The 2026 American Conference Football Schedule has officially been announced. Conference play begins on Saturday, Sept. 12.
The 2026 season will be the third consecutive for The American as a 14-team conference. Each member will continue to play an eight-game league schedule with four non-conference contests.
The annual Army-Navy Game continues to be played the second Saturday in December and it will be considered a non-conference contest. Army and Navy will not meet in the regular-season, but in any season they could possibly meet in the American Football Championship and then again one week later in the Army-Navy Game.
Featured non-conference match-ups for each American team in 2026 include Army vs. Navy, Charlotte at Ole Miss, East Carolina at Alabama, Florida Atlantic at Florida, Memphis at UNLV, Navy vs. Army, North Texas at Indiana, Rice at Notre Dame, Penn State at Temple, Tulane at Duke, Oklahoma State at Tulsa, UAB at Illinois, FIU at USF, and UTSA at Texas.
The 2026 American Conference Football Championship Game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 5 at the home stadium of the team with the highest winning percentage in conference play. The game will be televised by either ABC or ESPN.
Kickoff times and television designations for the first three weeks of the season will be finalized on or before June 1. The remaining kickoff times and TV will be announced six to 12 days prior to the date of the game.
2026 American Conference Football Schedules
- 2026 Army Football Schedule
- 2026 Charlotte Football Schedule
- 2026 East Carolina Football Schedule
- 2026 Florida Atlantic Football Schedule
- 2026 Memphis Football Schedule
- 2026 Navy Football Schedule
- 2026 North Texas Football Schedule
- 2026 Rice Football Schedule
- 2026 Temple Football Schedule
- 2026 Tulane Football Schedule
- 2026 Tulsa Football Schedule
- 2026 UAB Football Schedule
- 2026 USF Football Schedule
- 2026 UTSA Football Schedule
2026 American Conference Football Schedule
Saturday, Aug 29
Memphis at UNLV
Saturday, Sept 5
Arkansas State at Memphis
FIU at USF
Oklahoma State at Tulsa
Rhode Island at Temple
The Citadel at Charlotte
Towson at Navy
Tulane at Duke
HCU at Rice
Florida Atlantic at Florida
East Carolina at Alabama
North Texas at Indiana
UTRGV at UTSA
UAB at Illinois
Bryant at Army
Saturday, Sept 12
Appalachian State at East Carolina
Memphis at Boise State
Penn State at Temple
South Alabama at Tulane
Tulsa at Sam Houston
ULM at UAB
UNLV at North Texas
UTSA at Texas State
Rice at Notre Dame
Charlotte at Ole Miss
Navy at Florida Atlantic
USF at Army
Saturday, Sept 19
Charlotte at Appalachian State
FIU at Florida Atlantic
North Texas at Texas State
Tulane at Kansas State
UAB at Louisiana
UTSA at Texas
Western Michigan at Rice
East Texas A&M at Tulsa
East Carolina at Old Dominion
Delaware State at USF
Temple at Toledo
UT Martin at Memphis
Friday, Sept 25
Navy at UAB
Saturday, Sept 26
Colorado State at UTSA
HCU at North Texas
Rice at Fresno State
Southern Miss at Tulane
Florida Atlantic at ULM
USF at Bowling Green
NC Central at East Carolina
Tulsa at Arkansas
Louisiana at Charlotte
Army at Temple
Thursday, Oct 1
North Texas at Tulsa
Saturday, Oct 3
Navy at Air Force
Samford at UAB
Army at Louisiana Tech
Texas Southern at Florida Atlantic
Memphis at Charlotte
Temple at USF
UTSA at Rice
Thursday, Oct 8
USF at UTSA
Saturday, Oct 10
UConn at Temple
Charlotte at North Texas
Rice at East Carolina
Tulane at Army
Tulsa at Navy
UAB at Memphis
Thursday, Oct 15
East Carolina at UAB
Friday, Oct 16
Memphis at Tulane
Saturday, Oct 17
Kent State at USF
Charlotte at Temple
Florida Atlantic at Army
Navy at UTSA
Tulsa at Rice
Thursday, Oct 22
East Carolina at Memphis
Friday, Oct 23
Army at Tulsa
Saturday, Oct 24
North Texas at Navy
Rice at Florida Atlantic
UTSA at Tulane
Thursday, Oct 29
Florida Atlantic at North Texas
Friday, Oct 30
Tulane at Charlotte
Saturday, Oct 31
Notre Dame vs Navy (Foxborough, MA)
Army at Memphis
Temple at East Carolina
UAB at USF
Thursday, Nov 5
UTSA at Florida Atlantic
Friday, Nov 6
USF at East Carolina
Saturday, Nov 7
Air Force at Army
Charlotte at UAB
Rice at North Texas
Temple at Navy
Tulsa at Tulane
Thursday, Nov 12
Memphis at USF
Saturday, Nov 14
East Carolina at Charlotte
Florida Atlantic at Tulsa
North Texas at UTSA
Tulane at Rice
UAB at Temple
Thursday, Nov 19
Rice at Temple
Saturday, Nov 21
Charlotte at Tulsa
East Carolina at Army
Memphis at Navy
North Texas at Tulane
USF at Florida Atlantic
UTSA at UAB
Saturday, Nov 28
Army at Rice
Florida Atlantic at East Carolina (or Fri.)
