Underdog Dynasty
An unofficial The American, Conference USA, Sun Belt, and Independent football blog
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For the Record: Conference USA has an 86-mile rematch, a frequent-flyer problem, and a Bird worth watching
Conference USA has officially moved into its weekday era, which means your Wednesday plans now include a championship rematch and a football game at a stadium named after Pitbull. Honestly, you could do worse. This week’s game notes have a little of everything: two rivals separated by 86 miles, a quarterback who is actually 6-foot-7, […]
2026 Week 6 Preview: Houston Cougars @ Kansas State Wildcats
Game notes Setting the scene Houston and Kansas State never shared any history prior to 2023. The results of the two previous matchups were very memorable to both fanbases. Last meeting in Manhattan, the Wildcats shut out Houston 41-0 in a “welcome to the Big 12” moment for the Cougars. But one year later in […]
Campbell in the Playoffs? It Might Finally Happen
Entering the 2026 season the CAA was one of the FCS conferences that was a perfect hotbed for an unlikely team to rise up and steal center stage. With a lot of its once-household names gone and with preseason favorite Rhode Island faltering without star quarterback Devin Farrell, the door has been thrust wide open […]
2026 Week 6 Preview: South Florida Bulls @ UTSA Roadrunners
Game notes Setting the scene The Alamodome is where dreams go to die in the American Conference. Jeff Traylor has been head coach at UTSA since 2020, and he’s 35-5 in the Alamodome and 25-1 against conference opponents. Last season, the Roadrunners ran College Football Playoff qualifier Tulane out of the building by 22 and […]
Goose gets loose, Troy offense runs all over Southern Miss, 55-34
The Tuesday Night Lights returned for the first time in the 2026 season. It wasn’t Weekday CUSA. It wasn’t Midweek MACtion. Rather, it was the Sun Belt which showcased the first Tuesday matchup of the season. Last November, Troy and Southern Miss collided in Hattiesburg with a Sun Belt West division title on the line. […]
Weekday CUSA Previews: 2026 Week 6
We’re fully immersed in Weekday CUSA. Last week was a soft launch, as New Mexico State and WKU battled Thursday night, while Delaware and Liberty met in a Friday night showdown. Now, the conference shifts to Wednesday and Thursday for the second week of Weekday CUSA action. This eight-game Weekday CUSA slate is higlighted by […]
The best and worst of Week 5 in the American Conference
We’re through another week in the American Conference. It started with a bang, as North Texas defeated Tulsa 45-44 in a Thursday night overtime affair filled with action, excitement, and controversial replay reviews. Then on Saturday, Memphis collected its largest road win as an FBS program, annihilating Charlotte by 51. UTSA survived Rice in a […]
Baylor’s back and Flora flourishes: Five Big 12 takeaways from Week 5
Week 5 in the Big 12 could best be described as eye-opening and eventful. There were six conference matchups, while Kansas feasted on Middle Tennessee in the lone non-conference clash. Houston erased a 17-0 deficit against UCF over the final 19 minutes. Iowa State and West Virginia provided one of the most thrilling offensive shootouts […]
UTSA ousts Rice 16-14 in defensive-driven battle
UTSA entered Week 5 fresh off a 59-point outburst against Colorado State. It marked the second-most points scored in program history. The most? That came last October, when the Roadrunners annihilated Rice in 61-13 fashion. However, Rice — defending its newly-named First Community Stadium — ensured a much different story would be written in the […]
Temple spoils South Florida’s 4-0 start, escapes 17-13 in Tampa
Temple’s greatest kryptonite of the 2020s was road primetime games. Per the ESPNU broadcast, the Owls had lost 17 consecutive night matchups on the road, last emerging victorious in 2019 at South Florida. Week 5 marked Temple’s final visit to Raymond James Stadium for a road matchup at South Florida, looking to end its primetime […]
Memphis wholly obliterates Charlotte 59-8 in conference opener
Week 5’s college football Saturday started with a standalone game, at least for an hour. Due to inclement weather concerns, Charlotte moved its homecoming matchup with Memphis from 3:30 p.m. ET to 11 a.m. ET, becoming the earliest regular season kickoff since Sept. 9, 2023. However, the game was essentially over by the time the […]
FCS Week 5 Recap: Changing Tides
The top of the FCS will see a lot of shuffling this week after another wild weekend of action. Between top-ranked Montana State going down in a stunner and a handful of other surprising outcomes around the country, the polls will surely look different when they come out on Monday. What all happened to make […]
Cincinnati’s perfect season comes to screeching halt in Arizona, 34-7
