Cincinnati Bearcats Picked To Win AAC Championship In 2015 Preseason Media Poll

The Cincinnati Bearcats have been picked to finish in 1st place in the AAC in today’s preseason media poll, including winning the American’s East Division.

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This pretty much aligns with our predictions way back when, with Cincinnati meeting Memphis in the AAC Championship Game and the Bearcats emerging victorious.

So nothing surprising there for UC fans. Where those do start to arise in my mind is when you look at the breakout of the standings.

EAST

1. Cincinnati (29 first place votes)
2. Central Florida (1)
3. Temple
4. East Carolina
5. South Florida
6. UConn

WEST

1. Memphis (13)
2. Houston (10)
3. Navy (7)
4. Tulane
5. SMU
6. Tulsa

Anybody else particularly surprised UCF’s getting the nod for second place in the East over Temple? I am. The Owls return the best defense in the AAC and while Central Florida arguably boasts the second best, or at least a top half of the conference defense, they have to travel to Philadelphia this year. Now, Lincoln Financial Field is no Nippert Stadium but, still, roadies are tougher than home games. Perhaps it’s the fact that Temple’s offense pales in comparison to UCF’s and if that’s the case I suppose it makes sense that the voters gave the Knights the edge.

In the West, Memphis at the top of the division makes perfect sense but I was a bit caught off guard seeing Houston picked second. I had Navy, for the fact that they’ve been consistently successful for pretty much forever and Ken Niumatalolo’s triple-option offense is a nightmare to defend. But the Cougars’ hire of Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman was a genius move, at least for now. So it makes sense why they were such a popular pick heading into this season.