2018 American Athletic Conference football season explained

The 2018 American Athletic Conference football season is the 27th NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season is the sixth since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference,^[1] and the fifth season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the "Group of Five" (G5),^[2] meaning that the conference shares with the other G5 conferences one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.

Previous season

UCF defeated Memphis in the 2017 AAC Championship game' The game was a rematch of the September 30 matchup,^[3] which UCF won 40–13.^[4]

Seven Teams participated in bowl games, and finished with a record of 4–3. UCF defeated Auburn 34–27 in the Peach Bowl. The Knights finished the regular season 12–0. The effort came just two years after an 0–12 winless season (2015). UCF became the first team in the history of NCAA Division I FBS to improve from a winless regular season to an undefeated regular season in only two years.^[5] Memphis lost to Iowa State 20–21 in the 2017 Liberty Bowl. Navy defeated Virginia in the Military Bowl 49–7, Houston lost to Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl 27–33. USF Defeated Texas Tech 38–24 in the Birmingham Bowl. Temple defeated FIU 28–3 in the Gasparilla Bowl, and SMU lost to Louisiana Tech 10–51 in the Frisco Bowl.

Preseason

Recruiting classes

National Rankings! Team! ESPN^[6] ! Rivals^[7] ! 24/7^[8]

Cincinnati	75	47	47
Connecticut		89	104
East Carolina		85	87
Houston	75	60	72
Memphis		81	88
Navy		91	102
SMU		81	86
South Florida	55	56	64
Temple		76	80
Tulane	72	65	68
Tulsa		86	97
UCF	70	67	70

American Athletic Conference Media Day

The American Athletic Conference Media Day took place July 18 in Newport, Rhode Island.^[9]

Preseason Media Poll

AAC Champion Voting

• UCF – 19
• Memphis – 7
• USF – 3
• Houston – 1

East

• 1. UCF (175 pts., 25 votes)
• 2. USF (140 pts., 5 votes)
• 3. Temple (132 pts.)
• 4. Cincinnati (91 pts.)
• 5. Connecticut (51 pts.)
• 6. East Carolina (41 pts.)

West

• 1. Memphis (171 pts., 23 votes)
• 2. Houston (146 pts., 4 votes)
• 3. Navy (129 pts., 3 votes)
• 4. SMU (72 pts.)
• 5. Tulane (68 pts.)
• 6. Tulsa (44 pts.)

References:^[10]

Fifth Anniversary Football Team

with 2018 marking the Fifth Year of American Athletic Conference Football under the new league, the Conference announced the Fifth Anniversary Team^[11]

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY FOOTBALL TEAM AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Offense	Defense
QB – Keenan Reynolds, Navy RB – D'Angelo Brewer, Tulsa RB – Marlon Mack, USF WR – Zay Jones, ECU WR – Anthony Miller, Memphis WR – Courtland Sutton, SMU TE – Jordan Akins, UCF OT – Kofi Amichia, USF OT – Dion Dawkins, Temple OT – Eric Lefeld, Cincinnati OG – E.K. Binns, Navy OG – Adam West, Navy C – Kyle Friend, Temple	DL – Matt Ioannidis, Temple DL – Justin Lawler, USF DL – Ed Oliver, Houston DL – Haason Reddick, Temple DL – Marcus Smith, Louisville LB – Genard Avery, UCF LB – Shaquem Griffin, UCF LB – Tyler Matakevich, Temple LB – Auggie Sanchez, USF CB – Jacoby Glenn, USF CB – Mike Hughes, UCF CB – Parry Nickerson, Tulane S – Clayton Geathers, UCF S – Obi Melifonwu, UConn PK – Jake Elliott, Memphis P – Tom Hornsey, Memphis RS – Tony Pollard, Memphis

Head coaches

Coaching changes

There were two coaching changes after the regular season ended, On December 2, 2017 Scott Frost left UCF to take the Nebraska job, but stayed on to coach in the AAC Championship game and Peach Bowl, UCF ended up hiring Missouri Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel. On December 7, 2017 SMU coach Chad Morris left to take the Arkansas job, on December 12, 2017 former Cal coach Sonny Dykes was hired as the new SMU coach.

