This week the AAC made several announcements regarding the 2015 football season. The AAC released the inaugural AAC Football Championship game logo seen above. In other words, the Bearcats will be seeing this logo a lot come late November when they secure a spot to play in this game.
Championship Game: The game will be played between the champions of the new East and West divisions on December 5, 2015. The divisional champions will be the teams from each division with the highest winning percentage in all conference games (both divisional and non-divisional). If two teams tie within a division, the head-to-head result between the tied teams will determine the divisional champion.
Finally, a way to determine a true champion, and a chance to see the Cats play one more football game! This is a great advantage to prepare for bowl season. Can you imagine watching this game in winter in the renovated Nippert Stadium? We cannot wait.
Location: The location will be the home field of the divisional champion with “the best record in conference games.” If the two divisional champions have the same conference record, then the regular-season head-to-head winner between the divisional champions would host the championship. Also, if the divisional champions have the same conference record and did not play in the regular season, then the team with the better overall regular-season record would host the championship.
Playoff? However unlikely, the winner of the AAC will have the opportunity to play in the playoff if it is the highest-ranked team among the champions of the non-Power 5: Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
Out-Of-Conference Overview: Here is a look at all the opportunities the AAC teams get to play teams from power conferences.
Duke at Tulane – Sept. 3
Baylor at SMU – Sept. 4
Penn State at Temple – Sept. 5
USF at Florida State – Sept. 12
Houston at Louisville – Sept. 12 (this one should be interesting)
UCF at Stanford – Sept. 12 (this one should be interesting)
East Carolina at Florida – Sept. 12 (this one should be interesting)
UConn at Missouri – Sept. 19
Tulsa at Oklahoma – Sept. 19
Miami (Fla.) at Cincinnati – Oct. 1 (After last year’s 55-34 deflating loss in Coral Gables, UC gets a revenge opportunity to welcome the Hurricanes to Nippert on a Thursday night on ESPN.)
UConn at Brigham Young – Oct. 2
East Carolina at Brigham Young – Oct. 10
Cincinnati at Brigham Young – Oct. 16 (Memphis beat BYU in the Miami Beach Bowl, and now UC gets a change to travel to Utah and face an unfamiliar and unique team in the Cougars. It is certainly strange that UConn and ECU will face the same BYU team earlier this year.)
Air Force at Navy – Oct. 3
Navy at Notre Dame – Oct. 10
Mississippi at Memphis – Oct. 17
Notre Dame at Temple – Oct. 31 (this one should be interesting)
Army vs. Navy – Dec. 12
By Andy Smith