PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The American Athletic Conference has announced a number of kickoff times and television designations for the 2019 football season.
It includes the kickoff times for much of The American’s Thursday and Friday prime time games on ESPN networks. The prime time package begins Thursday, August 29, as Cincinnati hosts UCLA at Nippert Stadium on ESPN to begin an impressive stretch of key nonconference games for American Athletic Conference teams in the early part of the 2019 season.
The Week 1 schedule also includes nationally televised home games for USF, which hosts Wisconsin Friday, August 30 (ESPN), and Memphis, which hosts Ole Miss Saturday, August 31 (ABC).
Key road games for American Athletic Conference teams in the opening week include Tulsa at Michigan State Friday (FS1), ECU at NC State Saturday (ACC Network), and Houston at OU in a Sunday prime time matchup on ABC.
The Week 2 lineup has another ABC national telecast as Cincinnati visits Ohio State, while USF is at Georgia Tech (ACC Network), UConn hosts Illinois (CBS Sports Network) and Tulane visits Auburn (ESPN2).
The Week 3 ledger has three American Athletic Conference teams at home against other Power 6 conference opponents as Temple hosts Maryland (CBS Sports Network), UCF hosts Stanford (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2) and Tulsa hosts Oklahoma State (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2).
The American and CBS Sports also announced the times of 11 games that will be televised on CBS Sports Network, beginning with an Opening Night matchup between UCF and Florida A&M August 29 in Orlando. The schedule on CBS Sports Network includes all six of Navy’s games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, as well as a number of key conference and nonconference games in the 2019 season.
Most of the remaining start times and television designations for the 2019 season will be made on a weekly basis through the season as part of the conference’s 12-day selection process. The most up-to-date schedule, with television designations, is available at TheAmerican.org.
The nonconference schedule includes four games against top-10 teams and two against teams that were chosen for the 2018 College Football Playoff.
Cincinnati visits No. 3 Ohio State September 7; Houston is at No. 4 Oklahoma August 31; Navy is at No. 5 Notre Dame November 16; Houston faces No. 10 Washington State at NRG Stadium September 13; Tulane visits No. 19 Army October 5, while Navy faces the Black Knights December 14.
UCF was ranked No. 11 in the final AP poll and qualified for the Fiesta Bowl – its third New Year’s Bowl in six seasons – while Cincinnati was ranked No. 23 in the coaches’ poll following its win against Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl.
The American additionally produced two NCAA consensus All-America selections (Houston DE Ed Oliver and Memphis RB Darrell Henderson) for the second straight year and had two players among the top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting (Henderson and UCF QB McKenzie Milton).