The American Truly is a Football Conference

In its weekly football release, the American has some pretty convincing statistics to share.
The 15 teams that represent the American Athletic Conference.
The 15 teams that represent the American Athletic Conference. | Official American Athletic Conference Website

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Here's the weekly release from the American Conference.

Here Comes the Wave

Tulane was selected as the fourth-highest ranked conference champion and will be seeded No. 11 in this year’s College Football Playoff and will travel to face No. 6 Ole Miss on Dec. 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO Max.

The Green Wave become the second squad from the American to compete in the College Football Playoff, joining Cincinnati, which played in the semifinals following the 2021 regular season.

Bowling Partner

American squads are playing in a conference-record nine postseason games, including Army, East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Rice, South Florida, UTSA and Tulane.

Crown the Wave

Tulane captured the 2025 American Football Championship presented by LLH Healthcare with a 34-21 victory over North Texas on December 5.

The Green Wave became the first program to play in the American Championship game four consecutive years.

Tulane became the third multiple-time winner of the Championship game and the first to win multiple championship games non-consecutively (UCF won in 2017 and 2018, Cincinnati won in 2020 and 2021).

Tulane’s Yulman Stadium became the first venue to host the Championship game three times (2022 and 2023).

Tchienchou’s Time

Tulane safety Jack Tchienchou was named the 2025 Mike Aresco Most Outstanding Player of the American Football Championship presented by LLH Healthcare after becoming the first Tulane player with a forced fumble, fumble recovery and interception in the same game since Trent Mackey in 2010. He also led the Green Wave with nine tackles.

Us Vs. Them

The American ranks fourth among NCAA FBS conferences in nonconference winning percentage through week 15.

2025 Nonconference Winning Percentage

                SEC                                      56-8     .875

                Big Ten                                44-10   .815

                Big 12                                  38-10   .792

                American                         34-20  .630

                ACC                                      42-26  .618

                Mountain West             26-22  .542

                Sun Belt                             27-29  .482

                Conference USA          19-29  .396

                Pac-12                                 7-15      .318

                MAC                                     16-36  .308

Rushing Attack

Navy leads FBS with 298.4 rushing yards per contest, while Army is fifth with 256.9 yards per game.

Disciplined

Army leads FBS with only 265 penalty yards this season.

Mestemaker Wins Burlsworth Award

North Texas QB Drew Mestemaker was named the winner of the 2025 Burlsworth Award, presented to the nation’s most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on.

Mestemaker leads FBS this season with 4,129 passing yards, fourth on the American’s single-season list, is second in the nation with 31 passing touchdowns, third in passing efficiency (174.8) and 10th with a 70.2 completion percentage.

Pouring in the Points

The American has the top two scoring offenses in the country, led by North Texas (44.8 points per game) with South Florida (43.0) right behind.

Portions Courtesy American Conference


Published
Doug Joubert
DOUG JOUBERT

Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.