A tight race seems to be shaping up for the 2023 American Athletic Conference championship, according to the league's media members. With AAC Media Days wrapping up on Tuesday, the preseason media poll ahead of the 2023 season was released with two teams jostling for the top spot.
Just 17 points separate first-place Tulane from No. 2 UTSA as those teams are far and away seen as the favorites to capture hardware after the season. Tulane is fresh off of its first AAC title in program history, and followed that with a win against USC in the Cotton Bowl.
Green Wave quarterback Michael Pratt is back, but more importantly, so is Willie Fritz despite the Tulane coach entertaining interest from Power Five programs during the 2022-23 coaching cycle.
As for UTSA, the Roadrunners also return their star quarterback (Frank Harris) and rising-star coach (Jeff Traylor). UTSA is one of six new programs joining the AAC for the 2023 season, making up for the loss of UCF, Cincinnati and Houston to the Big 12. The AAC is also doing away with divisions to accommodate its swelling ranks, following in the footsteps of most FBS conferences.
Below is a look at the results of the AAC preseason media poll with each team's point total (first-place votes in parenthesis):
2023 Preseason AAC media poll
1. | Tulane (20) | 457 |
2. | UTSA (9) | 440 |
3. | SMU (3) | 397 |
4. | Memphis (1) | 362 |
5. | Florida Atlantic | 312 |
6. | East Carolina | 303 |
7. | North Texas | 261 |
8. | UAB (1) | 209 |
9. | Navy | 199 |
10. | Temple | 182 |
11. | Tulsa | 160 |
12. | Rice | 138 |
13. | South Florida | 86 |
14. | Charlotte | 64 |
The top two teams in the final single-division rankings will meet Dec. 2 in the AAC Championship Game.
