O5 Mixed Bag in week 6

 I'm focusing more on conference games this week but there remains some intriguing OOC games this week, too.

CUSA: UTSA (5-0, 1-0 CUSA) has impressive win over Illinois and Memphis and will squeak by Western Kentucky(1-3, 0-0 CUSA) led by B. Zappe (133-183, 1712 YDS, 16 TD, 2 INT). UTSA 36 WKU 32

CUSA: North Texas (1-3, 0-2 CUSA) has played poorly, but they 'll put a scare in Missouri(2-3, 0-2 SEC) who has stumbled in the past two weeks. Missouri 22 NT 19

MAC: Western Michigan (4-1, 1-0 MAC) has won four straight since losing to Michigan(B10) and will hold off Ball St(2-3, 0-1 MAC)    by a score of 24-22

AAC: East Carolina (3-2, 1-0 AAC) has surprised a few folks this season and QB Holton Ahlers 

(101-170, 1266 YDS, 7 TD) has been a major reason.  UCF(2-2, 0-1 AAC) has lost two in a row and Coach Gus will pull out some new tricks to get back on track at home . UCF 37 ECU 27

Oct 10, 2021

CUSA: Harris(6 TD passes) and Zappe(5 TD passes) put on a show as  expected. UTSA got by WKU 52-46. Austin Aune (16-26, 305 YDS, 4 TD) did his best for UNT, but their slow start hurt them in a 48-35 loss to Missouri. (2-0) for me

MAC: Wrong on WMU. Plitt threw four TD passes for Ball St in a 45-20 win over WMU.

AAC: Johnny Richardson (16 CAR, 104 YDS, 1 TD) had a solid day for UCF in a 20-16 win over ECU. Right on this one so 3-1 for the weekend.

O5 Side notes -Surprised that: Marshall needed OT to beat ODU. Boise St handled BYU.  Memphis lost again , this time to Tulsa.

Groundhog Day to the AAC and the O5 hoops

 Houston, we have a meltdown. East Carolina (8-6, 2-6 AAC). #JaydenGardner had 21 points and 15 rebounds for ECU in an 82-73 upset of fifth-ranked Houston  (15-2, 10-2 AAC). Wichita St(6-2), Memphis(7-3), and SMU(6-4) won their conference games  to stay close to the Cougars.

Here's my pre-Groudhog Day blog https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2020/12/o5-football-conferences-hoops-teams-as.html 

feb 6, 2021

Checking in the CUSA: #herd were outscored 54-30 in the 2nd half of a 82-81 loss to ODU. MTSU upset Charlotte and UAB(8-1) keeps trolling with a win over UTEP, but La Tech(8-3) stayed on the Blazers' heels with a win over  North Texas(5-2)

Feb 7 

Nice bounce back the #herd with a strong first half. MU 87 ODU 67. NTX beat La Tech and UAB rolled UTEP.

Feb 9 2021

ECU  crashed quickly after upsetting Houston a few days ago with losses to Memphis and SMU in AAC play.

Moving to the  MWC: Jordan Schakel scored 23 points for the SDST Aztecs in an easy 85-54 win over SJST and UNLV edged AFA.  Aztecs are staying in the MWC hunt. 

feb 11, 2021

Wichita State(12-4, 8-2 AAC) barely survived UCF(5-10, 3-9 AAC) 62-61 last night. Alterique Gilbert scored 17 points including Wichita State's last five points. Houston cruised by USF

Kalu Ezikpe( 22 PTS, 4 REB, 3 STL) led ODU((10-5, 6-3 C-USA) to a 78-76 win over Charlotte and moved the Monarchs to within a half games of WKU in the CUSA East.

