The American released the conference opponents yesterday afternoon. Here they are. Cincinnati is listed second.
The first that jumps out at a person is no UCF. Again. Apparently the league had a schedule already accepted years ago and blah blah who cares. This home schedule is going to be a disaster. The Bearcats are playing in an NFL stadium this season and their best opponent is East Carolina. ECU did win 10 games last year but I can't imagine a city being excited to watch East Carolina football. From my experiences in the past, that's something that's never happened.
The home schedule this year is Toledo, Miami, East Carolina, USF, Memphis and Houston. The lack of interest in attending Cincinnati home games is going to be too real. Especially if the Bearcats can't navigate the Ohio State and Miami games without a loss. Unless UC opens the season September 13, they are opening with a conference opponent. That opponent will probably be one of Memphis or Houston I would suspect. One would think the league would save Cincinnati and East Carolina. Unless they saved East Carolina and UCF. UCF probably deserves it.
The good news is that the Ohio State and Miami games are this year. I hope the football season isn't as dull as it was last year, at least in the field action, where UC played no one with a win from September 14 to November 9. Unless things go horribly for Miami and Ohio State, that shouldn't happen. UC plays OSU September 27 and Miami two weeks later on October 11.
The schedule for the first American title is set in the best news. UCF plays at East Carolina, the probable third best team. There's nothing in the Bearcats way unfortunately. For the league title hopes that's amazing, but in non-power leagues, you want to play the best. This isn't the best. American idiots.
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