The Army Black Knights stunned the football world by winning the American Athletic Conference at the first attempt, but can they repeat their success this season? It might be time for another service academy to shine, as our 2025 AAC Power Rankings reveal.
14) Tulsa Golden Hurricane
After tying the program’s worst American Athletic Conference record (1-7) and compiling a 7-16 overall record, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane cut bait with Kevin Wilson. He’ll be replaced by former East Tennessee State head coach Tre Lamb, who led the team to their first winning record since 2021 in his only season in charge.
Lamb added Brad Robbins to his coaching staff, fresh off a season where he extracted the maximum out of UConn Huskies quarterback Joe Fagnano. The duo will have their work cut out for them establishing an offensive identity with an o-line lacking experience. However, they made some portal moves to remedy a defense that ranked 133rd in the country for points allowed a year ago.
13) UAB Blazers
Once a consistent challenger at the forefront of Group of Five football, the UAB Blazers have had a rough go of it in the past two seasons, with their three-win 2024 campaign the worst overall record since 2013. The transition to the AAC from CUSA hasn’t been smooth, and head coach Trent Dilfer is regularly the subject of hot-seat coaching conversation around the sport’s media landscape.
Dilfer turned to the transfer portal and two-time Super Bowl champion Steve Russ (defensive coordinator) to try to overhaul a defense that allowed 34.2 points per game (120th) last fall.
A Week 2 matchup against Navy will be an early test of how successful those changes have been. They added talented Group of Five playmakers, and some offensive additions have Power Four experience, but UAB’s offense will still go through Jalen Kitna, which might be a problem.
12) Temple Owls
Through two different head coaches, the Temple Owls have failed to register more than three wins in a season since 2019. The program cut bait with Stan Drayton before the end of the 2024 campaign, and turned to legendary FCS head coach and former Sam Houston Bearkats leader K.C. Keeler in an attempt to return the team to the highs of the mid-2010s Matt Rhule era.
Keeler is absolutely the man to get the job done. However, it could take a year to get the program turned around and competitive.
He added some experience and productivity on both sides of the ball, with running back Jay Ducker an upgrade on anything the Owls had offensively last year. Avoiding Memphis on the schedule is a bonus, but Temple still faces Tulane, Navy, and a strong East Carolina outfit.
11) Charlotte 49ers
Tim Albin made the Ohio Bobcats one of the top Group of Five teams in the country and will now look to repeat that standard with a Charlotte 49ers team that didn’t quite get it right with Biff Poggi. While expectations will be high amid the excitement of his hire, Albin has his work cut out for him with the 49ers, and it’s worth noting that his first year with Ohio ended in a 3-9 campaign.
A similar road map to turning the program around might be Charlotte’s ceiling this fall. The 49ers’ out-of-conference slate is rough (North Carolina and Georgia), while their AAC schedule features road trips to Tulane, East Carolina, and Army. The 49ers have very little returning production, and their portal moves to date feature players with promise who have yet to prove anything at the collegiate level.
10) Rice Owls
After seven seasons in charge of the Rice Owls, Mike Bloomgren left the program to be replaced by Scott Abell. The former Davidson Wildcats HC compiled an impressive record in the FCS, transforming a program that hadn’t won more than two games in a season since 2011 into a regular in the FCS playoffs, leaning on a strong ground game to have consistently dangerous offenses.
While a celebrated hire, Abell is inexperienced at the FBS level. Meanwhile, running back Dean Connors, arguably Rice’s top player for the past two seasons, is gone, as are starting quarterback E.J. Warner and several important offensive linemen. Abell hasn’t added much from the transfer portal and faces stern tests on the road at Louisiana, Navy, and UTSA, with Memphis at home on Halloween.
9) Florida Atlantic Owls
Tom Herman didn’t even last two seasons in Boca Raton before being replaced, and the capture of Zach Kittley as the new head coach is certainly a tick in the offseason plus column for the Florida Atlantic Owls. The highly regarded former OC has been around some of the more high-powered units in recent college football history, returning some excitement to the AAC outfit.
Kittley grabbed former Western Kentucky quarterback Caden Veltkamp out of the transfer portal, a passer more than capable of powering his new head coach’s offense. However, just one offensive lineman played over 400 snaps last fall, they lost star running back CJ Campbell Jr., and the Owls’ schedule features Navy, Tulane, and Memphis, which could hamstring any chance of Year 1 success.
8) USF Bulls
Alex Golesh is one of the top offensive minds at the Group of Five level, and he’s guided the USF Bulls to consecutive 7-6 seasons. However, with an out-of-conference schedule that features Boise State, Florida, and Miami, and AAC road games at North Texas, Memphis, and Navy, South Florida could be facing the legitimate possibility of sliding back beneath .500 for the first time in his tenure.
Returning five offensive linemen with over 500 snaps from last season helps bring consistency where it’s needed most. Mac Harris is back to help lead the defense, and incoming transfer Boogsie Silvera knows how to be disruptive. All those elements are important, but the direction and success of the season may rest with the health of quarterback Byrum Brown, one of the AAC’s most electric talents.
