2024 American Athletic Conference football season explained

2024 American Athletic Conference football season
Pixels:	150px
Color:	002654
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport:	Football
Duration:	August 31, 2024 - December 14, 2024
No Of Teams:	14
Tv:	ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and CBS Sports Network
Draft:	2025 NFL draft
Draft Link:	2025 NFL draft
Season:	Regular season
Mvp Link:	American Athletic Conference football individual awards
Finals:	AAC Championship Game
Finals Link:	2024 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game
Prevseason Link:	2023 American Athletic Conference football season
Prevseason Year:	2023
Nextseason Link:	2025 American Athletic Conference football season
Nextseason Year:	2025

The 2024 American Athletic Conference football season will be the 33rd NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). It will be the 12th season since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference 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 will have 14 football members for the 2024–25 season.

Previous season

See main article: 2023 American Athletic Conference football season.

During the 2023 American Athletic Conference season, Tulane and SMU posted 8–0 conference records and advanced to the Conference Championship Game. In the Conference Championship Game, SMU defeated Tulane by a score of 26–14. SMU was invited to the Fenway Bowl, where they lost to Boston College by a score of 14–23

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.^[1] Army joins The American as a football-only member beginning in 2024 after having played as an independent school in football since 2005.^[2] The conference will remain at 14 football members following these moves.

Though Army and Navy will now both be members of The American, 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.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5] Sumrall had previously been the head coach at Troy.

Records

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	AAC record
style=	Army	Jeff Monken	11	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	Charlotte	Biff Poggi	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
East Carolina	Mike Houston	6	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	Florida Atlantic	Tom Herman	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Memphis	Ryan Silverfield	5	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Navy	Brian Newberry	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	North Texas	Eric Morris	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	Rice	Mike Bloomgren	7	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
South Florida	Alex Golesh	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Temple	Stan Drayton	3	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Tulane	Jon Sumrall	1	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Tulsa	Kevin Wilson	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	UAB	Trent Dilfer	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
style=	UTSA	Jeff Traylor	5	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=

Note:

Records shown after the 2023 season
Years at school includes 2024 season

Source:^[6]

Rankings

	Pre	Wk 1
Army	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Charlotte	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
East Carolina	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Florida Atlantic	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Memphis	AP	RV
	C	RV
	CFP	Not released
Navy	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
North Texas	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Rice	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
South Florida	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Temple	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Tulane	AP	RV
	C	RV
	CFP	Not released
Tulsa	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
UAB	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
UTSA	AP	RV
	C	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.^[7]

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

Week 16

The Army–Navy game will be played as a non-conference game and will therefore not count in the AAC conference standings.

Versus other conference records

2024–2025 records against non-conference foes:

Regular season

Power 5 Conferences	Record
ACC	0–0
Big Ten	0–0
Big 12	0–0
Notre Dame	0–0
Pac-12	0–0
SEC	0–0
Power 4 Total	0–0

Other FBS conferences	Record
C-USA	0–0
Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)	0–0
MAC	0–0
Mountain West	0–0
Sun Belt	0–0
Other FBS Total	0–0

FCS Opponents	Record
Football Championship Subdivision	0–0

Total Non-Conference Record	0–0

Post Season

Power 5 Conferences	Record
ACC	0–0
Big Ten	0–0
Big 12	0–0
Notre Dame	0–0
Pac-12	0–0
SEC	0–0
Power 4 Total	0–0

Other FBS Conferences	Record
C–USA	0–0
Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)	0–0
MAC	0–0
Mountain West	0–0
Sun Belt	0–0

