The American Athletic Conference (AAC) released its teams’ schedules for the 2023-24 football season on Tuesday.
The conference is going through some changes this offseason as Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston all leave for the Big 12.
In response, the AAC is adding the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, and Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) as conference members this season.
Local program SMU also remains in the conference amid rumors of further conference expansion across college sports.
Here are the schedules for the local area AAC teams.
SMU
09/02 vs. Louisiana Tech
09/09 at Oklahoma
09/16 vs. Prairie View A&M
09/23 at TCU
09/30 vs. Charlotte
10/07 Bye Week
10/12 at East Carolina
10/20 at Temple
10/28 vs. Tulsa
11/4 at Rice
11/10 vs. UNT
11/18 at Memphis
11/25 vs. Navy
SMU has some early challenges with road games at Oklahoma and TCU, fresh off a college football playoff appearance. The Mustangs will avoid playing Tulane, UAB, UTSA, and Florida Atlantic but have a difficult matchup against Memphis late in the season. SMU will also play North Texas as conference opponents for the first time.
NORTH TEXAS
09/02 vs. Cal
09/09 at Florida International
09/16 at Louisiana Tech
09/23 Bye Week
09/30 vs. Abilene Christian
10/07 at Navy
10/14 vs. Temple
10/21 at Tulane
10/28 vs. Memphis
11/04 vs. UTSA
11/10 at SMU
11/18 at Tulsa
11/25 vs. UAB
North Texas will enter the AAC after losing the Conference USA championship game and hiring Eric Morris as its new head coach.
UNT will play Navy in its first AAC matchup in early October. The Mean Green will also play Memphis, UTSA, SMU, and UAB as part of a challenging conference slate in their inaugural season and have a marquee opponent for their season opener in Cal.
RICE
09/02 at Texas
09/09 vs. Houston
09/16 vs. Texas Southern
09/23 at South Florida
09/30 vs. East Carolina
10/07 vs. Connecticut
10/14 Bye Week
10/19 at Tulsa
10/28 vs. Tulane
11/04 vs. SMU
11/11 at UTSA
11/18 at Charlotte
11/25 vs. Florida Atlantic
Rice begins the season with a trip to Austin to face the Longhorns and a crosstown rivalry game against Houston. The Owls will play their first AAC game at South Florida before hosting East Carolina and UConn. The back half of the conference schedule includes Cotton Bowl champion Tulane, Conference USA champion UTSA, and an SMU team that has performed well in conference play.
TULSA
09/02 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
09/09 at Washington
09/16 vs. Oklahoma
09/23 at Northern Illinois
09/28 vs. Temple
10/07 at Florida Atlantic
10/14 Bye Week
10/19 vs. Rice
10/28 at SMU
11/04 vs. Charlotte
11/11 at Tulane
11/18 vs. North Texas
11/25 at East Carolina
Tulsa enjoyed two consecutive winning seasons before finishing 5-7 in 2022. Former Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery was fired after eight seasons as the program’s head coach and replaced by Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.
Wilson has previous head coaching experience and will make his team debut against Arkansas-Pine Bluff before facing tests against Washington and Oklahoma.
Tulsa, just 3-5 in AAC play last season, faces four conference teams that finished with worse overall records.
UTSA
09/02 at Houston
09/09 vs. Texas State
09/15 vs. Army
09/23 at Tennessee
09/30 Bye Week
10/07 at Temple
10/14 vs. UAB
10/21 at Florida Atlantic
10/28 vs. East Carolina
11/04 at North Texas
11/11 vs. Rice
11/17 vs. South Florida
11/25 at Tulane
UTSA enters the AAC fresh off an 11-3 season and a Conference USA title. The Roadrunners were 8-0 in conference play last season and could be a contender in their new conference.
The non-conference slate features games against Houston and Tennessee that will be difficult to win. UTSA gets a bit of a break in conference play as they only play two teams that had winning records a year ago. The season finale at Tulane is one to watch in the conference title race.