Feb 12, 2021

Michael Flowers posted 18 points and seven rebounds for South Alabama in a 73-70 win over Troy . GA St beat Ga Southern. TX St over UTA. ULM over ULL. #sunbelt

feb 17, 2021

#akron appears to be  the rising star in the MAC.  Bryan Trimble Jr. scored 22 points for Akron(13-4, 11-3 MAC) in an81-76 win over NIU. Toledo(17-6, 12-3 MAC) beat Miami O, and Kent State

(13-5, 10-4 MAC) beat WMU.

feb 19. 2021

The Shockers (13-4, 9-2) defeated  Houston (17-3, 11-3) 68-63 and moved into first place in the AAC standings. Tyson Etienne and Alterique Gilbert each scored 16 points for the victors.

feb 21

South Bama beat App St by two points  in each of the back to back games and sits atop at the Sunbelt East at 10-5.

San Diego St(17-4,11-3). swept Fresno St in back to back games and is ranked in the top 25. Boise St(18-4, 14-3) is unranked but  has a better MWC conference and also overall record. Boise will try to rectify  that when they visit SDSU for back to back games.

feb 22, 2021

Houston (18-3, 12-3 American) took out its anger on Cincinnati(7-8, 5-5 American). Quentin Grimes had 20 points and eight rebounds for HU in the 90-52 win.

DeVante’ Jones scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Coastal Carolina(7-5) in a 65-55 win over Georgia Southern and stay tied in the loss column with South Bama(10-5), but it will have to be resolved in a Conference tournament due to all the unbalanced schedules.

feb 24, 2021

MAC tightens up: Ben Roderick and Ben Vander Plas scored 17 points apiece for Ohio in a  90-73 win . Buffalo crushed NIU. 

feb 27,2021

I watched  the first half of the Marshall /NTX game and am not surprised the Herd lost 77-65. They played matador D and, made a ton of turnover s on O. NTX is 9-2 in CUSA play, but La Tech(11-4) and UAB(11-4) won their respective games to stay in the hunt in West .  ODU(9-4) is right there with WKU(8-5) in the West after  Kalu Ezikpe recorded 14 points and 13 rebounds in a 67-61 win over MTSU.

March 1

A flew blowouts yesterday. HOU 98 USF 52 in AAC action. WKU 91 FIU 58 in the CUSA. Utah St 87 Nev 66 in the MWC.

Memphis(14-6, 10-3 AAC) beat Cincy yesterday for its fifth win in a row.

March 2

Guess who's making a late run in the MWC.  David Roddy posted  22 points and 12 rebounds for Colorado State(16-4, 13-3 mwc) Air Force 74-44 win over AFA. CSU is tied with SDSU for first place.

AAC 2018-19 HOOP Predictions

1. Houston: Corey Davis Jr-it's your time.
2. Cincinnati minus Clark but the Bearcats are still solid. #jarroncumberland 's time
3. Memphis- Coach Hardaway here we go !
4. UCF- Will Coach Dawkins finally get the Knights in gear
5. UConn- Hurley-time . Is #jalenadams another Kemba?
6. Wichita State- A bit of a shock as they need to replace eight players who played in 30 games last season
7. Tulsa- Coach Haith- where's the D?
8. Tulane- Can Coach Dunleavy summon up some D?
9. SMU- off to a shaky start
10. Temple- Rebounders please apply
11. East Carolina-  Freshmen Center Roci Quinton may help them climb out of the cellar.
12. South Florida- David Collins scored 21 in a narrow loss to Georgetown. Maybe there will a Bulls rush?

dec 9, 2018

#tulsa hung on last night for a 47-46 win over #16 KSt. Earlier in the week they beat OK St giving them a 2-0 week over the Big 12. Houston beat OkSt last night, but Oklahoma (B12) pounded Wichita St.

dec 21, 2018

#houston is 11-0. Last night they beat Utah St  (MWC) 60-50 in matchup that doesn't occur often. Cincy (9-2) will probably be the Cougars toughest foe when AAC  starts soon. Bearcats lost to Miss St then crushed UCLA this week.

jan 6, 2019

 Aubrey Dawkins scored  23 points to lead UCF over UConn. Curran Scott hit a trey as the buzzer sounded giving Tulsa a 78-75 victory over USF.  And, I had to read this one a few times, Obasohan's last-second block on Saturday helped #ecu hold off Cincy 73-71

jan 10, 2019

Some of my cellar picks are playing well.  #quintonrose (22 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST) led Temple over over Houston and USF beat Tulane.

