As USF prepares to open Conference play, let's just say the AAC has been a bit wacky

USF has its first American Athletic Conference game on Saturday at Tulane, and we’ll get to that in a bit. First, though, let’s just say something weird is happening in the AAC.

Raise your hand if you knew that the top two teams in the Conference, each with 2-0 conference records, would be Navy and Army. Both teams are also 3-0.

That’s not a misprint.

Army beat Florida Atlantic 24-7 on September 7 and routed Rice 37-14 last Saturday.

Navy thumped Temple 38-11, and last Saturday shocked preseason AAC favorite and previously unbeaten Memphis 56-44, which had been ranked 23rd in the country. This was after lopsided wins over Bucknell and Temple to open the year.

The Midshipmen shredded a good Memphis defense for 566 yards and needed only 53 plays to accomplish that. Think about it: Navy had fewer plays than points.

Navy jumped from No. 105 to 36 in The Athletic’s ranking of all 134 FBS teams. It has 143 points, its highest total after games since 1918.

 "I hope we have some believers now," quarterback Blake Horvath said.  "I am sure with Temple and Bucknell, people were not 100-percent sure what our offense could do. We knew what we could do the whole time. Coming into this game, we didn't want to be overzealous, but we had a lot of confidence in ourselves.”

Horvath had two touchdown passes on just 12 attempts. He also rushed for four TDs, including one of 90 yards.

 "It hurts, it's painful, it's frustrating. I'm really, really not happy with the result, and it started with the way we did things. I told the team in the locker room postgame it's my fault. Obviously, I didn't have them prepared. Clearly, we had no answer for the triple option and Navy's offense,” Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield said.

USF plays Navy in Tampa on Nov. 9. The Bulls aren’t scheduled to play Army.

By the way, Navy was picked to finish 11th in the AAC preseason poll, while Army was fifth.

It looks like those predictions were off in more ways than one. UTSA was picked to finish second but struggled to beat Kennesaw State and was blown out by Texas State and Texas.

Florida Atlantic, picked 6th, is 1-3 and was routed 48-14 at Connecticut.

Tulane is 2-2, and getting a read on the Green Wave is tough. Like USF, they have beaten two lesser opponents (Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana) while losing to a pair of “name” teams – Kansas State and Oklahoma.

The Bulls fell to 78th from 62nd in The Athletic rankings. For what it’s worth, Tulane is 51st.

Despite that, the Bulls are about a touchdown favorite, which seems right. A USF win would accomplish several things.

It would erase the sour taste of the second-half collapse against Miami and would leave the Bulls in good shape as they head to an open date before a showdown in Tampa against Memphis. The Tigers will be in desperation mode for that one.

Winning the AAC championship could get the Bulls into the expanded College Football Playoff, despite the losses to Alabama and Miami.

It also would erase an asterisk on the Alex Golesh tenure – all seven wins last year, plus likely the two so far this year, came against teams that finished below .500. Tulane should finish with a winning record. Hopefully, USF will knock off a few more teams this season on the plus side of .500, so we can file that nugget under yesterday’s news.