Only three weeks into the season, the American Athletic Conference has gone through the type of drama expected with a COVID-19-affected year. Several significant pandemic-related events have already occurred in the AAC.

Memphis’ season halted

After a season-opening 37-24 victory against Arkansas State Universi

ty, University of Memphis football was put on pause. While the cause of the outbreak was debated, with various media outlets reporting it was a result of a party bus excursion after the victory, Memphis football suspended operations completely. 

Memphis’ game against University of Houston was postponed, as was their game against The University of Texas at San Antonio. Memphis also fell in the rankings down to No. 25 as a result of not playing for several weeks.

Houston still awaiting season opener

Oct. 8th, Houston is scheduled to take on Tulane. This will mark Tulane’s fourth game of the season, and Houston’s first. The Cougars have had five separate games cancelled due to COVID-19 positive tests. 

Houston’s game against Memphis has been moved to the final week of the season. Despite the tumultuous start to the year, Houston still hopes to complete their nine remaining games and participate in a bowl.

Everyone is having a season again

After initially suspending their season, several conferences now plan to play this fall. The Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West and Mid-American Conference all went back on their initial plans. 

They all are intent on playing some form of conference season starting in Oct. This is bad news for the AAC, which likely was going to be placed in higher bowl games this year as a result of the Pac-12 and Big Ten cancellations.The conference season is about to get going in the next few weeks. Three AAC teams are ranked in the Top 25, with No.11 University of Central Florida and No. 15 University of Cincinnati being tapped as conference favorites. 

Meanwhile Tulane is coming off of a dominant 66-24 win over The University of Southern Mississippi. Freshman quarterback Michael Pratt started his career with a huge comeback victory. When he first relieved Keon Howard, Tulane was down 14-0. 

The Wave rallied behind Pratt who threw for two touchdowns and ran for one, while the Tulane running game added  430 yards. After this bye week, Tulane will look to carry over this success into their first conference victory against Houston on Oct. 8, televised on ESPN.