AAC Football

UCF announced Monday that former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will be the team's new head football coach.

Malzahn said in a statement:

"I'm thrilled to be the head coach at UCF, and I'm truly looking forward to being part of Knight Nation. It's exciting to be head of a program where the future is extremely bright. I will be hitting the ground running in terms of getting to know our team and everyone else connected with UCF. Our goal is to be ready to win championships."

Athletic director Terry Mohajir added:

"When I started the search process, it became very evident very quickly that, based on the conversations I had with the players last week and what they told me were looking for, Gus Malzahn was the guy for the job. He has won at every level, and he has coached a Heisman Trophy winner and NFL draft picks. There has never been a better time for Coach Malzahn to lead this program than right now."

Malzahn signed a five-year contract worth $11.5 million, per the school.

Malzahn spent the past eight years with Auburn, accumulating a 68-35 record while finishing over .500 in each season. The school fired him in December after the Tigers produced a 6-4 mark in 2020. The head coach was also paid a $21.45 million buyout as part of his exit from Auburn.

Despite his consistency during the regular season, the 55-year-old was often criticized for his team's performances in the postseason.

The Tigers went 2-5 in bowl games with Malzahn at the helm, including losses in the BCS National Championship, Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowl, the latter coming against UCF after the 2017 season.

"After evaluating the state of the Auburn football program, we've decided that it was time to make a change in leadership," Auburn director of athletics Allen Greene said in a statement in December.

Auburn hired former Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin to replace Malzahn.

Malzahn has an opportunity at a fresh start with UCF, which had a vacancy after head coach Josh Heupel left for Tennessee.

The Knights went 6-4 in 2020 but have been one of the most successful teams in college football as of late with a 41-8 record over the last four seasons.

Adding Malzahn gives the school an experienced coach who won the AP Coach of the Year award in 2013 during his first season at Auburn. As an offensive coordinator with the Tigers, he won the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country while helping lead the team to a national championship.

The coach also had success at lower levels with a 9-3 record during his lone season at Arkansas State in 2012.

Mohajir was the athletic director at Arkansas State at the time and was recently hired as the AD of UCF.

The Houston football program has suspended freshman defensive lineman Chidozie Nwankwo after he was charged with assault/impeding breathing, per ABC13.com.

"We are aware of the serious allegations regarding Chidozie Nwankwo," the Houston athletic department said in a statement. "He has been suspended from the Houston football program, pending further information. We will have no further comment regarding this specific case."

On Jan. 28, Nwankwo's girlfriend told campus police he had choked her during an argument at his apartment. Nwankwo told authorities that a verbal confrontation occurred, though he didn't admit to any physical altercation. Charges were filed on Feb. 3.

According to court documents (via Click2Houston.com), the dispute began after the woman asked Nwankwo to help her with her hair. She told police she attempted to pack up her things and leave during the argument and Nwankwo threatened to hit her. She said he then held her by the throat and "squeezed," making her "gasp for air."

She said he slapped her and held her neck while he pushed her face into a mattress. 

He has been released on a $5,000 bond, with the stipulation that he is not permitted to come within 200 feet of the woman or contact her as part of an emergency order against him. 

Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins was named the winner of the 2020 Chuck Bednarik Award as the Defensive Player of the Year in college football on Thursday.

He earned the honor over finalists Patrick Surtain II from Alabama and Jeremiah Oswusu-Koramoah of Notre Dame.

Collins was one of the most impactful players in all of college football this season, tallying four interceptions on the year, including two returned for a touchdown.

One of his picks was returned 96 yards for a score in double overtime to seal a walk-off win over Tulane.

In addition to his play in coverage, Collins made an impact all over the field with 54 tackles, including 7.5 for loss, with four sacks in eight games.

The junior was a key part of Tulsa producing a 6-1 record in the regular season before suffering a narrow 27-24 loss to Cincinnati in the AAC title game. The Golden Hurricane finished with a defense that ranked 27th in the nation with 21.6 points allowed per game.

On an individual level, Collins had already won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, potentially putting him in position to be a first-round NFL draft pick, as ESPN's Todd McShay projected.

It's been a major climb for a player who had only one Division I scholarship offer.

Collins becomes just the third player outside of the Power Five conferences to win the Bednarik Award since its creation in 1995, joining 2015 winner Tyler Matakevich of Temple and Notre Dame's Manti Te'o in 2012.

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Michael Aresco believes the BCS was a better system than the College Football Playoff after negative treatment of Cincinnati in the latest rankings.

Aresco complained about the current system Wednesday on The Paul Finebaum Show:

"This is the seventh year [of the CFP], and it does appear the deck is stacked against us and against other [Group of Five teams]," he added, via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.

Cincinnati is 8-0 but dropped from No. 7 to No. 9 in the CFP rankings despite being inactive for two weeks. 

Two-loss teams Florida, Iowa State and Georgia all rank above the Bearcats, with the first two likely having a better chance to reach the playoff if they win a conference title.

Cincinnati's last chance to impress the committee will come Saturday against Tulsa in the AAC title game.

"The eye test has been used over the years by the committee, but they refuse to use it with a team like Cincinnati," Aresco added. "This is a really elite team."

