A Look At The AAC

The UH/AAC Report: a high scoring week, some teams stay hot while others cool

UH Dana Holgorsen
UH Football/Facebook

Week six in the AAC was pretty high scoring. Five teams scored more than 30 points, with four of them scoring more than 40 and one scoring more than 50. Let's take a closer look at what transpired:

UH was off, but there's still news

Even though the Coogs were off, there was a bit of news that came down. Graduate transfer offensive lineman Justin Murphy has apparently quit the team. He started four games this year: three at right guard and one at right tackle. It's yet to be seen how true the report from GoCoogs.com has any truth or other sources to back it up. So for now, we'll assume it's true.

Other key results

Cincinnati 27, UCF 24: The Bearcats handed the Golden Knights their second loss of the season, and bumped them from the top 25 rankings while taking a spot on the rankings themselves.

SMU 43, Tulsa 37: SMU stayed undefeated with triple overtime win over the Tulsa. No one saw the lowly Golden Hurricanes giving the ranked, undefeated Mustangs this much trouble. SMU is 6-0 for the first time since 1982.

Tulane 42, Army 33: Tulane held off the Army rushing attack for a strong win improving to 4-1 on the season. What's most impressive is they beat Army with a rushing yardage differential of +131.

Stars of the week

Cincinnati Defense: I said last week that UCF would have a tough time with this defense on the road. While they gave up 423 yards of offense, they also forced four turnovers that helped them win the game.

Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Memphis: Talk about an appropriate name! He rushed for 209 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns in a 52-33 win over ULM.

Tulane Offense: The Green Wave had four guys rush for 50 or more yards and a touchdown in their win over Army. This contributed heavily to their +131 rushing yardage differential.

Games to watch this week

Memphis @ Temple

Cincinnati @ Houston

Navy @ Tulsa

Players to watch this week

Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis: Gainwell leads a rushing attack that averages 214.4 yards a game going against a defense the gives up 125.6 yards a game on the ground.

Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati: I expect Ridder to have a big game against the porous UH defense as the 4-1 Bearcats look to build off their big win over UCF.

Tulsa Defense: The Golden Hurricanes are average against the run. Navy excels in their triple option attack. This will be the deciding factor in this matchup.

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Jason Heyward agreed to a one-year deal with the Padres. Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images.

Veteran outfielder Jason Heyward and the San Diego Padres finalized a $1 million, one-year contract on Tuesday.

Heyward can earn $250,000 in performance bonuses: $50,000 each for 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 plate appearances.

The 35-year-old spent last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, batting .211 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs in 87 games. He was 5 for 10 with two homers, a triple and seven RBIs as a pinch hitter.

A five-time Gold Glove winner, Heyward has a .256 career batting average with 184 homers, 718 RBIs, 125 stolen bases and a .748 OPS in 15 major league seasons with the Atlanta Braves (2010-14), St. Louis Cardinals (2015), Chicago Cubs (2016-2022), Dodgers (2023-24) and Astros (2024).

He helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series and was an All-Star in 2010, when he finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting.

He had a $9 million salary last year in his deal with the Dodgers, who released him on Aug. 24. He signed with the Astros four days later.

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