The 2020 American Athletic Conference football season is the 29th NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season is the eighth since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference and the seventh season of the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the Group of Five (G5) together with Conference USA (C–USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
Preseason Departure of UConn The Huskies' Big East entrance date was confirmed for July 1, 2020 after UConn and The American reached a buyout agreement. At the time this agreement was announced, UConn also announced that its football team would become an FBS independent once it joined the Big East. The American has no immediate plan to add another team to rebalance division, so divisions have been eliminated from the conference for the time being.
Recruiting classes + Rankings Team ESPN Rivals 24/7Cincinnati 49 39 40East Carolina 73 65 74Houston 71 79 72Memphis 70 65Navy 83 127SMU 68 70South Florida 109Temple 77 100Tulane 67 64 69Tulsa 84 115UCF 66 58 75
American Athletic Conference Media Days The 2020 American Athletic Conference Media Day was originally scheduled for July 12–14 in Newport, Rhode Island. On May 4, 2020 The American Announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic media day was canceled.
Preseason media poll The preseason Poll was released September 1
Media poll 1 UCF 204 (10) 2 Cincinnati 201 (7) 3 Memphis 192 (2) 4 SMU 146 5 Navy 125 (1) 6 Tulane 118 7 Houston 114 8 Temple 88 9 Tulsa 49 10 East Carolina 42 11 South Florida 41
Head coaches Coaching changes At the end of his third season ended in a 4–8 record, South Florida fired Charlie Strong. On December 9, 2019, Jeff Scott, offensive coordinator for Clemson, was hired as the new head coach.
On December 8, 2019 after Norvell's departure to Florida State, Silverfield served as the interim head coach before being promoted to head coach on December 13, 2019.
Coaches Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2020 season Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school AAC recordCincinnati Luke Fickell 4 East Carolina Mike Houston 2 Houston Dana Holgorsen 2 Memphis Ryan Silverfield 1 Navy Ken Niumatalolo 13 SMU Sonny Dykes 3 South Florida Jeff Scott 1 Temple Rod Carey 2 Tulane Willie Fritz 5 Tulsa Philip Montgomery 6 UCF Josh Heupel 3 Source:American Athletic Conference Coaches. Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved Feb 18, 2021.
Rankings
Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 FinalCincinnati AP 20 13 14 15 11 8 9 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 8C 22 14 16 15 11 10 10 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 8 CFP Not released 7 7 8 9 8East Carolina AP C CFP Not released Houston AP RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released Memphis AP RV 16 17 25 RV RV RV RV RV RVC RV 15 20 24 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Navy AP RV C RV CFP Not released SMU AP RV RV RV RV 18 17 16 22 18 19 RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV 21 18 16 23 18 19 RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released South Florida AP RV C RV CFP Not released Temple AP C CFP Not released Tulane AP C RV RV CFP Not released Tulsa AP RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 24 22 18 20 22 RVC RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 22 19 20 25 RV CFP Not released 25 24 24 23 24 UCF AP 21 14 13 11 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV C 21 13 15 12 25 RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released
+ 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 т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
Schedule The regular season will begin on September 5, 2020 and will end on November 28, 2020. The season will conclude with the 2020 American Athletic Conference Championship Game on December 19.
Regular season Index to colors and formattingAmerican member wonAmerican member lostAmerican teams in bold
Week One
Date Bye WeekSeptember 5 Cincinnati East Carolina Houston South Florida Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF
Week Two
Date Bye WeekSeptember 12 Cincinnati East Carolina Houston Memphis Navy SMU Temple Tulsa UCF
Week Three
Date Bye WeekSeptember 19 East Carolina Houston Memphis Temple
Week Four
Date Bye WeekSeptember 26 Houston Memphis Navy South Florida Temple Tulsa
Week Five
Date Bye WeekOctober 3 Houston Temple Tulane
Week Six
Date Bye WeekOctober 10 Cincinnati Memphis SMU Tulsa UCF
Week Seven
Date Bye WeekOctober 17 Cincinnati Tulsa
Week Eight
Date Bye WeekOctober 24 East Carolina
Week Nine
Date Bye WeekOctober 31 South Florida
Week Ten
Date Bye WeekNovember 7 Navy Tulsa UCF
Week Eleven
Date Bye WeekNovember 14 Memphis Navy
Week Twelve
Date Bye WeekNovember 21 Houston Navy SMU South Florida
Week Thirteen
Date Bye WeekNovember 28 Cincinnati Houston Temple Tulane Tulsa
Week Fourteen
Date Bye WeekDecember 5 Cincinnati East Carolina Houston SMU South Florida Temple UCF
Week Fifteen
Date Bye WeekDecember 12 Cincinnati Tulsa
Championship game
Postseason For the 2020–2025 bowl cycle, The American will annually send teams to the Military Bowl, Fenway Bowl, and a third annual spot alternating between the Armed Forces Bowl and Hawaii Bowl annually. The American will have annually four appearances in the following bowls: Birmingham Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Frisco Bowl, Cure Bowl, First Responder Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl and New Mexico Bowl. The American champion will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of Group of Five conferences in the final College Football Playoff rankings. American teams are also eligible for the College Football Playoff if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking.
