The 2017 American Athletic Conference football season was the 26th NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season is the fifth since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference,The American is the legal all-sports successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013). The Big East was rebranded and reorganized as the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2013. and the fourth season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the "Group of Five" (G5),The other conferences in the "Group of Five" are Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. meaning that the conference shares with the other G5 conferences one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.About the College Football Playoff. ESPN.
American Athletic Conference Media Day The American Athletic Conference Media Day took place July 18– in Newport, Rhode Island.2017 Football Media Day Retrieved November 24, 2017.
Preseason poll
East Division USF (30), 180 pts UCF, 126 pts Temple, 119 pts Cincinnati, 100 pts East Carolina, 63 pts UConn, 42 pts
West Division Memphis (22), 169 pts Houston (6), 137 pts Navy (1), 128 pts Tulsa (1), 102 pts SMU, 64 pts Tulane, 30 pts
Predicted American Championship Game Winner USF (26) Houston (2) Memphis (1) Navy (1)
Head coaches Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2016 season Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school AAC record Cincinnati Luke Fickell 1 Connecticut Randy Edsall* 13 East Carolina Scottie Montgomery 2 Houston Major Applewhite† 1 Memphis Mike Norvell 2 Navy Ken Niumatalolo 10 SMU Chad Morris 3 South Florida Charlie Strong 1 7-1 () Temple Geoff Collins 1 Tulane Willie Fritz 2 Tulsa Philip Montgomery 3 UCF Scott Frost 2 * Randy Edsall coached UConn from 1999–2010, and is returning in 2017. UConn was a member of the Big East from 2004–2012. † Major Applewhite was hired to replace Tom Herman in December 2016 at Houston and coached the Cougars in their 2016 bowl game.
Source:American Athletic Conference Coaches. Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
Recruiting classes + Rankings Team ESPN Rivals Scout 24/7SigneesCincinnati 75 60 62 68 23Connecticut – 96 102 106 19East Carolina – 71 88 75 22Houston 62 76 72 72 19Memphis 64 62 64 55 28Navy – 76 86 79 49SMU – 84 93 80 18South Florida 71 69 95 67 20Temple – – 126 107 18Tulane – 89 104 99 26Tulsa – 79 85 91 23UCF 68 53 63 49 23
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 () Received first place votes
Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalCincinnati AP C CFP Not released Connecticut AP C CFP Not released East Carolina AP C CFP Not released HoustonAP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Memphis AP RV RV RV RV 25 24 22 20 1817 16 19 25C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 21 19 1716 14 18 24CFP Not released 23 22 21 20 20 20 Navy AP RV RV 25 RV C RV RV RV RV RV 24 RV RV RV CFP Not released SMU AP C CFP Not released South Florida AP 19 21 22 21 18 18 18 16 17 RV 22 2322 23 23 21C 21 20 21 17 17 16 15 13 14 23 21 2019 23 24 21CFP Not released Temple AP C RV CFP Not released Tulane AP C CFP Not released Tulsa AP RV C RV CFP Not released UCF AP RV 25 22 20 18 15 14 1413 12 10 6 (4)C RV RV 25 21 20 17 14 12 1212 11 10 7CFP Not released 18 18 15 15 14 12
Schedule The conference's schedule was released on February 9, 2017. The regular season began on August 27, 2017, when South Florida visits San Jose State. The first conference games played on September 9. The conference season ended with the AAC Championship game on December 2, 2017.
Index to colors and formattingAmerican member wonAmerican member lossAmerican teams in bold
Week 1
The game between Houston and UTSA was cancelled due to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It was originally scheduled for September 2 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Week 2
The game between UCF and Memphis was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. It was originally scheduled for September 9 at 8:00 p.m. before it was moved to September 8 at 6:30 p.m. The game has been rescheduled for September 30. The game between UConn and USF was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. It was originally scheduled for September 9 at 12:00 p.m. before it was moved to 10:30 a.m. The game has been rescheduled for November 4.
Week 3
The game between UCF and Georgia Tech was cancelled due to the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. It was originally scheduled for September 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14 – AAC Championship game
Week 15
Records against other conferences 2017 records against other college football conferences.
FBS conferences
Power ConferencesRecordACC0–3Big Ten2–1Big 120–5Pac-122–0SEC0–1Notre Dame0–2Other FBS ConferencesRecordC-USA4–2MAC1–1Mountain West2–1Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)3–2Sun Belt3–0FBS Total17–18
FCS conferences ConferenceRecordCAA2–1MVFC1–0OVC2–0Patriot1–0Southland1–0SWAC1–0Total FCS Record8–1
Postseason Power Conferences RecordACC1–0Big 121–1SEC1–0Other FBS ConferencesRecordC–USA1–1Mountain West0–1Total Bowl Record4–3
Postseason
Bowl games American Athletic Conference bowl games for the 2017 season are:
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)AAC teamOpponentScoreAttendanceFrisco Bowl December 20, 2017 Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX ESPN 8:00 p.m. SMU Louisiana Tech L 10–51 14,419Gasparilla Bowl December 21, 2017 Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FL ESPN 8:00 p.m. Temple FIU W 28–3 16,363Birmingham Bowl December 23, 2017 Legion Field • Birmingham, AL ESPN 12:00 p.m. South Florida Texas Tech W 38–34 28,623Hawaii Bowl December 24, 2017 Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI ESPN 8:30 p.m. Houston Fresno State L 27–33 20,546Military Bowl December 28, 2017 Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD ESPN 1:30 p.m. Navy Virginia W 49–7 35,921Liberty Bowl December 30, 2017 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN ABC 12:30 p.m. #20 Memphis Iowa State L 20–21 57,266Peach Bowl January 1, 2018 Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, GA ESPN 12:30 p.m. #12 UCF #7 Auburn W 34–27 71,109 Rankings are from CFP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.
