The 2024 American Athletic Conference football season was the 33rd NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference, now known as the American Conference (The American), the 12th and last under its then-current name after the breakup of the former Big East Conference (whose charter legally belongs to The American), and the 10th season of the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the Group of Five (G5) together with Conference USA, the MAC, Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. The conference had 14 football members for the 2024–25 season.
The conference changed its name to "American Conference" on July 21, 2025.
Conference realignment Prior to the 2024 season, The American saw the departure of one team and the arrival of another. SMU, the 2023 Conference champions, left The American to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Army joined The American as a football-only member beginning in 2024 after having played as an independent school in football since 2005. The conference will remain at 14 football members following these moves.
Though Army and Navy are now members of American Conference football, the annual Army–Navy Game will be played as a non-conference game to ensure that its traditional date of the second weekend of December will remain.
Head coaches
Changes On December 3, 2023, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz resigned from his position to take the head coach position at Houston in the Big 12 Conference for the 2024 season. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Slade Nagle was named the interim head coach. On December 8, Jon Sumrall was announced as Tulane's new head coach for 2024. Sumrall had previously been the head coach at Troy.
Records Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school AAC record Army Jeff Monken 11 Charlotte Biff Poggi 2 East Carolina Mike Houston 6 Florida Atlantic Tom Herman 2 Memphis Ryan Silverfield 5 Navy Brian Newberry 2 North Texas Eric Morris 2 Rice Mike Bloomgren 7 South Florida Alex Golesh 2 Temple Stan Drayton 3 Tulane Jon Sumrall 1 Tulsa Kevin Wilson 2 UAB Trent Dilfer 2 UTSA Jeff Traylor 5
Note: Records shown after the 2023 season Years at school includes 2024 season Source:American Athletic Conference Coaches. Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved Feb 18, 2021.
Mid-season changes On October 20, East Carolina announced that they had fired head coach Mike Houston, citing that changes were needed to "move the program forward". Defensive coordinator Blake Harrell was named the interim head coach. Harrell was promoted to the permanent head coach on November 25. On October 27, Rice announced that they had fired head coach Mike Bloomgren. Bloomgren had posted a 24–52 record with the school during his tenure. Associate head coach Pete Alamar was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On November 26, Rice announced the Scott Abell would be the new head coach for the 2025 season. Abell was previously head coach at Davidson On November 17, Temple announced that they had fired head coach Stan Drayton. Drayton had posted a 9–25 record in 3 years with the school. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On December 1, Temple announced K. C. Keeler as the new head coach. Keeler had previously been head coach at Sam Houston. On November 18, Florida Atlantic announced that they had fired head coach Tom Herman. Associate head coach Chad Lunsford was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On December 2, Florida Atlantic announced Zach Kittley as the new head coach. Kittley had previously been the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech. On November 18, Charlotte announced that they had fired head coach Biff Poggi after less than two seasons at the school. Associate head coach Tim Brewster was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On December 7, Charlotte announced Tim Albin as the new head coach for 2024. Albin had previously been head coach of Ohio. On November 24, Tulsa announced they had fired head coach Kevin Wilson. Wide receivers coach Ryan Switzer was named the interim head coach for the final game of the season. On December 8, Tulsa announced Tre Lamb as the new head coach for 2025. Lamb had previously been head coach at East Tennessee State.
Rankings
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Final Army AP RV 23 23 21 18 16 18 25 24 19 21C RV 24 23 21 19 17 17 22 23 18 21 CFP Not released 25 24 19 24 22 Charlotte AP C CFP Not released East Carolina AP C CFP Not released Florida Atlantic AP C CFP Not released Memphis AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 25 24C RV RV 25 23 RV RV 25 RV RV 24 23 24 23 23 CFP Not released 25 25 Navy AP RV RV 25 24 RV RVC RV RV RV 24 RV RV RV CFP Not released North Texas AP C CFP Not released Rice AP C CFP Not released South Florida AP C RV RV CFP Not released Temple AP C CFP Not released Tulane AP RV RV RV RV 25 20 18 RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 20 18 RV RV CFP Not released 25 20 17 Tulsa AP C CFP Not released UAB AP C CFP Not released UTSA AP RV RV C 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
Regular season schedule The 2024 schedule was released on February 29, 2024.
Index to colors and formattingAmerican member wonAmerican member lostAmerican teams in bold
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Championship Game
Week 16
The Army–Navy game will be played as a non-conference game and will therefore not count in the AAC conference standings.
