2016 American Athletic Conference football season

2016 American Athletic Conference football season

League	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport	Football
Duration	September 1, 2016 through January 2017
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and CBS Sports Network
The American Championship

2016 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
East Division
Cincinnati		0	–	0		0	–	0
Connecticut		0	–	0		0	–	0
East Carolina		0	–	0		0	–	0
South Florida		0	–	0		0	–	0
Temple		0	–	0		0	–	0
UCF		0	–	0		0	–	0
West Division
Houston		0	–	0		0	–	0
Memphis		0	–	0		0	–	0
Navy		0	–	0		0	–	0
SMU		0	–	0		0	–	0
Tulane		0	–	0		0	–	0
Tulsa		0	–	0		0	–	0
Championship: December 3, 2016
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2016 American Athletic Conference football season is the 25th NCAA Division I FBS football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season is the third since the breakup of the former Big East Conference, and the third season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the "Group of Five" (G5) with Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. Whereas under the previous system the champion of the conference was guaranteed an automatic berth to a BCS bowl game, the highest-ranked champion member of the G5 will receive a bid to one of the six major bowls.^[1]

The American consists of 12 members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, and new member Navy. In June 2015, the Collegiate Commissioner's Association announced that it will postpone final rankings until after the annual Army–Navy Game if Navy or Army are in contention for a spot in the semifinals or a New Years Six bowl. If Navy is the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion and loses to Army, it would be replaced by next highest-ranked Group of 5 champion in the New Years Six Bowl.^[2]

In 2016 the American will have four new coaches Willie Fritz formerly the head coach at Georgia Southern was hired by Tulane, to replace Curtis Johnson After beginning the 2013 6-2, Johnson would go on to lose 22 of his final 27 games against FBS opponents. He finished at Tulane with a 15-34 record through four full seasons. He compiled a 7-9 conference record in the C-USA (2012 & 2013), and a 3-13 conference record in the American Athletic Conference (2014 and 2015). On December 1, 2015, UCF hired Oregon Offensive Coordinator Scott Frost.^[3] Frost replaced long time UCF head coach George O'Leary and interim head coach Danny Barrett, who took over the Knights when O'Leary resigned following an 0-8 start. On December 3, 2015, Memphis hired Arizona State (OC/QB) Mike Norvell replacing Justin Fuente who took the job at Virginia Tech.^[4] On December 13, 2015 East Carolina hired Duke (OC/QB) Scottie Montgomery.^[5] replacing Ruffin McNeill who was relieved of his duties as ECU head coach after finishing the season with a record of 5-7.^[6]

Head coaches

East

Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati – 4th year
Bob Diaco, Connecticut – 3rd year
Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina – 1st year
Willie Taggart, South Florida – 4th year
Matt Rhule, Temple – 4th year
Scott Frost, UCF - 1st year

West

Tom Herman, Houston – 2nd year
Mike Norvell, Memphis – 1st year
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy – 14th year
Chad Morris, SMU – 2nd year
Willie Fritz, Tulane – 1st year
Philip Montgomery, Tulsa – 2nd year

Recruiting classes

Rankings
Team	ESPN^[7]	Rivals^[8]	Scout^[9]	24/7^[10]	Signees
Cincinnati	75	75	73	76	21
Connecticut	-	-	101	98	16
East Carolina	-	81	88	77	22
Houston	30	44	51	40	19
Memphis	72	72	69	63	22
Navy	-	-	98	83	36
SMU	67	74	61	72	22
South Florida	63	70	77	61	16
Temple	59	59	76	57	26
Tulane	-	86	100	89	24
Tulsa	-	87	85	92	20
UCF	66	58	74	66	20

Rankings

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		No change in ranking from previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

		Pre
Cincinnati	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Connecticut	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
East Carolina	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Houston	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Memphis	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Navy	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
SMU	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
South Florida	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Temple	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Tulane	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Tulsa	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
UCF	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released

Schedule

All Times and Dates are Tentative,^[11] The 2016 conference football schedule will be released February 9^[12]

Index to colors and formatting
American member won
American member loss
American teams in bold

Week 1

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
September 1	UT Martin	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH
September 1	Maine	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
September 1	Tulane	Wake Forest	BB&T Field • Winston-Salem, NC
September 3	South Carolina State	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL
September 3	Western Carolina	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
September 3	Towson	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
September 3	Army	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
September 3	Oklahoma	Houston	NRG Stadium • Houston, TX
September 3	Southeast Missouri State	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
September 3	Fordham	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	CBSSN
September 3	SMU	North Texas	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX
September 3	San Jose State	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 2