Coaches

Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2017 season

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	AAC record
Cincinnati	Luke Fickell	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Connecticut	Randy Edsall	14	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
East Carolina	Scottie Montgomery	3	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Houston	Major Applewhite	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Memphis	Mike Norvell	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Navy	Ken Niumatalolo	11	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
SMU	Sonny Dykes	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
South Florida	Charlie Strong	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Temple	Geoff Collins	2	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Tulane	Willie Fritz	3	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
Tulsa	Philip Montgomery	4	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=
UCF	Josh Heupel	1	data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=		data-sort-value=

Source:^[12]

Rankings

See main article: 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Final
Cincinnati	AP					RV	RV	25	20	RV	RV	25	19	RV	RV	RV	24
C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	21	RV	RV	23	20	RV	RV	RV	23
CFP	Not released											24
Connecticut	AP
C
CFP	Not released
East Carolina	AP
C
CFP	Not released
Houston	AP	RV	RV	RV					RV	RV	17	RV		RV
C	RV	RV	RV	RV				RV	RV	17	RV
CFP	Not released
Memphis	AP	RV	RV
C	RV	RV	RV											RV
CFP	Not released
Navy	AP
C
CFP	Not released
SMU	AP
C
CFP	Not released
South Florida	AP			RV	RV	RV	RV	23	21	21	RV
C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	20	20	RV	RV
CFP	Not released
Temple	AP
C
CFP	Not released
Tulane	AP
C
CFP	Not released
Tulsa	AP
C
CFP	Not released
UCF	AP	21	19	18	16	13	12	10	10	10	9	11	11	8	7	7	11
C	23	20	18	18	14	13	9	9	10	9	11	11	9	7	7	12
CFP	Not released									12	12	11	9	8	8

Schedule

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

Week 14

AAC Championship game

See main article: 2018 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game.

Week 15

Bowl games

Legend
	The American win
	The American loss

See also: 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games.

Bowl game	Date	Site	Television	Time	American team	Opponent	Score	Attendance
Cure Bowl	December 15	Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FL	CBSSN	2:30 p.m.	Tulane	Louisiana	41–24	19,066
Gasparilla Bowl	December 20	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL	ESPN	8:00 p.m.	South Florida	Marshall	20–38	14,135
Birmingham Bowl	December 22	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	ESPN	Noon	Memphis	Wake Forest	34–37	25,717
Armed Forces	December 22	Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TX	ESPN	3:30 p.m.	Houston	Army	14–70	44,738
Independence	December 27	Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA	ESPN	1:30 p.m.	Temple	Duke	27–56	27,492
Military Bowl	December 30	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	ESPN	Noon	Cincinnati	Virginia Tech	35–31	32,832
New Years Six bowl games
Fiesta Bowl	January 1	State Farm Stadium • Glendale, AZ	ESPN	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 UCF	No. 11 LSU	32–40	57,246

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

American vs other conferences

American vs Power conference matchups

This is a list of the power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Notre Dame, Pac-12 and SEC) The American will playing during the 2018 season.

Date	Visitor	Home	Site	Score
August 30	Wake Forest	Tulane	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA	17–23 OT
September 1	Cincinnati	UCLA	Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA	26–17
September 7	TCU	SMU	Ford Staduium • Dallas, TX	12–42
September 8	Arizona	Houston	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	45–18
September 8	North Carolina	East Carolina	Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium • Greenville, NC	41–19
September 8	Georgia Tech	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL	49–38
September 8	Tulsa	Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX	21–28
September 15	Temple	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD	35–14
September 15	South Florida	Illinois	Soldier Field • Chicago, IL	25–19
September 15	SMU	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI	20–45
September 15	Houston	Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX	49–63
September 22	Tulane	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	6–49
September 22	Connecticut	Syracuse	Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY	21–51
September 29	Pittsburgh	No. 13 UCF	Spectrum Stadium • Orlando, FL	45–14
September 29	Temple	Boston College	Alumni Stadium • Chestnut Hill, MA	35–45
October 20	Memphis	Missouri	Faurot Field • Columbia, MO	33–65
October 20	Tulsa	Arkansas	Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR	0–23
October 27	Notre Dame	Navy	SDCCU Stadium • San Diego, CA	22–44
December 1	East Carolina	NC State	Carter–Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC	3–58

Records against other conferences

Regular Season

Power Conferences	Record
ACC	3–4
Big Ten	2–2
Big 12	0–3
Notre Dame	0–1
Pac-12	2–0
SEC	0–2
Power Conference Total	7–12
Other FBS Conferences	Record
C-USA	3–2
Independents (excluding Notre Dame)	1–1
MAC	2–1
Mountain West	0–3
Sun Belt	2–2
Other FBS Total	8–8
FCS Opponents	Record
CAA	2–1
MEAC	1–1
Patriot	1–0
Southland	3–0
Southern	1–0
SWAC	2–0
FCS Total	10–2
Total Non-Conference Record	25–22

