American Conference Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron this week.
| Team | Record | This Week | Result | Up Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 1-2 (0-1) | vs North Texas | L, 45-38 (OT) | at ECU (Thrs) |
| Charlotte | 1-3 (0-1) | vs Rice (Thr) | L, 28-17 | — OFF — |
| ECU | 2-2 (0-0) | vs BYU | L, 34-13 | vs Army (Thrs) |
| FAU | 1-2 (0-0) | — OFF — | — | vs Memphis |
| Memphis | 4-0 (0-0) | vs Arkansas | W, 32-31 | at FAU |
| Navy | 3-0 (2-0) | — OFF — | — | vs Rice |
| North Texas | 4-0 (0-0) | at Army | W, 45-38 (OT) | vs So Alabama |
| Rice | 3-1 (1-0) | at Charlotte (Thr) | W, 28-17 | at Navy |
| Temple | 2-2 (0-0) | at Georgia Tech | L, 45-24 | — OFF — |
| Tulane | 3-1 (0-0) | at Ole Miss | L, 45-10 | at Tulsa |
| Tulsa | 2-2 (0-1) | at Oklahoma St (Fri) | W, 19-12 | vs Tulane |
| UAB | 1-2 (0-1) | at Tennessee | L, 56-24 | — OFF — |
| USF | 2-2 (0-0) | vs South Carolina St | W, 63-14 | — OFF — |
| UTSA | 2-2 (0-0) | at Colorado St | W, 17-16 | — OFF — |
Storylines // Standings // Preseason Poll
American On Top
The American Conference has put the nation on notice in the opening weeks of the 2025 season. The conference already holds six victories over Power Conference teams:
- Army (def. Kansas State, Week 2)
- Memphis (def. Arkansas, Week 4)
- South Florida (def. Florida, Week 2)
- Tulane (def. Northwestern, Week 1; def. Duke, Week 3)
- Tulsa (def. Oklahoma State, Week 4)
That doesn’t include South Florida’s Week 1 win over a ranked Boise State team and a handful of other impressive non-conference wins. This week, Tulsa took center stage with a Friday national spotlight game in which they took down Oklahoma State for their first win in Stillwater since 1951. Meanwhile, Memphis has been playing so well that their come-from-behind win over Arkansas barely registers as an upset.
Mean Green Ace First American Conference Test
Don’t look now, but North Texas might be dangerous. The defense, if not legitimately good, is definitely better and the offense continues to hang points in bunches. They made things interesting on Saturday by allowing Army to come back and force overtime, but they finished the job to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2018.
New Look Owls
Another American team turning back the clock, Rice football reached 3-1 for the first time since 2001 with a suffocating win over Charlotte in head coach Scott Abell’s conference debut. The Owls’ new offense was the center of attention in the college football world on Thursday night and put up 28 points, their most against an FBS foe so far this season.
Looking ahead – Key storylines
So You Want to be First Place?
The winner of this coming weekend’s matchup between Rice Football and Navy will find themselves atop the American Conference Standings. For Navy, that’s old hat. The Midshipmen spent a good chunk of last season at least sharing the best record in the league. But Rice is in the first year of a new coaching regime and wasn’t supposed to be quite this good this early.
Shaky Ground
On the other hand, East Carolina and Army both entered the year with moderately high expectations and while a conference title might not have been expected, falling down the standings and picking up a third loss by Week 5 certainly wasn’t where either of these programs hoped to be. Both need a bounce back win, but only one will get it.
Can Tulsa do it again?
The story on Friday night in Stillwater was just as much a funeral dirge for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State as it was trumpeting Tulsa’s arrival. The Golden Hurricane could earn some additional respect if they can prove they’re no one-hit wonder. They host Tulane in what has the potential to be one of the bigger games for the program in recent memory.