The Bearcats rank fifth in the country with just 15.0 points allowed per game, while the offense ranks 13th with 40.9 points per game.

This isn't the first year the AAC will likely be shut out of the playoff despite having an elite team with a legitimate claim.

UCF had an undefeated record going into the bowl season in both 2017 and 2018, and the Knights beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl in 2017 to finish 13-0. It still wasn't enough to finish within the top four spots according to the committee, preventing any chance to compete for a national title.

Small-conference teams weren't getting much of a chance during the BCS era, but the computer-based system at least created more objectivity in determining a champion.

The American Athletic Conference announced Wednesday that Saturday's scheduled football game between Cincinnati and Temple has been canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within both programs.

Although both Cincinnati and Temple have an open date on Dec. 5, the game will not be scheduled since not enough players would be eligible to play under the AAC's return-to-play protocols. As a result, the game will be ruled a no-contest.

Had the game happened, Cincinnati would have looked to improve its 8-0 record against 1-6 Temple.

In the first set of College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, Cincinnati came in at No. 7 behind only Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Florida.

The Bearcats are the top team outside the Power Five conferences in the rankings, seven spots ahead of undefeated BYU despite the fact that the Cougars have one more victory than the Bearcats at 9-0.

Of Cincy's eight wins, two of them came against teams that were ranked at the time. They beat then-No. 22 Army 24-10 and then-No. 16 SMU 42-13.

The Bearcats are in the hunt to become the first non-Power Five team in history to be part of the CFP thanks largely to the play of dual-threat junior quarterback Desmond Ridder.

Ridder has thrown for 1,821 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions, while also rushing for 526 yards and 11 scores.

Cincinnati's game against Temple almost certainly would have been another win for the Bearcats given the Owls' struggles this season, but it would have done little to impress the CFP committee.

The Bearcats will still have opportunities to pad their resume, though, including their next game on Dec. 12 when they face No. 25 Tulsa, who is 5-0 in AAC play and 5-1 overall.

Cincinnati was supposed to play Tulsa earlier in the season, but the game was postponed until Dec. 12 because of positive COVID-19 cases within the Cincinnati program.

With a win over Tulsa and a win the following week in the ACC Championship Game, which could be a rematch against Tulsa, the Bearcats would finish 10-0.

Cincinnati would likely need some help in the form of Clemson, Texas A&M and Florida all suffering a second loss, but a top-four finish in the CFP rankings is not out of the question.

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell apologized for a fake punt while leading 42-10 during the fourth quarter of Friday night's victory over East Carolina, which he said wasn't called by the sideline.

"We would not want to do it in that situation," Fickell told reporters.

Pirates head coach Mike Houston was asked about his conversation with Fickell after the game, which television cameras showed lasted for nearly a minute.

"I will leave what was said between us," Houston said.

The unexpected 29-yard run by senior linebacker Joel Dublanko was the highlight of a nine-play, 75-yard scoring driving by the Bearcats.

Cincinnati capped its scoring with a 75-yard touchdown run by Cameron Young on its final drive.

The blowout moved the seventh-ranked Bearcats to 7-0, and there's an argument they need to run up the score during the final month of the regular season in order to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee since they don't have any ranked opponents left to play.

Their best wins so far are 24-10 over No. 22 Army in September and 42-13 over No. 16 SMU in October.

That said, there's a difference between trying to score some style points amid a crowded CFP race and running a fake punt while up by 32 points. It sounds like Fickell was just as surprised as everyone else.

East Carolina dropped to 1-6 with its four straight loss.

Both AAC teams are back in action next Saturday. The Bearcats finish the regular season with three straight road games, starting with a visit to the Bounce House to face UCF. The Pirates head to Lincoln Financial Field for a clash with Temple.

Defensive back Antwan Collier, defensive linemen Kenny Turnier and Randy Charlton and linebacker Eric Mitchell have been dismissed from the UCF football program, per Jason Beede of Knights247. 

UCF head coach Josh Heupel announced that multiple players had been dismissed from the Knights but did not mention any names in a statement, per Beede: "As of today, there are some young men who are no longer part of our football program. Our team discipline is handled internally, so I am not going to mention specific names. We will ensure these individuals have ongoing access to academic and health services as we continue to support them in those areas."

The dismissals reportedly stem from Collier's arrest on the UCF campus early in the morning of Oct. 29 and subsequent charges for carrying a concealed firearm and driving with a suspended/revoked license, per Orange County Clerk of Court public records (h/t Beede). He was originally pulled over for "driving carelessly," per the arrest affidavit.

He was booked into the Orange County jail just before 5 a.m. ET last Thursday.

According to the police report, defensive backs Aaron Robinson and Brandon Moore were in the car with Collier, and Mitchell was as well. A second car with other football players (including linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste) was also on the scene.

Beede relayed information from the police report:

"'After Collier got arrested, his friends and other occupants of the other vehicle got upset and began yelling profanity towards Ofc. Wilk,' the police report states. According to the police report, the following profanities were just part of what was yelled at the officers: 'Dumb as hell,' 'Eat a f--king donut,' 'He plays football for ya'll, f--k,' 'This is dumb ass s--t.' KnightNews.com obtained UCFPD officers' body-worn camera footage from the events during the traffic stop and Collier's arrest. The footage can be seen here."