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
September 10	UCF	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
September 10	Cincinnati	Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN
September 10	Connecticut	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	CBSSN
September 10	NC State	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
September 10	Northern Illinois	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
September 10	Stony Brook	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
September 10	Lamar	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
September 10	SMU	Baylor	McLane Stadium • Waco, TX
September 10	Southern	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
September 10	Ohio State	Tulsa	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
September 24	Memphis

Week 3

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
September 15	Houston	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH
September 17	Maryland	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL
September 17	Virginia	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
September 17	East Carolina	South Carolina	Williams-Brice Stadium • Columbia, SC
September 17	South Florida	Syracuse	Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY
September 17	Temple	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
September 17	Navy	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
September 17	Liberty	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX
September 17	Kansas	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
September 17	North Carolina A&T	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 4

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
September 23	TCU	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX (Battle for the Iron Skillet)	ESPN
September 24	UCF	FIU	FIU Stadium • Miami, FL
September 24	Miami (Ohio)	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH (121th Battle for the Victory Bell)
September 24	Syracuse	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
September 24	East Carolina	Virginia Tech	Lane Stadium • Blacksburg, VA
September 24	Florida State	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
September 24	Charlotte	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
September 24	Houston	Texas State	Bobcat Stadium • San Marcos, TX
September 24	Bowling Green	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
September 24	Louisiana–Lafayette	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
September 24	Tulsa	Fresno State	Bulldog Stadium • Fresno, CA
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
September 24	Navy

Week 5

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
September 29	Connecticut	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN
October 1	UCF	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC (Rivalry)
October 1	South Florida	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH
October 1	SMU	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
October 1	Memphis	Ole Miss	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, MS
October 1	Navy	Air Force	Falcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)
October 1	Tulane	UMass	Gillette Stadium • Foxboro, MA
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
October 1	Tulsa

Week 6

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
October 6	Temple	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN	ESPN
October 7	Tulane	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL	ESPN2/ESPNU
October 7	SMU	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK	ESPN2/ESPNU
October 8	Cincinnati	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
October 8	East Carolina	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
October 8	Houston	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	CBSSN
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 7

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
October 13	Navy	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	ESPN
October 14	Memphis	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
October 15	Temple	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL
October 15	Connecticut	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
October 15	Tulsa	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
October 15	Cincinnati	SMU

Week 8

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
October 21	South Florida	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA	ESPN
October 22	UCF	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT (Civil Conflict)
October 22	East Carolina	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH
October 22	Houston	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX
October 22	Memphis	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	CBSSN
October 22	Tulane	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 9

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
October 28	Navy	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL	ESPN2
October 29	UCF	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
October 29	Cincinnati	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
October 29	Connecticut	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
October 29	Tulsa	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
October 29	SMU	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 10

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
November 4	Temple	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT	ESPN2
November 5	BYU	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH
November 5	East Carolina	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
November 5	Memphis	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX
November 5	Notre Dame	Navy	EverBank Field • Jacksonville, FL	CBS
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
November 5	UCF	South Florida	Houston	Tulane

Week 11

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
November 12	Cincinnati	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL
November 12	SMU	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
November 12	South Florida	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
November 12	Tulane	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
November 12	Tulsa	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	CBSSN
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
November 12	Connecticut	Temple

Week 12

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV
November 17	Louisville	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
November 18	Memphis	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH	CBSSN
November 19	Tulsa	UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL
November 19	Connecticut	Boston College	Alumni Stadium • Chestnut Hill, MA
November 19	South Florida	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX
November 19	Temple	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
November 19	East Carolina	Navy

Week 13

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
November 25	Cincinnati	Tulsa	Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
November 25	Houston	Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN
November 26	UCF	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL (Rivalry)
November 26	Tulane	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
November 26	East Carolina	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
November 26	Navy	SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX (Gansz Trophy)
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

American Athletic Conference Championship Game

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
December 3					ABC/ESPN
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 15

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
December 10	3:00 PM	Army	Navy	M&T Bank Stadium • Baltimore, MD (117th Army–Navy Game/Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)	CBS
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Bowl games

American Athletic Conference bowl games^[13] for the 2016 season are:

Bowl game	Date	Site	Television
AutoNation Cure Bowl		Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL
Miami Beach Bowl		Marlins Park • Miami, FL
Marmot Boca Raton Bowl		FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL
Popeyes Bahamas Bowl		Thomas Robinson Stadium • Nassau, Bahamas
St. Petersburg Bowl		Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FL
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman		Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD
Birmingham Bowl		Legion Field • Birmingham, Alabama
New Year's Six Bowls
Cotton Bowl Classic	January 2	AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TX	ESPN

Rankings are from AP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.

