The American released the football format for the next 4 seasons this afternoon. These will be the first years with divisions. Here are the divisions to refresh your memory.
EAST
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
South Florida
Temple
WEST
Houston
Memphis
Navy
SMU
Tulane
Tulsa
2015
Cincinnati Home: UCF, UConn, Temple, Tulsa
Away: East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF
Does Not Play: Navy, SMU, Tulane
The Bearcats face a bit of a challenging road schedule. East Carolina, Houston and Memphis should be varying degrees of good. USF in Tampa was a nightmare for the Bearcats a couple years ago. Those games are always weird too. Tulsa will be interesting to play the next couple of seasons as they are rebuilt by Philip Montgomery, the former Baylor offensive coordinator. Houston has Ohio State’s OC Tom Herman as their new coach.
2016
Cincinnati Home: East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF
Away: UCF, UConn, Temple, Tulsa
Does Not Play: Navy, SMU, Tulane
The schedule just flips, which is a disappointment because it would be awesome to play Navy in a regular season game instead of hoping to get them in the AAC championship game.
2017
Cincinnati Home: UCF, UConn, SMU, Temple
Away: East Carolina, Navy, USF, Tulane
Does Not Play: Houston, Memphis, Tulsa
The Bearcats go to SMU just in time for Chad Morris’ last season as their head coach. Losing Houston and Memphis makes the schedule look weaker. The road slate looks a bit tough with ECU and Navy.
2018
Cincinnati Home: East Carolina, Navy, USF, Tulane
Away: UCF, UConn, SMU, Temple
Does Not Play: Houston, Memphis, Tulsa
All in all, this is pretty acceptable. The Cats will get the chance for 5 conference home games a year if they host the conference title game. We have completed schedules for some of the next few years. Here are those non-conference games, courtesy of FBS Schedules:
2015 – Alabama A&M – at Miami Univ – Miami Hurricanes – at BYU
2016 – at Purdue – Miami Univ – BYU
2017 – at Michigan – at Miami Univ
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