The 2016 American Athletic Conference football season was the 26th NCAA Division I FBS football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season was the fourth since the breakup of the former Big East Conference, and the third season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American was 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 received a bid to one of the six major bowls.About the College Football Playoff. ESPN.
The American consisted of 12 members: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, UConn, Navy. In June 2015, the Collegiate Commissioner's Association announced that it would 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 was 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.
In the 2016 season, the American had four new coaches. Willie Fritz, formerly the head coach at Georgia Southern, was hired by Tulane to replace Curtis Johnson. After beginning the 2013 season, Johnson lost 22 of his final 27 games against FBS opponents. He finished at Tulane with a 15–4 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 (2014–2015). On December 1, 2015, UCF hired Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Frost replaced longtime 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 offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Norvell, replacing Justin Fuente who took the job at Virginia Tech. On December 13, 2015, East Carolina hired Duke (/) Scottie Montgomery. replacing Ruffin McNeill who was relieved of his duties as ECU head coach after finishing the season with a record of 5–7.
American Athletic Conference Media Day The American Athletic Conference Media Day took place August 12 in Newport, Rhode Island.2016 Football Media Day
Preseason poll
East Division USF (15), 164 pts Temple (9), 144 pts Cincinnati (6), 130 pts UConn, 89 pts East Carolina, 55 pts UCF, 48 pts
West Division Houston (30), 180 pts Navy, 128 pts Memphis, 124 pts Tulsa, 92 pts SMU, 65 pts Tulane, 41 pts
Predicted American Championship Game Winner: Houston (27) was picked to win the American Championship. Others receiving votes were USF (2), Temple (1)
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 – 9th year Chad Morris, SMU – 2nd year Willie Fritz, Tulane – 1st year Philip Montgomery, Tulsa – 2nd year
Recruiting classes + Rankings Team ESPN Rivals Scout 24/7SigneesCincinnati 75 75 73 76 21Connecticut – – 101 98 16East Carolina – 81 88 77 22Houston 30 44 51 40 19Memphis 72 72 69 63 22Navy – – 98 83 36SMU 67 74 61 72 22South Florida 63 70 77 61 16Temple 59 59 76 57 26Tulane – 86 100 89 24Tulsa – 87 85 92 20UCF 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 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalCincinnati AP RV C CFP Not released Connecticut AP C CFP Not released East Carolina AP C CFP Not released HoustonAP 15 6 6 6 6 6 13 11 RV RV RV RV 18 RV RVC 13 7 7 7 7 5 12 11 24 RV RV RV 21 RV RVCFP Not released 20 24 Memphis AP RV C RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Navy AP RV RV 25 24 22 RV RV RV 20 RVC RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 22 RV RV RV RV 20 RVCFP Not released 25 19 25 SMU AP RV C CFP Not released South Florida AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 25C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 22CFP Not released Temple AP RV RV 23C RV 24CFP Not released 24 Tulane AP C CFP Not released Tulsa AP RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released UCF AP C CFP Not released
Schedule All Times and Dates are Tentative, The 2016 conference football schedule was released February 9
Index to colors and formattingAmerican member wonAmerican member lossAmerican teams in bold
Week 1
Week 2
Date Bye WeekSeptember 10 Memphis
Week 3
Week 4
Date Bye WeekSeptember 24 Navy
Week 5
Date Bye WeekOctober 1 Tulsa
Week 6
The October 7th game in Orlando between Tulane and UCF was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew and rescheduled for November 5, a date which both teams had open.
Week 7
Date Bye WeekOctober 15 Cincinnati SMU
The October 13th game in Greenville, NC between Navy and East Carolina was postponed due because of flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew, the game will be rescheduled for November 19, a date which both teams had open.
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Date Bye WeekNovember 5 South Florida Houston
Week 11
Date Bye WeekNovember 12 Connecticut Temple
Week 12
Week 13
American Athletic Conference Championship Game
Week 15
Bowl games American Athletic Conference bowl games for the 2016 season are:
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)AAC teamOpponentScoreAttendanceLas Vegas BowlDecember 17Sam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NVABC3:30 p.m.HoustonSan Diego State 10–34 29,286AutoNation Cure BowlDecember 17Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FLCBSSN5:30 p.m.UCFArkansas State13–3127,213Miami Beach BowlDecember 19Marlins Park • Miami, FLESPN2:30 p.m.TulsaCentral Michigan55–1015,262Marmot Boca Raton BowlDecember 20FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FLESPN7:00 p.m.MemphisWKU31–5124,726Lockheed Martin Armed Forces BowlDecember 23Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TXESPN4:30 p.m.#25 NavyLouisiana Tech45–4840,542Military BowlDecember 27Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MDESPN3:30 p.m.#24 TempleWake Forest26–3426,656Birmingham BowlDecember 29Legion Field • Birmingham, AlabamaESPN2:00 p.m.South FloridaSouth Carolina46–39 OT31,229 Rankings are from CFP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.