Bowl games Cancelled bowls The following annual bowl games tied in with the American Athletic Conference had their 2020 editions canceled : Frisco Bowl scheduled for December 19 between SMU and UTSA was canceled due to COVID-19 complications within the SMU program. As a result, UTSA accepted a bid to the First Responder Bowl. Military Bowl and Birmingham Bowl were canceled due to a lack of available teams to play.
Legend American win American loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)AAC teamOpponentScore Famous Idaho Potato Bowl December 22 Albertsons Stadium, Boise, ID ESPN 3:30 p.m. Tulane Nevada 27–38 Boca Raton Bowl December 22 FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL ESPN 7:00 p.m. UCF BYU 23–49 Montgomery Bowl December 23 Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL ESPN 7:00 p.m. Memphis Florida Atlantic 25–10 New Mexico Bowl December 24 Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX ESPN 3:30 p.m. Houston Hawaii 14–28 Armed Forces Bowl December 31 Amon G. Carter Stadium, Ft. Worth, TX ESPN 12:00 p.m. No. 24 Tulsa Mississippi State 26–28New Year's Six bowl game Peach Bowl Jan. 1, 2021 Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia ESPN 12:30 p.m. No. 8 Cincinnati No. 9 Georgia 21–24 Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone. American teams shown in bold.
American vs other conferences American vs Power 5 matchups The following games include American teams competing against Power Five conferences teams from the (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, Notre Dame, BYU and SEC). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most power five games for the American have been canceled, All of the Power Five conferences initially announced that they would go on with their season as scheduled, but with cuts to non-conference games in order to overcome logistical concerns and reduce travel. The Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC were all limiting play to in-conference opponents only. The ACC and Big 12 are allowing one non-conference game each. The Big Ten and Pac 12 have postponed fall sports due to COVID-19 concerns.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 7 Independent BYU NavyNavy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD 55–3 September 19 Big 12 Tulsa Oklahoma StateBoone Pickens Stadium • Stillwater, OK 16–7 September 19 ACC UCF Georgia TechBobby Dodd Stadium • Atlanta, GA 49–21 September 19 ACC South Florida Notre DameNotre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN 52–0 October 16 Independent BYU Houston TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX46–23
American vs Group of Five matchups The following games include American teams competing against teams from C-USA, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt. On August 8, the MAC announced the postponement of all fall sports for the 2020 season, including football. On August 10, the Mountain West followed the MAC as the second Group of Five conference to postpone fall sports indefinitely. On August 10, Rice announced it was the delaying the start of it season until September 26.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 5 Sun Belt SMU Texas StateBobcat Stadium • San Marcos, TX 31–24 September 5 Sun Belt Arkansas State MemphisLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN 37–24 September 12 Sun Belt Tulane South AlabamaHancock Whitney Stadium • Mobile, AL 27–24 September 19 C-USA SMU North TexasApogee Stadium • Denton, TX 65–35 September 26 C-USA Tulane Southern MissM.M Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS 66–24 October 3 Sun Belt East Carolina Georgia StateCenter Parc Stadium • Atlanta, GA 29–49 October 3 MWC Navy Air ForceFalcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO 7–40
American vs FBS independents matchups The following games include American teams competing against FBS Independents which include Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn and UMass. UConn, announced that they would opt out of the 2020 season. UMass announced that they would opt of playing fall football and hopes to construct a season in spring 2021. New Mexico State announced that they would opt out of playing fall football and try to play in spring 2021.
Date Visitor Home Site Score September 26 Army CincinnatiNippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH 24–10 November 14 Army TulaneYulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA 38–12 December 12 Navy ArmyMichie Stadium • West Point, NY 0–15
American vs FCS matchups The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs. All conferences and teams have postponed their fall conference schedules, The Big South, (James Madison, Elon, Villanova from the CAA), Missouri Valley Football Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, SoCon, and Southland Conference are allowing the option of playing out-of-conference games only
Date Visitor Home Site Score September 12 The Citadel South FloridaRaymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL 27–6 September 19 Austin Peay CincinnatiNippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH 55–20 September 19 Stephen F. Austin SMUGerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX 50–7 November 21 Stephen F. Austin MemphisLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN 56–14
Records against other conferences
Regular Season
Power 5 ConferencesRecordACC1–1Big Ten—Big 120–1Pac-12—SEC—Power 5 Total1–2Other FBS ConferencesRecordBYU0–2C–USA2–0Independents (Excludes BYU & Notre Dame)2–1MAC—Mountain West0–1Sun Belt3–1Other FBS Total7–5FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision4–0Total Non-Conference Record12–7
Post Season
Power Conferences 5RecordACC—Big Ten—Big 12—Pac-12—SEC0–2Power 5 Total0–2Other FBS ConferencesRecordBYU0–1C–USA1–0Independents (Excluding BYU & Notre Dame)—MAC—Mountain West0–2Sun Belt—Other FBS Total1–3Total Bowl Record1–5
Awards and honors Player of the week honors