The 2015 American Athletic Conference football season is the 25th

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...

football season of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(The American). The season is the third since the breakup of the former

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

, and the second season with the new

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

in place. Under the playoff system, The American is no longer an

Automatic Qualifying conference The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate ...

(AQ), and is considered a member of the "Group of Five" (G5) with Conference USA, the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

, 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 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

, now the highest-ranked member of the G5 will receive a bid to one of the six major bowls. The American consists of 12 members:

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, SMU, South Florida,

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, UCF,

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from ...

, and new member

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

. In June 2015, the Collegiate Commissioner's Association announced that it will postpone final rankings until after the annual Army–Navy Game if Navy or

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

are in contention for a spot in the semifinals or a New Years Six bowl. If Navy is 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.

Previous season

Memphis, Cincinnati, and UCF were declared co-champions for the 2014 season, with each team having a conference record of 7–1. Memphis finished the season ranked 25th after defeating

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

55–48 in 2OT in the

Miami Beach Bowl The Miami Beach Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played for three years (2014–2016) at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The bowl was crea ...

. UCF was defeated by

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

in the St. Petersburg Bowl, and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

defeated Cincinnati in the

Military Bowl The Military Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that has been played annually each December in the Washington metropolitan area since 2008. The game was originally held a ...

. With less than 11 minutes left on the game clock in the Armed Forces Bowl, Houston trailed

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

by 25 points, but the Cougars went on to win by a score of 35–34. It was the biggest fourth quarter comeback in bowl history.

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

defeated East Carolina 28–20 in the

Birmingham Bowl The Birmingham Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game played annually in Birmingham, Alabama. First held in 2006, the game is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UA ...

American Athletic Conference Media Day

The 2015 American Athletic Conference Media Day was held at the Hyatt Regency Newport in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

on August 3, 2015.

Preseason poll

East Division

# Cincinnati ''(29)'' 179 # UCF ''(1)'' 135 # Temple 116 # East Carolina 105 # South Florida 53 # Connecticut 42

West Division

# Memphis ''(13)'' 153 # Houston ''(10)'' 149 # Navy ''(7)'' 148 # Tulane 74 # SMU 59 # Tulsa 47 *(''First-Place Votes'') Points

Predicted American Championship Game Winner

# Cincinnati 22 # Memphis 5 # Houston 2 # UCF 1 * Points

Head coaches

East Division *

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football ...

, Cincinnati – 3rd year *

Bob Diaco Robert Albert Diaco (born February 19, 1973) is an American football coach and a former linebacker who is the defensive line coach for the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at the Universi ...

, Connecticut – 2nd year *

Ruffin McNeill Ruffin Horne McNeill Jr. (born October 8, 1958) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the special assistant to the head coach at NC State University. He previously served as the assistant head coach and outside ...

, East Carolina – 5th year *

Willie Taggart Willie Author Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is an American football college coach. He has held the head coach position at five NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky (2009 to 2012 seasons); South Florida (2013 to ...

, South Florida – 3rd year *

Matt Rhule Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American football coach and former player, who is the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was previously the head coach at Temple University, Baylor University, and for the Carolina Pant ...

, Temple – 3rd year * George O'Leary (resigned after 8 games) / Danny Barrett (interim)*,UCF West Division *

Tom Herman Thomas Herman III (born June 2, 1975) is an American football coach and head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls. He was the head football coach for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017 to 2020. Prior to that, he se ...

, Houston – 1st year *

Justin Fuente Justin James Fuente (born July 30, 1976) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the Universit ...

, Memphis – 4th year *

Ken Niumatalolo Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American football coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Naval Academy from 2007 to 2022, accumulating the most wins in program history. Niumatalolo played college football at ...

, Navy – 13th year *

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at South Florida. Morris served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University ...

, SMU – 1st year * Curtis Johnson, Tulane – 4th year * Philip Montgomery, Tulsa – 1st year

Coaching changes

Changes after 2014 season

''* On December 1, 2014, Chad Morris (formerly Offensive Coordinator at Clemson) was hired by SMU as its new head football coach, replacing

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...

, who resigned on September 8, 2014, citing "personal issues".'' ''* On December 11, 2014, Philip Montgomery (previously Offensive Coordinator at Baylor) was hired by Tulsa as its new head football coach, replacing Bill Blankenship, who was fired December 2, 2014.'' ''* On December 15, 2014, Tom Herman (formerly Offensive Coordinator at Ohio State) was hired by Houston as its new head football coach, to replace Tony Levine, who was fired after three seasons on December 8, 2014.''

Changes during 2015 season

''* George O'Leary resigned as UCF's head football coach after twelve seasons. Quarterbacks coach Danny Barrett was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.''

Rankings

Schedule

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

The American Championship

Week 15

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

Bowl games

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

Selection of teams

*Bowl eligible Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa *Bowl-ineligible East Carolina, SMU, Tulane, UCF

Records against FBS conferences

2015 records against FBS conferences:

The American vs. Power Conferences

‡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 following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...

Attendance

Games highlighted in green were sell-outs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015 American Athletic Conference football season