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American Athletic Conference Media Days Roundup

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American Athletic Conference Media Days were held this week in Arlington, Texas. Here’s a roundup of important news, quotes and insights from the event.

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Preseason Media Poll

Rank Team Points
1 Memphis (23) 409
2 UTSA (4) 368
3 Tulane (2) 362
4 South Florida 339
5 Army (1) 236
6 Florida Atlantic 228
T7 East Carolina 219
T7 Rice 219
9 North Texas 216
10 UAB 192
11 Navy 150
12 Tulsa 95
13 Charlotte 77
14 Temple 40

Mike Bloomgren and the Owls react to preseason projections

Expectations Rising for Mike Bloomgren, Rice Football

AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti makes his opening comments

“We’re Just Talking About These Things:” AAC’s Pernetti continues to dream big

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 177 – 2024 Memphis Preview with Bryan Moss

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Next up as The Roost Podcast continues its AAC opponent previews: Bryan Moss of the Tiger Sports Report dives into Memphis football in 2024.

Memphis football has sky-high expectations in 2024. Are those reasonable? The Tigers have a high-flying offense, questions on defense and a dearth of NIL money set aside to help solve those problems. Rivals’ Bryan Moss of the Tiger Sports Report gives us a rundown of the Tigers and their place in the AAC pecking order this season.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 177.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

Homefield

We’re thrilled to partner with Homefield Apparel, the premier proprietor of college football clothing. First-time buyers can use the code ROOST for 15% off their order. The Owls hoodie is a personal favorite as is the Luv-Ya-Owls shirt. Make sure you check out the brand-new sailor hat (pictured below) as you shop the Rice collection or pick up something else (or both)!

Patreon

Get exclusive insight on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better.

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Previewing 2024 Memphis Football with Bryan Moss

  • Memphis since it last shared a conference with Rice
  • Ryan Silverfield and the current state of the program
  • Offensive playmakers
  • Question marks on defense and the new DC
  • Path to the Playoff for the Group of 5 (Sorry SMU!)
  • The Lightning Round

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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AAC Football: Media Outlets release preseason projections

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Publications have started to release their preseason predictions for the AAC Football order of finish. Memphis is the favorite, where does the rest of the league stack up?

The following is a sampling of where AAC Football teams project to finish in the conference standings according to various different media outlets. The ESPN ranks are projections from Bill Connely. Phil Steele, Lindy’s and Athlon are three of the most prominent preseason magazines that have started to arrive in stores over the past few weeks.

Rank Team ESPN Phil Steele Lindy’s Athlon  Average
1 Memphis 1 2 1 1          1.25
2 UTSA 2 1 4 2          2.25
3 Tulane 3 2 2 4          2.75
4 South Florida 4 4 3 3          3.50
5 Army 6 10 5 5          6.50
6 Rice 7 8 9 6          7.50
7 Florida Atlantic 8 6 10 7          7.75
8 East Carolina 5 5 13 8          7.75
9 North Texas 10 7 8 9          8.50
10 Navy 9 11 6 10          9.00
11 UAB 11 8 7 11          9.25
12 Tulsa 12 12 11 12       11.75
13 Charlotte 13 12 12 13       12.50
14 Temple 14 14 14 14       14.00

The consensus

Memphis is the clear frontrunner to win the AAC Football title this season. Only one publication, Phil Steele, kept the Tigers out of the top spot, dropping them to No. 2.  In fact, all four of these sources view the quartet of Memphis, UTSA, Tulane and South Florida as the clear top four. None of that group are projected to finish lower than fourth with each getting multiple votes to finish in the top three.

On the opposite end, Tulsa, Charlotte and Temple are the projected bottom dwellers. None of these sources project any of that trio to finish outside the bottom three in the league. There are other teams that fall into the bottom third of the rankings on individual lists, but this is the group that can reasonably say “nobody believes in us.”

The wide middle

The rest of the group is squarely in the middle. In fact, there isn’t much of a perceived difference between Army and Navy. Both have at least one ranker projecting them inside the top six and another putting them in the bottom five. Those two, along with East Carolina, represent the programs with the greatest standard deviations in rank. There isn’t a consensus on how good those teams will be.

Rice football could be a sneaky team in the midst of this group. Every team outside the top four has at least one projection putting them in the bottom five except for the Owls. They’re consistently tabbed to finish somewhere between sixth and ninth. An upset here or there and holding serve against some of the weaker teams on their schedule could allow them to break into the upper quarter of the ranks by season’s end.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 176 – ’24 Charlotte Preview with Hunter Bailey

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Next up as The Roost Podcast continues its AAC opponent previews: Hunter Bailey of the Charlotte Observer dives into Charlotte football in 2024.

A seemingly annual matchup with Charlotte football is on deck one again in 2024. This time the Owls host the 49ers following a resounding road win at their place a season ago. Hunter Bailey from the Charlotte Observer joins us this week to talk about what progress he’s seen from that team over the offseason and talk about the direction of the program moving forward.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 176.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

Homefield

We’re thrilled to partner with Homefield Apparel, the premier proprietor of college football clothing. First-time buyers can use the code ROOST for 15% off their order. The Owls hoodie is a personal favorite. So is the brand new Luv-Ya-Owls shirt. Shop the Rice collection or pick up something else (or both)!

Homefield

Patreon

Get exclusive insight on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better.

Become a Patron!

Previewing 2024 Charlotte Football with Hunter Bailey

  • The latest on the Biff Poggi front
  • Reasonable expectations in Year 2
  • New QB Max Brown
  • Big questions facing the 49ers this season
  • Key additions (and losses) from the transfer portal
  • The Lightning Round

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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AAC Football: Circa Sports releases preseason champion odds

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Circa Sports has released preseason conference championship odds. Who are the favorites and how do the rest of the AAC Football teams stack up?

As the summer months move along the first inklings of football season approaching are upon us. Circa Sports released preseason conference championship odds on Sunday, including their odds for the AAC Football Champion. Memphis is the favorite, with Tulane and UTSA right on their heels. Here’s the odds for every team in the league:

  1. Memphis (+300)
  2. Tulane (+350)
  3. UTSA (+400)
  4. USF (+700)
  5. Army (+1500)
  6. North Texas (+1500)
  7. ECU (+2000)
  8. FAU (+2000)
  9. Rice (+2000)
  10. Tulsa (+2500)
  11. UAB (+2500)
  12. Charlotte (+4000)
  13. Temple (+25000)

As far as Circa Sports is concerned, they view this league as a four-team race with the teams with the fifth-best odds (Army and North Texas) more than double the odds of the fourth team in the list, South Florida. The Bulls seem to be getting a lot of preseason buzz following their breakout 20243 campaign in their first season under the leadership of Alex Golesh.

Temple was the only team signaled out as a complete longshot. Those Owls lost quarterback EJ Warner to Rice this offseason. The Houston-based Owls join a smattering of teams with very similar odds in the middle of the pack. That suggests a very competitive middle of the pack and hopefully an exciting back and forth that makes each Saturday in the league exciting once again.

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