7) UTSA Roadrunners
Jeff Traylor was a hot coaching name in the past two hiring cycles after leading the UTSA Roadrunners to unprecedented glory from 2021 to 2023. The program kept hold of the coveted coach, but 2024 didn’t yield the expected results. It’s not a wise man to rule out any outfit led by Traylor, who has harnessed the power of the San Antonio community, but 2025 could be another rough year.
On the plus side, quarterback Owen McCown might not be Frank Harris, but he showcased the ability to take a game by the scruff of the neck in his first full year as the starter. With the experiences of last year behind him, McCown could become one of the better passers at the Group of Five level. The defense, however, lacks the elite playmakers that have powered previous winning UTSA teams.
6) North Texas Mean Green
The North Texas Mean Green lost their starting quarterback (Morris), leading rusher (Shane Porter), and star wide receiver (DT Sheffield) this offseason, severely handicapping an offense that averaged 33.5 points as the 23rd-ranked scoring unit in the country. It’s not often that you lose that amount of talent without taking a step back, and that factors into the ranking here.
There is some excitement around Drew Mestemaker after his bowl game performance, and incoming pass catcher Simeon Evans is undoubtedly talented. Head coach Eric Morris made it a priority this offseason to address a defense that hemorrhaged points and lost top cornerback Ridge Texada, adding six DBs from the portal. Avoiding Memphis and Tulane on the schedule might be the most important factor in defining what success looks like.
5) East Carolina Pirates
Watch out for the East Carolina Pirates, arguably the Group of Five’s form team after a commanding end to the season. After ditching Mike Houston for Blake Harrell, the Pirates went 5-1 down the stretch, losing only to Navy and beating NC State in an ugly rivalry game. In a rare turn of events, they’ll face their in-state nemesis to open a campaign that could see them compete for an AAC title.
East Carolina’s 2024 fortunes turned with Katin Houser securing full-time starting QB duties. He returns as one of the best quarterbacks in the AAC.
A velocity-generator with alluring tight-window capability, Houser welcomes back his top target from last fall. Losing Zakye Barker hurts the defense, but safety Ja’Marley Riddle is a stud who impacts the game in multiple facets.
4) Army Black Knights
The 2024 Army Black Knights made program history. A first-ever 12-win season produced a conference championship at the first time of asking in the AAC, a feat they never managed to get even close to during their brief sojourn from independence to CUSA.
Jeff Monken’s team combined dominant offensive line play with ferocious defense and an unstoppable dual-threat to be a devastating force.
Success like that is difficult for service academies to maintain, with players leaving to fulfill military obligations and those standards handicapping recruitment and portal acquisition. With a good chunk of the 2024 team gone, including Bryson Daily, a drop from their final College Football Playoff ranking is to be expected. Yet, you can never rule out a Monken-led team.
3) Memphis Tigers
The Memphis Tigers recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time in program history last fall. But with defeats to UTSA and Navy, they came up short of an appearance in the AAC Championship Game.
MORE: 2025 College Football Power Rankings
Although they finished ranked in the final AP Poll Top 25, Memphis will be almost unrecognizable from that team when the 2025 season starts. Former Nevada dual-threat quarterback Lewis will be tasked with replacing Seth Henigan under center, while linebacker Drue Watts headlines the defensive additions. As many as 15 transfer portal acquisitions could be Day 1 starters this fall.
2) Tulane Green Wave
By the recent standards of excellence that they’ve set for themselves, the 2024 campaign was disappointing for the Tulane Green Wave, especially losing the final three games of the season, which included the AAC Championship Game blowout against Army. Jon Sumrall’s team was still a top-25 unit in both points scored (16th) and points allowed (24th), and that potency should translate into the 2025 season.
With Mensah gone, the biggest question hanging over the Green Wave is at the quarterback position. However, anyone who watched Ball State last fall will know that incoming passer Kadin Semonza can sling it. The former Cardinal is part of a deep transfer portal class that can help carry Tulane through an AAC schedule that has a Nov. 7 trip to face the Memphis Tigers as its make-or-break.
1) Navy Midshipmen
A stellar season from the Navy Midshipmen in Year 2 under Brian Newberry saw the program hit double-digit wins for the first time since 2019 and end a five-year bowl game drought.
While part of a strong offensive line graduated this offseason while Rayuan Lane III and Colin Ramos earned NFL opportunities, there should be no drop-off in expectations for the AAC program in the 2025 campaign.
That’s because of the return of dual-threat quarterback Blake Horvath, that rare Navy product who can actually throw the ball as well as traditional passers while being virtually unmatched on the ground.
Eli Heidenreich and Alex Tecza are also back to run amok. There’s some change on defense, but Landon Robinson is the lynchpin at the heart of the line, and the rare athlete is set for big things this fall.
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