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Conference play in The American moved through another week and there is quite a surprise three-way tie for first between Houston, Louisville and South Florida. All three teams are 2-0 in conference play and UCF, which was off this week, is the only other undefeated team in American play at 1-0. Temple, by contrast, was the first team to fall to 0-3 in league play. What did we learn? Defense is still the underrated strong suit of the league as it was in the old Big East days.
#8 Louisville 24, Rutgers 10: Louisville led the whole way in this one. After taking a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, the Cardinals surrendered 10 straight points to make it interesting. Rutgers only gave up the insurance touchdown with 2:27 left to play in the game. The game was filled with mistakes: three turnovers by Louisville and four interceptions by Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova (including on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter). Rutgers' four-game winning streak was snapped in the loss.
Houston 25, Memphis 15: Weather delays seemed to help Houston in their comeback victory. There was also a sense of inevitability about the turnaround when the Tigers couldn't find a way to get the ball into the endzone. Memphis' upset bid was plagued by four fumbles lost against the nation's leader in turnover margin. Houston has now forced multiple turnovers in 13 straight games. The Cougars went ahead for good on a late third quarter touchdown punctuated by this wild but successful two-point conversion.
USF 13, UConn 10: Call it a pillow fight if you want, but all of a sudden the South Florida Bulls are 2-4 and 2-0 in the AAC. The winning formula for USF? Non-offensive touchdowns. For the second game in a row, the Bulls didn't have any offense but didn't need it either. USF's Aaron Lynch scored the only touchdown of the game for the Bulls after recovering a Tim Boyle fumble and returning it 44 yards. UConn fell to 0-5 on the season and wasted a 164-yard, 8.2 yard per carry rushing performance by Lyle McCombs by completing just 15-of-43 passes.
Cincinnati 38, Temple 20: Winless Temple was only down 28-20 at halftime before running out of steam in the second half. Brendon Kay was very efficient for the Bearcats in the win, going 31-of-37 passing for 270 yards and two touchdowns. Kay also had 18 yards rushing and a touchdown in the game. Cincinnati is now 1-1 in AAC play and Temple dropped to 0-6 this season.
Player of the Week: Calvin Pryor, Safety, Louisville: Pryor recorded 14 tackles (11 solo), 1 tackle for loss and had an interception in the 24-10 victory over Rutgers.
