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1. The top of the conference hasn't changed, but the pecking order has
Houston surged from behind to top Memphis, USF made just enough red zone stops to keep ahead of Temple's pace, and Navy expectedly blew SMU's doors off. This changes many things.
- Temple now needs to win out against Memphis and UConn in order to be the AAC East representative in the title game. I'm pretty sure that the odds of Temple beating UConn and the odds ofUSF beating UCF are a wash, which makes next week crucial, as Temple will play Memphis at home while USF faces Cinci. A win by Temple or Cinci locks things up for the Owls, but that will take at least a week longer than we thought it would, if that's what winds up happening.
- Now we have a week of primer before Black Friday will pit Navy against Houston for the AAC West title. Assuming wins (UH plays UConn and Navy plays Tulsa), we could be seeing a game where the winner might catch a whiff of the top 10 in the CFP ranking. This is definitely a big deal.
2. Keenan Reynolds just keeps rolling... to the NFL?
Reynolds both set and extended the FBS rushing touchdown record today with four more to bring his career total to 81. This not only gives him that record, but now ties him with Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Dixon for second all-time in combined rushing and receiving touchdowns behind Montee Ball's 83. The question now is not whether he will set each of these records before he graduates, but just how high he will set them before he leaves the Middies football team behind.
Navy has at least four games remaining, and it could be five if they make the AAC championship, so Reynolds still has a ton of opportunity to expand the distance. And this is a record that will probably stand for a long time, because there is no other currently active NCAA player with more than 40 career rushing OR rushing + receiving touchdowns (except Dixon, who is unlikely to catch him).
Usually when we talk about a record-setting player like this, we talk about his draft prospects. That may not be so with Reynolds. Maybe he is that special case the Naval Academy talks about letting go to the NFL, but more than likely he is just the latest whose decision to serve his country will have to take priority over an NFL career, no matter how promising that might be.
3. Willie Taggart.
I'll just leave this here.
That post game locker room! + = 6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/PPGHaIARgZ
— USF Football (@USFFootball) November 15, 2015
The Bulls are goin' bowlin y'all.