Jan 17, 2019

Both head coaches got tossed in Tulsa's win over Uconn. Wichita St got by UCF for it's first AAC win . Houston and Temple  moved to 4-1 in AAC play with wins over respectively, SMU and ECU.

Jan 28, 2019

My pre-season top 3 are doing  ok. Cincy came back to beat Temple  while Houston beat Tulsa to keep them tied for first at 7-1. Memphis moved to 5-2 pounding UCF.

feb 3, 2019

Cincy moved to 8-1 in AAC play with a 73-68 win over SMU. #JarronCumberland scored 24 points for the victors.Temple (6-3) stay in contention with a 75-67 win over Tulane.

feb 8

Houston  beat  Memphis 69-64 and Cincy beat UCF(6-3) to remain tied for first at 9-1 in the AAC.  David Collins hit two  3-pointers in the final 72 seconds for USF in its win over SMU.

feb 11

Houston(10-1) held Cincy (9-2) to 33% FG shooting in  a 65-58 win. Aubrey Dawkins scored 26 points for Central Florida(7-3) in a 71-65 win over SMU. USF (7-4) beat ECU in OT.

feb 15

D. JARREAU (18 PTS, 3REB, 7 AST) led Houston to a win over UConn while Tulsa pounded Tulane. Top four teams get a rd1 bye in AACT.

Houston    11 1 .
Cincinnati    9 2
UCF 8 3
Temple 8 4
South Florida  7 5
Memphis  7 5
Wichita St. 5  6
Tulsa     5 7 .
Connecticut 4 8
SMU     4 8
East Carolina 2-10
Tulane     0 11 

feb 20 

Houston 12- 1 .Cincinnati 10- 2 UCF 9 3 Temple 9 4.My gut says the AAC IS ONLY GETTING THREE dance tickets and Houston and Cincy are in regardless of AACT results

FEB 24

UConn made a he!! of a late run at Cnncy but lost 64-60  and UCF pounded SMU 95-48. Meanwhile Memphis has moved up to bubble status for the Dance.
Houston    13 1 .Cincinnati    12 2 UCF 10-4 Temple 10 4 Memphis  9-6 South Florida  7-7

feb 28

Top three teams won. Cincy(13-2) barely survived SMU 52-49 while Houston(14-1) rolled over ECU 99-65. UCF(11-4) got 18 points from Fall in a 75-63 win over USF.

March 3

UCF (22-6, 12-4 American) moved a step closer to a dance ticket with a 69-64 win over # 8 Houston.  Collin Smith had a solid night for UCF: 21 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST. # 24 Cincy beat Memphis(18-12, 10-7 American) 71-69.

March 8

BJ Taylor(22 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST) led UCF to a big 58-55 win over Cincy while Houston beat SMU. I think Temple , a winner over UConn, is still on the bubble while UCF earned a Dance ticket last night. Houston   15-2 .Cincinnati    14-3 UCF 13-4 Temple 12-5 

March 17

Memphis gave Houston a battle but fell while Cincy beat Wichita St setting up today's AACT title game. 
Temple remains on the bubble and UCF should get in the Dance.
March 17 evening
Great game from Cumberland in Cincy's stunner over HU. UCF got in and Temple plays Belmont in a play-in game

March 25

  #AAC has had a decent post-season. Houston advanced to the Sweet 16 and UCF was a tip-in away from beating Duke to make the 16. Cincy's rd1 loss was surprising and Temple's play-in loss to Belmont wasn't. Wichita St beat Clemson to make the final 8 of the NIT.
April 1: Depaul lost game 1 to USF 83-81 in the best of CBI final series three series.