Last time the Cincinnati Bearcats started 4-0, they won a conference championship and qualified for the College Football Playoff. Cincinnati escaped the month of September unscathed, but the team hadn’t yet ventured beyond the confines of its city. The Bearcats’ first road game wasn’t just any road game — it was over 1,500 miles and […]
Houston turns turbulent launch into successful mission in 27-17 comeback over UCF
Houston and UCF is not officially a rivalry, but the two programs have engaged in a full-fledged Space Race. UCF has gone by the moniker “Space U” for a decade, hosting an annual Space Game in Orlando, where the galactic theme is beyond prevalent. Last November, Houston became the first team to defeat UCF in […]
Idaho Upsets #1 Montana State in Final Second in Friday Night Stunner
On Friday night #1 Montana State was on the cusp of extending its FCS-best winning streak to 20 games. In fact, it appeared the Bobcats had done just that as Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood completed a deep ball to Noah West-Baranco with under ten seconds left. The clock ticked down to just one second… not […]
Liberty dominates Delaware, 30-14, for fourth-straight win
Two hopeful contenders collided in Newark, DE for a Friday night Weekday CUSA spectacle. It marked the conference opener for Liberty and Delaware, but the Fightin’ Blue Hens’ homefield advantage was greatly neutralized prior to the opening kickoff. After suffering a lower-body injury last week against Virginia, Delaware star quarterback Nick Minicucci was ruled out […]
Houston unveils “Gridiron Galaxy” helmets, with 10 different variations, for UCF game
The Space Race is on. While Houston and UCF is not an official rivalry, it’s certainly heading in that direction. UCF has branded itself as “Space U” since 2017, famously hosting an annual Space Game in Orlando. Last November, Houston became the first team to spoil UCF’s perfect Space Game record, escaping Orlando with a […]
Harvard hosts Colgate in Key Non-Conference Game
A month ago few would have guessed that when Harvard welcomed in Colgate for its first October game of the season that it would be as meaningful as it is. The #20 Crimson are 2-0 and perhaps that isn’t all that surprising for a team that nearly won the Ivy League and went to the […]
2026 Week 5 Preview: Boston College Eagles @ SMU Mustangs
Game notes Setting the scene In SMU’s final game before moving conferences, the Mustangs got the ultimate “welcome to the ACC” reality check. Fresh off its first conference title since 1984, American champion SMU played Boston College in the 2023 Fenway Bowl, entering as considerable favorites. But that afternoon, which marked Kevin Jennings’ second collegiate […]
FIU’s unveils new “Vice U” look; first-ever pink uniforms in FBS
FIU debuted a new tradition in 2023 that fans in the 305 look forward to every year — “Vice Night.” Once every season, the FIU Panthers exchange their normal navy blue and gold for black, pink, and teal — a palette inspired by the 1980s television series Miami Vice. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the school […]
For the Record: The Sun Belt has a 600-game streak, a special teams passport, and a missing ‘g’
The Sun Belt’s best streak this week belongs to somebody who doesn’t take a snap. Arkansas State’s Ron Carroll just worked his 600th consecutive game on the sideline, a run that began in 1976. Elsewhere in the packets, Coastal Carolina’s special teams room could use a passport organizer, Louisiana’s nickname comes with an editing history […]
Breakfast ball: Three things to watch in Memphis vs. Charlotte
Throw your bagel in the toaster, get the pancake batter prepared, or scramble the eggs a bit earlier than usual this Saturday. For the first time since the 2025 Myrtle Beach Bowl, and for the first time in the regular season since Wake Forest and Vanderbilt meet Sept. 9, a college football game kicks off […]
2026 Week 5 Preview: UTSA Roadrunners @ Rice Owls
Game notes Setting the scene UTSA is coming off a 59-45 victory over Colorado State. That game marked the second-most points scored in Roadrunner history. The most? That was last October at the Alamodome, when UTSA pulverized Rice, 61-13. Now the series between the Lone Star State conference opponents shifts to Houston. UTSA has won […]
North Texas overcomes Tulsa rally, replay controversy in 45-44 OT thriller
The clock struck after midnight during overtime at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, turning a Thursday night thriller into Friday morning madness. And after the final snap, both teams simultaneously put their hands up in celebration, each believing it had won the game. But who did, Tulsa or North Texas? North Texas struck first in […]
New Mexico State rolls WKU in CUSA opener, 34-13
Weekday CUSA made a triumphant return Thursday night in Las Cruces, NM. New Mexico State qualified for the Conference USA Championship Game in its first year in the league, but the Aggies have yet to finish better than 4-8 in the two years following. Thursday night presented a glimpse of hope. New Mexico State (2-3, […]
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