The 2020 AAC Preview with the top players, biggest games, most important transfers, and thoughts on each team.
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5. AAC 2020 Preview
Don’t start worrying about the College Football Playoff – that will be what it’s going to be.
Of course, with the Big Ten and Pac-12 out of the picture, this is the perfect time for a Group of Five team to finally break through the ceiling, but the same unspoken rules are still likely going to apply.
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Fair or not, it still will likely take nothing short of an undefeated championship season to get into the club – and it would help if there’s a multi-loss champ among the Power 5 programs.
But again, don’t use this of all seasons to obsess about that. This could be the year when the national spotlight shines on the conference for more than just one big Saturday night game.
With UConn taking off for life as an independent – it’s postponing football until 2021 – this now becomes a tight 11-team league with a season that should see a whole slew of twists and turns on the way to coming up with the top two.
Tulsa beat UCF last year and almost pulled off wins over Memphis and SMU. This year’s version is better, so if that’s the possible weakest team, look out.
The stars are still the stars. UCF and Memphis are going to be fantastic, Cincinnati has top 25 upside no matter who was going to play this year, and it’s possible that Houston really was on to something last season when it used the campaign as one big practice for this year.
Navy is still fantastic, Temple is going to be a problem for the top teams, the SMU offense isn’t taking any sort of a step back, and Tulane is solid across the board.
East Carolina has a fun, dangerous offense, and USF has a whole lot of talent in place for new head man Jeff Scott.
So yeah, if a team can get through all of that unbeaten and win the American Athletic Conference title, the CFP types really will take notice … maybe.
CFN AAC Preview
Teams: Surprise, Disappointments | Top Games
Players To Watch | One Thought On Each Team
– CFN Preview 2020: All 130 Team Previews