Eli Cain DEP - G 19 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST


David Collins USF - G 23 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST


April 3: Wichita St lost to Lipscomb 71-64 in the NIT. D Dennis led the Shockers with 13 points


aPRIL 4: #depaul survived some sloppy play at the end of regulation to defeat USF 100-96 in OT. Paul Reed was big for the Blue Demons ( 28 PTS, 16 REB, 2 AST), usf (aac) PLAYS GAME 3 ON THE ROAD IN cHICAGO - Big move by Houston:  Kelvin Sampson  signed a 6yr, 18m contract extension to remain with the Cougars through the 2024-25 season. He  had been the primary candidate for the Arkansas job.
april 6  DePaul played sloppy ball in stretches and lost  77-65 at home to USF(AAC) in the final game of the 2019 CBI.  David Collins led the Bulls with 19 points.
 

april 10

 Here's some potential candidates to replace Cronin: Matt McMahon, Murray State head coach. Erik Martin, former Bearcat and assistant on Huggy's staff. Darren Savino, associate head coach for UC since 2010. John Brannen, Northern Kentucky University HC. And then there's Nick van Exel former Bearcat star and an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA).

april 15

Cincy didn't look to far to replace Cronin.  #JohnBrannen had been the Northern Kentucky HC for four seasons, leading the Norse to two NCAA Dances and two regular-season Horizon League titles over the past three seasons.

May 1

 SEC and AAC have agreed to a scheduling alliance in men's basketball beginning in the 2019-20 season.  Four schools from each conference will participate in two-year, home-and-home series,and no matchups have been scheduled yet. How about Houston/LSU ?
Aug 14- Follow-up on Kevin Ollie The arbitrator in the dispute between UConn and Kevin Ollie has ruled that the former basketball coach is protected by a union contract. UConn argument that Ollie’s personal contract superseded the union deal has been nixed and its case has become tougher.

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AAC 2018 FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS

American Athletic East Division
UCF Knights - Coach Heupel has QB Mckenzie which should get them back to the AAC title game but they won't  go undefeated.
South Florida Bulls - D should be solid but plenty of holes on offense
Cincinnati Bearcats- Geddis and Lewis are solid receivers and team reaches .500
Temple Owls finished strong in 2017 but will it carry over?
East Carolina Pirates Rebuild continues
Connecticut Huskies- The Edsels are stuck in neutral
West Division

Navy Midshipmen- Never underestimate the rushing attack
Memphis Tigers will miss QB Riley Ferguson but the team has a lot of talent
Tulsa Golden Hurricane RB #shamaribrooks will get a ton of work
Houston Cougars- Decent D with Ed Oliver anchoring the Line. but how fast can the O adjust to Briles, the new OC?
Tulane Green Wave isn't cresting yet.
SMU Mustangs- Coach Dykes is still in rebuild mode.

aug 22

Tony Pollard #memphis KR ,and  Ed Oliver #houston DL made the CBS  first team preseason All America squad.

aug 24

QB battle in #memphis ends with David Moore’s, last season's backup QB, decision to transfer, #BradyWhite a graduate transfer from Arizona State, will open the 2018 season as the Tigers’ starting quarterback.

aug 28

QB Justin McMillan , the former LSU signal-caller,  was added to the Tulane roster over the weekend for this upcoming season as a graduate transfer.
He is one of the rare grad transfers with two years of eligibility left to use and will likely be a backup in 2018 behind Jonathan Bank

aug 31

The Huskies' "Edsel" runs out of gas again.5 TDs for #mckenzie  #UCF 56 UConn 17

sept 2

Rough weekend for the AAC: Temple lost to 1AA Villanova. Navy lost to Hawaii. #SMU got crushed by North Texas Houston started their game against Rice in a coma but woke up to roll the Owls 45-27. Tulane hung with Wake Forest but fell 23-17. Big time road win for the Cincy Bearcats over #UCLA  . Props to the Bearcats RB,  Michael Warren II  35 CAR, 142 YDS, 3 TD

sept 8,2018

#ECU brass started  the long kiss goodbye by giving  statements of support for #ScottieMontgomery after the loss to NC A&T, an FCS team

sept 21, 2018

#temple beat MD last week and  scored two DTDs in a win overTulsa 31-17 last night. The Owls have made a nice turnaround after opening the season with losses to Villanova (1AA) and Buffalo (MAC).

sept 29, 2018

#Tulane Green Wave rushing attack  led by (D Bradwell 143 yards, two TDs) rolled Memphis last night . Nice recovery from the blowout loss to Ohio St last week.
oct 2-If neither team is playing in league title games, #ECU (AAC) and NC State  will square off Dec. 1 to make up for the Hurricane Florence cancellation.
oct 5-  Houston scored 24 points in the 4th quarter in a come from behind 41-26 win over #tulsa .