Selection of teams Bowl eligible: Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa, UCF Bowl-ineligible: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Tulane, SMU
Records against FBS conferences 2016 records against FBS conferences
Through Dec 29, 2016 ConferenceRecordACC4–6Big Ten1–4Big 122–2C-USA3–2Independents2–3MAC4–0Mountain West2–2SEC1–2Sun Belt2–1Total21–22
The American vs. Power Conferences Index to colors and formattingAmerican member wonAmerican member loss
Date Visitor Home Winning team OpponentConferenceSeptember 1 Tulane Wake Forest Wake Forest ACCSeptember 3‡ #3 Oklahoma #15 Houston Houston Big 12September 10 Cincinnati Purdue Cincinnati Big TenSeptember 10 UCF #5 Michigan Michigan Big TenSeptember 10 NC State East Carolina East Carolina ACCSeptember 10 SMU #23 Baylor Baylor Big 12September 10 Tulsa #4 Ohio State Ohio State Big TenSeptember 17 Maryland UCF Maryland Big TenSeptember 17 Virginia Connecticut Connecticut ACCSeptember 17 East Carolina South Carolina South Carolina SECSeptember 17 Kansas Memphis Memphis Big 12September 17 South Florida Syracuse South Florida ACCSeptember 17 Temple Penn State Penn State Big TenSeptember 24 Syracuse Connecticut Syracuse ACCSeptember 24 East Carolina Virginia Tech Virginia Tech ACCSeptember 24 TCU SMU TCU Big 12September 24 #13 Florida State South Florida Florida State ACCOctober 1 Memphis #16 Ole Miss Ole Miss SECNovember 5‡ Notre Dame Navy Navy INDNovember 17 #3 Louisville Houston Houston ACCNovember 19 Connecticut Boston College Boston College ACCDecember 27‡ Wake Forest #23 Temple Wake Forest ACCDecember 29‡ South Carolina #25 South Florida South Florida SEC ‡This game was played at a neutral site
Players of the Week
Week Offensive Defensive Special Teams Player Position Team Player Position Team Player Position Team Week 1 Greg Ward Jr. QB Houston Trent Martin LB Tulsa Brandon Wilson CB Houston Week 2 Quinton Flowers QB USF Alohi Gilman LB/DB Navy Sherman Badie RB Tulane Week 3 Greg Ward Jr. QB Houston Steven Taylor LB Houston Bobby Puyol K UConn Week 4 Riley Ferguson QB Memphis Jeremy Brady S Tulsa Andrew DiRocco K Tulane Week 5 Greg Ward Jr. QB Houston Haason Reddick DE Temple Adrian Killins RB UCF Week 6 Will Worth QB Navy Josiah Powell LB Navy Bennett Moehring K Navy Week 7 Will Worth QB Navy Jarvis Pruitt DE SMU Aaron Boumerhi K Temple Week 8 James Flanders RB Tulsa Shaquem Griffin LB UCF Jake Elliott K Memphis Week 9 Riley Ferguson QB Memphis Drico Johnson DB UCF Aaron Boumerhi K Temple Week 10 Quinton Flowers QB USF Horace Richardson CB SMU Dane Roy P Houston Week 11 Week 12
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
2016 American Athletic Conference Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Offensive Player of the YearQuinton FlowersDefensive Player of the Year Shaquem GriffinSpecial Teams Player of the Year Tony PollardRookie of the Year Ed Oliver Coach of the Year Ken Niumatalolo 2016 All-American Athletic Conference Football Teams First Team Second Team Offense Defense Offense DefenseWR – Zay Jones, East Carolina WR – Courtland Sutton, SMU WR – Keevan Lucas, Tulsa OT – Kofi Amichia, South Florida OT – Dion Dawkins, Temple OG – Adam West, Navy OG – Black Belcher, Tulsa C – Chandler Miller, Tulsa TE – Daniel Montiel, Memphis QB – Quinton Flowers, South Florida RB – Marlon Mack, South Florida K – Jake Elliott, Memphis RS – Tony Pollard, MemphisDL – Haason Reddick, Temple* DL – Ed Oliver, Houston* DL – Tanzel Smart, Tulane DL Justin Lawler, SMU LB – Shaquem Griffin, UCF LB – Eric Wilson, Cincinnati LB – Steven Taylor, Houston LB – Genard Avery, Memphis LB – Nico Marley, Tulane CB Horace Richardson, SMU CB – Howard Wilson, Houston S – Darrion Millines, SMU S – Obi Melifonwu, UConn P – Spencer Smith, MemphisWR – Noel Thomas, UConn WR – Anthony Miller, Memphis WR – Rodney Adams, South Florida OT – Blake Copeland, Navy OT – Evan Plagg, Tulsa OG – Dominique Threatt, South Florida OG – Tyler Bowling, Tulsa C – Maurice Morris, Navy TE – Mitchell Wilcox, South Florida QB – Greg Ward Jr., Houston RB – Jahad Thomas, Temple RB – D'Angelo Brewer, Tulsa K – Aaron Boumerhi, Temple RS – D'Ernest Johnson, South FloridaDL – Jamiyus Pittman, UCF DL – Cortez Broughton, Cincinnati DL – Deadrin Senat, South Florida DL – Praise Martin-Oguike, Temple LB – Tyus Bowser, Houston LB – Micah Thomas, Navy LB – Auggie Sanchez, South Florida LB – Avery Williams, Temple CB – Shaquill Griffin, UCF CB – Brandon Wilson, Houston CB – Deatrick Nichols, South Florida CB – Parry Nickerson, Tulane S – Garrett Davis, Houston S – Sean Chandler, Temple P – Worth Gregory, ECU ^ - denotes unanimous selection Additional players added to the all-conference teams due to ties in the voting.
NFL draft
The American had a conference-record 15 players selected in the 2017 NFL draft, which placed it as the fifth most prolific conference in the draft. The American made headlines by having more selections than the Big 12 Conference, a Power 5 Conference. The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2017 NFL draft.