AAC Notebook: Houston, Memphis come up big

American Athletic Conference teams have done a nice job in scheduling major conference teams early in the season. However, for those big games to pay off, the AAC has to win some of them.

So far, the league has taken care of business often enough to draw attention. And ironically, it’s not the traditional upper echelon that’s doing the damage.

Central Florida and East Carolina both are struggling early. The Knights fell to 0-2 with a 31-7 loss at Stanford, and the Pirates looked tough at Florida but made too many mistakes in a 31-24 defeat.

But a week after Temple began its season with a win over Penn State, both Houston and Memphis came up with statement wins on the road on Saturday.

The Cougars travelled to Louisville — a former AAC team itself before leaving for the ACC — and stunned the Cardinals 31-24. Greg Ward threw a touchdown pass to Demarcus Ayers with 3:09 to play for the winning points.

“Coming here and playing in this tremendous stadium and with the stadium being sold out, we knew we had a chance to get on the national radar,” Ayers said. “Just to come out on top against a big ACC opponent is really tremendous and big for us.”

Memphis, meanwhile, didn’t need that kind of late drama in disposing of the Big 12’s Kansas. Paxton Lynch threw for a career-high 354 yards as the Tigers outscored the Jayhawks 31-10 in the second half.

“You get in a rhythm, you get the game flow going, you get some handoffs to open up the passing game,” said Lynch, who completed 22 of his 25 pass attempts. “Then you just drop back and the receivers are out there at the end of their routes when you’re at the end of your drop and they just go out and catch it.”

Temple didn’t let up either. It went to Cincinnati and knocked off the Bearcats 34-26 in the conference opener. “We have a lot to get better at but I was proud of our guys for finishing,” Owls coach Matt Ruhle said.

Southern Methodist and Tulsa also earned their first wins of the season. The Mustangs topped North Texas 31-13, while Tulsa went to New Mexico and won 40-21.

CENTRAL FLORIDA (0-2, 0-0)

Game: Stanford 31, Central Florida 7. The Knights dropped to 0-2 and also lost their quarterback. Freshmen Bo Schneider and Tyler Harris took the bulk of the snaps, but UCF totaled just 181 yards of total offense.

Takeaway: The Knights already are a young team, and Justin Holman’s injury makes them even younger. Five freshmen were among the 11 players on the field on offense for UCF in the first half.

Next: vs. Furman, Sept 19.

CINCINNATI (1-1, 0-1)

Game: Temple 34, Cincinnati 26. The Bearcats came back from a 34-12 deficit to make things interesting, but its comeback fell short when Gunner Kiel was picked off in the end zone with five seconds to play.

Takeaway: This will be a tough one for Bearcat fans to swallow. Cincinnati turned the ball over five times, including four Kiel interceptions in the second half. It also gave up a touchdown on a kickoff return and had an unsuccessful onside kick that would lead to a Temple scoring drive.

Next: at Miami (Ohio), Sept 19.

CONNECTICUT (2-0, 0-0)

Game: Connecticut 22, Army 17. The Huskies got a pair of touchdown runs and kept Army’s triple option in check to secure a narrow victory at home. The Cadets scored on a 71-yard touchdown pass to cut the margin to five with 4:51 to play, but a UConn interception on the next drive secured the victory.

Takeaway: The Huskies moved to 2-0 for the first time since 2008, and looked good on both sides of the ball. Coach Bob Diaco looks to continue the progress against a tougher foe next week when his team travels to take on the SEC’s Missouri.

Next: at Missouri, Sept. 19.

EAST CAROLINA (1-1, 0-0)

Game: Florida 31, East Carolina 24. The Pirates fell just short of an upset of the Gators for the second season in a row. Blake Kemp lost the ball on the Florida 13 with less than a minute remaining, and the Gators recovered to salt away the victory.

Takeaway: After dominating in week one, Chris Hairston faced a tougher defense that was prepared to shut him down. The result — 15 yards on 17 carries — showed that the ECU offense is going to have to pass the ball to win against top teams.

Next: at Navy, Sept. 19.

HOUSTON (2-0, 0-0)

Game: Houston 34, Louisville 31. Greg Ward hit Demarcus Ayers for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 3:09 to play as the Cougars shocked Louisville on the road. The teams combined to score 31 fourth-quarter points, but Houston was the squad that reached the end zone last.

Takeaway: The offensive explosion late obscured a solid game from the Houston defense. The Cougars forced two turnovers, picking off Lamar Jackson twice and pouncing on two fumbles.