Other FBS Total	0–0
Total Bowl Record	0–0

Power 4 matchups

This is a list of games the American has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, 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
August 31	Big Ten	Florida Atlantic	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
August 31	SEC	Temple	Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK
September 7	ACC	Charlotte	North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC
September 7	SEC	South Florida	Alabama	Bryant–Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL
September 7	Big 12	Kansas State	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
September 14	SEC	UAB	Arkansas	Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR
September 14	ACC	Memphis	Florida State	Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL
September 14	Big 12	North Texas	Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX
September 14	Big 12	Rice	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX
September 14	SEC	UTSA	Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX
September 14	SEC	Tulane	Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK
September 14	Big 12	Oklahoma State	Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
September 21	Big Ten	Charlotte	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
September 21	ACC	Miami (FL)	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
October 26	Independent	Notre Dame	Navy	MetLife Stadium • East Rutherford, NJ
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
August 31	Sun Belt	James Madison	Charlotte	Jerry Richardson Stadium • Charlotte, NC
August 31	Sun Belt	North Texas	South Alabama	Hancock Whitney Stadium • Mobile, AL
August 31	C-USA	Sam Houston	Rice	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX
August 31	C-USA	Kennesaw State	UTSA	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX
September 7	Sun Belt	UAB	Louisiana–Monroe	JPS Field at Malone Stadium • Monroe, LA
September 7	Sun Belt	East Carolina	Old Dominion	S.B. Ballard Stadium • Norfolk, VA
September 7	Sun Belt	Troy	Memphis	Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, TN
September 7	Sun Belt	UTSA	Texas State	Bobcat Stadium • San Marcos, TX
September 7	Sun Belt	Tulsa	Arkansas State	Centennial Bank Stadium • Jonesboro, AR
September 14	Sun Belt	Appalachian State	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
September 14	C-USA	FIU	Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL
September 14	Sun Belt	South Florida	Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS
September 14	Sun Belt	Coastal Carolina	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
September 21	C-USA	East Carolina	Liberty	Williams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA
September 21	Mountain West	Wyoming	North Texas	DATCU Stadium • Denton, TX
September 21	Mountain West	Utah State	Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, PA
September 21	Sun Belt	Tulane	Louisiana	Cajun Field • Lafayette, LA
September 21	C-USA	Tulsa	Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA
September 28	C-USA	Middle Tennessee	Memphis	Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, TN
October 5	Mountain West	Navy	Air Force	Falcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO
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
September 21	Florida Atlantic	UConn	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
October 5	Temple	UConn	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
October 26	Rice	UConn	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
November 9	UConn	UAB	Protective Stadium • Birmingham, AL

FCS matchups

Date	Visitor	Home	Site
August 29	Alcorn State	UAB	Protective Stadium • Birmingham, AL
August 29	Southeastern Louisiana	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA
August 30	Northwestern State	Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK
August 31	Lehigh	Army	Michie Stadium • West Point, NY
August 31	Norfolk State	East Carolina	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC
August 31	North Alabama	Memphis	Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, TN
August 31	Bucknell	Navy	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD
August 31	Bethune-Cookman	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL
September 7	Stephen F. Austin	North Texas	DATCU Stadium • Denton, TX
September 7	Texas Southern	Rice	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX
September 14	Gardner–Webb	Charlotte	Jerry Richardson Stadium • Charlotte, NC
September 21	Houston Christian	UTSA	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX
September 28	Wagner	Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FL

Notes and References

Web site: . Dodd . Dennis . Stanford, Cal, SMU join ACC: Conference membership growing to 18 schools as latest realignment domino falls . September 1, 2023 . September 1, 2023.
Web site: . Army's inclusion keeps AAC at 14 in football; Navy game intact. October 25, 2023 . October 27, 2023.
Web site: Why Army-Navy Will Be A Non-Conference Game In 2024 And Beyond. October 26, 2023. March 3, 2024. si.com. Sports Illustrated Media Group.
Web site: Willie Fritz Named Houston Football Head Coach. December 3, 2023. December 3, 2023. uhcougars.com. University of Houston Athletics.
Web site: Tulane hires Troy's Jon Sumrall on 6-year deal, sources say. December 8, 2023. December 8, 2023. espn.com. ESPN.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/american/coaches.html American Athletic Conference Coaches
Web site: American Announces 2024 Football Schedule. February 29, 2024. March 3, 2024. theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference.