Welcome back, college sports fans, for the next episode (ominously number 666) of the GCR in which we will discuss the 7th most-challenged conference using our preseason strength of schedule (PS-SOS) metric. As a bonus random trivia, 666 is only the number of the beast in Revelation because of language. In Hebrew, letters are also numbers which gives every person a name and a number, if one looks at one’s name that way. Nero, who was awful to early Christians, was dead by the time Revelation was written, but still brought fear, and the author used him as the antichrist figure. Nero is worth 616 in Hebrew but is Neron in Greek which would be worth 666. Thanks to Dr Ramsey and Presbyterian College (go Blue Hose!) for teaching me this information- and he thought I wasn’t paying attention (ok, in fairness, my grades would have supported that thought).
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But this isn’t about trivia, this is about college football. So far, in our countdown of the 25 conferences in Division I (D1), we went through the FCS schools followed by the Mountain West (11th at a mean PS-SOS of 6.952), then the MAC (10th at 7.009), Conference USA (9th at 7.276), and the Sun Belt (8th at 7.310). As a reminder, the GCR does not have a preseason rating for the current year (everyone is tied for first at 0.000), so the PS-SOS is calculated by taking 2025’s Score metric and overlaying those numbers onto each team’s 2026 schedule. The Score metric, which is what we use to produce our weekly ranking, is made up of performance and strength of schedule factors. Those factors are earned throughout the season based on how each team performs on the field as well as how their opponents perform. The PS-SOS makes a flawed assumption that every team will simply repeat 2025’s results, which will not happen. But there is no system or person making preseason SOS or ranking predictions not based on some type of flawed assumptions.
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Specifically, today is about the 7th most-challenged conference, the 14-team American Athletic Conference (AAC). In the summer of major fluctuations, the AAC remained unchanged from last year when there was a 3-way tie for first at 7-1 in the conference (North Texas, Tulane, and Navy). One anomaly in conference scheduling is that both Army and Navy are in the conference, but the championship game is held the week before the traditional intra-academy bout. To manage this, the two service academies do not play each other in the “regular” season, and the December game is officially considered a non-conference game. That means that, if they should end up 1-2 in the standings, they could play each other for the conference title one weekend and then have The Game the next weekend. We keep waiting for that to happen. The other 12 teams will do everything they can to keep us disappointed in that regard. In the table below, (4) indicates a challenge against a Core 4 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame) squad, (G) indicates a non-conference game against a Group of 6 (AAC, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 12, Sun Belt, or UCONN) foe, (F) indicates a match against an FCS opponent, and (N) indicates a neutral site game. With no further ado, we are proud to present the 2026 American Athletic Conference with a mean PS-SOS of 7.676 and a mean ranking of 86.7 out of 266 teams.
| Team Conf Rank | Home Field | 2025 Record (Rank) | 2026 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Hardest | Easiest |
| Rice Owls (1) | Houston, TX | 5-8 (117) | 8.25 (65) | Houston Chr (F), W Michigan (G), UTSA, Tulsa, Tulane, Army | Notre Dame (4), Fresno St (G), East Carolina, FAU, North Texas ,Temple | at Notre Dame (13.69) | Houston Chr (1.52) |
| Tulane Owls (2) | New Orleans, LA | 11-3 (41) | 8.08 (71) | South Alabama (G), Southern Miss (G), Memphis, UTSA, Tulsa, North Texas | Duke (4), Kansas St (4), Army, Charlotte, Rice, South Florida | at Duke (11.44) | at Charlotte (4.36) |
| Charlotte 49ers (3) | Charlotte, NC | 1-11 (178) | 8.04 (72) | Citadel (F), Louisiana (G), Memphis, Tulane, East Carolina, Navy | Mississippi (4), App St (G), North Texas, Temple, UAB, Tulsa | at Mississippi (13.05) | Citadel (2.70) |
| Temple Owls (4) | Philadelphia, PA | 5-7 (103) | 7.97 (74) | Rhode Island (F), Penn St (4), Army, UCONN (G), Charlotte, UAB, Rice | Toledo (G), South Florida, East Carolina, Navy, Memphis | at South Florida (10.61) | Charlotte (3.80) |
| UTSA Roadrunners (5) | San Antonio, TX | 7-6 (72) | 7.88 (76) | Rio Grande (F), Colorado St (G), South Florida, Navy, North Texas, Tulsa | Texas St (G), Texas (4), Rice, Tulane, FAU, UAB | at Texas (12.11) | Rio Grande (4.42) |
| FAU Owls (6) | Boca Raton, FL | 4-8 (114) | 7.80 (79) | Navy, FIU (G), TX Southern (F), Rice, UTSA, South Florida | Florida (4), ULM (G), Army, North Texas, Tulsa, East Carolina | at North Texas (11.44) | TX Southern (3.00) |
| Memphis Tigers (7) | Memphis, TN | 8-5 (63) | 7.77 (82) | Arkansas St (G), UT Martin (F), UAB, East Carolina, Army, Temple | UNLV (G), Boise St (G), Charlotte, Tulane, South Florida, Navy | at South Florida (10.61) | UT Martin (2.66) |
| UAB Blazers (8) | Birmingham, AL | 4-8 (123) | 7.72 (86) | ULM (G), Navy, Samford (F), East Carolina, Charlotte, UTSA | Illinois (4), Louisiana (G), Memphis, South Florida, Temple, North Texas | at Illinois (11.59) | Charlotte (3.80) |
| North Texas Mean Green (9) | Denton, TX | 12-2 (27) | 7.64 (88) | UNLV (G), Houston Chr (F), Charlotte, FAU, Rice, UAB | Indiana (4), Texas St (4), Tulsa, Navy, UTSA, Tulane | at Indiana (15.18) | Houston Chr (1.52) |
| Army Black Knights (10) | West Point, NY | 7-6 (70) | 7.53 (92) | Bryant (F), South Florida, Tulane, FAU, Air Force (G), East Carolina | Temple, LA Tech (G), Tulsa, Memphis, Rice, Navy (NG) | vs Navy (9.74) | Bryant (2.22) |
| East Carolina Pirates (11) | Greenville, NC | 9-4 (50) | 7.51 (94) | App St (G), NC Central (F). Rice, Temple, South Florida, FAU | Alabama (4), Old Dominion (G), UAB, Memphis, Charlotte, Army | at Alabama (12.18) | NC Central (4.19) |
| Navy Midshipmen (12) | Annapolis, MD | 11-2 (43) | 7.38 (99) | Towson (F), Tulsa, North Texas, Temple, Memphis | FAU, UAB, Air Force (G), UTSA, Notre Dame (N4), Charlotte, Army (NG) | vsNotre Dame (12.79) | Towson (3.30) |
| South Florida Bulls (13) | Tampa, FL | 9-4 (40) | 7.31 (102) | FIU (G), Delaware St (F), Temple, Kent St (G), UAB, Memphis, Tulane | Army, Bowling Green (G), UTSA, East Carolina, FAU | at East Carolina (9.96) | Delaware St (3.86) |
| Tulsa Golden Hurricane (14) | Tulsa, OK | 4-8 (121) | 6.57 (134) | Oklahoma St (4), East Texas (F), North Texas, Army, FAU, Charlotte | Sam Houston (G), Arkansas (4), Navy, Rice, Tulane, UTSA | at Tulane (10.55) | East Texas (2.99) |
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That’s it for today. Tune in Wednesday for the 6th most-challenged team as we are getting closer to the end of the countdown and the beginning of the season (17 days). Thank you for reading (it’s why we do this), commenting and suggesting (it’s how we get better), and sharing with others (it’s how we continue to grow). Until next time, JoJo and G
The AAU appear to have a monopoly on Owls, having four teams with that mascot. Looking back at your excellent data analysis of FCS and FBS mascots, I see that there were only four total owl teams. Kennesaw State must have made the jump to the FCS after your analysis, and clearly they need to further advance to the AAU so that they will feel at home in a larger parliament (grouping of owls — had to look that up).
Side observation: Shouldn’t Tulsa be the Golden Tornado?