To hear Tim Pernetti tell it, elected officials on Capitol Hill don’t like to see him coming.

“I’ve walked the halls in D.C. more than Frank Underwood did in ‘House of Cards,'” the commissioner of the American Conference said Friday at the league’s football media day.

“The American has a seat at the table. That’s great news. We have a national respected voice.”

Pernetti has made a point of being the most visible commissioner of a Group of Six conference and fighting for representation for the so-called little guys.

In Friday’s address to reporters in St. Petersburg, Fla., he expressed his support for the Protect College Sports Act progressing through Congress and said that if the size of the College Football Playoff doubles, G6 bids should double, too.

“The American’s position on the CFP is clear,” Pernetti said. “We’re supportive of an expanded playoff that provides more access for every conference.

“We’re asking for two things — fairness and common sense. Here’s a fact – 51% of FBS schools competing in football are outside the autonomy conferences. So, in any expanded format, including the one you’re reading about that could double the field to 24 teams, access should double for everyone.”

As for the Protect College Sports Act, the latest version of the bill, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, would focus on NIL regulation and the implementation of a one-time transfer policy.

“It’s time for structure in college sports,” Pernetti said. “While this bill isn’t perfect, it addresses the core challenges facing the industry, led and headlined by transfers and eligibility.

“It demands that NIL deals have a legitimate business purpose. I promise you this, that will put an end to these sham pay-for-play deals that are turning recruiting into this unchecked auction.

“It’s progress over perfection.”

–Navy was voted the preseason favorite in the American Conference preseason media poll, garnering half the 14 first-place votes and finishing 12 total points above Memphis.

Navy has gone 11-2 and 10-3 over the past two seasons, including a 13-3 mark in conference games. The Midshipmen appeared in the AP poll both years.

The service academies may have done more for the American Conference than put their historic football programs in the mix. Pernetti pointed to the additions of Army and Navy as a gateway to getting more attention in Washington. Navy has been a football member since 2015, while Army only joined in 2024.

“Army and Navy being in our conferences has been great for us, but their engagement enabled me to create engagement in Washington, D.C., which got me in the room as part of these committees for college sports,” Pernetti said. “Their national profile and the relationships they brought to the table has really enabled the American to get to the table, and now we’re in the group. So we have a national voice in all this change.”

–Charles Huff was not shy in the way he introduced himself as the head coach of Memphis at his first American media day.

“Seventy-one new players,” Huff said of his roster. “I’ve kind of become the Lane Kiffin of the Group of Five. Which is the portal king.”

Huff’s rapid rise through the coaching ranks has taken him from Marshall (2021-24) to Southern Miss (2025) and then to Memphis in just a few years. The 43-year-old guided Marshall to a 10-3 season in 2024, and he took 21 of those players with him when he accepted the job at Southern Miss, which finished 7-5 in his lone season.

This time, 17 players followed Huff to his new post, meaning not all 71 newcomers at Memphis are starting from scratch.

“The first thing you’ve got to realize is it doesn’t matter about talent if you can’t get them to come together,” Huff said. “For us, we’ve been blessed to be in a situation where we’ve been able to retain some of them even though we’ve moved locations, which helps. And that’s the first step.”

At Memphis, Huff replaces Ryan Silverfield, who became the coach at Arkansas.

–Field Level Media

Luis Rengifo hit a tie-breaking pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth inning and the visiting San Diego Padres held on for a 4-2 win against the Miami Marlins in the opener of their three-game series on Friday night.

Miami reliever Tyler Zuber (0-1) came back out for the eighth and Ty France greeted him with an opposite-field double into the right-center field gap. After getting a strikeout, Zuber left a sweeper over the plate to Rengifo and he lifted it over the fence in right for a two-run homer and a 4-2 lead.

Manny Machado had two hits, an RBI and run scored and France also delivered a pair of hits for the Padres, who avoided falling a season-low four games under .500.

Padres starter German Marquez was lifted after just 2 1/3 innings and 37 pitches. He gave up one run and three hits, striking out four without a walk.

Five relievers followed with Adrian Morejon (8-2) earning the win and Mason Miller his 26th save.

Joe Mack and Heriberto Hernandez homered and Xavier Edwards contributed two hits for Miami, which has lost 10 in a row.

Marlins starter Ryan Gusto went 3 1/3 innings, allowing one run and two hits, striking out four and walking one.

After the Marlins stranded the bases full in the first inning, Mack came up with two outs in the second and the rookie catcher pulled an inside fastball over the fence in right for his 10th home run of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Machado and France had back-to-back one-out singles in the fourth to put runners on the corners and end Gusto’s day. Cade Gibson entered and gave up a sacrifice fly to Jackson Merrill that tied the score 1-1.

Xander Bogaerts drew a four-pitch walk off Gibson to start the fifth. After he was bunted over to second, Michael Petersen came out of the bullpen and surrendered a two-out RBI single to left by Machado to score Bogaerts for a 2-1 lead.

Wandy Peralta replaced fellow San Diego left-hander Kyle Hart with one out in the fifth and Hernandez lined his first pitch over the fence in center to tie it 2-2.

–Field Level Media

Matt Olson hammered a three-run home run with two outs in the 10th inning and the visiting Atlanta Braves held on to beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Drake Baldwin’s 20th homer of the season was a one-out, game-tying blast in the eighth inning for Atlanta, which won for the seventh time in its last nine games. Michael Harris II, Austin Riley and Joey Bart each provided two hits and Elieser Hernandez, making his first appearance in the major leagues since 2024, was the winning pitcher with three shutout innings in relief.

Hernandez posted his first big-league victory since 2022.

Andrew Kittredge (1-2) took the loss, though none of the four runs he allowed were earned.

The Braves took the lead in the 10th on Jim Jarvis’ fielder’s choice grounder that Jackson Holliday threw away for an error to put runners at second and third and no outs. The Braves they nearly didn’t extend their margin, however, with the next two batters striking out. But down to his last strike, Olson hit his 27th homer of the season.

The big Atlanta rally came after the Orioles loaded the bases in the ninth with three consecutive batters reaching with two outs off Hernandez, who recovered to retire Taylor Ward on a groundout after Ward worked a 3-0 count. Baltimore stranded 10 runners through nine innings.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, in just his fifth game with the Orioles, drove in four runs, with two of those coming with a 10th-inning homer.

Orioles starter Trevor Rogers pitched seven strong innings, but he wasn’t rewarded despite holding the Braves to two runs on six hits and no walks. He struck out six in an 88-pitch effort.

It marked the seventh consecutive outing for Rogers in which he didn’t allow more than two runs. Baldwin homered off reliever Rico Garcia.

Starter Grant Holmes got Atlanta through five innings, giving up three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He has a dozen straight starts without surrendering more than three runs.

The Orioles took an early lead with a two-out rally in the second inning that came with Encarnacion-Strand’s two-run double.

Atlanta pulled even in the fourth on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly and Riley’s two-out, run-scoring single.

Holliday’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth regained the lead for Baltimore.

After the Braves tied the score in the eighth, Baltimore’s Colton Cowser reached third base with two outs in the bottom of the inning but was stranded there.

–Field Level Media