Post Season

Power Conferences	Record
ACC	1–2
SEC	0–1
Power Conferences Total	1–3
Other FBS Conferences	Record
C-USA	0–1
Independent	0–1
Sun Belt	1–0
Other FBS Total	1–2
Total Bowl Record	2–5

Awards and honors

Players of the week

Week	Offensive			Defensive			Special Teams
	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
Week 1[13]	McKenzie Milton	QB	UCF	Bryan Wright Ed Oliver	LB DT	Cincinnati Houston	Thomas Bennett	P	Tulsa
Week 2[14]	D'Eriq King	QB	Houston	Sean Williams	S	Memphis	Terrence Horne, Jr.	KR	South Florida
Week 3[15]	Darrell Henderson Blake Barnett	RB QB	Memphis South Florida	Michael Dogbe	DT	Temple	Bennett Moehring	K	Navy
Week 4[16]	McKenzie Milton	QB	UCF	Quincy Roche	DE	Temple	Reggie Roberson Jr.	WR/KR	SMU
Week 5[17]	McKenzie Milton	QB	UCF	Nate Harvey	DE	East Carolina	Jake Verity	K	East Carolina
Week 6[18]	Jordan Cronkrite	RB	USF	Titus Davis	DE	UCF	Isaiah Wright	WR	Temple
Week 7[19]	McKenzie Milton	QB	UCF	Ed Oliver	DT	Houston	Matthew Wright Coby Weiss	K K	UCF USF
Week 8[20]	D'Eriq King	QB	Houston	Nate Evans Austin Robinson	LB LB	UCF Houston	Matthew Wright	K	UCF
Week 9[21]	D'Eriq King	QB	Houston	James Wiggins	S	Cincinnati	Cole Smith	K	Cincinnati
Week 10[22]	Ben Hicks	QB	SMU	Cortez Broughton Kyran Mitchell	DT LB	Cincinnati SMU	Merek Glover	K	SMU
Week 11[23]	Ryquell Armstead	RB	Temple	Roderic Teamer	S	Tulane	Pop Williams	WR	Memphis
Week 12[24]	Holton Ahlers	QB	East Carolina	Titus Davis	DE	UCF	Isaiah Wright	WR	Temple
Week 13[25]	Justin McMillian	QB	Tulane	Arquon Bush	CB	Cincinnati	Isaiah Wright	WR	Temple

Conference awards

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

2018 American Athletic Conference Individual Awards
Award	Recipient(s)
Offensive Player of the Year	McKenzie Milton
Defensive Player of the Year	Nate Harvey
Special Teams Player of the Year	Isaiah Wright
Rookie of the Year	Desmond Ridder
Coach of the Year	Luke Fickell

2018 All-American Athletic Conference Football Teams
First Team		Second Team
Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense
WR – Trevon Brown, ECU WR – Marquez Stevenson, Houston WR – James Proche, SMU OT – Dino Boyd, Cincinnati OT – Jake Brown, UCF OG – Cole Schneider, UCF OG – Dustin Woodard, Memphis C – Jordan Johnson, UCF TE – Mitchell Wilcox, USF QB – McKenzie Milton, UCF RB – Darrell Henderson^, Memphis RB – Ryquell Armstead, Temple K – Jake Verity, ECU RS – John Williams, Memphis RS – Isaiah Wright, Temple	DL – Cortez Broughton, Cincinnati DL – Nate Harvey, ECU DL – Ed Oliver, Houston DL – Michael Dogbe, Temple LB – Nate Evans, UCF LB – Perry Young, Cincinnati LB – Austin Robinson, Houston LB – Shaun Bradley, Temple CB – Nevelle Clarke, UCF CB – Rock Ya-Sin, Temple S – Richie Grant, UCF S – Delvon Randall, Temple P – James Smith, Cincinnati	WR – Gabe Davis, UCF WR – Damonte Coxie, Memphis WR – Ventell Bryant, Temple OT – Wyatt Miller, UCF OT – Trevon Tate, Memphis OG – Jovahn Fair, Temple OG – Tyler Bowling, Tulsa C – Garrett Campbell, Cincinnati TE – Josiah Deguara, Cincinnati QB – D'Eriq King, Houston RB – Michael Warren II, Cincinnati RB – Adrian Killins, UCF K – Matthew Wright, UCF RS – Adrian Killins, UCF	DL – Titus Davis, UCF DL – Marquise Copeland, Cincinnati DL – Brendon Hayes, UCF DL – Kimoni Fitz, Cincinnati DL – Patrick Johnson, Tulane LB – Pat Jasinski, UCF LB – Bryce Huff, Memphis LB – Khalid McGee, USF LB – Zachery Harris, Tulane CB – TJ Carter, Memphis CB – Donnie Lewis, Tulane S – James Wiggins, Cincinnati S – Roderic Teamer, Tulane P – Thomas Bennett, Tulsa
^ - denotes unanimous selection  Additional players added to the All-American teams due to ties in the voting

