2016 American Athletic Conference football season


The 2016 American Athletic Conference football season was the 25th NCAA Division I FBS football season of the American Athletic Conference. The season was the third since the breakup of the former Big East Conference, and the third season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American was considered a member of the "Group of Five" with Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. Whereas under the previous system the champion of the conference was guaranteed an automatic berth to a BCS bowl game, the highest-ranked champion member of the G5 received a bid to one of the six major bowls.
The American consisted of 12 members: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, UConn, Navy. In June 2015, the Collegiate Commissioner's Association announced that it would postpone final rankings until after the annual Army–Navy Game if Navy or Army are in contention for a spot in the semifinals or a New Years Six bowl. If Navy was the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion and loses to Army, it would be replaced by next highest-ranked Group of 5 champion in the New Years Six Bowl.
In the 2016 season, the American had four new coaches. Willie Fritz, formerly the head coach at Georgia Southern, was hired by Tulane to replace Curtis Johnson. After beginning the 2013 season, Johnson lost 22 of his final 27 games against FBS opponents. He finished at Tulane with a 15–4 record through four full seasons. He compiled a 7–9 conference record in the C-USA, and a 3–13 conference record in the American Athletic Conference. On December 1, 2015, UCF hired Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Frost replaced longtime UCF head coach George O'Leary and interim head coach Danny Barrett, who took over the Knights when O'Leary resigned following an 0–8 start. On December 3, 2015, Memphis hired Arizona State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Norvell, replacing Justin Fuente who took the job at Virginia Tech. On December 13, 2015 East Carolina hired Duke Scottie Montgomery. replacing Ruffin McNeill who was relieved of his duties as ECU head coach after finishing the season with a record of 5–7.

American Athletic Conference Media Day

The American Athletic Conference Media Day took place August 12 in Newport, Rhode Island.

Preseason poll

East Division
West Division
East
West

Rankings

Schedule

All Times and Dates are Tentative, The 2016 conference football schedule was released February 9
Index to colors and formatting
American member won
American member loss
American teams in bold

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

The October 7th game in Orlando between Tulane and UCF was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew and rescheduled for November 5, a date which both teams had open.

Week 7

The October 13th game in Greenville, NC between Navy and East Carolina was postponed due because of flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew, the game will be rescheduled for November 19, a date which both teams had open.

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

American Athletic Conference Championship Game

Week 15

Bowl games

American Athletic Conference bowl games for the 2016 season are:
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime AAC teamOpponentScoreAttendance
Las Vegas BowlDecember 17Sam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NVABC3:30 PMHoustonSan Diego State10–3429,286
AutoNation Cure BowlDecember 17Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FLCBSSN5:30 PMUCFArkansas State13–3127,213
Miami Beach BowlDecember 19Marlins Park • Miami, FLESPN2:30 PMTulsaCentral Michigan55–1015,262
Marmot Boca Raton BowlDecember 20FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, FLESPN7:00 PMMemphisWKU31–5124,726
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces BowlDecember 23Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TXESPN4:30 PM#25 NavyLouisiana Tech45–4840,542
Military BowlDecember 27Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MDESPN3:30 PM#24 TempleWake Forest26–3426,656
Birmingham BowlDecember 29Legion Field • Birmingham, AlabamaESPN2:00 PMSouth FloridaSouth Carolina46–39 OT31,229

Rankings are from CFP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.

