The Cincinnati Bearcats strung together an impressive seven straight wins to finish the 2014 college football season, which tied them with Memphis and Central Florida for the best record in the American Athletic Conference at 7-1.
Fast forward to 2015 and the Bearcats are considered the favorites to win the AAC outright with an explosive offense led by quarterback Gunner Kiel and one of the deepest receiving cores in the conference. Central Florida might take a step back in 2015 in big part because of a much tougher schedule that includes trips to Stanford and South Carolina, but Memphis will be ready to challenge Cincinnati at the top again.
And don’t forget about Temple – yes, Temple – who is considered to be a team that could make some noise this season. Here is a look at what to expect in the AAC for the 2015 college football season.
Best Coach In AAC: Justin Fuente, Memphis
There is no doubt about how impressive Cincinnati was down the stretch last season and the role that Tommy Tuberville played in their success, but Fuente gets the nod as the top coach in the AAC for keeping the Tigers on top. Fuente had the opportunity to coach somewhere else following the 2013 season but he didn’t get an offer that was worth giving up what he built at Memphis. His decision to stay with the program paid off with another solid season. Many people forget just how big of a mess Memphis football was before him as they were a weekly doormat for whichever opponent was on the schedule.
Fuente is arguably the best college football coach in the game under 40 years old and he edges out Tuberville and Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo as the best head coach in the AAC right now.
Team That Will Win AAC: Cincinnati
Despite Fuente’s best efforts to keep Memphis on top, all signs point to Cincinnati winning the AAC in 2015 with Tuberville’s explosive offense leading the way with Kiel under center. Kiel finished last year with 31 touchdowns to tie the single-season Bearcats record and big things are expected of him again in his junior year with his top weapons returning at wide receiver including Shaq Washington, Mekale McKay and Chris Moore.
The biggest area of improvement will have to come on the defensive side of the football where there will be a particular focus on tackling and plugging holes in the front-seven. If Cincinnati can improve even marginally on that side of the football, they should have no problem challenging for the best record in the AAC once again this season.
It’s not an easy schedule as Temple, Memphis, Miami, BYU and Central Florida are all potential landmines, but at least they dodge Navy in the West, which is a team that’s always a pain to play against.
Sleeper Pick To Win AAC: East Carolina
There aren’t many experts that will pick East Carolina to make some real noise in the AAC after they lost their starting quarterback Shane Carden, wide receiver Justin Hardy and coordinator Lincoln Rileym but the Pirates have been to eight bowl games over the last nine seasons, so it’s impossible to completely write them off in the AAC.
We’re looking at sleepers here, not favorites, so ECU could qualify. There’s a big changing cast but if they don’t miss a beat, they could be in contention. Of course, there is a lot of downside risk as they could miss a bowl game altogether.
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East Carolina is still loaded at the wide receiver position even without Hardy and if strong-armed sophomore Kurt Benkert can settle in and excel in new coordinator Dave Nichol’s offense, they could do some serious damage.
Ruffin McNeil has done an excellent job with the Pirates, including four bowl games in five years, and with a full roster that is loaded at the skill positions, it won’t be a surprise if East Carolina overachieves this season and contends as a sleeper pick to win the AAC.
