By Lucas Owens

I was busy last week worrying about the election and having just the most fun in the Endodontist office with a root canal, but after a weeklong hiatus, the Most Americ6n Recap is back! Huzzah! Anyways, this week was full of some great games, but nothing too surprising. All around, some great performances in the American Athletic Conference.

Houston 10 – 38 No. 6 Cincinnati

Cincinnati, over the last few weeks, has discovered the absolute winning formula behind quarterback Desmond Ridder: not forcing him to do too much with the ball. Cincinnati, over the last few weeks, has dominated SMU, Memphis, and now Houston, mostly through good quarterback play and dominant defensive performances. Ridder only had 162 yards passing this week, but that was clearly more than enough for the Bearcats to run away with this one. Houston was held to just 282 yards overall offensively, and while Clayton Tune had most of those for the Cougars through the air, it was just not nearly good enough of a performance to make a difference for them. 

No. 18 SMU 47 – 23 Temple

Last year, SMU rode a 10-2 record into a bowl and garnered a lot of national intention for it, but this year, for one reason or another, SMU just is not getting that same attention. The especially interesting part about that is that I think this version of SMU is better than last year. Outside of their game against Cincinnati, the SMU Mustangs have mostly cruised to seven wins and one loss. While there are a lot of key aspects to that, quarterback Shane Buchele has been as phenomenal as ever through their first eight games. He added 355 yards through the air onto his FBS leading 2,581 yards passing this year, and has put up fantastic performances one after the other this year. SMU also is figuring out things defensively, and I think, at this point, they are looking like a shoe-in to face Cincinnati in the AAC Championship.

USF 33 – 34 Memphis

Last year, I frequently harped on the fact that Tulsa was much better than their record, and look where it has gotten them this year. There is no team close to that at this point in time in the conference, but the closest I would say has to be the USF Bulls. The Bulls find themselves at 1-6, but if two close games go the other way, they would find themselves at 3-4 with a much easier schedule coming up. However, they are 1-6, but they looked very good against Memphis this week. Of course, quarterback Brady White throwing for 437 yards against you is never the best thing to happen to a team, but USF was in it until the end, and finally has found an exciting quarterback in Noah Johnson.

Tulane 38 – 21 ECU

For how disappointing I have felt this year about Tulane, the Green Wave have sure found a way to get to a .500 record again. The teams they have gotten wins against have not been the greatest, but a win is a win any day of the week. Quarterback Michael Pratt is finding his way around the field for the first time as of late, and the defense, while struggling with pass defense, did great against the run. Speaking of ECU’s passing attack, the Holton Ahlers of old has returned, as the senior quarterback had 351 yards and three touchdowns passing last week. If ECU figured out how to run the ball, I think this score could have easily gone the other way.

Pow6r Rankings:

1. No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats
2. No. 19 SMU Mustangs
3. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
4. Memphis Tigers
5. UCF Knights
6. Houston Cougars
7. Tulane Green Wave
8. Navy Midshipmen
9. Temple Owls
10. ECU Pirates
11. USF Bulls

Edited by Emma Moloney