2026 College Football Preview Part XXI- American Conference

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Welcome Back!

Today I continue my conference previews. These previews will attempt to predict how each conference finishes, but realize that doing so is extremely difficult, especially since no conference has a balanced schedule. Also, whatever the conferences come up with in the form of tiebreakers will make a huge difference, as all but the Sun Belt have done away with divisions. In addition, these predictions aren't my personal opinion; they are the result of the formula/model/statistical analysis/whatever. I will sometimes mention my thoughts in the narratives below the predictions. Also, the formula for my predictions here is different than for my Power Rankings. In other words, for a particular conference, one team may appear higher than another team here, but be ranked behind that same team in the PR.

The list of records for 3-years, 6-years, and 10 years are conference records only, and do not include any results for the conference championship games. You will notice that the teams haven't all played the same number of games, especially when considering they should have. This is because that teams played a varied number of games in 2020, and that sometimes games get cancelled (see Virginia in 2022, for example). In the case of teams switching conferences, I counted the record from their previous conference. Independent teams joining a conference were counted with their full record (UMass last year), but FCS teams moving up enter with 0-0 records.

In case you are interested, I get all of my information from various sources. I use the 4 main preview magazines (Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon, and Sporting News), but I also use many different websites, including (but not limited to): Google, Winsipedia, sports-reference.com, ESPN.com, TeamRankings.com, NCAA.com, and, of course, individual school websites.

I don't have a staff- it's just me- so all of the research is my own from these various sources (it doesn't help when they contradict each other...), so any mistakes are mine. I also don't have an editor/proofreader, so you are likely to find several (many? I hope not) typos, such as commas where periods should be (or vice versa), a misspelled or missing word, doubled words ("the the" in the middle of a sentence, for example), etc. 

Finally, feel free to leave a comment. Interacting is much of the fun! Of course, if you know me personally, feel free to just text. I'll get that a lot quicker.

So, on with the previews!


American Conference


3-Year History


Tulane 22-2/.917/1st

Navy 17-7/.708/2nd

Memphis 16-8/.667/3rd

Army 18-10/.643/4th

UTSA 15-9/.625/5th

USF 14-10/.583/6th

North Texas 13-11/.542/7th

East Carolina 12-12/.500/8th

UAB 7-17/.412/9th

FAU 7-17/.412/9th

Rice 9-15/.375/11th

Charlotte 6-18/.250/12th

Temple 6-18/.250/12th

Tulsa 4-20/.167/14th


6-Year History


UTSA 35-12/.745/1st

Tulane 33-15/.688/2nd

Army 42-23/.646/3rd

Navy 27-20/.574/4th

UNT 27-20/.574/4th

Mem 27-21/.563/6th

ECU 24-24/.500/7th

UAB 20-24/.455/8th

FAU 18-28/.391/9th

Tulsa 18-28/.391/9th

Rice 17-28/.378/11th

USF 15-32/.319/12th

Char 13-31/.295/13th

Temple 9-38/.191/14th


10-Year History


Army 76-41/.650/1st

Mem 51-29/.638/2nd

UTSA 48-31/.608/3rd

Navy 47-32/.595/4th

UAB 39-29/.574/5th

UNT 45-34/.570/6th

Tulane 45-35/.563/7th

FAU 38-40/.487/8th

USF 33-46/.418/9th

Temple 32-47/.405/10th

Tulsa 29-49/.372/11th

ECU 29-51/.363/12th

Char 26-50/.342/13th

Rice 24-53/.308/14th


Predicted Finish:


  1. Navy

  2. UTSA

  3. Memphis

  4. Tulane

  5. ECU

  6. Army

  7. USF

  8. North Texas

  9. FAU

  10. Temple

  11. Tulsa

  12. UAB

  13. Rice

  14. Charlotte


Conference Champion: Navy


Chances to make the playoff: The American Conference (TAC) is basically in a competition with the Pac 12 and the Mountain West Conference, and whichever champion is better is the likely CFP participant. Tulane has games at Duke and at Kansas State, ECU plays atAlabama, UTSA plays at Texas, and Navy has their annual game against Notre Dame, this time in Foxborough. Whoever ends up winning the conference could be bolstered by an upset of a P4 team, and any other upsets the conference as a whole can pull would help their cause. And while Memphis doesn’t play a P4 team this year, they do play the possible (probable?) champions of both the Pac 12 and the MWC when they go on the road to play at UNLV and Boise State. I would give the AC a 50-60% chance of getting a team in the CFP.


Don’t be surprised if… Memphis, under new HC Charles Huff, gets into the CG. Huff got Marshall into the SBC CG in 2024, and took a 1-11 Southern Miss to 7-6 to the brink of making the SBC, losing out on the last weekend.


I’m not convinced… Charlotte is going to finish last. Tim Albin is a quality coach, and is now moving into his 2nd season. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 49ers make it to 5 wins, and maybe even 6 and a bowl.



Make sure you come back tomorrow as I continue my previews!


Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!  

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