Selection of teams

Bowl eligible:
Bowl-ineligible:

Records against FBS conferences

2016 records against FBS conferences

Conference	Record
ACC	–
Big Ten	–
Big 12	–
C-USA	–
Independents	–
MAC	–
Mountain West	–
Pac-12	–
SEC	–
Sun Belt	–
Total	0-0

The American vs. Power Conferences

Index to colors and formatting
American member won
American member loss

Date	Visitor	Home	Opponent Conference
September 1	Tulane	Wake Forest	ACC
September 3‡	Oklahoma	Houston	Big 12
September 10	Cincinnati	Purdue	Big Ten
September 10	UCF	Michigan	Big Ten
September 10	NC State	East Carolina	ACC
September 10	SMU	Baylor	Big 12
September 10	Tulsa	Ohio State	Big Ten
September 17	Maryland	UCF	Big Ten
September 17	Virginia	Connecticut	ACC
September 17	East Carolina	South Carolina	SEC
September 17	Kansas	Memphis	Big 12
September 17	South Florida	Syracuse	ACC
September 17	Temple	Penn State	Big Ten
September 24	Syracuse	Connecticut	ACC
September 24	East Carolina	Virginia Tech	ACC
September 24	TCU	SMU	Big 12
September 24	Florida State	South Florida	ACC
September 24	Memphis	Ole Miss	SEC
November 5‡	Notre Dame	Navy	IND
November 19	Connecticut	Boston College	ACC
November 5	Louisville	Houston	ACC

‡This game was played at a neutral site

Players of the Week

Week	Offensive		Defensive			Special teams
Week	Player	Team	Player	Team		Player		Team
Week 1

Awards and honors

Conference awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches at the end of the season

Award	Recipient(s)
2016 American Athletic Conference Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Special Teams Player of the Year
Rookie of the Year
Coach of the Year

Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense
2016 All-American Athletic Conference Football Teams
First Team		Second Team
WR - WR - OT - OT - OG - OG - C - TE - QB - RB - K - RS -	DL - DL - DL - DL - LB - LB - LB - LB - CB - CB - S - S - P -	WR - WR - OT - OT - OG - OG - C - TE - QB - RB - K - RS -	DL - DL - DL - DL - DL - LB - LB - LB - CB - CB - S - S - P -
^{^} - denotes unanimous selection Additional players added to the All-American teams due to ties in the voting

NFL Draft

The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2017 NFL draft.

Player	Position	School	Draft Round	Round Pick	Overall Pick	Team

Attendance

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Game 6	Game 7	% of Capacity
Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium	40,000			%
Connecticut	Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field	40,642			%
East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium	50,000		0 !—	%
Houston	TDECU Stadium	40,000		0 !—	%
Memphis	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	59,308			%
Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	34,000	0 !—	0 !—	%
SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	32,000		0 !—	%
South Florida	Raymond James Stadium	65,890			%
Temple	Lincoln Financial Field	69,176			%
Tulane	Yulman Stadium	30,000		0 !—	%
Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium	30,000		0 !—	%
UCF	Bright House Networks Stadium	44,206		0 !—	%

^* Games highlighted in green were sell-outs

Attendance for neutral site games

September 3 – Houston vs. Oklahoma, NRG Stadium:
November 5 – Navy vs. Notre Dame, EverBank Field:
December 10 – Navy vs. Army, M&T Bank Stadium:

^[14]

References

↑ About the College Football Playoff. ESPN.
↑ "Playoff committee will wait for Army-Navy game if necessary". FOXSports. FOXSports.com. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
↑ http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120115aad.html
↑ Calkins, Geoff (December 3, 2015). "ASU's Mike Norvell tapped to coach U of M football". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
↑ Keeley, Laura (December 13, 2015). "Duke offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery named ECU head coach". The News & Observer. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
↑ ESPN.com news services (2015-12-04). "East Carolina fires Ruffin McNeill". espn.go.com. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
↑ "RecruitingNation Class Rankings top75-ESPN". Insider.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
↑ "2016 Rivals Team Rankings". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
↑ "2016 Scout.com College Football Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
↑ "2016 Football Recruiting Composite Team Rankings". 247sports.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
↑ "AAC Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
↑ "American Athletic Conference Athletic Directors Conclude Winter Meetings". American Athletic Conference. SideArm Sports. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
↑ "American Bowl Lineup 2014-2019". American Athletic Conference. SideArm Sports.
↑ "NCAA Football Attendance Report". NCAA. NCAA.

American Athletic Conference football

East Division	Cincinnati Bearcats Connecticut Huskies East Carolina Pirates South Florida Bulls Temple Owls UCF Knights

West Division	Houston Cougars Memphis Tigers Navy Midshipmen SMU Mustangs Tulane Green Wave Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Championships & awards	Conference champions Championship Game (2015– ) Awards

Seasons	1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season

Conference seasons	The American ACC Big 12 Big Ten Conference USA MAC Mountain West Pac-12 SEC Sun Belt

Inter-conference	Bowl games Rankings

All-Americans	2016 College Football All-America Team

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