VS FCS

Everyone except for Temple and Tulsa takes on an FCS foe. Only SMU and UConn face FCS opponents that had winning records last season, and both of them were good enough that they finished ahead of their upcoming opponents in RPI last year (JMU was 130, SMU 149; Villanova was 99, UConn 142). Hopefully SMU & UConn will be improved enough this year to win these games convincingly.

Alabama A&M (3-8) @ Cincinnati
Towson (4-8) @ East Carolina
Tennessee Tech (4-7) @ Houston
Missouri State (4-8) @ Memphis
Colgate (5-7) @ Navy
James Madison (9-3) @ SMU
Maine (5-6) @ Tulane
Furman (3-9) @ UCF
Villanova (10-2) @ UConn
Florida A&M (3-9) @ USF

VS Group of 5 & Army

The American hosts G5/Army 8 times and hits the road 6 times. Only three of the G5 schools on the slate this year were over .500 last year; Air Force (10-3), Bowling Green (8-6) and Texas State (7-5). One would like to think that the AAC would be favored in two of these games.

Three AAC teams battle Army West Point this season, making the the AAC's most-faced OOC opponent amongst the G5 (and ties them with BYU for most overall). UConn gets them at home, Tulane on the road, and Navy in Philly.

The AAC faces C-USA four times making them the most often faced G5 conference. FIU faces UCF & SMU faces North Texas in in-state battles. Temple travels to Charlotte (who just barely qualifies as an FBS opponent) as a former A10 basketball rivalry hits the gridiron for the first time.

American teams also face 3 teams from the MAC and 2 each from the Mountain West and Sun Belt.

Army (4-8) vs Navy
Tulane @ Army
Army @ UConn

C-USA
FIU (4-8) @ UCF
Florida Atlantic (3-9) @ Tulsa
North Texas (4-8) @ SMU
Temple @ Charlotte (3-6)<---FCS last season

MAC
Cincinnati @ Miami OH (2-10)
Memphis @ Bowling Green (8-6)
Temple @ UMass (3-9)

Mountain West
Tulsa @ New Mexico (4-8)
Air Force (10-3) @ Navy

Sun Belt
Texas State (7-5) @ Houston
ULM (4-8) @ Tulsa

VS the P5 & BYU & Notre Dame

The American faces ACC foes seven times, the most of any conference. The AAC also faces BYU three times, tied with Army for the most of any school.

The AAC hosts P5/BYU/Notre Dame teams 9 times and goes on the road 15 times. Four out of the 7 games against the ACC are at home. Half of the games vs the Big 12 and Big 10 are at home. 2 of 5 vs the SEC are at home. Where we travel the most is vs BYU/ND, with 3 games at BYU and one at ND, while Temple has a home game vs the Irish. There are a lot of tough games here, but some where the AAC should be heavily favored as well.

UConn @ BYU (8-5)
East Carolina @ BYU
Cincinnati @ BYU
Navy @ Notre Dame (8-5)
Notre Dame @ Temple

ACC
Duke (9-4) @ Tulane
Houston @ Louisville (9-4)
Tulane @ Georgia Tech (11-3)
USF @ Florida State (13-1)
Virginia Tech (7-6) @ East Carolina
Miami FL (6-7) @ Cincinnati
Syracuse (3-9) @ USF

Big 12
Baylor (11-2) @ SMU
Memphis @ Kansas (3-9)
SMU @ TCU (12-1)
Tulsa @ Oklahoma (8-5)

Big Ten
Penn State (7-6) @ Temple
USF @ Maryland (7-6)

PAC 12
UCF @ Stanford (8-5)

SEC
East Carolina @ Florida (7-5)
UConn @ Missouri (11-2)
UCF @ South Carolina (7-6)
Ole Miss (9-4) @ Memphis
Vanderbilt (3-9) @ Houston