AAC Power Rankings: Houston Loss Forces Another Shift in Power

The aacfootballfever.com staff members provided their American Athletic Conference power rankings on Sunday afternoon, and once again, there has been another power shift in the upper half of the standings.

After receiving six first-place votes in last week’s rankings, Houston drops three spots from No. 2 to 5 with a confusing loss to Tulane at home. The Cougars, who opened TDECU Stadium earlier this season, are now 3-3 at home, losing to teams with a combined 10-16 record.

With Houston taking a back seat for the AAC championship (for now, at least), it now becomes a four-man race to the finish for the title.

Memphis sits alone in first place with its impressive come-from-behind win at Temple last weekend, and is bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. The Tigers have an excellent opportunity for a nine-win regular season with ECU and UCF off the schedule, however, will need some help from their counterparts if they want to win the conference outright.

Alas, we will get a much better picture of how things will play out following Thursday night’s primetime game between East Carolina and Cincinnati. This is what was circled on every AAC enthusiast’s calendar during the preseason, and though it has lost some luster since, it has all the makings of a postseason-like matchup between two teams that have the ability to shatter the scoreboard.

Two of the five games mentioned in the “5 Must-See American Athletic Conference Games Remaining” article I wrote for Athlon Sports two weeks ago are coming up in Week 12, meaning this could be the most exciting week of #AACTION of the year.

Brace yourself. I can feel another momentum shift coming for the Week 13 power rankings.