2017 AAC football snap hunches

The pre-season #AAC division favorites , #usf , #memphis do not match up during the regular season, but Memphis visits #UCF on Sept 9. I'm intrigued by two matchups on Sept 30. #navy visits #tulsa and a cool regional matchup as #marshall (CUSA) goes to #cincy. #navy and #temple face #notredame this season

EAST
South Florida- Coach Strong will attempt to recover his rep after un- hooking the Horns in Texas. QB #quintonflowers is  a star  but the D needs help.
UCF has enough O to cover D deficiencies
Cincinnati- Fickel moves the Bearcats up a notch
Temple will miss Rhule. Boo birds will be out in Philly.
East Carolina-Where's the D?
Connecticut The edsal is back
WEST
Memphis- Nice squad returning , particularly on O.
Navy- Never under-estimate the lads from Annapolis.
Tulsa Hurricanes aren't so golden on O
Houston- Going to miss Herman big time
Tulane- Green Wave crest a little
SMU- Can Coach Morris keep the Mustang opponents under 30 points a game?

Aug 20: #cincy hasn't played one game for #Fickel and the Joining the #big12 winds are whirling. Chill folks!

AAC 2016 football predictions

Who knows what the AAC will look like in 2017 so here's a look at this season. It appears  I haven't bucked the pundits much.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC
EAST
1) South Florida: Coach Taggart  may have finally turned the Bulls around and look for the Flowers  to Adams  connection to score big points.
2) Temple: Quarterback P.J. Walker and running back Jahad Thomas provide the scoring and Owls D is solid
3) Cincinnati Coach Tommy T's Bearcats were erratic last season despite having two solid QBs, Kiel and Moore, and may not have found any answer to the  teams' turnovers' problems.
4) Connecticut:Huskies O needs a huge dose of Viagra.
5) East Carolina-  New HC Scottie Montgomery, a Cutliffe disciple, will try to mobilize the Pirates.

6) UCF: New HC Scott Frost will hit some speed bumps installing the Duck attack

WEST
1) Houston: It's hard to see anyone topping Coach Herman's Cougars, but there secondary may be a huge weak spot. Greg Ward leads a potent offense.
2) Tulsa: QB Dane Evans will keep the Golden Hurrican on Houston's heels.
3) Navy will miss Keenan Reynolds
4) SMU: Head Coach Morris heads in year 2 and still seems short of  prime Mustangs.
5)Tulane- Rebuilding again - this time with Coach Willie Fritz

6)Memphis: Coach Fuente is now at VTech and Paxton  is in the NFL -could be long first season for new Head Coach Norvell

9/16/16

I know Ward had a big night for #Houston's Offense, but it was the Cougars D who did a stellar job against Cincy last night.

12/28/16

 and #Uconn ends their season by rehiring "the Edsel" , a HC  who left them immediately after the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, without flying home with the team or ever addressing his players about the departure. His last years with my Terps were terrible. Gotta be a better coach out there  

Polling other 5 teams April 16

D1 Baseball.com: Here's the Other 5 representatives, and I can't explain how So. Miss didn't make either poll.