Navy at Charlotte
Temple at Memphis (or Fri.)
Tulane at USF (or Fri.)
Tulsa at UTSA (or Fri.)
UAB at North Texas
Saturday, Dec. 5
American Championship Game
Saturday, Dec. 12
Army-Navy Game (in E. Rutherford, NJ)
2026 American Conference Football Schedule Grid pic.twitter.com/lwqIDGdkqK
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) February 26, 2026
American Football Schedule (Composite)
Tulane has no FCS opponent for the second year in a row.
Looks like the Army-Navy game is likely going to move off second weekend in December, potentially beginning in 2027. Army coach wants it on Thanksgiving weekend, but Navy AD isn’t feeling that. It only started being played on the second Saturday of December in 2009. From 1984-2008 it was played on the first Saturday of December. Prior to 1984, it was played on Thanksgiving weekend (with a few exceptions). I agree with the Army coach here, players and fans look forward to these two teams ending the season against each other. Playing it earlier in the season, especially in Week 0, dilutes the importance of the game. My recommendations: Thanksgiving Eve/Wednesday at 8pm, Thanksgiving morning/Thursday at 9:30am, Black Friday morning at 9:30am, Saturday morning at 9:30am, Sunday morning at 9:30am, or Monday at 5pm – that way they retain that exclusive window where they are the only game on.
Good news Thanksgiving weekend would be fantastic for Navy-Army however my suggestion would be Wednesday evening, Black Friday 3:30PM or Saturday Noon although I do resect your comments MrVandy.
I think Army-Navy should be the first game of the regular season every year, not the last game of the regular season it currently is. Play it week 0 before any other domestic game, so that would exclude the overseas contests due to the potential time zone issues. If that were to start this year Army-Navy would be played exactly 8 weeks after our nation’s glorious 250th birthday. Now that could have been a game with a lot of pageantry.
Let’s play this Thanksgiving weekend and make it a conference game. That way both teams can schedule other teams to have more flexibility
Id love to see it played at 4 on Thanksgiving Saturday as a stand alone but who knows.
Can’t play it the first week of the season. It has to be the culminating game.
I get what the Navy AD is saying but now that both schools are in a conference, you can’t potentially play it after the American Conference Championship Game. I mean, what if both teams make it
What if it were the case that they played for the conference championship?
It was discussed a couple of years back or so when they were both unbeaten in AAC, but then neither made it. They would have played both games, no different from what other teams do when they play in the regular season, what’s the difference.
The good thing for this game where it is right now is that the only other games on that weekend are the FCS playoffs. The point is, there is a plan in place if they end up in the conference championship they would play each other back-to-back, but it is silly that this game goes on after all the conference championships have been played. It will take a lot away from it to play on Thanksgiving when there are a lot of rivals meeting IMO.
Maybe it should move to something more notable like the week of November 11. Maybe both teams have their open dates set up so they can play on November 11, they play it at different neutral cites every year anyway.