Next: vs. Texas State, Sept. 26.

MEMPHIS (2-0, 0-0)

Game: Memphis 55, Kansas 23. Memphis came up with another dominating performance, and this one against an opponent more impressive than Missouri State. Paxton Lynch led the way with 354 passing yards in a rout of the Jayhawks.

Takeaway: The Tigers trailed 10-0 early and led just 17-13 in the second quarter, then scored the next two touchdowns to effectively put the game away. Lynch completed 22 of his 25 pass attempts in helping the Tigers continue to look like a team that will contend for the AAC crown.

Next: at Bowling Green, Sept. 19

NAVY (1-0, 0-0)

Game: Bye week.

Next: vs. East Carolina, Sept. 19

SOUTHERN METHODIST (1-1, 0-0)

Game: Southern Methodist 31, North Texas 13. The Mustangs got new coach Chad Morris his first win with an impressive victory at home. Matt Davis ran for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and threw for 171 yards and two more scores.

Takeaway: Davis is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, given his ability to hurt opponents with his legs and arm. Now that Morris has that first win out of the way, he’ll be looking to make a statement next weekend against rival Texas Christian.

Next: at TCU, Sept. 19.

SOUTH FLORIDA (1-1, 0-0)

Game: Florida State 34, South Florida 14. The Bulls hung with the No. 8 Seminoles early and were tied 7-7 at halftime, but ultimately fell short and fell by 20 in Tallahassee. Quinton Flowers hit D’Ernest Johnson for a pair of touchdown passes for the only USF scores.

Takeaway: Playing an in-state and Top 10-ranked rival tough on the road is a big step for South Florida. Now, Willie Taggart hopes for better luck on his next road trip, to face a Maryland squad that won at USF a year ago but is coming off a 48-27 home loss to Bowling Green.

Next: at Maryland, Sept. 19.

TEMPLE (2-0, 0-0)

Game: Temple 34, Cincinnati 26. The Owls took a big lead, then had to sweat down the stretch before holding on to secure the eight-point victory on the road. Tyler Matakevich’s second interception in the game came in the end zone in the final seconds to snuff out the Bearcats comeback bid.

Takeaway: Temple led 34-12 early in the fourth quarter, but Cincinnati scored a pair of touchdowns to make things interesting. Jahad Thomas fumbled to give the Bearcats one last chance, but was bailed out by the defense, which finished the day with five takeaways.

Next: at Massachusetts, Sept. 19.

TULANE (0-2, 0-0)

Game: Georgia Tech 65, Tulane 10. Two weeks playing ACC foes led to two blowout losses for the Green Wave. After losing by 30 to Duke in the opener, Tulane allowed 571 yards and failed to find a way to stop the Yellow Jackets’ triple option.

Takeaway: The Green Wave will be happy to be done with ACC teams. One of the few bright spots was a Tanner Lee to Devon Breaux 44-yard touchdown pass — the second week in a row the two have connected on a long score. Lee hit Breaux for a 76-yard touchdown pass in the opener.

Next: vs. Maine, Sept. 19

TULSA (2-0, 0-0)

Game: Tulsa 40, New Mexico 21. Tulsa had a pair of 100-yard rushers and a pair of 100-yard receivers in improving to 2-0 with a road victory. It marked the second week in a row his team amassed more than 600 yards of total offense.

Takeaway: The Tulsa defense generated a pair of turnovers, the first takeaways of the year. But the test gets a little tougher next week, when the team travels to face in-state rival Oklahoma.
Next: at Oklahoma, Sept. 19.

NOTES, QUOTES

–Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville learned something about his team this week — it doesn’t give up when the situation looks grim. The Bearcats were just five yards from a potential game-tying score when Gunner Kiel was intercepted in the end zone with five seconds to play.

Of course, fighting back means you were down in the first place, and the tough part of the night for Cincinnati was that it dug its own hole. The Bearcats turned the ball over five times, gave up a 100-yard kickoff return for a score to start the second half, and couldn’t recover an onside kick.

“We were lucky we even had a chance at the end there. Unfortunately, we threw that interception,” Tuberville said. “I would have loved to have had a chance to get into overtime.”

Tuberville credited the Temple defense, both for forcing the Bearcats into mistakes and preventing big plays. The Owls constantly forced Kiel to settle for underneath passes rather than connecting on big plays down the field.