Selection of teams Bowl eligible: UCF, South Florida, Memphis, Houston, Navy, SMU, Temple Bowl-ineligible: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Tulsa, Tulane
Awards and honors
Players of the week
Week Offensive Defensive Special Teams Player Position Team Player Position Team Player Position Team Week 1 McKenzie Milton QB UCF Jordan Wyatt CB SMU Tony Pollard WR Memphis Week 2 Courtland Sutton WR SMU Ed Oliver DT Houston Aaron Boumerhi K Temple Week 3 Riley Ferguson QB Memphis Malik Clements/Quincy Roche S/DE Cincinnati/Temple Dane Roy P Houston Week 4 Thomas Sirk QB ECU Deatrick Nichols CB USF Emilio Nadelman K USF Week 5 Adrian Killins/Zach Abey RB/QB UCF/Navy Justin Lawler DE SMU Matthew Wright K UCF Week 6 Riley Ferguson QB Memphis Terrell Williams DB Houston Bennett Moehring K Navy Week 7 McKenzie Milton QB UCF Austin Hall DB/LB Memphis Mike Hughes/Emilio Nadelman CB/K UCF/USF Week 8 Trey Quinn WR SMU TJ Carter DB Memphis Jake Verity K ECU Week 9 D'Eriq King QB Houston Genard Avery LB Memphis Mike Hughes CB UCF Week 10 Quinton Flowers QB USF Sharif Finch DE Temple Emilio Nadelman K USF Week 11 Malcolm Perry QB Navy Raejuan Marbley LB Tulane Isaiah Wright KOR Temple
Conference awards The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches at the end of the season
2017 American Athletic Conference Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Offensive Player of the YearMcKenzie MiltonDefensive Player of the Year Ed OliverSpecial Teams Player of the Year Tony PollardRookie of the Year T. J. Carter Coach of the Year Scott Frost 2017 All-American Athletic Conference Football Teams First Team Second Team Offense Defense Offense DefenseWR – Anthony Miller, Memphis WR – Trey Quinn, SMU WR – Courtland Sutton, SMU OT – Aaron Evans, UCF OT – Trevon Tate, Memphis OG – Gabe Kuhn, Memphis OG – Jeremi Hall, USF C – Jordan Johnson, UCF TE – Jordan Akins, UCF QB – McKenzie Milton, UCF QB – Riley Ferguson, Memphis RB – Adrian Killins, UCF RB – D'Angelo Brewer, Tulsa K – Emilio Nadelman, USF RS – Tony Pollard, MemphisDL – Jamiyus Pittman, UCF DL – Ed Oliver, Houston DL – Deadrin Senat, USF DL Justin Lawler, SMU LB – Shaquem Griffin, UCF LB – D'Juan Hines, Houston LB – Genard Avery, Memphis LB – Auggie Sanchez, USF CB - Mike Hughes, UCF CB – Parry Nickerson, Tulane S – Kyle Gibson, UCF S – Delvon Randall, Temple P – James Smith, CincinnatiWR – Tre'Quan Smith, UCF WR – Trevon Brown, ECU WR – Justin Hobbs, Tulsa OT – Korey Cunningham, Cincinnati OT – Wyatt Miller, UCF OT – Marcus Norman, USF OG – Brian Carter, Temple OG – Tyler Bowling, Tulsa C – Chandler Miller, Tulsa TE – Joey Magnifico, Memphis QB – Quinton Flowers, USF RB – Dontrell Hilliard, Tulane RB – Darrell Henderson, Memphis K – Matthew Wright, UCF RS – Mike Hughes, UCFDL – Trysten Hill, UCF DL – Bruce Hector, USF DL – Sharif Finch, Temple DL – Jacob Martin, Temple DL – Jeremy Smith, Tulsa LB – Chequan Burkett, UCF LB – Jaylyin Minor, Cincinnati LB – D.J. Palmore, Navy LB – Rae Juan Marbley, Tulane CB – T.J. Carter, Memphis CB – Deatrick Nichols, USF S – Khalil Williams, Houston S – Devin Abraham, USF P – Mac Loudermilk, UCF Additional players added to the all-conference teams due to ties in the voting.
NFL draft
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2018 NFL draft.
Player Position School DraftRound RoundPick OverallPick Team Mike Hughes CB UCF 1 30 30 Minnesota Vikings Courtland Sutton WR SMU 2 8 40 Denver Broncos Anthony Miller WR Memphis 2 19 51 Chicago Bears Deadrin Senat DT South Florida 3 26 90 Atlanta Falcons Tre'Quan Smith WR UCF 3 27 91 New Orleans Saints Jordan Akins TE UCF 3 34 98 Houston Texans Shaquem Griffin LB UCF 5 4 141 Seattle Seahawks Genard Avery LB Memphis 5 13 150 Cleveland Browns Marquez Valdes-Scantling WR South Florida 5 37 174 Green Bay Packers Parry Nickerson CB Tulane 6 5 179 New York Jets Folorunso Fatukasi DT Connecticut 6 6 180 New York Jets Jacob Martin LB Temple 6 12 186 Seattle Seahawks Ade Aruna DE Tulane 6 44 218 Minnesota Vikings Matthew Adams LB Houston 7 3 221 Indianapolis Colts Jullian Taylor DT Temple 7 5 223 San Francisco 49ers Justin Lawler DE SMU 7 26 244 Los Angeles Rams Korey Cunningham OT Cincinnati 7 36 254 Arizona Cardinals Trey Quinn WR SMU 7 38 256 Washington Redskins
Notes
References