AAC Power Rankings: Top Powers (Finally) Dominate in Week 13

The aacfootballfever.com staff members provided their American Athletic Conference power rankings afternoon, and after a weekend where the top half of the AAC dominated inferior competition like it was supposed to (imagine that!), there aren’t any changes to the order of our 1-11 heading into Week 14.

UCF scored a season-high 53 points (its highest mark since dropping 62 on UConn in Week 9 of last season) in a 46-point victory in Orlando against poor ‘ol SMU—the defense held the Mustangs to 116 total yards of offense—and seems to have gotten all of its ducks in a row with two straight wins after losing to UConn on November 1. Justin Holman, however, continued to be his turnover-prone self, throwing two more interceptions to increase his number to 13 on the year.

East Carolina got back to its winning ways, beating Tulane 34-6 for its first win since pre-Halloween. Though the Pirates were only 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) on third-down conversions, Shane Carden averaged 8.1 yards per completion and Justin Hardy broke the all-time NCAA record for career receptions, which was previously set by Oklahoma wide receiver Ryan Broyles at 349. (Hardy currently sits at 355 with three games remaining.)

Houston slipped by Tulsa to avoid back-to-back letdowns and became bowl eligible, Memphis held off USF for its first eight-win season since 2004, and Cincinnati destroyed UConn, 41-0.

Memphis and Cincinnati are a close No. 1 and 2, but it looks as if despite the Bearcats’ resurgence as winners of five straight, the majority of our writers still have the Tigers’ early Week 6 blowout win as what separates the two—though that could change with two more Cincy wins against Temple and Houston to end the regular season.

*A point system was assigned, giving 11 points for a team with a No. 1 vote, 10 points for a No. 2 vote, 9 points for a No. 3 vote, and so on.