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IRVING, Texas – Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced the American Athletic Conference’s 112-game football schedule, including the 56-game conference schedule, as the conference begins its first season of competition as a 14-team league in 2023.
The American continued to make history in 2022 as Tulane completed the best one-year turnaround in major college football history, as the Green Wave capped a 12-2 season with a Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic victory against USC and a final national ranking of No. 9. It marked the seventh time in nine seasons of the College Football Playoff era that The American was represented in the New Year’s Six, the fourth win by an American team in the league's 10-year history and the sixth top-10 finish by an American Athletic Conference team.
But getting to the next level - an actual championship shot - continues to face long odds. At FanDuel Sportsbook, Tulane was tied for the 38th-best odds to win the national championship at +25000, as of March 13, 2023. That's the same as such teams as Missouri, Syracuse and Nebraska, but it's certainly ahead of the large contingent of teams at +1000000.
Conference realignment may make those odds much more difficult as the over-all strength of the ACC has been watered down considerably with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF moving to the Big 12.
The conference absorbs the last six CUSA football champions - North Texas (2017), UAB (2018, 2019, 2020) and UTSA (2021, 2022). Additionally, North Texas played for the title last season, while FAU played in the Conference USA championship game in 2019 and 2017. It keeps last year's title winner (Tulane), as well as the 2017, 2018 and 2019 champion Memphis Tigers.
They join continuing members East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa.
The conference loses the 2020 and 2021 champion Cincinnati Bearcats and 2015 champion Houston Cougars. Prior to the conference staging a championship game, UCF won the outright title in 2013 and shared the crown with Cincinnati and Memphis in 2014.
Stay up to date with The Duel for the latest news that might also affect the changes in those numbers.
Seven teams from The American were selected for bowl games, while league teams went 4-3 in postseason play. But the Bearcats, Cougars and Knights were three of those teams.
The schedule will send some of the nation's top teams to American Athletic Conference stadiums in 2023 as conference schools play host to Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Miami (Fla.) among others. A minimum of 40 conference-controlled regular-season games will be on ESPN's linear platforms, including at least 20 games on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
The nonconference portion of the schedule features nine games against teams ranked in the top 25 of the final Associated Press poll of 2022, including six of the top eight teams and three of the four teams that reached the College Football Playoff. Twenty-one nonconference games will be against teams from autonomous conferences or Notre Dame.
Teams from The American will play six games each against opponents from the SEC and Big 12, four games against the Big Ten, two each against the ACC and Pac-12 and one against Notre Dame.
Each of the 14 teams in The American will play eight conference games in 2023. The top two teams in the final single-division regular-season standings will meet Dec. 2 in the ninth American Athletic Conference Football Championship.
Navy will open the 2023 season five days ahead of any other member team when the Midshipmen face Notre Dame in Ireland in Week Zero.
Other highlights of the nonconference slate incude Alabama visiting USF on September 16, while Oklahoma will host SMU on September 9 and visit Tulsa on September 16.
Other schedule hghlights:
The American Athletic Conference Football Championship, which has been broadcast on ABC in each of the last eight years, is scheduled for Dec. 2 and will be televised either on ABC or ESPN.
Kickoff times and television designations for the first three weeks of the season, as well as the season-long weeknight games, will be finalized by June 1. The rest of the schedule will fall under the customary 12-day and six-day selection processes.
