The American was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference. In December 2012, the Big East's seven remaining non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova – announced that they voted unanimously to leave the conference. After a settlement in 2013 between the non-FBS schools and the FBS schools regarding the use of the conference name, the ten remaining football playing members renamed themselves the American Athletic Conference. In 2014, Louisville and Rutgers departed the conference and joined the ACC and Big Ten, respectively. Their departure was succeeded on the same day by the entrance of East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa for all sports. In 2015, the U.S. Naval Academy joined the conference for football, bringing the membership total in that sport to twelve teams. At the time, the conference split into two six-team divisions and created a conference championship game. On July 1, 2020 UConn officially left the American, with its football team becoming an FBS independent once the school joined the Big East. The American has no immediate plan to add another team to rebalance division, so divisions have been eliminated from the conference for the time being. The championship game will now be played by the two teams that achieved the best record in regular season conference play.
Pre-championship game era
The 2013 and 2014 American Athletic Conference football champions were determined by the team with the best conference record, and there was no championship game held. In years when two or more teams tied in conference record, co-champions were declared.
Season
Champion
Conference record
Overall record
2013
UCF
8–0
12–1
2014
Memphis
7–1
10–3
2014
Cincinnati
7–1
9–4
2014
UCF
7–1
9–4
Championship Game results
Below are the results from all AAC Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
Game MVPs
Results by team
East Carolina, USF, SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa have yet to make an appearance in an AAC Football Championship Game.
With the departure of UConn to independent status following the 2019 season, the Huskies will be the only team never to appear in an AAC title game.
Selection criteria
Team selection
Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. In the event that two teams are tied, head-to head competition would break the tie. If the two teams did not play, division record will be used to determine the divisional champion. If three or more teams are tied, the following tiebreakers are used to determine the divisional champion:
Site selection
The site of the Championship Game is the home stadium of the division champion with the best overall conference record. In the event that the two division champions are tied, then the head-to-head record shall be used as the tiebreaker. If the two teams did not play, the following procedure is used to determine the host:
* If only one division champion is ranked entering the final week of conference play, it will host if it wins in that week. If that team loses, a composite of four computer rankings is used to determine the host.
* If both division champions are ranked, the higher-ranked team that won in the final week will host. If, in this scenario, neither wins in the final week, the same computer ranking system is used.
* If neither division champion is ranked, the aforementioned computer rankings are used.
If neither CFP nor computer rankings determine a host, the teams' records against common conference opponents are used.
If still tied, overall record determines the host.
Finally, a coin toss is held at the conference offices.