NFL Draft

The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2019 NFL draft.

Player	Position	School	Draft Round	Round Pick	Overall Pick	Team
Ed Oliver	DT	Houston	1	9	9	Buffalo Bills
Rock Ya-Sin	CB	Temple	2	2	34	Indianapolis Colts
Trysten Hill	DT	UCF	2	26	58	Dallas Cowboys
Darrell Henderson	RB	Memphis	3	6	70	Los Angeles Rams
Tony Pollard	RB	Memphis	4	26	128	Dallas Cowboys
Isaiah Johnson	CB	Houston	4	27	129	Oakland Raiders
Ryquell Armstead	RB	Temple	5	2	140	Jacksonville Jaguars
Emeke Egbule	LB	Houston	6	27	200	Los Angeles Chargers
Donnie Lewis	CB	Tulane	7	7	221	Cleveland Browns
Cortez Broughton	DT	Cincinnati	7	28	242	Los Angeles Chargers
Michael Dogbe	DE	Temple	7	35	249	Arizona Cardinals

Notes and References

1. The American is the legal all-sports successor to the Big East Conference (1979–2013). The Big East was rebranded and reorganized as the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2013.
2. The other conferences in the "Group of Five are Conference USA (C–USA), the Mid–American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
3. News: Romero. Iliana Limón. No. 15 UCF, No. 20 Memphis set for rematch in AAC title game. Orlando Sentinel. November 24, 2017.
4. News: Milton, Killins lead UCF to 40–13 win over Memphis . USA TODAY. Associated Press . September 30, 2017. November 24, 2017.
5. News: Winless to unbeaten: No. 12 UCF beats USF to cap turnaround. ABC News. Joe. Reedy. November 24, 2017. November 27, 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041120/https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/12-ucf-caps-perfect-regular-season-win-usf-51369919. December 1, 2017. mdy-all.
6. Web site: Football Class Rankings – ESPN . . 2015-12-04.
7. Web site: Rivals.com 2018 Team Recruiting Rankings . rivals.com . 2015-12-04.
8. Web site: 2018 Football Recruiting Team Rankings . 247sports.com . 2015-12-04.
9. http://www.theamerican.org/sports/2017/7/13/2017%20Football%20Media%20Days.aspx?path=football 2017 Football Media Day
10. Web site: UCF tabbed as favorite in 2018 American Media Poll. theamerican.org . 2018-07-24.
11. Web site: American Announces Fifth Anniversary Team . American Athletic Conference . SidearmSports . 6 June 2019.
12. https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/american/coaches.html American Athletic Conference Coaches
13. Web site: The American Announces Opening Week Football Honors.
14. Web site: Houston's King, Navy's Williams, USF's Horne Take Weekly Football Honors.
15. Web site: Memphis, USF, Temple, Navy Players Take Weekly Football Honors.
16. Web site: UCF's Milton, Temple's Roche, SMU's Roberson Earn Weekly Football Honors.
17. Web site: UCF's Milton, ECU's Harvey and Verity Are Weekly Football Honorees.
18. Web site: USF's Cronkrite, UCF's Davis, Temple's Wright Earn Weekly Football Honors.
19. Web site: American Athletic Conference.
20. Web site: American Athletic Conference.
21. Web site: American Athletic Conference.
22. Web site: American Athletic Conference.
23. Web site: Temple, Tulane, Memphis Players Earn Weekly Football Honors.
24. Web site: ECU, UCF, Temple Players Earn Weekly Football Honors.
25. Web site: Tulane, Cincinnati, Temple Players Take Final Weekly Honors of 2018.