Home Conferences FBS 2026 season

The weekly grind · 2026

American Athletic

After the Raid

UTSA holds the American Athletic lead heading into this week's games.

American Athletic has real upper-tier density. The top of the board raises the conference ceiling without the rest of the league completely falling away.

#7Overall

#7In FBS

+18.3Conference strength

+21.9Upper strength

14Teams

0Top-25 teams

American Athletic, at a glance.

Top 10 by power rating — 2026 season, through the latest games.

Team Record Power

UTSA

7-1 +24.5

Memphis

7-2 +21.8

North Texas

6-2 +20.9

Army

5-3 +20.6

South Florida

6-2 +20.2

Navy

2-6 +18.6

UAB

4-4 +18.5

Tulane

4-4 +17.8

East Carolina

4-4 +17.7

Tulsa

4-4 +17.3

Power snapshot Projected 2026 standing

After the Raid

Navy went 11-2 in 2025 with a recruiting class ranked #131 nationally — a +97 coaching premium that is the largest of any program in the AAC and one of the largest in FBS. The service academy option offense produced eleven wins against a schedule that included Power Four programs. At the same time, SMU holds the conference's highest SP+ rating (#14) with a #31 recruiting class. The AAC's best story in 2026 involves players who can't transfer to the portal and a program that wins because of scheme, not stars.

0 top-25 teams.

The depth argument for this conference rests on how many credible opponents are clustered behind the leader. The gap between the top and bottom is narrow — a sign of genuine parity.

Where things stand right now.

UTSA holds the American Athletic lead heading into this week's games.

Tools Matchup simulator Compare teams Playoff forecast Style map Head to head Power map

The Conference Leader

SMU Holds the AAC’s Best SP+ Rating at #14

SMU enters 2026 with the highest SP+ rating in the conference (#14 nationally) and a 9-4 record in 2025. Their recruiting class ranked #31 nationally — the conference’s best — gives them the talent floor the AAC needs to earn committee respect. Whether SMU converts that into a New Year’s Six bid, or whether the conference’s bottom tier drags down the strength-of-schedule argument, is the defining question for the program and the league.

Why it matters →

The Premium Story

Navy Went 11-2 With the 131st Recruiting Class

Navy’s coaching premium is +97 — the gap between their #131 recruiting rank and their #34 SP+ rating. Eleven wins in 2025 without a single player who could enter the transfer portal and get picked up by a P4 program at will. The option offense, the culture, the walk-on development: Navy’s formula for winning doesn’t scale to the national title conversation, but it produces results that the recruiting rankings never predict.

Why it matters →

The Surprise

South Florida and East Carolina Both Went 9-4

South Florida (+49 coaching premium, sp#16) and East Carolina (+49, sp#28) both went 9-4 in 2025 — two programs that recruit in the 65th-to-77th national range and play like conference title contenders. In an AAC without Memphis at 10-2 (they went 8-5) or Cincinnati dominating (they went 7-6 with a #61 class), the mid-tier surprise performers are carrying the conference’s identity. USF in Tampa and ECU in Greenville are the stories that don’t get told enough.

Active arcs

Active4wk ago

Temple Ends South Florida's Unbeaten Streak With 17-13 Victory in Tampa

Can Temple maintain momentum after breaking South Florida's perfect start?

Temple

Active4wk ago

North Texas Defeats Tulsa in Overtime Thriller

Can North Texas maintain its momentum after this dramatic win?

TulsaNorth Texas

Developing5wk ago

Arkansas Razorbacks vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane Box Score - September 26, 2026 - T

Can Arkansas sustain this level of performance against tougher opponents like Texas A&M?

Tulsa

Developing2mo ago

Gramatica kicks 4 FGs, USF gives new head coach Hartline a 19-9 win over Florida

Can USF’s defense continue to carry the team under Brian Hartline’s leadership?

