The 2013 American Athletic Conference football season was the 23rd NCAA Division I FBS football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season was the first after the breakup of the former Big East Conference, which lasted in its original form from its creation in 1979 until July 2013. The charter of the former Big East was retained by The American, henceforth the legal status as the 23rd season overall.
UCF as The American's Champion earned the league's last automatic berth for a BCS Bowl Game. Following the 2013 college football season, the BCS (1998âÂÂ2013) will be replaced by a four team playoff system. Starting in 2014, The American will lose its Automatic Qualifier (AQ) status, and fall into the "Group of Five" with Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
In its first year, the conference consisted of 10 football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, South Florida, Temple, and UCF. Conference members began regular-season play on August 29 when UCF hosted Akron. Conference play started on September 7 when Temple hosted Houston. The regular season concluded on December 7. The following match-ups were not seen in conference play in 2013: CincinnatiâÂÂUCF, ConnecticutâÂÂHouston, LouisvilleâÂÂSMU, MemphisâÂÂRutgers, and South FloridaâÂÂTemple. LouisvilleâÂÂSMU and MemphisâÂÂRutgers will not be seen in any year in The American play as Louisville and Rutgers are leaving for the ACC and Big Ten, respectively, in 2014.
On February 28, 2013, ESPN reported that the conference's seven schools that did not play FBS football, which had announced plans to leave the conference as a bloc no later than July 2015, had reached an agreement to leave in July 2013, and would keep the "Big East" name when they formed a new conference at that time. As a result, the football schools retained the original Big East charter and would operate under a new name in the 2013 football season. The new conference name was officially announced on April 3, 2013.
Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, and Syracuse were co-champions with identical 5âÂÂ2 records. Louisville received the Big East BCS bid. As the Big East BCS representative, the Cardinals defeated Florida 33âÂÂ23 in the 2013 Allstate Sugar Bowl. In other bowl games, Cincinnati defeated Duke 48âÂÂ34 in the Belk Bowl 48âÂÂ34 with interim coach Steve Stripling. Rutgers lost to Virginia Tech 13âÂÂ10 in the Russell Athletic Bowl, while Syracuse in their final game as a Big East member defeated former Big East member West Virginia 38âÂÂ14 in the Pinstripe Bowl. In Pittsburgh's final game as a Big East member, the Panthers lost to Ole Miss 38âÂÂ17 in the BBVA Compass Bowl.
Three teams have new head coaches for the 2013 season. Tommy Tuberville replaces Butch Jones at Cincinnati, Willie Taggart replaces Skip Holtz at South Florida and Matt Rhule has taken over for Steve Addazio at Temple.
The 2013 American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll was announced at the 2013 American Athletic Conference Media Day in Newport, Rhode Island on July 30, 2013.
Bye Week: Memphis
Bye Week: Connecticut
Bye Week: Houston, SMU
Bye Week: Temple, South Florida, UCF
Bye Week: Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers
Bye Week: Connecticut, Houston
Bye Week: SMU, UCF
Bye Week: Rutgers, South Florida
Bye Week: Cincinnati, Memphis
Bye Week: Connecticut, Louisville, SMU, UCF
Bye Week: Rutgers, South Florida
Bye Week: Cincinnati, Louisville
Bye Week: Temple, Houston
Reference:
<small>Note: The American Athletic Conference did not have enough bowl eligible teams to send a representative to the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl.</small>
Following each week of games, American Athletic Conference officials select the players of the week from the conference's teams.
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches
<sub>1</sub><small> @ Reliant Stadium</small> <sub>2</sub> <small>@ BBVA Compass Field</small>