AAC Update: UCF Shocks Penn State 34-31
Not many are paying much attention to the American Athletic Conference. But the winner of this league will get a bid to the BCS Bowls, so it is worth watching. Also, there is a new development in the AAC. It turns out there is a team besides the Louisville Cardinals on the radar. The UCF Knights are 3-0 with a win in Happy Valley over the Penn State Nittany Lions and another win that looks much better now, a 31-7 win over the Akron Zips. Akron outplayed the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday before falling about a yard short of pulling off an upset that would have shaken up the college football world.
The Knights will be taking on the #13 South Carolina Gamecocks on September 28th and then two weeks later will take on the Cardinals. If the Knights continue to get strong quarterback play from Blake Bortles and good running offense from Storm Johnson, they may pull off a shocker in one or maybe both games.
The Cardinals looked a bit shaky in their 27-13 win over the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats fell to 1-2 with the loss which includes a loss to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Teddy Bridgewater did not look nearly as sharp as he did in the opener against the Ohio Bobcats. He was 16 of 28 for 250 yards and one touchdown against one of the SEC’s weakest teams.
The only other unbeaten team left in the conference is the Houston Cougars. They won the first AAC contest by beating the Temple Owls 22-13 ion Saturday in Philadelphia. The Cougars had five field goals before finally getting into the end zone in the fourth quarter on a 10 yard touchdown run by Ryan Jackson.
The Cincinnati Bearcats suffered a gruesome leg injury to their starting quarterback Munchie Legaux, reminiscent of the ones suffered by former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore and Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware. Luckily, the Bearcats had two experienced quarterbacks. Fifth year senior Brendan Kay stepped in and threw for four touchdowns in Cincinnati’s rout of Northwestern St 66-9.
So while the Cardinals are still the heavy favorite to win this conference, at least there is now a little bit of doubt that it is a foregone conclusion. If the Knights were to shock the Gamecocks, that game with Louisville two weeks later could be a huge game on the college football landscape going into the season’s second half. The winner of that game would be looking at clear sailing the rest of the way all the way to a BCS Bowl