21 Rice (CUSA) has been playing well including a win over Texas A&M (SEC). Salinas and Otta anchor a strong staff.
22 Tulane (AAC)) needs to beat Cincy this weekend to stay in the poll. Alemais is batting .349
23 East Carolina (AAC) faces  a tough test against the higher rated NCSt Wolfpack next week.
24 Florida Atlantic (CUSA)  is also ranked 17 in the USA Today poll. Chatham is batting .383. 3HR 28RBI
25 South Alabama (Sunbelt) is also ranked 24 In the USAToday poll. Kevin Hill is 7-1 and four guys ( LeBounty, Perkins, Swaggerty , & Barnes) are batting above .300.
_______________________
April 17: Five teams won yesterday Tulane edged Cincy. ECU ponded Memphis. Rice beat WKU.  
S. Bama beat App ST. , and FAU pounded Marshall.

May 7. D1 baseball.com
14-Rice CUSA
16- Tulane AAC
24- East Carolina AAC 25- Louisiana-Lafayette- not sure how ULL ranks while trailing South Bama in the SunBelt, however next week's three game series should clear up the matter

AAC baseball April 2

Early days in  conference play, but  two AAC teams in the top 25: #15 Houston's  has solid pitching  and #19 ECU's has a grEAT .311 batting average
Tulane is riding a six game winning streak
Eric Tyler knocked in 8 run in ECU's win over Jacksonville.
UCF pitcher Robby Howell is 5-0
UConn freshman pitcher Tim Cate has an ERA of .40 in 22.2 innings..

April 24

Cincy has stormed up the standings and  sits atop the AAC. Connor McVey leads the Bearcats in batting with .301 AVG. Andrew Zellner is 5-2 with 1.80 ERA.
UConn  and Tulane are tied for second .

May 4

Four teams vying  for  the regular season crown  and two of them have a tie due to a travel curfew. Here's the closest definition I could find:   in the final game of  series when a team is traveling by air a time limit  (minimum four hours) from the scheduled start time shall be established, with no new inning beginning after the time limit. 
Batting leaders: Lam (ECU) .346 . Duffin UConn 12HR, 40 RBI. Maglish (USF) and McVey (Cincy) tied with 23 SB.


Cincy, Tulane UConn, ECU

Team	Wins	Win %	Games Back
	9-5-1	0.643	-
	8-5	0.615	0.5
	8-6	0.571	1
	8-6-1	0.571	1

May 12, 2016

Tulane  11-5 33-14   should  beat Memphis in their upcoming series and solidify the top spot

East Carolina  11-6-1 30-17-1  hosts USF

Cincinnati  10-7-1 22-25-1  hosts Houston who could give them some trouble

joe Deroche-Duffin UCONN leads in two categories 14 HR 44 RBI

Ron Massey -Tulane leads all pitchers with 8 wins

Connor Mcvey of  Cincy leads the AAC with 25 SB

May 17, 2016

Tulane is getting closer to capturing the regular season title. They close the regular season with a three game series at Houston. ECU finishes @UCF.
Tulane                 13-6
East Carolina   12-8-1
Cincinnati        11-9-1

Connecticut         11-9

May 19, 2016

This doesn't happen often to Rice baseball. Houston 24 Rice 6. Joe Davis had 6 RBI for the Cougars. Rest of the conference played non- conference games.

MAY 22

here's how AAC tourney starts. Tulane hung on to # 1 seed

• 3:00pm    Game 1: No. 5 Houston vs. No. 4 Cincinnati
• 7:00pm    Game 2: No. 8 UCF vs. No. 1 Tulane
• Wednesday, May 25 - The American Digital Network
• 11:00am    Game 3: No. 7 USF vs. No. 2 East Carolina
• 3:00pm    Game 4: No. 6 Memphis vs. No. 3 UConn

May 23

Houston pounded Cincy and Tulane came  back from  a 3-0 deficit to beat UCF 4-3. Error and a HPB cost UCF. CBSSN carried both games.

O5 in t25 Baseball

AAC- #19 East Carolina including wins over UNC & UVA of the ACC & Maryland of the B10.
#25 Houston- Good wins against Baylor & Alabama
CUSA: #24 FAU-opened the season beating Mississippi St. Rice  will find their way in to the top 25. Possiblly ODU, too. Keep your eyes on Stephen Kerr of FAU.