South Florida

Developing2mo ago

Eric Morris Plans to Take 76-77 Players to Tulsa, Use Week 1 to Evaluate Oklahom

Can Oklahoma State recover from its embarrassing loss to Tulsa in Eric Morris’ first game?

Tulsa

All arcs →

Fan pulse Last 30 days · 2,583 mentions

18% positive 49% neutral 33% negative

UTSA

401

↓ negative

UAB

370

↓ negative

North Texas

344

↓ negative

Tulane

343

↓ negative

Tulsa

198

→ neutral

South Florida

173

→ neutral

Fan confidence by FBS percentile

Where each American Athletic program stands nationally in fan sentiment (100th = most positive in FBS, 0 = least). Conference median: 64th percentile. The label is the band (Bullish, Leaning, Mixed, Souring); the number after it is the change in percentile points since the prior week.

Bullish0

Bullish+6

Bullish+40

Bullish-3

Bullish+4

Leaning0

Leaning+2

Leaning+11

Leaning+9

Mixed+5

Mixed+13

Mixed+7

Mixed-8

Mixed+10

Most volatile: Tulane

Fan confidence has swung 90 percentile points in the last 8 weeks — currently at the 90th percentile nationally.

Rivalry face-offs

Army-Navy Game

Army vs Navy

Fan face-off →

The coaching premium

Recruiting class rank vs. SP+ performance — where coaches add or subtract value

Above line = coaching premium

Below line = underperforming

Gap = recruiting rank minus SP+ rank

Positive gap means the coaching staff won more than the recruiting class predicted. Data: American Athletic teams, 14 programs.

Standings

2026 season, in progress — sorted by power rating. The tag beside a team is its long-run program standing.

#	Team	Record	Power	Resume
1	UTSA National Program II#53	7-1	+24.5	+97.6
2	Memphis National Program II#50	7-2	+21.8	+92.8
3	North Texas Regional Program III#98	6-2	+20.9	+96.0
4	Army Regional Program I#79	5-3	+20.6	+55.8
5	South Florida National Program III#67	6-2	+20.2	+88.6
6	Navy Regional Program I#72	2-6	+18.6	+63.3
7	UAB Regional Program III#102	4-4	+18.5	+35.5
8	Tulane National Program III#63	4-4	+17.8	+78.6
9	East Carolina Regional Program I#86	4-4	+17.7	+66.7
10	Tulsa Regional Program III#104	4-4	+17.3	+70.0
11	Temple Regional Program IV#113	2-6	+15.0	+61.2
12	Florida Atlantic Regional Program IV#106	5-3	+14.6	+85.5
13	Rice Regional Program V#129	1-7	+12.4	+82.5
14	Charlotte Regional Program V#131	1-7	+9.7	+66.9

Projected standings · American Athletic · 2026

Win projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. Avg = expected wins; W-L = most-likely record.

#	Team	W-L	Pwr	Avg	≥8	≥7	≥6	≥5	≥4	≥3	≥2	≥1
Favorites
1	UTSA	5-3	+6.7	5.3	3	18	45	72	90	98	✓	✓
2	Memphis	5-3	+3.9	4.8	2	10	32	60	83	95	99	✓
3	North Texas	5-3	+3.1	4.7	1	9	29	58	83	95	99	✓
Challengers
4	Army	5-3	+2.8	4.6	1	8	27	55	80	94	99	✓
5	South Florida	4-4	+2.4	4.3	1	5	19	43	71	90	98	✓
6	Navy	4-4	+0.8	4.2		4	17	41	68	89	98	✓
7	UAB	4-4	+0.7	4.0		3	13	35	63	86	97	✓
The field
8	East Carolina	4-4	−0.1	4.2		4	17	42	70	89	98	✓
9	Tulsa	4-4	−0.5	4.0		3	13	35	63	86	97	✓
10	Tulane	4-4	−0.1	3.9		3	12	33	60	84	96	✓
11	Temple	3-5	−2.9	3.5		1	7	24	51	78	94	99
Rebuilding
12	Florida Atlantic	3-5	−3.2	3.2		1	5	17	40	69	90	98
13	Rice	3-5	−5.4	2.9			3	12	32	60	85	97
14	Charlotte	2-6	−8.1	2.4			1	6	20	46	76	95

How they play

Six advanced-stat dimensions per team, ranked against all 134 FBS programs, 2026 season. Every column reads higher-is-better. Click a column to sort.

