2017 American Athletic Conference football season
The 2017 American Athletic Conference football season is the 26th NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference. The season is the fifth since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference, and the fourth season with the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the "Group of Five", meaning that the conference shares with the other G5 conferences one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games. The conference game schedule for the 2017 season was released on February 9, 2017.
American Athletic Conference Media Day
The American Athletic Conference Media Day took place July 18– in Newport, Rhode Island.Preseason poll
East Division- 1. USF, 180 pts
- 2. UCF, 126 pts
- 3. Temple, 119 pts
- 4. Cincinnati, 100 pts
- 5. East Carolina, 63 pts
- 6. UConn, 42 pts
- 1. Memphis, 169 pts
- 2. Houston, 137 pts
- 3. Navy, 128 pts
- 4. Tulsa, 102 pts
- 5. SMU, 64 pts
- 6. Tulane, 30 pts
- 1. USF
- 2. Houston
- 3. Memphis
- 4. Navy
Head coaches
| Team | Head coach | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | AAC record |
| Cincinnati | Luke Fickell | 1 | |||
| Connecticut | Randy Edsall* | 13 | |||
| East Carolina | Scottie Montgomery | 2 | |||
| Houston | Major Applewhite† | 1 | |||
| Memphis | Mike Norvell | 2 | |||
| Navy | Ken Niumatalolo | 10 | |||
| SMU | Chad Morris | 3 | |||
| South Florida | Charlie Strong | 1 | 7-1 | ||
| Temple | Geoff Collins | 1 | |||
| Tulane | Willie Fritz | 2 | |||
| Tulsa | Philip Montgomery | 3 | |||
| UCF | Scott Frost | 2 |
* Randy Edsall coached UConn from 1999–2010, and is returning in 2017. UConn was a member of the Big East from 2004–2012.
† Major Applewhite was hired to replace Tom Herman in December 2016 at Houston and coached the Cougars in their 2016 bowl game.''
Source:
Recruiting classes
Rankings
Schedule
The conference's schedule was released on February 9, 2017. The regular season began on August 27, 2017, when South Florida visits San Jose State. The first conference games played on September 9. The conference season ended with the AAC Championship game on December 2, 2017.| Index to colors and formatting |
| American member won |
| American member loss |
| American teams in bold |
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14 – AAC Championship game
Week 15
Records against other conferences
2017 records against other college football conferences.FBS conferences
| Power Conferences | Record |
| ACC | 0–3 |
| Big Ten | 2–1 |
| Big 12 | 0–5 |
| Pac-12 | 2–0 |
| SEC | 0–1 |
| Notre Dame | 0–2 |
| Other FBS Conferences | Record |
| C-USA | 4–2 |
| MAC | 1–1 |
| Mountain West | 2–1 |
| Independents | 3–2 |
| Sun Belt | 3–0 |
| FBS Total | 17–18 |
FCS conferences
Postseason
Postseason
Bowl games
American Athletic Conference bowl games for the 2017 season are:| Bowl game | Date | Site | Television | Time | AAC team | Opponent | Score | Attendance |
| Frisco Bowl | December 20, 2017 | Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX | ESPN | 8:00 p.m. | SMU | Louisiana Tech | L 10–51 | 14,419 |
| Gasparilla Bowl | December 21, 2017 | Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FL | ESPN | 8:00 p.m. | Temple | FIU | W 28–3 | 16,363 |
| Birmingham Bowl | December 23, 2017 | Legion Field • Birmingham, AL | ESPN | 12:00 p.m. | South Florida | Texas Tech | W 38–34 | 28,623 |
| Hawaii Bowl | December 24, 2017 | Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI | ESPN | 8:30 p.m. | Houston | Fresno State | L 27–33 | 20,546 |
| Military Bowl | December 28, 2017 | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD | ESPN | 1:30 p.m. | Navy | Virginia | W 49–7 | 35,921 |
| Liberty Bowl | December 30, 2017 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN | ABC | 12:30 p.m. | #20 Memphis | Iowa State | L 20–21 | 57,266 |
| Peach Bowl | January 1, 2018 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, GA | ESPN | 12:30 p.m. | #12 UCF | #7 Auburn | W 34–27 | 71,109 |
Rankings are from CFP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.
Selection of teams
- Bowl eligible: UCF, South Florida, Memphis, Houston, Navy, SMU, Temple
- Bowl-ineligible: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Tulsa, Tulane
Awards and honors
Players of the week
NFL Draft
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2018 NFL draft.| Player | Position | School | Draft Round | Round Pick | Overall Pick | Team |
| Mike Hughes | CB | UCF | 1 | 30 | 30 | Minnesota Vikings |
| Courtland Sutton | WR | SMU | 2 | 8 | 40 | Denver Broncos |
| Anthony Miller | WR | Memphis | 2 | 19 | 51 | Chicago Bears |
| Deadrin Senat | DT | South Florida | 3 | 26 | 90 | Atlanta Falcons |
| Tre'Quan Smith | WR | UCF | 3 | 27 | 91 | New Orleans Saints |
| Jordan Akins | TE | UCF | 3 | 34 | 98 | Houston Texans |
| Shaquem Griffin | LB | UCF | 5 | 4 | 141 | Seattle Seahawks |
| Genard Avery | LB | Memphis | 5 | 13 | 150 | Cleveland Browns |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling | WR | South Florida | 5 | 37 | 174 | Green Bay Packers |
| Parry Nickerson | CB | Tulane | 6 | 5 | 179 | New York Jets |
| Folorunso Fatukasi | DT | Connecticut | 6 | 6 | 180 | New York Jets |
| Jacob Martin | LB | Temple | 6 | 12 | 186 | Seattle Seahawks |
| Ade Aruna | DE | Tulane | 6 | 44 | 218 | Minnesota Vikings |
| Matthew Adams | LB | Houston | 7 | 3 | 221 | Indianapolis Colts |
| Jullian Taylor | DT | Temple | 7 | 5 | 223 | San Francisco 49ers |
| Justin Lawler | DE | SMU | 7 | 26 | 244 | Los Angeles Rams |
| Korey Cunningham | OT | Cincinnati | 7 | 36 | 254 | Arizona Cardinals |
| Trey Quinn | WR | SMU | 7 | 38 | 256 | Washington Redskins |