Bearcats Headline Staff Predictions for AAC

There will be real-life football on your television in two weeks from tomorrow. Real life!

It might take you a few minutes to comprehend that, we know—it’s been a long offseason. While you daydream of fall weather, pigskin and beer, us folks at AACFootballFever.com will be working hard to keep you up-to-date on all the haps around the American Athletic Conference world.

Some of our writers have been picked at random (with the addition of CFBHuddle.com‘s Kyle Kensing) to give their expert opinion on a top-to-bottom conference prediction for the upcoming season. You may agree or disagree—or agree to disagree, preferably—but when it’s all said and done, we’re all on the same team here. Right?

Finish	Tyler Waddell	Kyle Kensing	Al Burke	John Nestor	Michael Compton	Mitch Wilcox
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Tyler—In April, East Carolina was my early favorite to win the AAC. However, the time in between has allowed me to fall in love with Cincinnati (and that’s not because it’s my hometown). Obviously, quarterback Gunner Kiel is going to be the catalyst for any significant success the Bearcats have this fall. But he’s set up pretty nicely, as UC owns arguably the best skill unit in the conference. In addition, he’ll have an underrated defense that’s led by a vicious pass rush.

ECU is going to be able to score points in bunches, but that’s expected. Turnovers could be an issue with questions on the offensive front, and the secondary will struggle against opponents that do a good job stretching the field.

It looks like it’ll all come down to a Thursday night primetime showdown in Cincinnati, where the winner should go on to win The American.

Kyle—UCF and Cincinnati are preseason favorites in the American, both built on strong defense. And the two don’t play each other.

This is one of the more egregious scheduling misfires of the 2014 college football season, and could result in a split league title. Just don’t bet on it.

UCF has established itself as one of the more consistent programs outside of the power five conferences. This year’s team might take a slight step back after losing Blake Bortles, but William Stanback has star potential at running back. With a capable run game and nine returning starters on defense, I expect Bortles’ successor to have a comfortable learning curve.

Conversely, Cincinnati’s offense is more a wild card. It was downright anemic at times last year. Gunner Kiel likely fits Tommy Tuberville’s vision more than Brendon Kay or Munchie Legaux, but we’ve yet to see if Kiel can live up to his lofty billing as a recruit.

Al—With great depth and speed all across the board, the Bearcats’ biggest question mark this season will in fact be their strength: quarterback. This probably won’t be the first place you hear it, but Gunner Kiel will put his transient past behind him and take Cincy to the top of the AAC.

John—Cincinnati has won at least eight games in seven out of the last eight seasons and will have one of the American Athletic Conference’s top defenses with seven returning starters. We finally will get to see what Gunner Kiel has at quarterback and he will have weapons at his disposal in running back Ralph David Abernathy and receiver Chris Moore.

The Bearcats also have a favorable schedule. East Carolina and Houston both come to Cincinnati and AAC contender UCF is not on the schedule.

Michael—The Cincinnati Bearcats, third in the AAC a year ago after going 6-2 in league play, are deserving favorites to win the conference. The Bearcats got off to a slow start last season, the first under coach Tommy Tuberville. They have returning talent at most of the skill positions and will likely be led on offense by highly-touted sophomore quarterback Gunner Kiel, who was rated the nation’s No. 1 quarterback prospect coming out of high school. Kiel, who sat out last year, should have a strong corps of wide receivers to throw to, headlined by Shaq Washington, a senior who had a team-high 78 receptions last year.

The Bearcats ranked 9th in the nation in total defense last year and have even more speed this year, according to Tuberville. With a friendly schedule—the Bearcats don’t face defending conference champion UCF and get Houston and East Carolina at home, UC appears to have the smoothest path to the title.

Mitch—The Cincinnati Bearcats will win the 2014 AAC conference title because they are the most talented team and have the most favorable schedule of the projected top teams in the league. UC is returning seven starters to what should be an improved defense, including standout DE Silverberry Mouhon, who was named to the Ted Hendricks and Rotary Lombardi award watch lists.

If head coach Tommy Tuberville can get the most out of QB Gunner Kiel, the Bearcats offense should flourish with weapons like WR Shaq Washington, RB/WR Ralph David Abernathy IV and RB Hosey Williams surrounding Kiel in his highly-anticipated debut season.