“We got a pretty good offense, but we just can’t seem to make a big play. They made us earn it,” Tuberville said. “They made us catch the ball in front of them. They hit us and kind of sit back and wait to see if they get a tipped ball or an overthrown ball. And that’s exactly what happened. That’s what experienced teams do.”

The Bearcats head back to nonconference play next week with a lot to work on.

“It’s a long season. We’ll just go back to work and see if we can limit what we are doing in terms of turnovers,” Tuberville said. “We’ve got to play better in the red zone. We’ve got to be able to put the ball in the end zone and help the defense a little bit.”

–Connecticut hadn’t started 2-0 since the 2008 season before the Huskies knocked off Army at home 22-17 on Saturday. More than the season-opening win over Villanova, beating the Cadets shows that coach Bob Diaco is making progress in his second season at the helm.

Weaknesses on both sides of the ball have plagued the team over the past four years, so few expected much from this team in the preseason. But apart from two big plays — the two Cadet touchdowns went for 56 and 71 yards — the Huskies defense wasn’t fooled by the triple option. Army managed just nine first downs on the day.

It wasn’t lost on the defense that it struggled in a 35-21 loss to the Cadets a year ago, but the added experience and preparation time paid off.

“It gave us a chip on our shoulders from last year,” safety Andrew Adams said. “We didn’t want to come out and have them get us two times in a row. We had that in the back of our head but we were just focused on executing and playing our game.”

Arkeel Newsome, who had one of the two rushing touchdowns for the Huskies, also remarked on how the feeling among the team is a lot different than the disappointment of the past few seasons.

“It feels a lot different. Just being able to sing the fight song outside and in the locker room. We never really got that much last year but this year it’s a great feeling.

For Diaco, another positive is that both these wins have come at home. Rebuilding the positivity of the fan base is a critical step for the program going forward.

“I was thinking early this morning, someone is waking their kids up and putting UConn gear on at 6:30 in the morning and headed to the convenience store and packing a cooler. Then we come in the lot at 7:20 a.m. and there are people filling in, grills are going and they’re tailgating. It’s just so awesome,” Diaco said. “The team knows it and we are not going to let you down. Thanks so much for doing that. Keep coming and bring a friend. We know it, we respect it, we love it and we are going to just build this thing back to where it needs to be.”

–Don’t look now, but arguably the most impressive offense in the first two weeks of the AAC season has come from Tulsa.

The Golden Hurricane have broken the 600-yard mark in each of the first two weeks. Against New Mexico, both Zack Langer and D’Angelo Brewer each ran for more than 100 yards and a score. Dane Evans, meanwhile, threw for 321 yards and two more scores.

“This game has got to be fun, and our guys are having fun right now,” coach Philip Montgomery said. “We’re still grinding and working hard, but you gotta enjoy these. Any time you can get on a plane and have fun, let’s have fun.”

Moreover, Tulsa left points on the board. Redford Jones had to come on to kick four field goals thanks to some struggles near the goal line.

“We didn’t do very good in the red zone, but any time you can go back and correct mistakes after a W, it sure makes it a lot easier,” Montgomery said.

Evans also saw some issues to work on.

“We have to keep having games where we don’t turn the ball over, that’s key no matter who you’re playing,” Evans said. “We missed a couple deep shots tonight, which is going to happen, but in a perfect world you don’t want to miss any of those.”

If Tulsa really does have the potential to be more explosive, expect some high-scoring games in the AAC this season.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I think it’s important for us to come out here and play our football. Last week we played a great first half and a horrible second half and tonight we played a horrible first half and a great second half. If we could put those together I think we can be a pretty good football team.” — Southern Methodist quarterback Matt Davis, after his team’s victory over North Texas.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

FIVE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM WEEK 2 IN THE AAC:

1. Central Florida is going to have to grow up in a hurry. Justin Holman hurt his hand when it collided with an opponent’s helmet during a follow-through. Either Bo Schneider or Tyler Harris, both freshmen, would get the start against Furman if Holman is unable to play.

2. Houston’s victory over Louisville drew national attention. The Cougars received votes in both the AP and the coaches’ poll this week — the first time that’s happened since it ended the 2011 season ranked in both polls.

3. Southern Methodist is off to a 2-0 start in 2015. It won just two games in all of 2014.

4. Cincinnati’s defense held Temple to 296 total yards on Saturday, a positive sign for a unit that struggled in 2014. However, five turnovers doesn’t get it done on any level.

5. Memphis might have the all-AAC quarterback in Paxton Lynch. Going 22-for-25 for 354 yards against a Big 12 team is hard to ignore, even if that team is Kansas.