by Scott Rickenbach
Friday, Aug 04, 2023College Football 2023: American Conference Preview
It is early in the month of August 2023 and, as always at this time of year, excitement is building for the coming Football season. That includes NFL and College Football. Most every sports bettor is quite familiar with the NFL as it is certainly the most popular among sports betting markets. Additionally, when it comes to College Football, many sports bettors are quite familiar with the Power 5 Conferences.
The “Power 5” Conferences include the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Those major conferences in College Football along with the 32 teams in the NFL dominate the attention of most everyone this time of year and heading into the football season. That said, my focus heading into the new season is covering the “other 6” which is the “Group of 5” Conferences as well as the small group of Independents.
These less popular teams which comprise the “other” conferences absolutely deserve some attention and yet many sports bettors are the least familiar with these smaller conferences. That is even with the best value often being found where others just do not focus the attention. That said, I feel there is value in at least giving a “quick hitter” preview at these teams heading into the 2023 season.
AMERICAN CONFERENCE:
Charlotte – New head coach and that means it takes time to rebuild. Working in a lot of new transfers.
East Carolina – Trying to continue the momentum here but now shifting more to a ground attack. Lost some significant skill position players including at wide receiver. Ground game will be key here.
Florida Atlantic – Exciting times for the Owls as Tom Herman is now the head coach. FAU will see improvement but it will take time yet I do expect a bit of an immediate positive boost too.
Memphis – Losing some skill guys again yet this is such a dangerous offense and yet generally struggles defensively. Again looking for great spots with overs involving this Tigers team this season.
Navy – Opposite of Memphis. Might keep an eye on unders with this team. The Midshipmen now coached by a defensive coordinator plus their offense goes as their QB goes and that is a bit of a concern entering this season.
North Texas – Offense should be solid but defense is changing to a new alignment and also has some personnel question marks. That coupled with a new head coach coming from a smaller school, Incarnate Word, means we could see some high-scoring games involving this team early this season.
Rice – Should be heading the right way and have a solid QB coming from West Virginia but can the defense properly complement the offense at Rice? That is still a question mark the way I see it but this Owls team better than past versions for sure.
SMU – Made some key transfers on defense but will take awhile to work those guys in and have everyone on the same page. At the same time, this SMU offense looks very explosive once again. Another team to watch for overs this season is this one!
Temple – This team got surprisingly solid QB play last season but this Owls team still tough to trust the way I see it. The Owls just do not have the talent level of most of the other teams in this conference.
Tulane – With some of the top teams like Cincinnati and UCF and Houston having gone to the Big 12, the Green Wave certainly appear to be one of the favorites in this conference. I like their chances to duplicate last year’s big success.
Tulsa – This offense looks improved and they should thrive under new head coach but I can not trust this defense even though their secondary might be respectable. Opponents might run all over this defense.
UAB – New head coach in Trent Dilfer but hard to trust him with coming from high school level and this Blazers team was already in a bit of a rebuild mode. They just can not get to a consistent level and it will take time now with a former NFL QB leading the charge as their new head coach.
USF – This team is so bad and it will be another long season in South Florida. If the offense can be decent, look for overs with this team as their defense was awful last season and it looks like they will struggle badly again.
UTSA – The Roadrunners very likely to challenge Tulane for the top spot in the conference. The Runners are well coached and have nearly the entire offense back from last season plus a respectable defense.
It is early in the month of August 2023 and, as always at this time of year, excitement is building for the coming Football season. That includes NFL and College Football. Most every sports bettor is quite familiar with the NFL as it is certainly the most popular among sports betting markets. Additionally, when it comes to College Football, many sports bettors are quite familiar with the Power 5 Conferences.
The “Power 5” Conferences include the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Those major conferences in College Football along with the 32 teams in the NFL dominate the attention of most everyone this time of year and heading into the football season. That said, my focus heading into the new season is covering the “other 6” which is the “Group of 5” Conferences as well as the small group of Independents.
These less popular teams which comprise the “other” conferences absolutely deserve some attention and yet many sports bettors are the least familiar with these smaller conferences. That is even with the best value often being found where others just do not focus the attention. That said, I feel there is value in at least giving a “quick hitter” preview at these teams heading into the 2023 season.
AMERICAN CONFERENCE:
Charlotte – New head coach and that means it takes time to rebuild. Working in a lot of new transfers.
East Carolina – Trying to continue the momentum here but now shifting more to a ground attack. Lost some significant skill position players including at wide receiver. Ground game will be key here.
Florida Atlantic – Exciting times for the Owls as Tom Herman is now the head coach. FAU will see improvement but it will take time yet I do expect a bit of an immediate positive boost too.
Memphis – Losing some skill guys again yet this is such a dangerous offense and yet generally struggles defensively. Again looking for great spots with overs involving this Tigers team this season.
Navy – Opposite of Memphis. Might keep an eye on unders with this team. The Midshipmen now coached by a defensive coordinator plus their offense goes as their QB goes and that is a bit of a concern entering this season.
North Texas – Offense should be solid but defense is changing to a new alignment and also has some personnel question marks. That coupled with a new head coach coming from a smaller school, Incarnate Word, means we could see some high-scoring games involving this team early this season.
Rice – Should be heading the right way and have a solid QB coming from West Virginia but can the defense properly complement the offense at Rice? That is still a question mark the way I see it but this Owls team better than past versions for sure.
SMU – Made some key transfers on defense but will take awhile to work those guys in and have everyone on the same page. At the same time, this SMU offense looks very explosive once again. Another team to watch for overs this season is this one!
Temple – This team got surprisingly solid QB play last season but this Owls team still tough to trust the way I see it. The Owls just do not have the talent level of most of the other teams in this conference.
Tulane – With some of the top teams like Cincinnati and UCF and Houston having gone to the Big 12, the Green Wave certainly appear to be one of the favorites in this conference. I like their chances to duplicate last year’s big success.
Tulsa – This offense looks improved and they should thrive under new head coach but I can not trust this defense even though their secondary might be respectable. Opponents might run all over this defense.
UAB – New head coach in Trent Dilfer but hard to trust him with coming from high school level and this Blazers team was already in a bit of a rebuild mode. They just can not get to a consistent level and it will take time now with a former NFL QB leading the charge as their new head coach.
USF – This team is so bad and it will be another long season in South Florida. If the offense can be decent, look for overs with this team as their defense was awful last season and it looks like they will struggle badly again.
UTSA – The Roadrunners very likely to challenge Tulane for the top spot in the conference. The Runners are well coached and have nearly the entire offense back from last season plus a respectable defense.
