- A record six Thursday-night games, including five conference games, that will be televised on ESPN: UCLA at Cincinnati on Aug. 29; Houston at Tulane on Sept. 19; Navy at Memphis on Sept. 26; Temple at ECU on Oct. 3; SMU at Houston on Oct. 24; and Temple at USF on Nov. 7. The American will be featured on ESPN in six of the 13 Thursday-night prime time windows of the 2019 season.



- A series of five Friday dates for American Athletic Conference teams on ESPN Networks, including the opening-week matchup featuring Wisconsin at USF on Aug. 31. Other games include Houston vs. Washington State Sept. 13; UCF at Cincinnati on Oct. 4; Navy at UConn on Nov. 1; UCF at Tulsa on Nov. 8; and a Black Friday (Nov. 29) matchup with USF at UCF.



- A total of 19 of The American’s 48 nonconference games will be against Power 6 opponents or Notre Dame. Teams from The American will play six games against opponents from the Big Ten, four from the ACC, three each against the Big 12 and Pac-12 and two against the SEC. The American has won 34 games against Power 6 opponents in the past four years and has three New Year’s Bowl wins against those opponents since 2014.



- Six nonconference games against top-25 team’s from last year’s final Associated Press poll, including two games against teams that were chosen for the 2018 College Football Playoff. Cincinnati visits No. 3 Ohio State Sept. 7; Houston is at No. 4 Oklahoma Aug. 31; Navy is at No. 5 Notre Dame Nov. 16; Houston faces No. 10 Washington State at NRG Stadium Sept. 13; Tulane visits No. 19 Army Oct. 5, while Navy faces the Black Knights Dec. 14.



- The American Athletic Conference Football Championship, which has been broadcast on ABC in each of the last four years, is scheduled for Dec. 7 and will be televised either on either ABC or ESPN.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced the American Athletic Conference’s 96-game football schedule for the 2019 season, including the 48-game conference schedule.Each of the 12 teams in The American will once again play eight conference games - five against the other teams in its division and three against teams from the other division. The two division winners will meet Dec. 7 in the fifth American Athletic Conference Football Championship.“I am pleased to share our 2019 composite football schedule,” said Aresco. “Our athletic directors and coaches have built compelling nonconference schedules that will again test our teams against some of the best programs in the nation. We also expect that our intraconference schedule will once again produce consistently exciting and meaningful games for our fans and our television partners, ESPN and CBS Sports.”The 2019 season’s opening week features an exciting slate of home nonconference games against Power 6 opponents. Cincinnati will host UCLA at Nippert Stadium Thursday, Aug. 29, on ESPN; USF will host Wisconsin at Raymond James Stadium Friday, Aug. 30, on an ESPN Network; and Memphis welcomes Ole Miss to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Saturday, Aug. 31. Additionally, three American teams open on the road against Power 6 opponents - Tulsa is at Michigan State Aug. 30, while ECU is at North Carolina State and Houston is at Oklahoma Aug. 31.The Week 3 schedule has four other home games for American teams against Power 6 opponents as Houston faces Washington State Friday, Sept. 13, at NRG Stadium in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff. The Saturday, Sept. 14, ledger has Stanford at UCF, Maryland at Temple and Oklahoma State at Tulsa.The American Athletic Conference enjoyed another outstanding season in 2018 as UCF and Cincinnati both finished among the national top 25 and were two of the seven teams from the league to play in bowl games. UCF was ranked No. 11 in the final AP poll and qualified for the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl - its third New Year’s Bowl in six seasons - while Cincinnati was ranked No. 23 in the coaches’ poll following its win against Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl. The American additionally produced two NCAA consensus All-America selections (Houston DE Ed Oliver and Memphis RB Darrell Henderson) for the second straight year and had two players among the top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting (Henderson and UCF QB McKenzie Milton).The 2019 season is the sixth under The American’s current television contract, which provides for more than 80 percent of conference-controlled games to be televised nationally on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews and CBS Sports Network, with the remainder on ESPN3 or regional television.Kickoff times and television designations for the first three weeks of the season will be finalized in June, while the rest of the schedule will fall under the customary 12-day and six-day selection processes.