American Conference Chaos: Army Stumbles, North Texas Rises, and Nobody Is Safe

As play in the American Conference begins to heat up, tell me if you had the following items on your football bingo card.

Defending league champion Army has already lost more games (3) than it did all last year (2).

The Black Knights were thwacked 28-6 Thursday night by East Carolina to fall to 0-2 in the conference. By contrast, they went 8-0 last season in league play, then mashed Tulane 35-14 in the conference championship game.

This season, Army opened by losing to Tarleton State (that’s a real team), rebounded to beat Kansas State on the road, but then lost its American opener to North Texas 45-38 before face-planting at East Carolina.

Army’s next game is at UAB. If the Black Knights lose that one, the season will officially swirl the drain.

Speaking of North Texas …

That’s USF’s second conference opponent, and the game is in Denton, Tx. You might want to have a calculator handy for that one to keep track of what will almost certainly be a game that breaks the scoreboard.

In jumping to a 4-0 start, the Mean Green has averaged 47 points per game. They also have two overtime wins (Western Michigan and Army).

Assuming they beat South Alabama on Saturday to go to 5-0, North Texas looks like it will be a tough out for every opponent the rest of the way. The team also ranks 37th in total defense compared to 106th for USF.

The Mean Green are allowing 107 fewer yards per game than USF. Of course, their schedule hasn’t been anything close to what the Bulls faced so far. UTSA (2-2) is another team capable of putting up big numbers. The Roadrunners are also capable of surrendering big numbers (43 and 42 points in losses to Texas A&M and Texas State.

It’s a mixed bag for new coaches.

We remember the purge of American Conference coaches last season. Nearly half of the American’s 14 teams have new coaches (six).

Well, technically Blake Harrell at East Carolina isn’t “new.”  He took over in the 2024 midseason and guided the Pirates a 5-1 finish. They are 3-2 so far with a close loss to N.C. State and decisive loss against BYU.

Tim Albin at Charlotte, Zach Kittley at Florida Atlantic, and K.C. Keeler at Temple are a combined 5-7 at programs that need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Tre Lamb at Tulsa is 2-2, but the Golden Hurricane closed the door on Mike Gundy’s two-decade reign at Oklahoma State with a 19-12 upset.

And Scott Abell has Rice off to surprising 3-1 start, but the schedule has had a lot to do with that. The Owls have wins over Louisiana, Prairie View, and Charlotte. They were blown out by Houston.

They are who we thought they were.

That would be Navy (3-0 with two conference wins), Memphis (4-0), and Tulane (3-1).

It would also be the Fighting Dilfers of UAB. They are 2-2 but that could have easily been 1-3. They had to fight like  the dickens to beat Akron 31-28.

I thought the Green Wave would be more competitive than a 45-10 loss  last week at Ole Miss, but they are 3-1 with wins over Northwestern (Big Ten) and Duke (ACC). They also beat South Alabama, but only 33-31.

You know that North Texas game Saturday against South Alabama that I just assume the Mean Green would win? I’ll get back to you on that.