ScoringConvertsBig playsDefensePacePass rate

Team	Scoring	Converts	Big plays	Defense	Pace	Pass rate	Identity
UTSA	+0.22	46.5%	+1.15	−0.12	67.2	45.9%	No explosive plays
Memphis	+0.24	49.2%	+1.29	−0.08	71.3	42.1%	Efficient offense
North Texas	+0.34	49.9%	+1.37	−0.09	71.9	50.4%	Efficient offense
Army	+0.31	50.1%	+1.15	−0.24	64.5	16.5%	Efficient offense
South Florida	+0.11	45.6%	+1.03	−0.03	58.9	41.4%	Grind-it-out
Navy	+0.20	46.5%	+1.22	−0.20	65.1	18.4%	Defense is the problem
UAB	+0.02	39.5%	+1.23	−0.04	66.2	37.7%	Balanced
Tulane	+0.11	35.0%	+1.51	−0.13	61.4	47.9%	Big-play offense
East Carolina	+0.02	37.9%	+1.22	+0.01	68.1	45.0%	Can't sustain drives
Tulsa	+0.18	40.6%	+1.27	−0.09	65.2	48.9%	Balanced
Temple	+0.16	42.8%	+1.24	−0.18	57.5	37.0%	Grind-it-out
Florida Atlantic	+0.21	45.8%	+1.26	−0.28	77.4	54.4%	High-tempo
Rice	+0.02	39.7%	+1.24	−0.16	62.0	20.2%	Balanced
Charlotte	−0.04	35.4%	+1.15	−0.26	60.5	49.6%	Defense is the problem

Identity is the single dimension where a team is most above or below the FBS average (pace, defense, big plays, or converting drives) — "Balanced" means nothing stands out either way. CFBD 2026 advanced stats, excludes garbage time.

Top players

American Athletic's highest CFB Zeitgeist Scores, 2026 season so far.

#	Player	Team	National
1	Michael Van Buren Jr.QB	South Florida	#1 of 145
2	Jahiem WhiteRB	North Texas	#1 of 331
3	Easton MesserWR	Florida Atlantic	#4 of 469
4	Marlin DeanLB	UAB	#8 of 570
5	Jo PierceS	UAB	#7 of 539
6	Justin StevensonWR	North Texas	#11 of 469
7	Kelby ValsinWR	Florida Atlantic	#13 of 469
8	Dillon StowersIDL	Army	#14 of 304
9	Kevin AdamsS	Tulane	#15 of 539
10	Jaylin CarterRB	Memphis	#11 of 331

Where American Athletic stands nationally

Conference strength, as a round-robin adjusted power rating.

1 SEC SEC

+24.4

2 B10 Big Ten

+23.3

3 IND FBS Independents

+21.7

4 B12 Big 12

+21.5

5 P12 Pac-12

+20.8

6 ACC ACC

+20.5

7 AAC American Athletic

+18.3

8 SB Sun Belt

+17.3

9 MW Mountain West

+16.5

10 CUSA Conference USA

+16.4

American Athletic title odds

Best available American odds · sportsbook consensus.

#	Team	Odds
1	UTSA	+175
2	North Texas	+175
3	Memphis	+250
4	Navy	+325
5	East Carolina	+710
6	South Florida	+800
7	Army	+830
8	Tulane	+1150
9	Tulsa	+1750
10	Florida Atlantic	+2300