A Look at The AAC

The UH/AAC football report: Coogs run out of gas again; AAC ranked teams go 2-1

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There were only four games in the AAC this week, but three of them featured the conference's ranked teams. One of those ranked teams visited UH this week. Here's how I saw Week 12 in the AAC:

Coogs start hot but finish flat again

The Coogs jumped out to a 17-7 lead after the 1st quarter and looked like they were on their way to an upset. Then the second quarter happened. The Tigers outscored the Coogs 21-3 in the second quarter and never looked back cruising to a 45-27 win. UH was more than doubled up in offensive output 531 to 256. Good news: this team should be better next year and years to come. Bad news: there's two more games left this season and the offseason to wait through. If they can improve their efficiency on offense and improve to be an average to better than average defense, this team will be a top team in the conference again.

Other Key Results

Temple 29, Tulane 21: The nine points scored in the third quarter proved to be the difference between these two 6-3 teams. The Owls were up 22-7 heading into the fourth quarter when the Green wave finally found some offense.

#17 Cincinnati 20, USF 17: It took a heroic effort from Michael Warren II and a 37-yard field goal as time expired for the Bearcats to beat the Bulls. USF outgained Cincy by 160 yards, but couldn't pull off the upset of the conference's highest ranked team.

#23 Navy 20, #16 Notre Dame 52: The Midshipmen were dominated by their historic rival. The Fighting Irish recovered four fumbles on their way to a dominant performance. However, Navy still rushed for 281 yards in their loss.

Stars Of The Week

Brady White, QB, Memphis: If you saw a Power 5 quarterback threw for 341 yards and five touchdowns in an 18-point win over a conference rival on the road, you'd think he'd be in the Heisman race right? Someday, things will change for Group of 5 players, specifically in the AAC.

Michael Warren II, RB, Cincinnati: As I stated earlier, Warren kept the Bearcats in the game and helped them win almost singlehandedly. He totaled 164 yards on 28 touches and a touchdown. He accounted for 58.9% of their total yards on offense.

Jadan Blue, WR, Temple: At 12 catches for 131 yards and a touchdown in the Owls win over the Green Wave, Blue accounted for 54.5% of the receptions, 44.1% of the passing yards and a third of the touchdown passes. He's the team's leading receiver this season and is only a sophmore.

Games To Watch This Week

UCF @ Tulane

SMU @ #23 Navy

Temple @ #17 Cincinnati

Players To Watch This Week

Doug Gabriel, UCF: The Golden Knights are a prolific passing team. The Green Wave are stingy against the pass. The one that wins this battle should also win the game.

Malcolm Perry, Navy: Perry is Navy's leading passer and rusher in their triple option attack. However, SMU is worse against the pass than they are against the run. Perry's performance in both phases of the offense will be key to the outcome.

Anthony Russo, Temple: If the Owls want to pull off the upset against Cincy, Russo will have to have a great game. If he can keep the chains moving via the pass game against a Bearcats defense gives up more yards in the air than on the ground, The Owls will have a shot.

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Right tackle Tytus Howard is out for the next four weeks. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

Just when we thought the Houston Texans injury issues couldn't get any worse, news broke on Wednesday revealing another starter will be missing at least 4 weeks of the season.

Texans right tackle Tytus Howard was placed on IR Wednesday.

Just on the offensive line, the Texans have lost left guard Kenyon Green for the season, center Scott Quessenberry for the season, center Juice Scruggs and tackle Tytus Howard for the next four weeks. Ouch.

Howard suffered a broken hand and had surgery on August 7, with an expected return date 4–6 weeks after the surgery.

Howard was practicing with a cast on just yesterday, with many questioning the likelihood of him being available this Sunday against Baltimore.

Now, he's done for the next four weeks. So what happened between yesterday and today? Did Howard aggravate the injury during practice, or was he just out there to make the Ravens think he might be available to play? Hard to know for sure.

This Monday marked four weeks since the surgery, and now we'll have to wait another four weeks before Howard is eligible to return. George Fant, who was signed by the Texans in early August, will start in Howard's place this week.

Fant started 36 games for the Jets over the last three seasons, so he does have some experience. The Texans being cautious with Howard makes a lot of sense. The team signed him to a 3-year, $56 million contact extension in July.

So what's the plan for Sunday against Baltimore?

Aaron Wilson is reporting this could be the starting offensive line:

Laremy Tunsil at left tackle, Josh Jones (recently traded for from the Cardinals) at left guard, rookie Jarrett Patterson at center, Shaq Mason at right guard, and Fant at right tackle.

Not exactly what the Texans envisioned for CJ Stroud's first regular season start.


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