The 2021 American Athletic Conference football season was the 30th

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 was the ninth since 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 ...

dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference and the eighth season of the

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. The American was considered a member of the

Group of Five The Group of Five (G5) encompasses five nations which have joined together for an active role in the rapidly evolving international order. Individually and as a group, the G5 nations work to promote dialogue and understanding between developing ...

(G5) together with Conference USA (C–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 ...

(MAC), the

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. The entire schedule was released on February 18, 2021.

Previous season

Cincinnati secured their second consecutive championship game appearance and faced Tulsa in the 2020 AAC Championship game. Six teams participated in bowl games during the 2020 season; the league went 1–5. Tulane lost to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

38-27 in the 2020 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. UCF lost to

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 ...

in the

Boca Raton Bowl The Boca Raton Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Boca Raton, Florida, since December 2014 on the campus of Fl ...

49-23. Memphis defeated Florida Atlantic 25–10 in the

Montgomery Bowl The Montgomery Bowl was a postseason NCAA Division I FBS college football bowl game played in December 2020. Played at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, the brand is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The Montgomery Bowl was announced in ...

. Houston lost to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

28-14 in the

2020 New Mexico Bowl The 2020 New Mexico Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 24, 2020, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, with kickoff at 3:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. local CST) on ESPN. It was the 15th edition of the New Mexico Bowl, a ...

. No. 24 Tulsa lost to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

28-26 in the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl in a game that ended with a benches clearing brawl. In the New Year's Six Game, No. 8 Cincinnati lost in an instant classic to No. 9

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

24–21 in the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

Preseason

Recruiting classes

American Athletic Conference Media Days

The 2021 American Media day was held virtually August 3 and 4, 2021 �
2021 The American Virtual Football Media Days

Preseason media poll

The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at the virtual media day held August 4, 2021.

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 ...

, who finished the 2020 season ranked No. 8 nationally, was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the 2021 preseason media poll.

Preseason awards

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On January 27, 2021

Josh Heupel Joshua Kenneth Heupel ( ; born March 22, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. Previously he served as head coach at the University of Central Florida, where he compi ...

departed UCF to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida ( UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 to 2020. During the 20 ...

was hired to serve as the new head coach on February 15, 2021.

Coaches

''Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2021 regular season'' Source:

Rankings

Schedule

The regular season will begin on September 2, 2021 and will end on November 27, 2021. The season will conclude with the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championship Game on December 4. At Media Day American Commissioner Mike Aresco said games will not be rescheduled this year because of COVID & if teams can’t play, they will have to forfeit

Regular season

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

* '' This game was initially scheduled for ESPNU at 4PM ET, but moved to 9:20PM ET on

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

because of a rain delay.''.

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

Week Thirteen

Week Fourteen (American Athletic Conference Championship)

Week Fifteen

Postseason

Bowl games

In 2021 the American will send teams to 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 ...

Fenway Bowl The Fenway Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management, it features teams from the American Athletic Confe ...

, and

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Ath ...

annually. The American will have four selections from the following bowls:

Frisco Bowl The Frisco Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Frisco, Texas, since December 2017. The bowl has a tie-in with t ...

Cure Bowl The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year in Orlando, Florida since 2015. It was originally held at Camping World Stadium before moving to Exploria Stadium in 2022. The Cure Bow ...

Gasparilla Bowl The Gasparilla Bowl is an annual NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game played in the Tampa Bay area. It was first played in 2008 as the St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game was renamed 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 ...

First Responder Bowl The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 has been contested in late December. The bowl was held at the Cot ...

and Myrtle Beach Bowl. The American champion will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of

Group of Five conferences In college football, the Group of Five are five athletic conferences whose members are part of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The five conferences are the American Athletic Conference (American), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-Am ...

in the final College Football Playoff rankings. American teams are also eligible for the

if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking.