Postseason
Bowl Games
Legend American win American loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)AAC teamOpponentScoreAttendance Frisco Bowl December 17 Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX ESPN 9:00 p.m. No. 25 Memphis West Virginia W 42–37 12,022 Gasparilla Bowl December 20 Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL ESPN 3:30 p.m. Tulane Florida L 8–33 41,472 Myrtle Beach Bowl December 23 Brooks Stadium • Conway, SC ESPN 11:00 a.m. UTSA Coastal Carolina W 44–15 8,164 Hawaii Bowl December 24 Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex • Honolulu, HI ESPN 8:00 p.m. South Florida San Jose State W 41–395OT 6,720 Armed Forces Bowl December 27 Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TX ESPN 12:00 p.m. Navy OklahomaW 21–20 50,754 Military Bowl December 28 Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD ESPN 5:45 p.m. East Carolina NC State W 26-21 23,981 Independence Bowl December 28 Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA ESPN 9:15 p.m. No. 22 Army Louisiana TechW 27–6 34,283 First Responder Bowl January 3, 2025 Gerald J. Ford Stadium • University Park, TX ESPN 4:00 p.m. North Texas Texas StateL 28–30 28,725
Army was originally to play Marshall in the Independence Bowl. However, Marshall withdrew from the bowl due to a high number of their players entering the NCAA transfer portal. Louisiana Tech was selected as their replacement.
Versus other conference records
2024–2025 records against non-conference foes:
Regular season
Power 4 ConferencesRecordACC1–2Big Ten0–2Big 120–4Notre Dame0–0SEC0–5Power 4 Total1–13Other FBS conferencesRecordC-USA4–2Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)0–2MAC0–0Mountain West3–0Pac-120–0Sun Belt5–6Other FBS Total12–10FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision13–0Total Non-Conference Record26–23
Post Season
Power 4 ConferencesRecordACC1–0Big Ten0–0Big 121–0Notre Dame0–0SEC1–1Power 4 Total3–1Other FBS ConferencesRecordC–USA1–0Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)0–0MAC0–0Mountain West1–0Pac-120–0Sun Belt1–1Other FBS Total3–1Total Bowl Record6–2
Power 4 matchups This is a list of games the American has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 30 Big Ten Florida Atlantic Michigan State Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI L 10–16 August 30 SEC Temple Oklahoma Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK L 3–51 September 7 ACC Charlotte North Carolina Kenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC L 20–38 September 7 SEC South Florida No. 4 Alabama Bryant–Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL L 16–42 September 7 Big 12 No. 17 Kansas State Tulane Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA L 27–34 September 14 SEC UAB Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR L 27–37 September 14 ACC Memphis Florida State Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL W 20–12 September 14 Big 12 North Texas Texas Tech Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX L 21–66 September 14 Big 12 Rice Houston TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX L 7–33 September 14 SEC UTSA No. 2 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX L 7–56 September 14 SEC Tulane No. 15 Oklahoma Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK L 19–34 September 14 Big 12 No. 13 Oklahoma State Tulsa H. A. Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK L 10–45 September 21 Big Ten Charlotte Indiana Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN L 14–52 September 21 ACC No. 8 Miami (FL) South Florida Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL L 15–50 October 26 Independent No. 12 Notre Dame No. 24 Navy MetLife Stadium • East Rutherford, NJ L 14–51 November 23 Independent Notre Dame Army Yankee Stadium • Bronx, NY
Group-of-five matchups The following games include American Athletic Conference teams competing against teams from C-USA, the MAC, Mountain West, or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 31 Sun Belt James Madison Charlotte Jerry Richardson Stadium • Charlotte, NC L 7–30 August 31 Sun Belt North Texas South Alabama Hancock Whitney Stadium • Mobile, AL W 52–38 August 31 C-USA Sam Houston Rice Rice Stadium • Houston, TX L 14–34 August 31 C-USA Kennesaw State UTSA Alamodome • San Antonio, TX W 28–16 September 7 Sun Belt UAB Louisiana–Monroe JPS Field at Malone Stadium • Monroe, LA L 6–32 September 7 Sun Belt East Carolina Old Dominion S.B. Ballard Stadium • Norfolk, VA W 20–14 September 7 Sun Belt Troy Memphis Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, TN W 38–17 September 7 Sun Belt UTSA Texas State Bobcat Stadium • San Marcos, TX L 10–49 September 7 Sun Belt Tulsa Arkansas State Centennial Bank Stadium • Jonesboro, AR L 24–28 September 14 Sun Belt Appalachian State East Carolina Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC L 19–21 September 14 C-USA FIU Florida Atlantic FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL W 38–20 September 14 Sun Belt South Florida Southern Miss M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS W 49–24 September 14 Sun Belt Coastal Carolina Temple Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA L 20–28 September 21 C-USA East Carolina Liberty Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA L 24–35 September 21 Mountain West Wyoming North Texas DATCU Stadium • Denton, TX W 44–17 September 21 Mountain West Utah State Temple Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA W 45–29 September 21 Sun Belt Tulane Louisiana Cajun Field • Lafayette, LA W 41–33 September 21 C-USA Tulsa Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA W 23–20 September 28 C-USA Middle Tennessee Memphis Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, TN W 24–7 October 5 Mountain West Navy Air Force Falcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO W 34–7 November 2 Mountain West Air Force Army Michie Stadium • West Point, NY
FBS independents matchups The following games include AAC teams competing against FBS independents, which includes UConn or UMass.
Date Visitor Home Site Score September 21 Florida Atlantic UConn Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT L 14–48 October 5 Temple UConn Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT L 20–29 October 26 Rice UConn Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT L 10–17 November 9 UConn UAB Protective Stadium • Birmingham, AL L 31–23
FCS matchups