# - denotes non-conference game
CHARLOTTE
# 9/2 South Carolina State
# 9/9 at Maryland
# 9/16 Georgia State
# 9/23 at Florida
9/30 at SMU
10/14 Navy
10/21 at East Carolina
10/27 FAU
11/4 at Tulsa
11/11 Memphis
11/18 Rice
11/25 at USF
EAST CAROLINA
# 9/2 at Michigan
# 9/9 Marshall
# 9/16 at Appalachian State
# 9/23 Gardner-Webb
9/30 at Rice
10/12 SMU
10/21 Charlotte
10/28 at UTSA
11/4 Tulane
11/11 at FAU
11/18 at Navy
11/25 Tulsa (or Fri. 11/24)
FAU
# 9/2 Monmouth
# 9/9 Ohio
# 9/16 at Clemson
# 9/23 at Illinois
10/7 Tulsa
10/14 at USF
10/21 UTSA
10/27 at Charlotte
11/4 at UAB
11/11 East Carolina
11/18 Tulane
11/25 at Rice
MEMPHIS
# 9/2 Bethune-Cookman
# 9/9 at Arkansas State
9/14 Navy
# 9/23 vs. Missouri (at St. Louis)
# 9/30 Boise State
10/13 Tulane
10/21 at UAB
10/28 at North Texas
11/4 USF
11/11 at Charlotte
11/18 SMU
11/25 at Temple (or Fri. 11/24)
NAVY
# 8/26 vs. Notre Dame (Ireland)
# 9/9 Wagner
9/14 at Memphis
9/30 USF
10/7 North Texas
10/14 at Charlotte
# 10/21 Air Force
11/4 at Temple
11/11 UAB
11/18 East Carolina
11/25 at SMU
# 12/9 vs. Army (at Foxborough)
NORTH TEXAS
# 9/2 California
# 9/9 at FIU
# 9/16 at Louisiana Tech
# 9/30 Abilene Christian
10/7 at Navy
10/14 Temple
10/21 at Tulane
10/28 Memphis
11/4 UTSA
11/10 at SMU
11/18 at Tulsa
11/25 UAB (or Fri. 11/24)
RICE
# 9/2 at Texas
# 9/9 Houston (or Fri. 9/8)
# 9/16 Texas Southern
9/23 at USF
9/30 East Carolina
# 10/7 UConn
10/19 at Tulsa
10/28 Tulane
11/4 SMU
11/11 at UTSA
11/18 at Charlotte
11/25 FAU
SMU
# 9/2 Louisiana Tech
# 9/9 at Oklahoma
# 9/16 Prairie View A&M
# 9/23 at TCU
9/30 Charlotte
10/12 at East Carolina
10/20 at Temple
10/28 Tulsa
11/4 at Rice
11/10 North Texas
11/18 at Memphis
11/25 Navy
TEMPLE
# 9/2 Akron
# 9/9 at Rutgers
# 9/16 Norfolk State
# 9/23 Miami (FLA)
9/28 at Tulsa
10/7 UTSA
10/14 at North Texas
10/20 SMU
11/4 Navy
11/11 at USF
11/18 at UAB
11/25 Memphis (or Fri. 11/24)
TULANE
# 9/2 South Alabama
#9/9 Ole Miss
# 9/16 at Southern Miss
# 9/23 Nicholls
9/30 UAB
10/13 at Memphis
10/21 North Texas
10/28 at Rice
11/4 at East Carolina
11/11 Tulsa
11/18 at FAU
11/25 UTSA (or Fri. 11/24)
TULSA
# 9/2 Arkansas-Pine Bluff
# 9/9 at Washington
# 9/16 Oklahoma
# 9/23 at Northern Illinois
9/28 Temple
10/7 at FAU
10/19 Rice
10/28 at SMU
11/4 Charlotte
11/11 at Tulane
11/18 North Texas
11/25 at East Carolina (or Fri. 11/24)
UAB
# 8/31 North Carolina A&T
# 9/9 at Georgia Southern
# 9/16 Louisiana
# 9/23 at Georgia
9/30 at Tulane
10/7 USF
10/14 at UTSA
10/21 Memphis
11/4 FAU
11/11 at Navy
11/18 Temple
11/25 at North Texas (or Fri. 11/24)
USF
# 9/2 at Western Kentucky
# 9/9 Florida A&M
# 9/16 Alabama
9/23 Rice
9/30 at Navy
10/7 at UAB
10/14 FAU
# 10/21 at UConn
11/4 at Memphis
11/11 Temple
11/17 at UTSA
11/25 Charlotte
UTSA
# 9/2 at Houston
# 9/9 Texas State
# 9/15 Army
# 9/23 at Tennessee
10/7 at Temple
10/14 UAB
10/21 at FAU
10/28 East Carolina
11/4 at North Texas
11/11 Rice
11/17 USF
11/25 at Tulane (or Fri. 11/24)