A Look At The AAC
The UH/AAC Report: with UH off, the rest off the AAC delivered some action
Nov 12, 2019, 7:32 am
With only four games on the slate this week and the Coogs off, there was still some exciting football in the AAC this week. Let's take a look at week 11:
Coogs had a week off
With a week off, the Coogs also stayed out of the news. No crazy rumors or stories from national media members to address this week. The team had a normal week of practice in preparation for their big game next week against Memphis as the Tigers come to town ranked No. 21 sporting an 8-1 record.
Other key results
Tulsa 34, UCF 31: To say the luster is off UCF as a bully in the AAC would be accurate. While they have tons of talent, nobody fears them the way they did in years past. They've lost more games this year than they have the past two years.
SMU 59, ECU 51: Whenever a top team in the conference struggles to beat a bottom feeder, two narratives are put out: A) the favorite underestimated the underdog, or B) the underdog caught the favorite off guard. Either way, SMU put another notch in the win column and continues to march towards a decent bowl game.
Temple 17, USF 7: The Owls became bowl eligible with a well balanced offensive attack against the Bulls. 167 yards through the air and another 153 on the ground kept the attack even. Despite a -60 penalty yard margin, the Owls managed to grind out a win.
Stars Of The Week
Shane Buechele, QB, SMU: Buechele's 33/46 for 414 yards and five touchdowns were very necessary to pull out the eight point win over ECU. He put up video game numbers partly because...
James Proche & Kylen Granson, WRs, SMU: ...these two combined for 21 catches for 305 yards and accounted for all five of Buechele's passing touchdowns. They caught 73.6% of Burchele's passing yards. Had ECU applied more pressure and/or covered better, they may have won this game.
Cincinnati Rushing Attack: In a 45-point win, you'd imagine there were some crazy number put up. The Bearcats ran the ball 43 times for 307 yards for a 7.1 yards per carry average and four touchdowns. For comparion sake, UConn ran 40 times for only 148 yards and of course didn't score a touchdown.
Games To Watch This Week
Tulane @ Temple
#24 Navy @ #15 Notre Dame
#20 Cincinnati @ USF
Players To Watch This Week
Malcolm Perry, Navy: Facing the #15 ranked Fighting Irish in a midday showdown on national television gives Perry a chance to shine. I can't wait to see what he can do against a defacto Power 5 school.
Justn McMillan, Tulane: Going East and facing Temple at 11am CST will be a slight body clock test for the Green Wave. McMillan is their leading passer and rusher. He, like the aforementioned Perry, will get to prove himself on the road against a tough opponent.
Cincinnati Rushing Attack: The Bearcats average 202.4 yards per game on the ground. USF averages giving up 194 yards per game on the ground. I fully expect the game to be won or lost depending upon who wins this battle.
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Houston right-hander J.P. France will have surgery on his throwing shoulder Monday.
France opened the season in the majors but had been optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land and made one start there when he was placed on the injured list in early May.
France resumed throwing recently after being shut down for about a month, but had a setback this week leading to the decision to have surgery. The team did not provide any details about the nature of his surgery in its announcement Wednesday.
France was 0-3 with a 7.46 ERA in five starts for the Astros this season before his demotion.
His injury is the latest in a series of injuries to Houston's starting pitchers this season. The Astros opened the year without Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers because of injuries and José Urquidy and Cristian Javier both had Tommy John surgery earlier this month before ace Justin Verlander landed on the 15-day injured list with neck discomfort.
With only four pitchers currently in the rotation, the club could have really used France with an upcoming schedule that includes ten games in ten days on the road.
And with Garcia not expected back until late July, the Astros will have to get creative with their starters.