New American Frontier - Way To Early Opening Week Spreads

Yes, I know it's a little to early for football spreads but it's a slow week and I want content for the blog.  I didn't say anything about quality right now...there will be time enough for that as we get closer to football season.

Courtesy of Jim and Sherri's Home Page (a less than inspiring website name), comes the document containing odds for the opening weekend of college football.  I couldn't find it on the website when I looked for an actual link.  I took it from C-USA message board over at NCAABBS.  I told you I scour message boards for AAC news....I'm AAC news starved.

For opening week, listed below are the AAC spreads:

• Vanderbilt (-17) vs. Temple
• Brigham Young (-11.5) @ Connecticut
• Ohio State (-9.5) vs. Navy (I included Navy as a future member)
• Central Florida (-4) vs. Penn State
• Houston (-12.5) vs. Texas-San Antonio
• Tulsa (-10) vs. Tulane
• Baylor (-23.5) vs. Southern Methodist

Only one conference game on the opening weekend with Tulsa and Tulane playing their first game as AAC teams.  Tulane beat Tulsa 14-7 in New Orleans last season.  Interesting to see Tulsa is a ten point favorite this year considering Tulsa was really bad last year and Tulane is on the upswing.

There is real opportunity for AAC teams to make some noise opening weekend.  Unfortunately I don't see any upsets happening week one.  You can't say AAC teams don't back down from a challenge with Vandy, BYU, Ohio St, Penn St. and Baylor on the first week. 

If I were a betting man, on this slate, I'd take Vandy, BYU, Ohio St., UCF, UH, Tulane and Baylor.

New American Frontier - Tulane to Big 12, SB Nation AAC Count Up, Orlando Sentinel Count Up, Houston vs Central Florda baseball, AAC Blogs

Tulane to Big 12
I came across an interesting blog entry on the College Expansion blog I follow.  Under the entry titled Neaux Tigers, blogger kclifton makes out a very hypothetical situation where LSU leaves the SEC for the Big 12.  kclifton even states it is a highly unlikely scenario.

LSU feels slighted that the SEC will establish permanent cross division games.  LSU is stuck with Florida.  LSU's AD Joe Alleva feels that set up is unfair and biased.

Alleva has a valid point.  To be fair, the SEC, like other conferences, should rotate cross division games.  It makes no sense to tie two teams together.  It already happens with in division.  Mix up the competition with the other division. 

How does this relate the AAC?  In the article, kclifton writes that the Big 12 should go ahead and sweep up Tulane also just to lock up the state of Louisiana.  In case he hasn't notice, LSU has the state of Louisiana locked already.  They don't fear Tulane. Nor should they.

SB Nation Count Up

SB Nation continues its count up of college football by conference.  Right now they are on the AAC.  So far previewed are

• UConn
• South Florida
• East Carolina
• Temple
• SMU
• Tulane
• Memphis

Orlando Sentinel Count Up

The Orlando Sentinel does a count up ranking all FBS teams from 128-1.  Currently the count is on #120 Purdue.  So far only one AAC team has cracked the list:

• #116 South Florida

AAC Baseball - #18 Central Florida @ #13 Houston

Another big series in AAC baseball as Houston hosts UCF for a three game series.  The Coogs were a top ten team flirting with a national seed but a sweep at the hands of Louisville and a few losses along the way have brought down the Cougars.  Houston is still looking at hosting regional and a win in this series will go a long way in bolstering their chances.

 

UCF comes in leading the AAC standings and as the hottest team, in my opinion, in the Conference. 

 

AAC Blogs

One of the reasons I started the New American Frontier blog is that I'm AAC news starved.  ESPN.com gave pretty good coverage of Big East football in its College Football Nation Big East blog.  With the death of Big East football, ESPN let coverage of the remaining teams die.  Gone were correspondents dedicated to AAC football or the lunch time links. 

 

Aside from ESPN, SB Nation had a pretty active Big East page called Big East Coast Bias.  Obviously it is no longer covering the remnants of Big East football or the additions.

 

So I've been scouring the web for dedicated AAC coverage. Right now about my only good source for gathering AAC news is on various message boards.  I finally book marked several message boards dedicated to either the conference or schools.  My hope is to go through them and when I find links and news, to post here.

 

Eventually I'd love to have more people from other schools involved to write articles, previews and opinion pieces.  My dream is to get coverage on SB Nation and have a place where all AAC fans can congregate for news and opinions.

 

While not on the level of ESPN or SB Nation for resources, the one consistent blog for AAC coverage I enjoy is from The Best College Sports Network aka BCSNN.  BCSNN's AAC Blog is actually updated unlike other websites that contain a dedicated AAC blog.  It is run by C. Austin Cox and he appears to enjoy covering the AAC.  He's also quiet witty and funny.  The blog is worth a follow.

 

Another good follow is Sean OLeary over at Quora.  While not a dedicated AAC blog, OLeary is a UConn fan, I believe he is, and a general supporter of the AAC.  He also writes good insightful articles on other sports too.  He writes good opinions supported by facts. I enjoy his works.

 

Signing off for the night...

CoogR4Life

#AmericanRising