It’s never too early to start dissecting conference schedules.
The AAC’s composite schedule was released last week and there are plenty of things that stick out as we’ll see a new champion emerge with SMU moving on to the ACC.
Here are some of the most notable things from the 2024 AAC football schedule.
Army’s Debut
It’s the first season with Army as a member of this league, joining fellow military academy Navy. The Navy-Army meeting will still be a standalone FBS game in between the regular season and conference championship week. This won’t be considered a conference game. However, there is a possibility that the two could meet in back-to-back weeks in the annual game and again in the title game the following week.
The Black Knights have a relatively light conference slate, avoiding both Tulane and Memphis, and also don’t meet USF. All three teams finished top 5 in the conference. Army does close out the regular season with two tough opponents, though, visiting Notre Dame and hosting UTSA before the 125th Army-Navy matchup.
Rice’s Fate May Come In Early October
The non-conference schedule isn’t too intimidating for the Owls, but Weeks 7 and 8 feature back-to-back matchups with UTSA and Tulane. If they can win at least one of these, they’ll have a ton of momentum and will be in great shape going forward. If not, those two early conference losses can be hard to overcome with games against Memphis, UAB, and USF up next.
Rice has also only eclipsed five wins once in Mike Bloomgren’s six seasons at the helm. It’s likely this could be a hot-seat season for him.
North Texas Faces Gauntlet
After a very disappointing 2023 campaign, the Mean Green’s opponents could make for another down year. Their non-conference slate features a trip to South Alabama to open the year and a trip to Texas Tech in Week 3. This is followed by hosting Wyoming.
Things don’t get much easier once conference play starts with UNT facing Memphis, Tulane, and UTSA in weeks 8-12. Two of those games (Memphis and UTSA) are on the road.
The Mean Green are only one of two teams that play these three big dogs in the league. Rice is the other.
South Florida, Tulane Tested Early
We’re going to find out quickly what kind of team USF is. The Bulls play Alabama, Miami, Tulane, and UTSA in their first six games. If they can enter their second bye in Week 9 with at least five wins, that would be impressive.
We also won’t have to wait to see what we can expect from the Jon Sumrall version of Tulane. The Green Wave host Kansas State before visiting Oklahoma and Louisiana in the first four weeks. Meeting USF and UAB in Weeks 5 and 6 also won’t be walks in the park.
ECU Gets Favorable Conference Schedule
While UNT was dealt a bad hand, the Pirates should be happy with what their schedule looks like. Sure, they have to face App State, Liberty, and UTSA in weeks 3-5, but following that stretch, the Pirates could have a chance to win at least five of their remaining games. They only face one team that finished in the top half of last year’s standings.
The early competition will also help prepare them for late in the season. Of course, this is all based on the assumption they will bounce back from last year’s 2-10 campaign.
Expectations will be lower than they were last year for Mike Houston’s squad, but with new offensive coordinator John David Baker in, the offense can see some improvement.
AAC vs. Sun Belt
There are 11 meetings between the AAC and Sun Belt in the 2024 regular season. This is by far the most games the AAC has against another conference. The next closest is Conference USA with five meetings.
Other Noteworthy Items
Tulane and Memphis meet in the regular-season finale on a Thursday night, which could have big-time championship game implications.
It is also worth mentioning that the championship game has been moved from Saturday to Friday night. This will surely get more eyes instead of competing with Saturday’s conference title games.
