The American Athletic Conference will continue playing football in 2019, the league office confirmed on Thursday.
The AAC announced its ’19 slate, and it also confirmed it’s still going with that #Power6 thing. The league noted it will host six “fellow” Power 6 foes in non-conference play: UCLA (at Cincinnati, Aug. 29), Wisconsin (at South Florida, Aug. 30), Ole Miss (at Memphis, Aug. 31), Illinois (at Connecticut, Sept. 7), Washington State (at Houston, Sept. 13), Stanford (at UCF, Sept. 14), Maryland (at Temple, Sept. 14), Oklahoma State (at Tulsa, Sept. 14) and Georgia Tech (at Temple, Sept. 28), which will pit Geoff Collins‘ new team against his old team. Speaking of kinda-awkward, kinda-friendly reunions, former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele will square off against former Texas head coach Charlie Strong when SMU visits South Florida that same day.
AAC teams will also have the opportunity to spring upsets at perennial powers Oklahoma (vs. Houston, Aug. 31), Ohio State (vs. Cincinnati, Sept. 14) and Notre Dame (vs. Navy, Nov. 16).
The American will be a fixture on Thursday and Friday nights, with 11 combined telecasts set for the ESPN family of networks.
“I am pleased to share our 2019 composite football schedule,” commissioner Mike Aresco said. “Our athletic directors and coaches have built compelling nonconference schedules that will again test our teams against some of the best programs in the nation. We also expect that our intraconference schedule will once again produce consistently exciting and meaningful games for our fans and our television partners, ESPN and CBS Sports.”
UCF will put its 18-game conference winning streak on the line for the first time on Sept. 28 against Connecticut in Orlando. The Knights do not face two-time defending West Division champion Memphis in the regular season, but an Oct. 4 visit to Cincinnati is certainly a game to circle. That’s a Friday night-er for all of you who like to plan ahead.
The fifth annual American Championship will be played Dec. 7 at the home of the highest-ranked division champion.