close. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel should be able to manhandle Temple’s bad pass defense, but who knows, maybe the Owls get a few points to make it close. 

Prediction: Temple 14 – 45 UCF

Edited by Emma Moloney