AAC finalizes six-team divisions for 2015 season
The American Athletic Conference settled on two, six-team divisions beginning in the 2015 college football season when Navy joins the conference as a football-only member.
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The conference will be an 11-team conference in 2014 as they await the arrival of the Midshipmen. The AAC does add East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa from Conference USA with Louisville moving to the ACC and Rutgers joining the Big Ten.
In 2015, the divisions will be split geographically with the exception of Navy who will be in the AAC West along with Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa, a source tells ESPN’s Brett McMurphy. The AAC East will be the home of Cincinnati, Connecticut, UCF, East Carolina, South Florida and Temple.
Navy in the West division may seem like an odd fitt considering their campus is located in Annapolis, Md. but head coach Ken Niumatalolo told the Advocate.com. “Texas is our No. 1 state for players, so we’d prefer to play at either Houston or SMU every year. No plan is perfect, and we’ll be happy wherever they put us.”
Playing at least one game a year in the talent-rich state of Texas will be good exposure for the program in regard to bringing in recruits to Annapolis. So while they will have to log a few extra miles on road trips, it will be worth it to keep the talent coming through the program.
With 12 members in the AAC in 2015, the conference will be able to hold a conference championship game which will take place at the campus of either the East or West division champion rather than a neutral site.