The best era for every current AAC football school

UAB Blazers: Bill Clark era (2014, 2017-2021)

We're wrapping up the American Conference with the first of three young programs. UAB has been an FBS team since 1996. The Bill Clark era is the only legitimate choice to go with. He arrived in Birmingham from the FCS ranks and was tasked with improving a 2-10 team. UAB had only been to a single bowl game in program history. In Clark's first year, the Blazers progressed immediately.

In 2014, the Blazers became bowl-eligible with a 6-6 record. They also came close to upsetting No. 18 Marshall in the eleventh game of the year. Unfortunately, the team didn't get invited to a bowl game. Three days after the team won the season finale against Southern Miss, UAB president Ray Watts infamously eliminated the football program, due to financial issues.

Nonetheless, Clark won the 2014 C-USA Coach of the Year award and the Blazers became bowl-eligible for the first time since 2004. After a two-year hiatus, football came back to UAB. In 2017, the Blazers enjoyed an emotional season-opening victory against Alabama A&M and began the year at 4-3. They would then ensue on a three-game winning streak before finishing the season at 8-4.

Bill Clark won his second C-USA Coach of the Year award for achieving success immediately after the program was reinstated. UAB earned a bid to play in the Bahamas Bowl. It was the program's first trip to a postseason bowl game since 2004. UAB got blown out by Ohio, 41-6. Despite the postseason failure, 2017 served as an omen of great things to come.

To say that the 2018 season for UAB was a vengeance would be an understatement. The Blazers split the first two games of the season. Then, lightning struck, as UAB went on an eight-game winning streak. That is still the longest winning streak in program history. Their 7-1 C-USA record was more than enough to win the West Division and earn a spot in the conference title game.

Their opponent was Middle Tennessee State, the only team that defeated UAB in C-USA which was a week prior. In their second straight contest in Murfreesboro, UAB paid back the favor. They defeated MTSU 27-25 to earn the school's first conference title. Despite not winning the C-USA Coach of the Year award, Bill Clark took the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award.

In the Boca Raton Bowl against Northern Illinois, UAB captured more history by earning the school's first postseason bowl game victory. In 2019, UAB continued their stellar play by going 9-3. The Blazers and Louisiana Tech went 6-2 in Conference USA play but UAB defeated the Bulldogs in the regular season. This meant they earned a tiebreaker to play in their second straight C-USA championship.

The postseason didn't go well for UAB as they lost to Florida Atlantic in the conference title game 49-6. Then they lost to No. 20 Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl 31-17 to end the season at 9-5. UAB had their 2020 regular season shortened to eight games due to COVID-19. They went 5-3 and again appeared in the Conference USA Title. On the road against Marshall, the Blazers would prevail 22-13, earning the second conference title in UAB history.

There was no bowl game for UAB in 2020 due to the disease as mentioned earlier. During Clark's final season, UAB had a sixth straight winning year. They went 8-4 during the regular season but a heartbreaking loss to No. 15 UTSA in the eleventh game dashed any hopes of playing in a fourth straight C-USA title game. UAB got invited to the Independence Bowl and upset No. 12 BYU.

After the season, Bill Clark resigned due to back problems. In the two seasons after his departure, UAB went 7-6 and 4-8, respectively. Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer is currently at the helm and is trying to bring back UAB to the forefront.

USF Bulls: Jim Leavitt era (1997-2009)

The University of South Florida has had its ups and downs as a relatively young program. They are about to enter their 25th season as an FBS program. We'll talk about the first 13 years of Bulls history to fully appreciate how well this has done. The athletic department hired former Kansas State defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt to guide the program through its infancy.

USF began as a 1-AA Independent team and stayed from 1997-2000. The program went through humble beginnings. The first team meeting was notoriously held under a shade tree. This was because the university still didn't have proper football facilities to offer yet. The team went a combined 27-17. They were ranked in 1998 and 1999.

In 2000, the Bulls were transitioning to Division 1-A. In their final 1-AA season, USF beat No. 13 James Madison, No. 1 Troy State (now Troy), and No. 6 Western Kentucky. They also gave valiant efforts against Kentucky and Baylor and beat UConn. In 2001, South Florida officially became a Division 1-A program and remained an Independent. The inaugural FBS squad went 8-3.

Although they played three 1-AA opponents, the 2001 season is highlighted by a 35-26 victory at Pittsburgh in the second game. Then 2002 saw the Bulls go 9-2 but again didn't receive a bowl bid. USF's first few years in 1-A had multiple non-major opponents. For the 2003 and 2004 seasons, USF became a member of a major conference for the first time, joining Conference USA.

South Florida earned a good 7-4 record in 2003. They defeated solid Louisville and Memphis squads and lost to No. 18 TCU by three points. The team regressed to 4-7 the following year. USF would move to the Big East Conference in 2005. In their inaugural Big East season, USF went 6-6, which featured an early season upset against No. 9 Louisville, USF's first win against a top-25 1-A team. The program would appear in their first bowl game.

USF would suffer a tough 14-0 loss in the Meineke Car Care Bowl but great things were still to come. 2006 and 2007 would see the Bulls have their most success up to that point. They went a combined 18-8. The 2006 Bulls were competitive in a strong Big East, losing to No. 23 Rutgers by two points in late September. In the regular season finale, the Bulls stunned No. 7 West Virginia.

The 2006 team also provided USF's first postseason bowl victory. They beat old Conference USA foe East Carolina 24-7 in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. In 2007, USF would get a glimmer of major national attention. That year is regarded as the greatest and craziest season in college football history and USF played a major role in what made the year insane.

At the start, they throttled Elon and then shocked No. 17 Auburn in an overtime thriller. This allowed USF a spot in the AP poll for the first time. They would then win their next four games by an average margin of nearly 25 points per game. The highlight was another defeat of West Virginia, ranked fifth this time. With that one win, USF moved from 18th to the No. 6 ranking in the country.

After starting 6-0, the University of South Florida, of all schools, was the second-ranked team in the entire country. Unfortunately, USF couldn't hold on to the luster of the amazing achievement for very long. They immediately got upset by an unranked Rutgers team and then lost their next two games. One of those losses was to co-Big East champion UConn.

The team would rebound to win their final three regular-season games to finish 9-3. They returned to the top 25 before their trip to the Sun Bowl. They would lose to Oregon 56-21. On the bright side, defensive end George Selvie was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year. He recorded 58 total tackles, 45 of them being solo. He racked up 31.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks. He remains the only consensus All-American in program history.

The final two years of the Jim Leavitt era saw the Bulls put up identical 8-5 records. In 2008, they upset No. 13 Kansas and beat Memphis 41-14 in the St. Petersburg Bowl. In 2009, South Florida added No. 17 Florida State to their list of ranked victims, beating the Seminoles 17-7. They also beat No. 20 West Virginia for a third time and took down Northern Illinois in the International Bowl, 27-3.

In early January 2010, Jim Leavitt was fired by the university after an investigation found that he physically assaulted a player during halftime of a game. Leavitt insisted that he was only consoling the player and not attacking him. Regardless, USF hasn't been the same following the dismissal of Leavitt.

The program has won four more bowl games after Leavitt's departure. However, they've never been ranked after 2007. No coach after him has lasted more than four years at South Florida. Looking past his terrible fallout, it is impossible to underestimate Leavitt's impact. He helped a startup football program reach respectability quickly, taking USF from a 1-AA Independent to a representative in a 1-A conference in less than a decade.

For that, as well as achieving many firsts in program history, capturing four bowl wins, and beating nationally ranked teams regularly, Jim Leavitt's time in Tampa automatically gets the nod as the greatest run in USF history