2014 American Athletic Conference football season
The 2014 American Athletic Conference football season was the 24th NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season was the second since the breakup of the former Big East Conference, which lasted in its original form from its creation in 1979 until 2013. The 2014 season was the first with the new College Football Playoff in place. From 1998 to 2013, FBS postseason football was governed by the Bowl Championship Series. With the move to the new format, The American is no longer an Automatic  Qualifying conference (AQ), and is considered a member of the "Group of Five" (G5) with Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. Whereas under the previous system the champion of The American was guaranteed an automatic berth to a BCS bowl game, now only the highest-ranked member of the "Group of Five" is guaranteed to receive a bid to one of the six major bowls. The American consisted of 11 members: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, and UConn. The regular season and conference play began  on August 28, when Temple visited Vanderbilt, and Tulane visited Tulsa. Previous season. The UCF Knights were the 2013 American Champions, finishing 8–0 in conference and 12–1 overall. The Knights earned the conference's final BCS automatic bid before college football moved to a playoff system. UCF upset No. 6 Baylor 52–42 in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, and finished the year ranked in the Top–10. In other bowl games, Cincinnati lost to North Carolina 39–17 in the Belk Bowl. In their final years as members of The American, Louisville defeated Miami 36–9 in the Russell Athletic Bowl, and Rutgers lost  to Notre Dame 29–16 in the Pinstripe Bowl. Preseason. Preseason Poll. The 2013 American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll was announced at the 2014 American Athletic Conference Media Day in Newport, Rhode Island on July 29, 2014. Schedule. Schedule source: Week 1. Bye Week: Cincinnati Week 2. Bye Week: Cincinnati, UCF Week 3. Bye Week: Memphis, SMU, Temple Week 4. Bye Week: Tulsa Week 5. Bye Week: East Carolina, Houston, UCF Week 6. Bye Week: Connecticut, South Florida, Temple, Tulane Week 7. Bye Week: SMU Week 8. Bye Week: Connecticut, East Carolina, Memphis Week 9. Bye Week: Houston, Tulane, Tulsa Week  10. Bye Week: SMU Week 11. Bye Week: Cincinnati, East Carolina, South Florida, UCF Week 12. Bye Week: Houston, Connecticut Week 13. Bye Week: Temple Week 14. Bye Week: Tulane Week 15. Bye Week: Memphis, South Florida, Tulsa Awards and honors. Conference awards. The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches at the end of the season Home game attendance. Cincinnati will be playing all its 2014 Paul Brown Stadium due to ongoing renovations to Nippert Stadium, capacity: 65,535. Games highlighted in green were sell-outs. 2014 American Athletic Conference football season The