The quartet did not travel for the team's 44-21 win at Houston last Saturday. 

Charlton and Turnier both provided comments on Wednesday following their reported dismissals:

The losses are significant for the Knights, who have started their season 4-2.

Collier had a team-high four pass breakups along with 22 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Charlton had 18 tackles, two sacks and two pass breakups.

Turnier posted a team-high four sacks in addition to 12 tackles and a forced fumble. Mitchell was second on the team with 40 tackles.

UCF has three more regular-season games at home against Temple and No. 6 Cincinnati before visiting South Florida.

Saturday's game between No. 8 Cincinnati and Tulsa has been postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests on the Bearcats.

The American Athletic Conference has rescheduled the game for Dec. 5 at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa.

Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham issued a statement on the postponement:

"We are disappointed we will be unable to play Tulsa Saturday. We knew this season was going to require a lot of patience and flexibility and disruptions were likely to happen. The health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff is always our primary focus and we appreciated the outstanding work and continued [dedication] of our medical staff throughout the pandemic."

The Bearcats are ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. They have started this season with three consecutive wins, most recently defeating South Florida 28-7 on Oct. 3.

This marks the second time Tulsa has had a game postponed because of COVID-19. Arkansas State had to reschedule a Sept. 26 matchup with the Golden Hurricane because of multiple positive tests on its team.

Tulsa (1-1) earned a big win Oct. 3 with a 34-26 upset of 11th-ranked Central Florida.

SMU upset No. 25 Memphis on Saturday with a dramatic 30-27 victory, but students were not able to enjoy it from the confines of the student section.

According to Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News, police cleared the entire student section in the first half of Saturday's game after they did not follow COVID-19 protocols.

SMU guidelines require all students to be wearing masks while social distancing on the hill beyond the end zone, which allows a maximum of 1,000 students. However, Blum reported the crowd "had become very large" and the "vast majority" of students were not wearing masks.

This week's game was the fourth of the season for SMU, with last week's win against Stephen F. Austin representing the first home game at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Director of athletics Rick Hart sent a letter indicating that security would be "significantly increased" for Saturday's game against Memphis after some spectators failed to follow protocols last week:

"Whether you attended in person or watched online, you could see that the majority of fans in the stadium behaved responsibly and were socially-distanced and masked. That said, we will be working to adjust the behavior of a small subsection of fans who did not follow our pledge to protect, which was sent to all ticketholders."

Texas has had more cases of COVID-19 in the last seven days than any other state in the United States, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SMU squandered a 24-3 first-half lead Saturday as Memphis eventually evened the game at 27-27 heading into the fourth quarter. The Mustangs eventually pulled out the win on a Chris Naggar field goal with nine seconds left in the game.

The 4-0 squad has a week off before facing Tulane on the road on Oct. 16. SMU won't return home until the homecoming game against Cincinnati on Oct. 24.

When you coach at a service academy, you can't necessarily vent your frustration toward the powers that be within a traditional university structure.

Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo criticized the decision to carry on with the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy series despite the fact Air Force has only two games scheduled this season. Niumatalolo directed his ire toward "guys at the Pentagon," per ESPN:

"Where else in the country would you play for something of value and everybody's schedules are not the same? This is the No. 1 thing we fight for every year—the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. We're playing a full schedule. You got Air Force playing just two games? I don't think those people care. [...]

"This is above us. This is guys at the Pentagon making decisions. I have no idea where they're getting their data from. They didn't get it from me, so they're not getting any football data. Like I said, nobody asked me."

Niumatalolo has since apologized for his remarks, per the Capital Gazette's Bill Wagner: "I should not have said some of the stuff I said and I'm sorry I did. The Pentagon has nothing to do with this and it was wrong of me to suggest that was the case. ... I sometimes get myself in trouble by speaking my mind. This was an instance when I should have kept my thoughts to myself."

Army is an independent in football, while Navy and its American Athletic Conference colleagues are carrying on with a 2020 fall football season. As a result, the Black Knights and Midshipmen will be playing 12 and 11 games, respectively.

Air Force, on the other hand, saw the vast majority of its schedule scrapped when the Mountain West Conference postponed its fall season.

Naval Academy athletic director Chet Gladchuk told Wagner the superintendents from the Air Force, Army and Navy agreed to move forward with staging the three games for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.

"The question mark has always been Air Force and whether or not they would field a team," Gladchuk said. "There was some question within their leadership as to whether or not it was appropriate to conduct out-of-season practice to that degree to play two games."

Air Force plays Navy on Oct. 3 at home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before facing off with Army on Nov. 7 in West Point, New York.

The Falcons' unique schedule could work to their benefit or detriment. On one hand, head coach Troy Calhoun has extra time to draw up a game plan. On the other hand, his team could face a difficult adjustment to actual game situations.

Should Air Force go on to lift the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the first time since 2016, this might not be the last Niumatalolo has to say on the matter.