From USF to Memphis, American Conference Proves It Can Hang With the Big Boys

As this season has wound its way through September, teams from the American Conference have reminded everyone that good football isn’t the exclusive property of power conference programs.

USF, of course, beat the Florida Gators in The Swamp. Memphis rallied from 18 points behind to stun Arkansas 32-31 and extend the longest FBS winning streak in the nation to eight games.

That’s the largest comeback this season in an FBS game. At one point, ESPN Analytics gave the Tigers just a 4.8 percent chance of winning.

That prompted this pithy lead paragraph by Michael Main on Best of Arkansas Sports.

“Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek caught a tidal wave of flak this week for saying that the Razorbacks were in position to compete in the SEC, but not at the national level,” he wrote.

“As it turned out, head coach Sam Pittman’s team may not even be equipped to win in the American Conference.”

Tulsa has struggled in recent seasons, but went to Stillwater and beat Oklahoma State, a decision that could send the moving vans for Cowboys’ coach Mike Gundy.

Navy, Memphis, and North Texas are undefeated. Three more teams, including USF, are 3-1. The Bulls’ only loss was at Miami, now ranked second in the new AP Top 25 poll.

Perhaps that’s why Americans chafe at being stereotyped as a Group of 5 league.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports noted, “The American has more power conference wins (6) than the ACC and Big Ten.”

Let’s not kid ourselves, though. The SEC and Big Ten essentially control the College Football Playoff, which is why USF’s only way to get in is to win the conference. That’s also true for every American team.

USF is idle next week before opening conference play at home against Charlotte. That shouldn’t pose much of a problem for the Bulls, but fans shouldn’t start looking ahead to the October 25 game at Memphis just yet.

That’s because the Bulls have a game at unbeaten North Texas on October 10. If the Mean Green handle South Alabama, they will be 5-0 when the Bulls arrive.

In its latest projections, ESPN names USF as the likely Group of 5 representative to the playoffs, with a trip to Texas A&M as its reward.

But whichever team comes out of the American, the opponent should be forewarned. This may not be a “power” conference, but try telling that to some of the big-boy schools that learned about the American the hard way.