Cancelled bowls

The following bowl games tied in with the American Athletic Conference had their 2021 editions canceled : * Memphis was originally slated to play in the

against

on December 24. Hawaii was forced to withdraw from the bowl game due to a shortage of available players, stemming from a combination of a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

outbreak within the team, players already out with injury, and players who transferred away from the school at the conclusion of the regular season. * East Carolina was originally slated to play in the

against Boston College on December 27. On December 26 the game was cancelled after Boston College had over 40 players unavailable to play in the Military Bowl against East Carolina. In a statement, Boston College said it did not have enough players to field a team because of coronavirus issues, season-ending injuries, opt-outs and transfers. * SMU was originally slated to play in the

against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on December 29. Virginia was forced to withdraw game due to the number of COVID cases impacting its roster, preventing safe participation. As a result of this withdrawal, the game and associated activities will no longer take place Rankings from Final CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone. American teams bolded.

Selection of teams

*Bowl-eligible (7): Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, UCF, Tulsa *Bowl-ineligible: (4): Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulane

American vs other conferences

American vs Power Five matchups

The following games include American teams competing against

Power Five conferences 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 collegiat ...

teams from the ACC,

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

/ Notre Dame, Pac-12 and SEC). All rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game.

American vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include American teams competing against teams from

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt.

American vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include American teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes

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 ...

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

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 ...

or UMass.

American vs FCS matchups

The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs.

Records against other conferences

Regular Season Post Season

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

American Athletic Individual Awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as chosen by the league's head coaches.

All-Conference Teams

''* Denotes Unanimous Selection'' All Conference Honorable Mentions: *UCF: Tatum Bethune (LB), Cole Schneider (OG), Marcus Tatum (OT) *Cincinnati: Marcus Brown (DL), Deshawn Pace (LB), Josh Whyle (TE) *Houston: Laine Wilkins (P) *South Florida: Jaren Mangham (RB), Spenser Shrader (P) *SMU:

Rashee Rice Rashee Rice (born April 22, 2000) is an American football wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at SMU. Early life and high school Rice grew up in North Richland Hills, Tex ...

(WR) *Temple: C.J. Perez (C) *Tulane: Sincere Haynesworth (C), Dorian Williams (LB), Macon Clark (S) *Tulsa:

Chris Paul Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...

(OG), Justin Wright (LB)

All-Americans

The 2021 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

first teams chosen by the following selector organizations:

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

(AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA),

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA),

Walter Camp Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

(WCFF), '' Sporting News'' (''TSN'', from its historic name of ''The Sporting News''), ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' (''SI''), ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

'' (Athletic), ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' (USAT)

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

(CBS), ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis includ ...

'' (''CFN''),

Athlon Sports Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now ...

Phil Steele Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, pr ...

, and

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

(FOX). Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. Players are chosen against other players playing at their position only. To be selected a consensus All-American, players must be chosen to the first team on at least half of the five official selectors as recognized by the NCAA. Second- and third-team honors are used to break ties. Players named first-team by all five selectors are deemed

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

s. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans.

List of All American Teams

American Football Coaches Association All-America TeamAssociated Press All-America TeamCBS Sports All-America TeamESPN All-America TeamThe Athletic All-America TeamThe Sporting News 2021 College Football All-America TeamUSA Today All-America TeamWalter Camp Football Foundation All-America Team

National award winners

Home Depot Coach of the Year Award

Luke Fickell Luke Joseph Fickell (born August 18, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He will be the head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers starting in December 2022. Previously he was the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, ...

, Cincinnati

Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year The Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members i ...

Luke Fickell, Cincinnati Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati AFCA Coach of Year
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati Bear Bryant Award
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati

Paul Hornung Award The Paul Hornung Award is a college football award that was created in January 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) with the support of Paul Hornung, a native and resident of Louisville, Kentucky and member of the College Football Hall ...

Marcus Jones, Houston

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payco ...

Coby Bryant, Cincinnati

Jet Award The Jet Award, named in honor of 1972 Heisman Trophy Winner Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers, is awarded to the top return specialist in college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams ...

Marcus Jones, Houston

NFL Draft

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

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and ...

References

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