Undefeated's and Murica

[HarvCrimYaleBlue]

Something to be happy about instead of the dreadful misery posts for the last few days. Our conference/division is getting a small pat on the back.

ESPN ranks the 20 undefeated teams http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13811373/ranking-20-undefeated-teams-college-football-week-5

16. Temple Owls (4-0): Wins against Penn State and at Cincy are reputable, but road victories over Bottom 10 contenders UMass and Charlotte don't exactly earn bonus points.

17. Navy Midshipmen (4-0): More on these guys in a minute ...

18. Memphis Tigers (5-0): They've played two teams that aren't awful -- Bowling Green and Cincinnati -- and handled them both ... barely.

19. Houston Cougars (4-0): Beating Louisville and Tulsa is nothing to sneeze at. But it's not on the level of the teams listed above.


The team you should know about, but probably don't: The 'Murica West!

Yeah, that's right, there's an entire conference division you should be watching and it's not in the Power 5. It's the American Athletic Conference -- West (that's how it's officially listed). Are any of these six teams going to win the national championship? In case you didn't notice earlier, three of those remaining 20 undefeateds are in this division alone -- Memphis, Houston and the aforementioned Naval Academy. Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch, all 6-foot-7, 245 pounds of him, has NFL scouts starting to take their first trips to the Liberty Bowl, former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman has Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. looking like Buckeyes' quarterbacks used to play (121 yards rushing and three TDs by halftime vs. Tulsa) and Navy hits its annual Notre Dame game 4-0. Even the division's worst team, SMU, is suddenly entertaining to watch, thanks to new head coach Chad Morris. Between these teams and fellow unbeaten Temple over in the American East, the race for the Gang of Five's big-stage bowl berth feels likely to be no more complicated than this conference's title chase.

[leopold]

Everyone could really use this. I have looked at our home schedule for years and seen, for the most part, only non-conference games that interested me. Outside of Houston and Memphis we haven't had anyone show up and grab anybody's attention on a regular basis. It's not just us winning that will help inspire interest, and if we can't play the traditional schools for conference games then we, and these other schools, REALLY need some conference games that mean something in terms of national recognition and rankings.

[smusic 00]

Glad they noticed.

[JoeKidd]

Great for the conference, can't wait until we are one of them.

[whitwiki]

Undefeateds