2013 American Athletic Conference football: Advanced previews, team by team

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

Each year when the preseason polls are released, we find some variation of the same post: Which teams are most constantly overrated in the polls, and which are underrated? For a long time, Florida State was the king of over-estimation; the Seminoles started sixth in 2001 and finished 15th, started third in 2002 and finished 21st, started fifth in 2004 and finished 15th. It goes on, of course: from 14th to 23rd in 2005, from 11th to unranked in 2006, from 19th to unranked in 2007, and from 18th to unranked in 2009, Bobby Bowden’s final season.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

I’ve probably written it a thousand times by now: No matter how well-researched and logical you are in your decision-making process, changing coaches is a complete and total crapshoot. Sometimes a good-looking choice is done in by a few injuries and a scorned booster. Sometimes a hire that ignited disapproving fans ends up maneuvering through a wonderful tenure.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

Over the course of the 2013 preview series (123 down, two to go!), I’ve predictably come across a few themes to revisit from time to time. One is the battle for the title of Most Perfectly Average Program.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

In terms of on-field merit, Rutgers’ hire of Kyle Flood following former head coach Greg Schiano’s move to the NFL seemed a bit off-putting. Rutgers had one of the least successful lines in the 2011, and Flood was the line coach. He had been offensive co-coordinator in 2009-10 but didn’t hold that title anymore, and his line was regressing quite a bit.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

In this sense, you’re welcome, SMU, because I’m doubting you again in 2013. I like the talent in the pipeline, and despite the fact that June Jones just turned 60, I like the way this team could take shape in the future. But the receiving corps isn’t good enough to do what it needs to do, the offensive line is now incredibly young, and the defensive front seven has to replace quite a few of the reasons for SMU’s recent defensive success. This feels like a team in transition, one that could struggle to reach bowl eligibility before starting a decent run in 2014 or 2015.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

I guess I’ve repeated myself a few times this offseason.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

It isn’t very pretty. The school colors are basically black, white, and drab. The team plays in a stadium that is both a) in Orlando and b) impressive but sterile in a hasn’t-been-broken-in-yet kind of way. The offense has become consistently decent, the defense consistently slightly-better-than-decent. Recruiting is neither amazing nor terrible, really. And the coach, most known for fudging a résumé, has basically figured out how to win a lot of games by being reasonably good at a lot of things. No innovation, no high-flying offense, no experimental defense, just decent, athletic, hard-hitting football that has, with some setbacks, trended upward for a while now.

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

In 1990, before SEC and Big Ten expansion, and long before the conference realignment and super-conference drama of the 2010s, Raycom Sports proposed the nation’s first super conference. With independents still littered throughout the college football landscape, Raycom-based authors, including current CEO Ken Haines, published “Developing the Super Conference,” a 240-page proposal that would have changed college football in a way that seems relatively familiar now. The Metro Conference, then basketball-focused, featured eight teams: Cincinnati, Florida State, Louisville, Memphis (then Memphis State), South Carolina, Southern Miss, Tulane, and Virginia Tech. The proposal was to bring in schools that would give Raycom and the Metro a presence in nearly every available Eastern metropolitan area: Boston College, East Carolina, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, and West Virginia. If UCF and USF had existing football programs in 1990, they might have been part of the proposal as well. And if the SWC had already dissolved, as it would a few years later, SMU and Houston might have been in the plans as well.