American Athletic Conference Football Report 2015 Season • Week 7 @American_FB Contact: Chuck Sullivan, Assistant Commissioner for Communications [email protected] • 401.453.0660 • @ChuckSullivan15 15 Park Row West • Providence, RI 02903 AMERICAN OVERALL SCHOOL W-L PCT PF PA H A W-L PCT PF PA H A N STREAK Temple rv/rv 2-0 1.000 83 36 1-0 1-0 5-0 1.000 172 72 2-0 3-0 0-0 Won 6 UConn 1-1 .500 58 41 0-1 1-0 3-3 .500 119 112 2-1 1-2 0-0 Won 1 East Carolina 1-1 .500 70 68 0-0 1-1 3-3 .500 195 192 2-0 1-3 0-0 Lost 1 EAST USF 0-1 .000 17 24 0-1 0-0 2-3 .400 144 120 2-1 0-2 0-0 Won 1 Cincinnati 0-2 .000 72 87 0-1 0-1 3-2 .600 195 153 2-1 1-1 0-0 Won 1 UCF 0-2 .000 44 85 0-1 0-1 0-6 .000 94 178 0-3 0-3 0-0 Lost 7 SCHOOL W-L PCT PF PA H A W-L PCT PF PA H A N STREAK Houston 24/rv 2-0 1.000 87 52 1-0 1-0 5-0 1.000 232 121 3-0 2-0 0-0 Won 6 Memphis rv/22 2-0 1.000 77 63 1-0 1-0 5-0 1.000 239 134 2-0 3-0 0-0 Won 12 Navy rv/rv 2-0 1.000 73 39 1-0 1-0 4-1 .800 178 101 3-0 1-1 0-0 Lost 1 Tulane 1-1 .500 55 80 1-0 0-1 2-3 .400 110 189 1-1 1-2 0-0 Lost 1 WEST Tulsa 0-1 .000 24 38 0-1 0-0 3-2 .600 183 179 2-1 1-1 0-0 Won 1 SMU 0-2 .000 51 98 0-1 0-1 1-5 .167 185 271 1-3 0-2 0-0 Lost 4 THIS WEEK WEEKLY HONORS Friday, October 16 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Cincinnati at Brigham Young ....................... 8 p.m. Greg Ward Jr. • Jr. • QB • Houston • Tyler, Texas Television: ESPN Ward accounted for 325 yards of total offense and scored four rushing touchdowns to Series: First meeting help Houston to a 49-28 win against SMU, keeping the Cougars unbeaten at 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference. Ward rushed for 82 yards on 14 carries while Houston at Tulane * .......................................9 p.m. setting Houston’s single-game record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. He also Television: ESPNU had a passer rating of 202.29 as he completed 16 of 18 passes for 243 yards without an Series: Houston leads, 14-5 interception. Ward ranks third among all FBS players with 11 rushing touchdowns this season. Last Meeting: Nov. 8, 2014 — Tulane, 31-24 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Steven Taylor • Jr. • LB • Houston • Cedar Hill, Texas Saturday, October 17 Taylor registered three sacks for the second consecutive game in Houston’s 49-28 win USF at UConn * ............................................... Noon against SMU. He finished the game with eight tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks Television: ESPNU for losses of 33 yards. He also had three quarterback hurries to lead a Cougar defense Series: USF leads, 7-5 that limited SMU to 89 second-half yards. Taylor leads The American and is ranked second Last Meeting: Sept. 19, 2014 — USF, 17-14 nationally in sacks, averaging 1.6 per game. Tulsa at East Carolina * .................................. Noon SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK Television: ESPNews Arkeel Newsome • So. • RB • UConn • Ansonia, Conn. Series: East Carolina leads, 6-5 Newsome finished with 106 yards on three kickoff returns as part of a day in which he amassed Last Meeting: Nov. 28, 2014 — East Carolina, 49-32 257 all-purpose yards in UConn’s 40-13 win at UCF. Newsome took the opening kickoff of the third quarter 71 yards to set up a UConn field goal, while he also finished with a game- Mississippi at Memphis .................................. Noon high 84 rushing yards with two touchdowns and four receptions for a game-high 67 yards. Television: ABC Series: Mississippi leads, 49-10-2 HONOR ROLL Last Meeting: Sept. 27, 2014 — Mississippi, 24-3 Bryant Shirreffs • So. • QB • UConn • Jefferson, Ga. Completed 16 of 22 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 42 yards and a TD in a 40-13 UCF at Temple * ....................................... 