AAC expert picks 2023: Projected order of finish, bold predictions, championship favorites

rewrite this content material with complete duration and stay HTML tags The 2023 season marks the crack of dawn of a brand new technology for the AAC because the previous guard of Cincinnati, Houston and UCF have departed for the Big 12, making means for a bunch of six additions headlined by means of name contender UTSA. The Roadrunners are coming off back-to-back Conference USA titles and can glance to stay their championship streak rolling of their new house in opposition to a bunch of returning AAC squads with the highlight on reigning champion No. 24 Tulane. The Green Wave program revel in historical highs ultimate season, completing 12-2 with a Cotton Bowl victory over USC after defeating UCF within the AAC Championship Game. After flirting with Georgia Tech, trainer Willie Fritz is again along side famous person quarterback Michael Pratt to verify Tulane will probably be a sound contender to copy atop the convention. Elsewhere, the AAC options a number of new coaches having a look to ascertain their methods within the made over convention. Among the headliners is Tom Herman at FAU as the previous Texas trainer returns to the league the place he first rose to prominence whilst main the Houston program. With former Texas and Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson highlighting a roster that incorporates a lot of returning manufacturing, the Owls may well be in line for severe development from ultimate season’s 5-7 mark. Our CBS Sports faculty soccer mavens are right here to offer their picks and predictions for the AAC forward of the 2023 season. Check all of them out underneath. Bold predictions Dennis Dodd: UTSA trainer Jeff Traylor will win 12 video games (once more), win a convention name (once more), all whilst using famous person quarterback Frank Harris to a New Year’s Six bowl. To make it symmetrical, the Roadrunners will beat protecting convention champ Tulane after which face 2021 AAC champ Cincinnati — now within the Big 12 — in that New Year’s Six recreation. Traylor will then leave to change into the following trainer at Texas A&M after Jimbo Fisher is fired following a 7-5 season.Tom Fornelli: SMU will win one of its two street video games in opposition to Oklahoma or TCU because the Mustangs will seem in a New Year’s Six bowl.Chip Patterson: Tulane takes down Ole Miss en path to every other New Year’s Six look. If we depend the AAC’s exes as Power Five groups, Tulane went 5-1 in opposition to Power Five festival in 2022, together with an early season win in opposition to eventual Big 12 champion Kansas State and the epic comeback victory within the Cotton Bowl in opposition to USC to near the 12 months. The arrival of Ole Miss in New Orleans items a superb opportunity for Tulane to as soon as once more solidify its spot within the chase for a NY6 bid with a Power Five victory at the resume. I feel Pratt and the reigning AAC champs move back-to-back. Barrett Sallee: The Mustangs will experience a remarkably simple convention agenda into the AAC Championship Game with a possibility to earn a New Year’s Six bid. A rematch with Memphis two weeks after their regular-season matchup will probably be a tall order, however they’re going to get the activity achieved and make a significant bowl recreation for the primary time since receiving the Death Penalty.Shehan Jeyarajah: UAB was once a constant contender in Conference USA, however that adjustments this season with a brand new trainer and convention shift. The Blazers will fight mightily beneath Trent Dilfer throughout his first 12 months as a school trainer at any degree and end underneath .500 for the primary time since 2013. David Cobb: Herman can have fast good fortune at FAU as he’s taking over an Owls group that returns key gamers around the box. He additionally landed former Texas and Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson, who will have to be one of the highest Group of Five signal-callers. Look for FAU to knock off both UTSA or Tulane, if no longer each, on its solution to an look within the AAC name recreation.Jerry Palm: The AAC’s streak of six consecutive years representing the Group of Five in a New Year’s Six will come to an finish. Tulane will end the season inside the most sensible 25 of the College Football Playoff Rankings however finally end up at the back of Boise State from the Mountain West.Will Backus: The AAC has a group that flirts with the College Football Playoff. Based on agenda, Tulane is the possibly candidate. A Week 2 showdown in opposition to Ole Miss seems like the one recreation wherein the Green Wave might not be preferred, and a signature win there may just imply a 12-0 steady season.  AAC predicted order of end AAC champion SMU: It’d be surprising if the Mustangs are not making the convention championship recreation taking into account how navigable their convention agenda is. Once there, all a group wishes is 60 just right mins to hoist the trophy. They’re a lot more succesful of simply claiming a convention crown, even though. Coach Rhett Lashlee has achieved an amazing activity turning that offense right into a power; he changed into a portal device within the offseason. Preston Stone, the highest-ranked quarterback in SMU historical past, will step in and change into a celeb thank you partly to a loaded receiving corps. Simply put, SMU is constructed to win shootouts, which performs smartly within the AAC. — Sallee (Fornelli) Tulane: Fritz’s construct at Tulane will have peaked in 2022, however ultimate season’s good fortune additionally established a brand new same old that masses of other folks in and across the program are dedicated to keeping up. Fritz and Pratt gained Power Five pastime over the offseason however selected to stay with the Green Wave. The reshuffled AAC has left Tulane on a tier on its own on the most sensible. This is a bowl group, at a minimal, in any convention within the nation. In this convention, alternatively, it is a very easy championship pick out. — Patterson (Palm, Backus) UTSA: Traylor, getting into his fourth 12 months, has temporarily constructed a Group of Five energy at UTSA as this system comes off consecutive Conference USA titles. Though transferring to the AAC brings an uptick in festival, the Roadrunners are able. Harris is again for his 7th season after throwing for over 4,000 yards in 2022, and the defensive entrance may well be the AAC’s perfect. Trips to FAU and Tulane will probably be tricky, however UTSA will have to be preferred in its different six league video games. Look out for the Roadrunners in September, as smartly. Nonconference video games at Houston and Tennessee are very best alternatives for them to show some heads main into league play. — Cobb (Jeyarajah, Dodd) 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