The American Athletic Conference will again play football in 2020, the conference confirmed on Tuesday.
The American revealed its 2020 conference schedule, a 44-game slate that completes the 88 total games AAC teams will play in 2020. As a reminder, UConn is no longer an American member, meaning the conference will have 11 football-playing members for the foreseeable future. All 11 teams will still play an 8-game league schedule, and the conference will still hold a title game.
The 2020 season will also be the conference’s first under the new rights agreement it struck with ESPN in March. As such, at least 40 American home games will be shown on the ESPN family of networks, and at least half of those will be on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. The conference will play a total of 12 games on Thursday or Friday nights.
“We are excited to announce our 2020 schedule as we enter the next phase of our longstanding relationship with ESPN,” said commissioner Mike Aresco. “With the continued success our schools have had, I have no doubt that we will once again provide our fans, and ESPN, with compelling matchups throughout the season in both conference and nonconference play. We look forward to another outstanding season of American Athletic Conference football.”
The season will begin on Saturday, Aug. 29 when Navy “hosts” Notre Dame at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. That game will be shown on ESPN with College GameDay in tow as part of the network’s season kick-off effort. While the full schedule can be viewed here, highlights include:
- North Carolina at UCF, Sept. 4 (Friday)
- South Florida at Texas, Sept. 5
- Temple at Miami, Sept. 5
- Houston at Washington State, Sept. 12
- Cincinnati at Nebraska, Sept. 26
- TCU at SMU, Sept. 26
- Memphis at SMU, Oct. 1 (Thursday)
- UCF at Memphis, Oct. 16 (Friday)
- Memphis at Cincinnati, Oct. 31
- Memphis at Navy, Nov. 14
- Cincinnati at UCF, Nov. 21
- UCF at South Florida, Nov. 27 (Friday)
The 2020 American season will conclude with the sixth annual American Championship on Saturday, Dec. 5.