Underdog Dynasty, for The American, Conference USA, Sun Belt, and Independent football fans
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After finishing 10-3 and No. 22 in the country, Houston returns head coach Willie Fritz, all three coordinators, and 12 primary starters including quarterback Conner Weigman and All-Big 12 selections Amare Thomas and Will James. Despite all the continuity, one significant vacancy remains. In 2025, tight end Tanner Koziol was indispensible to Houston’s offense. The […]
No conference has turned over more than Conference USA. Fourteen years ago, the league featured the likes of Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, and UCF. Now, the conference’s longest tenured members are FIU and Middle Tennessee, which joined in 2013. Exactly half of the 10 members were added from the FCS since 2022, but those additions […]
The American Conference landed three teams in the final AP Poll of 2025. Tulane was ranked No. 18, Navy landed at No. 23, and North Texas followed at No. 24. However, that doesn’t mean the conference enters 2026 with a similar level of respect. For the third-straight season, zero American teams make an appearance in […]
For the second-straight year, SMU is ranked prior to its opening kickoff. The Mustangs garnered a ranking of No. 19 in the preseason AP Top 25. It’s the second time since 1985 they’ve started a season in the AP Poll. Last August, SMU ended a 37-year drought with an appearance at No. 16 in the […]
For the first time as members of the Big 12 Conference, the Houston Cougars enter a season with a number beside their name. Houston checked in at No. 23 in the preseason AP Top 25. It’s the program’s first preseason ranking since starting No. 24 in 2022 and highest preseason ranking since 2016, when it […]
It was 5 p.m. on a Friday back in 2006, 10 degrees below zero, and Tim Polasek was just getting off work when his old yellow Nokia cell phone rang. The screen barely worked, though well enough for a few games of Snake, and Polasek had just finished another day at his logging job, operating […]
Several years ago, the SMU Mustangs were the scrappy underdogs, foregoing nine years of ACC media rights revenue just for a chance to compete in the conference. Now, the Mustangs are an established power in the league. In its ACC debut in 2024, SMU seamlessly handled the competition. It finished 8-0 in league play, qualified […]
When you play for the Marshall Thundering Herd, honoring “The 75” becomes a part of your identity. On Nov. 14, 1970, following a 17-14 road loss to East Carolina, 75 individuals — primarily Marshall football players, coaches, staff, and boosters — boarded Southern Airways Flight 932. The commercial aircraft crashed into a hill, and all […]
Football is back. It may have just been the preseason but helmets were cracking and pads were popping around the NFL last weekend as pro football’s most intense, three-week tryouts officially got underway. Several young players are clawing for spots and we are just a few short weeks away from when the bell rings and […]
Fall camp is officially underway in South Main. The Rice Owls are three weeks away from their 2026 home opener against FCS opponent Houston Christian, gearing up for year two under head coach Scott Abell. Here are several developments from the Owls’ fall camp practices: ‘Slot’ position One position unique to Scott Abell’s gun choice […]
