UCF, Cincinnati Represent In Third CFP Rankings
Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings list two teams from the American Athletic Conference, marking the 17th time that the conference has had at least two teams in the CFP’s top 25. UCF moved to No. 11 in this week’s ranking, the highest CFP rank for any American Athletic Conference team in the five-year history of the playoff format, while Cincinnati entered this week’s ranking at No. 24. Cincinnati becomes the seventh team from The American to have appeared in a CFP ranking during the last five seasons, joining UCF, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Navy and Temple.
College GameDay Is Coming To Our City
The epicenter of the college football world will be in Orlando, Florida, this week as UCF hosts Cincinnati in a game that could clinch The American’s East Division title. If UCF wins, then the 2018 American Football Championship will be at Spectrum Stadium Dec. 1. A Cincinnati win would carry the race over to the final week of the regular season. Saturday’s game will be in ABC’s prime time window at 8 p.m. ET, and will be augmented by the presence of ESPN College GameDay built by The Home Depot in Orlando. ESPN will host Friday episodes of SportsCenter and College Football Live from Orlando before kicking off a busy Saturday with College GameDay.
Three-Way Tie In The West
While Week 12 of the season will be capped by the East Division matchup between UCF and Cincinnati, the week begins Thursday and Friday for The American with the West Division race in focus. SMU, Houston and Tulane enter this week tied for the division lead at 4-2, while Memphis is still alive for the division title at 3-3. No team can clinch the division this week, but the picture will become a lot clearer as Houston hosts Tulane Thursday on ESPN (8 p.m. ET) and SMU hosts Memphis Friday on ESPN2 (9 p.m. ET). The Mustangs, who have won three of their last four games, are the team in the West in control of their own outcome; SMU would clinch the West with wins in its final two games.
To The Rescue
Four American Athletic Conference teams find themselves in championship contention thanks in part to timely in-season decisions with the quarterback position. Cincinnati turned to freshman Desmond Ridder midway through the season-opener at UCLA, and the Bearcats have responded by going 9-1. Temple made the switch to Anthony Russo after two games, and Russo has delivered a 5-2 mark as the starter, lifting the Owls to 5-1 in The American. SMU turned to freshman William Brown early in the season, winning two of Brown’s first three starts, before going back to veteran Ben Hicks, who has engineered the recent ascent to first place. Tulane turned to LSU transfer Justin McMillan, meanwhile, who has gone 3-0 as the starter, helping the Green Wave gain a share of first place in the West.
A Familiar Name In Greenville
ECU has turned to freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers as the starter for the Pirates’ last three games, and the highly regarded rookie has responded by throwing for at least 350 yards in all three contests, with a pair of 400-yard efforts. Though he is in his first year at ECU, Ahlers is hardly a stranger to the Pirates. His father, Morgan Ahlers, has been the public address announcer at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for 14 years. The elder Ahlers will be on the mic Saturday as Holton and ECU have their final home game as the Pirates host UConn (7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network).
Video: The American’s Campus Connect profiles ECU’s Holton Ahlers
History-Making
Temple running back Ryquell Armstead saw his trophy case grow exponentially on the heels of his performance in the Owls’ 59-49 win at Houston last week. Armstead rushed for 210 yards and an American Athletic Conference-record six touchdowns in the victory on his way to Walter Camp and Maxwell Football Club national player of the week honors. Tulane’s defense added to the NCAA record book last week after the Green Wave set a single-game mark with 20 pass breakups in a 24-18 win against ECU.