The AAC East is Still Anyones Race

Optional...

The AAC East is shaping up to be a good one as the last 6 weeks of college football will come to a close.  The east race may seem like a two team race, but I still think these four teams still have a shot.  If someone can come out of conference play with just two losses I do think they will advance out of the east and into the Conference Championship game.  By the way there is still a lot of football left and it ids way too early to being doing this, but this may make the picture a little more clear.

South Florida (6-2, 3-1):  The Bulls are probably the favorite to come out of the East.  USF is coming off of a loss to the 2nd place Temple Owls which was USF's first conference loss.  The issue for USF is they will host #24 Navy and then go to Memphis in their next two games. They will probably be underdogs in both of these games.  Then they will go to SMU, who just crushed #11 Houston.  In their final game the Bulls will host Central Florida.  Like I said, if anyone can survive with just two losses then they will represent the East in the AAC Championship. So if USF can go 3-1 then they would most likely win the conference at 6-2. HOW THEY CAN WIN:  If South Florida wins out they would need at least one Temple loss.

Temple (5-3, 3-1): After a rough start to the season the Owls have turned it around in conference play.  In my opinion, Temple has the best chance of winning the East division.  They already have wins over South Florida and Central Florida which would give them the tiebreakers over those two.  Also, Temple has one of easiest schedules remaining.  They will play host to Cincinnati, travel to UConn and Tulane, then come home to play East Carolina.  I would think they would be favored in all remaining four of their games. HOW THEY CAN WIN:  Because of their win over Temple they control their won destiny. 

Central Florida (4-3, 2-1): A lot of still remains unknown off how good Central Florida is because they have only played three conference games so far and the two they have won are a combined 1-7 in conference play.  Temple was able to comeback and score with one second left to beat the Knights, but year one of Scott Frost has been a success.  Any way, Central Florida has a very tough schedule remaining, they will go to Houston and South Florida, plus they will host two good teams in Cincinnati and Tulsa.  They only easy game they have left on their schedule is Tulane and that is no guarantee win.  They will also have to make up their game against East Carolina that was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew.  HOW THEY CAN WIN:  Just like South Florida if they win out they would need at least one Temple loss.

Cincinnati (4-3, 1-3):  Despite starting 0-3 in conference, the Bearcats could still represent the East.  The good news is Cincinnati will still play Temple and Central Florida.  The Bearcats will also play Memphis and Tulsa in that stretch.  If the Bearcats could win their remaining conference games it is possible they could sneak into the Conference Championship game, which is possible with Gunner Kiel now at QB.  HOW THEY CAN WIN: They would need each of these teams to lose two more games and they would have the tiebreaker because of two wins over Central Florida and Temple.  It's a lot, but it could certainly happen.

TIEBREAKERS:  Head-to-head matchups would be the first tie breaker so as of right now, Temple controls their own destiny.  Then it would go to divisional winning percentage.