2021 American Athletic Conference football season
Cincinnati secured their second consecutive championship game appearance and faced Tulsa in the 2020 AAC Championship game. Six teams participated in bowl games during the 2020 season; the league went 1–5. Tulane lost to Nevada 38-27 in the 2020 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. UCF lost to BYU in the Boca Raton Bowl 49-23. Memphis defeated Florida Atlantic 25–10 in the Montgomery Bowl. Houston lost to Hawaii 28-14 in the 2020 New Mexico Bowl. No. 24 Tulsa lost to Mississippi State 28-26 in the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl in a game that ended with a benches clearing brawl. In the New Year's Six Game, No. 8 Cincinnati lost in an instant classic to No. 9 Georgia 24–21 in the Peach Bowl. The 2021 American Media day was held virtually August 3 and 4, 2021
•2021 The American Virtual Football Media Days The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at the virtual media day held August 4, 2021. Cincinnati, who finished the 2020 season ranked No. 8 nationally, was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the 2021 preseason media poll. On January 27, 2021 Josh Heupel departed UCF to Tennessee. Gus Malzahn was hired to serve as the new head coach on February 15, 2021. "Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2021 regular season"
Source: The regular season will begin on September 2, 2021 and will end on November 27, 2021. The season will conclude with the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championship Game game on December 4.
At Media Day American Commissioner Mike Aresco said games will not be rescheduled this year because of COVID & if teams can’t play, they will have to forfeit In 2021 the American will send teams to the Military Bowl, Fenway Bowl, and Hawaii Bowl annually. The American will have four selections from the following bowls:Frisco Bowl, Cure Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl. Birmingham Bowl, First Responder Bowl and Myrtle Beach Bowl. The American champion will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of Group of Five conferences in the final College Football Playoff rankings. American teams are also eligible for the College Football Playoff if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking. The following bowl games tied in with the American Athletic Conference had their 2021 editions canceled : The following games include American teams competing against Power Five conferences teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, BYU/Notre Dame, Pac-12 and SEC). All rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game. The following games include ACC teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt. The following games include ACC teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn or UMass. The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs. Regular Season
Post Season The following individuals received postseason honors as chosen by the league's head coaches. "
All Conference Honorable Mentions: The 2021 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following College Football All-American first teams chosen by the following selector organizations: Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Walter Camp Foundation (WCFF), "Sporting News" ("TSN", from its historic name of "The Sporting News"), "Sports Illustrated" ("SI"), "The Athletic" (Athletic), "USA Today" (USAT) ESPN, CBS Sports (CBS), "College Football News" ("CFN"), Athlon Sports, Phil Steele, and Fox Sports (FOX). Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. Players are chosen against other players playing at their position only. To be selected a consensus All-American, players must be chosen to the first team on at least half of the five official selectors as recognized by the NCAA. Second- and third-team honors are used to break ties. Players named first-team by all five selectors are deemed unanimous All-Americans. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, "TSN", and the WCFF to determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans. "2021 College Football Award Winners"
Home Depot Coach of the Year Award<br>
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year<br>
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year<br>
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
AFCA Coach of Year<br>
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Bear Bryant Award<br>
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Paul Hornung Award<br>
Marcus Jones, Houston
Jim Thorpe Award<br>
Coby Bryant, Cincinnati The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Awards and honors
The 2021 American Athletic Conference football season was the 30th NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American).