Selection of teams

2016 records against FBS conferences
Through Dec 29, 2016
ConferenceRecord
ACC4–6
Big Ten1–4
Big 122–2
C-USA3–2
Independents2–3
MAC4–0
Mountain West2–2
SEC1–2
Sun Belt2–1
Total21–22

The American vs. Power Conferences

DateVisitorHomeWinning TeamOpponent
Conference
September 1TulaneWake ForestWake ForestACC
September 3‡#3 Oklahoma#15 HoustonHoustonBig 12
September 10CincinnatiPurdueCincinnatiBig Ten
September 10UCF#5 MichiganMichiganBig Ten
September 10NC StateEast CarolinaEast CarolinaACC
September 10SMU#23 BaylorBaylorBig 12
September 10Tulsa#4 Ohio StateOhio StateBig Ten
September 17MarylandUCFMarylandBig Ten
September 17VirginiaConnecticutConnecticutACC
September 17East CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth CarolinaSEC
September 17KansasMemphisMemphisBig 12
September 17South FloridaSyracuseSouth FloridaACC
September 17TemplePenn StatePenn StateBig Ten
September 24SyracuseConnecticutSyracuseACC
September 24East CarolinaVirginia TechVirginia TechACC
September 24TCUSMUTCUBig 12
September 24#13 Florida StateSouth FloridaFlorida StateACC
October 1Memphis#16 Ole MissOle MissSEC
November 5‡Notre DameNavyNavyIND
November 17#3 LouisvilleHoustonHoustonACC
November 19ConnecticutBoston CollegeBoston CollegeACC
December 27‡Wake Forest#23 TempleWake ForestACC
December 29‡South Carolina#25 South FloridaSouth FloridaSEC

‡This game was played at a neutral site

Players of the Week

Awards and honors

Conference awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches at the end of the season

NFL Draft

The American had a conference-record 15 players selected in the 2017 NFL draft, which placed it as the fifth most prolific conference in the draft. The American made headlines by having more selections than the Big 12 Conference, a Power 5 Conference.
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2017 NFL draft.
PlayerPositionSchoolDraft
Round		Round
Pick		Overall
Pick		Team
Haason ReddickLBTemple11313Arizona Cardinals
Zay JonesWREast Carolina2537Buffalo Bills
Tyus BowserOLBHouston21547Baltimore Ravens
Obi MelifonwuSUConn22456Oakland Raiders
Dion DawkinsGTemple23163Buffalo Bills
Shaquill GriffinCBCentral Florida32690Seattle Seahawks
Howard WilsonCBHouston419126Cleveland Browns
Marlon MackRBSouth Florida436143Indianapolis Colts
Jake ElliottKMemphis59153Cincinnati Bengals
Nate HairstonCBTemple514158Indianapolis Colts
Rodney AdamsWRSouth Florida526170Minnesota Vikings
Michael TysonSCincinnati63187Seattle Seahawks
Tanzel SmartDTTulane65189Los Angeles Rams
Brandon WilsonCBHouston623207Cincinnati Bengals
Kofi AmichiaOTSouth Florida628212Green Bay Packers

Attendance

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of Capacity
CincinnatiNippert Stadium40,00028,52040,015†38,11235,10832,02237,52225,796237,09533,87084.68%
ConnecticutPratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field40,64229,37731,03631,899†24,16928,00822,31620,764187,56926,79565.93%
East CarolinaDowdy–Ficklen Stadium50,00044,16150,719†46,04241,37042,90839,480264,68044,11388.23%
HoustonTDECU Stadium40,00039,40240,87338,22135,84636,55242,822†233,71638,95397.38%
MemphisLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium59,30842,876†34,44838,71334,74336,89437,21836,527261,41937,34562.97%
NavyNavy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium34,00028,23831,50134,53135,94336,397†166,61033,32298.01%
SMUGerald J. Ford Stadium32,00022,12730,987†25,07924,37918,41721,283142,27223,71274.10%
South FloridaRaymond James Stadium65,89035,97636,55761,665†30,39730,29731,82436,056262,77237,53856.97%
TempleLincoln Financial Field69,17634,005†22,29627,78622,40125,95029,76328,373190,57427,22539.36%
TulaneYulman Stadium30,00027,179†21,50324,25321,09825,78016,497136,31022,71875.73%
TulsaH. A. Chapman Stadium30,00018,74816,11120,08922,349†17,55718,550113,40418,90063.00%
UCFBright House Networks Stadium44,20636,26043,19738,299†31,57130,34635,141214,81435,80280.99%