Two More Power 6 Wins In Week 3
American Athletic Conference teams added two more wins against Power 6 conference opponents to its impressive 2018 tally last week as Temple rolled past previously unbeaten Maryland and USF scored a road win at Illinois. Those results gave The American a combined 6-5 record against the other power conferences this season and 32 wins against those schools since the start of the 2015 season.
People Watching (By The Millions)
In addition to its impressive showing on the field, American Athletic Conference teams continue to attract attention from television and online viewers. Through the first two weeks of the 2018 season, The American has already had four games that have had at least one million viewers. Three of those games took place in Week 2 as SMU’s home opener against TCU, USF’s home date with Georgia Tech and Houston’s home opener against Arizona all surpassed the one million-viewer mark. The American has had 66 games with more than one million viewers since the start of the 2015 season.
Memphis’ Henderson Races To The Top
Memphis running back Darrell Henderson figured to be a key part of the Tigers’ offense in 2018, particularly with the departure of All-America receiver Anthony Miller and record-setting quarterback Riley Ferguson. Henderson has delivered in the early-going, as he enters Saturday’s game against South Alabama atop the NCAA FBS rushing chart. Through three games, Henderson has rushed for 521 yards and six touchdowns and has averaged an incredible 14.5 yards per carry. Henderson, who has four rushes of at least 50 yards this season, became the second player in program history to register back-to-back 200-yard games, joining DeAngelo Williams.
The American And Its Schools Honor The Nation’s Teachers
American Athletic Conference schools have once again partnered with the College Football Playoff Foundation for the fourth annual Extra Yard for Teachers Week from Sept. 15-22. The CFP Foundation has distributed $150,000 to The American through DonorsChoose.org to fund projects that impact schools, teachers and students. Each American Athletic Conference school will receive $10,000 to fund DonorsChoose.org projects in their respective communities, while the participants in The American Football Championship will receive an additional $10,000 to further fund initiatives.
Prime Time Belongs To The American
The Week 4 schedule includes two weeknight prime time games for American Athletic Conference teams on ESPN. The week begins with a Thursday-night matchup in Philadelphia between Tulsa and Temple in both teams’ conference opener (7:30 p.m. ET). UCF returns from a one-week layoff to host Florida Atlantic Friday night in a key nonconference game (7 p.m.).
Big Opportunities On Saturday Slate
Saturday’s ledger lists seven games for American Athletic Conference teams. There are two key divisional games as Navy visits SMU (noon ET, ESPNews) and USF hosts ECU (8 p.m. ET, ESPNews), while two American teams will face Power 6 opponents that are unbeaten. Tulane will face No. 4 Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network, while UConn visits Syracuse at 4 p.m. on ESPN. The remaining Saturday schedule has Cincinnati at home against Ohio (noon ET, ESPNU), Houston against its next door neighbor Texas Southern (8 p.m. ET, ESPN3) and Memphis at home against South Alabama (8 p.m. ET, ESPN3)