7:30 p.m. win at UCF. Television: CBS Sports Network Series: UCF leads, 2-0 Marlon Mack • So. • RB • USF • Sarasota, Fla. Last Meeting: Oct. 25, 2014 — UCF, 34-14 Rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries in a 45-24 win against Syracuse. Open Week Deatrick Nichols • So. • CB • USF • Miami, Fla. Navy Had career highs of seven tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss with a forced fumble in a 45-24 win against Next Game: Oct. 24 vs. Tulane Syracuse. SMU Matt Ioannidis • Sr. • DE • Temple • Ringoes, N.J. Next Game: Oct. 24 at USF Had six tackles and 1.5 sacks for losses of 10 yards in a 49-10 win against Tulane. Helped hold the Green Wave to eight first downs, eight rushing yards and 110 yards of total offense. Matt Linscott • Jr. • LB • Tulsa • Tulsa, Okla. Had six tackles, one sack and a key fourth-quarter interception in a 34-24 win against Louisiana-Monroe. AMERICAN NOTEBOOK Streaking What A Rush Memphis extended its winning streak to a school- Navy QB Keenan Reynolds entered the 2015 season record 12 games with its win against USF last week. as the NCAA career leader in rushing touchdowns The only teams with longer active winning streaks by a quarterback. Reynolds moved into second are Ohio State, which has won 19 straight, and TCU, place among all players on the NCAA’s career rush- which has won 14 in a row. Houston and Temple ing touchdowns chart and needs four TDs to tie have both won six straight. the mark set by former Wisconsin RB Montee Ball. Player, School (Years) TD Perfection 1. Montee Ball, Wisconsin (2009-12) ............ 77 The American has three unbeaten teams (Houston, 2. Keenan Reynolds, Navy (2012-) ................. 73 Memphis and Temple are 5-0). The only other con- Travis Prentice, Miami (Ohio) (1996-99) . 73 ferences with three undefeated teams are the Big 4. Ricky Williams, Texas (1995-98) ................ 72 Ten, Big 12 and SEC. The first American Athletic Conference Football Staying Active Championship will be played Saturday, Dec. 5, Conference Calls American Athletic Conference players among the 2015, at noon ET and will be televised nationally The American is a combined 10-1 against opponents NCAA FBS active career leaders. on either ABC or ESPN. from Conference USA, the MAC, the Mountain Rushing Yards Yards West and the Sun Belt conferences this season. 2. Keenan Reynolds, Navy .........................3,784 The 2015 season will be The American’s first in its The American is 6-7 against teams from the ACC, new 12-team, two-division format, in which each Big Ten and Big 12. Tackles Total team will play eight conference games. Each team 1. Tyler Matakevich, Temple ........................ 398 will face the other five teams in its own division as Road Warriors 3. Michael Mudoh, Tulsa ..................................331 well as three teams from the other division. Temple and Memphis are two of the five teams in 4. Trevon Stewart, Houston ......................... 320 the nation that have gone 3-0 in true road games The American’s East Division includes UCF, Cincin- this season (Oklahoma State, TCU, Bowling Green). Forced Fumbles Total nati, UConn, East Carolina, USF and Temple. The 4. Nigel Harris, USF ...............................................7 West Division lineup is Houston, Memphis, Navy, That’s Offensive SMU, Tulane and Tulsa. The two divisional cham- The American has four of the top eight teams na- Inerceptions Total pions will meet in The American Championship at tionally in terms of total offense. Cincinnati is fifth 4. Adrian McDonald, Houston .........................15 the home site of one of the participants. nationally at 587.2 yards per game, followed by Houston (sixth, 573.4 ypg), Tulsa (seventh, 568.0 Eyeballs The winner of the American Athletic Conference ypg) and Memphis (eighth, 541.2 ypg). Temple and Cincinnati have played in front of record Football Championship will have the opportunity home crowds. The Owls drew 69,176 at Lincoln Fi- to participate in one of the College Football Playoff Moving The Chains nancial Field for their win against Penn State, while New Year’s Bowls if it is the highest-ranked team East Carolina has converted 55 percent of its the Bearcats had an on-campus record 39,095 on among the champions of Conference USA, the third-down situations. The Pirates lead the nation hand at the newly renovated Nippert Stadium for Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West in third-down conversion percentage, while Navy their win against Alabama A&M before surpassing Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. is fourth nationally (53.8 percent). that number with 40,101 in attendance against Miami (Fla.). Memphis and East Carolina have both Security Instruments played in front of home crowds of at least 45,000 Divisional Champions Houston leads the nation in turnover margin (+2.0 this season as well. The divisional champions will be the teams from per game). Houston, Navy and Memphis all have each division with the highest winning percent- four lost turnovers this season, good for sixth Veteran Presence age in all conference games – both divisional and nationally.