We are barley removed from the 2017 season, and the 2018 season is still many months away, but it's never too soon to look ahead to see who I believe will be worth buying into or selling on next season. I continue by taking a look at the AAC:
Buy List
UCF: Scott Frost and his staff of wizards may be off to Nebraska, but not much should change under Josh Heupel, who shares many of the same philosophies with Frost. McKenzie Milton is back, as are a host of others, despite the loss of Shaq Griffin on defense. The Knights may not go unbeaten next season, but should start the season as a top 25 team with a head of steam behind them.
Memphis: Even with heavy losses, including Riley Ferguson, Anthony Johnson, Genard Avery, etc., the Tigers kept Mike Norvell as their head coach, and the future is strong with the Tigers. The system will provide.
Houston: 2017 was a letdown season for the Cougars, but now that Kyle Allen is not a lingering issue any longer, they know who they are and can move forward in that mold. Like everyone else in the AAC, they have significant losses, but they should have enough depth to hold strong.
Navy: The end of the 2017 regular season was a disaster, and losing to Army in back to back years is never acceptable. All of that said, I have to believe that Ken Niumatololo will be able to turn it all around and get Navy back to pushing for a division title in 2018.
SMU: Chad Morris is gone to Arkansas, but he built a solid foundation for Sonny Dykes to build upon in 2018. The offense, we know, will be fantastic, but will they have enough defense? At least the shootouts should be fun.
Tulane: I am a huge Willie Fritz guy, and Tulane showed serious signs of life in 2017. Tulane should have enough left over heading into 2018 to be this year's version of SMU, and should push their way into a bowl game as the development of the program seems to be coming around nicely.
Sell List
USF: I hate to knock the Bulls, but they under performed in 2017. Quentin Flowers is now gone at QB, and Charlie Strong has to come up with some answers cross the board. I just see the Bulls taking a rather sizable step back next fall until they can come up with an identity moving forward.
Temple: The reality is that the talent was not great in 2017. They get a few key pieces back in 2018 (Frank Nutile at QB), but they are seriously depleted in other areas, and there was not much depth last season.
East Carolina: Scottie Montgomery looks more and more like a massive mistake hire to me. East Carolina has been basically abysmal in his two seasons there, and these things don't suddenly snap to like magic when there has virtually been no change to make that happen.
Cincinnati: Luke Fickell had his hands full in trying to get the Bearcats to simply be competitive in 2017, and the program is not nearly there yet. He is probably 2 years away from achieving anything real here.
U Conn: Randy Edsell part 2 has not gone as planned. U Conn is still seriously devoid of any real talent on the offensive side of the football, and nearly lost to Holy Cross last season. I am selling hard on the Huskies once again.
Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane had a ton of talent that had been depleted from the roster coming into 2017, and so the record was not entirely shocking to me. The issue is that there is even more major talent falling off the books for 2018, and that bodes badly for Phillip Montgomery.
No comments:
Post a Comment