The growing AAC has its Media Day
Tulane enters the season as the favorite in The American. The Green Wave completed the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history last year, improving by 9.5 wins from 2021 (2-10) to 2022 (12-2). Tulane returns 14 starters from last year’s squad, which finished the season ranked No. 9 in the national polls on the heels of a thrilling 46-45 win against USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

By Earl Heath
Contributing Sports Writer
As the sever changing landscape of college sports changes The American Athletic Conference has added new schools
The Conference had its first live media day at its new home in Dallas, Texas. The conference formally known as The BIG EAST (football) enters its tenth year of operations. In 2020 it moved its offices from the beautiful shores of Newport, Rhode Island to Dallas and shares its business offices in the same building along with the College Football Playoff, JP Morgan Chase and General Motors.
New members include UAB, the University of North Carolina Charlotte, Florida Atlantic University, the University of North Texas, Rice University, and UTSA.
UTSA Roadrunners were back-to-back Conference USA Champions (11-3) and winners of the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl.
Tulane enters the season as the favorite in The American. The Green Wave completed the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history last year, improving by 9.5 wins from 2021 (2-10) to 2022 (12-2). Tulane returns 14 starters from last year’s squad, which finished the season ranked No. 9 in the national polls on the heels of a thrilling 46-45 win against USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.
Among the returning starters for Tulane is quarterback Michael Pratt, a junior passed for 3,009 yards and 27 touchdowns while adding 10 rushing TDs a year ago. Head Coach Willie Fritz will have four returning starters on the offensive line and eight starters back from a defense that ranked third in the conference in total defense (360.4 ypg) and second in scoring defense (22.2 ppg).
Tulane’s top-10 finish was the sixth by an American Athletic Conference team in the league’s first 10 seasons, while the Green Wave gave the conference its fourth New Year’s Six bowl win. The American has sent a team to either the New Year’s Six or the College Football Playoff seven times in nine seasons of the CFP era and eight times in the 10-year history of the conference.
On the Defensive side it was Ivan Pace (Cincinnati) was the American’s Defensive Player of the Year. This year’s selection also marks the second consecutive conference player-of-the-year honor for Pace, who was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year at Miami (Ohio) the previous season. A unanimous NCAA All-America selection, Walter Camp All-American and a finalist for the Butkus Award and the Bednarik Award, Pace led The American with 137 tackles and 21.5 tackles for loss and was second in the conference with 10.0 sacks.
“The DFW area and the state of Texas have become an important part of the fabric of our conference,” said AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco. “We now have two outstanding institutions – SMU and North Texas – located near our headquarters.”
“Our men’s and women’s basketball championships are held annually at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. And we are proud to share a home and a region with many of our key bowl partners.”
“I would like to extend a special thanks to Rick Baker and his staff with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl and Sean Johnson and his team from the Frisco Bowl. And I would like to welcome Alan Gooch from the Cure Bowl and Missy Setters from the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl for their support and partnership.”

Tyjae Spears (TULANE) AAC Player of the Year now with Tennessee Titans
UTSA Roadrunners were back-to-back Conference USA Champions (11-3) and winners of the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl.
The AAC has had a lengthy TV deal with ESPN since its inaugural season. “President Jimmy Pitaro and Executive Vice President Burke Magnus are outstanding and visionary executives who have been staunch supporters of our conference,” Aresco added. “ESPN played a pivotal role in the success of our first decade and will do so in our second decade.”
It was recently announced there will be football officiating alliance with the American Athletic (FBS), Mountain West (FBS), and Southland (FCS) conferences. The alliance will be in effect for the upcoming 2023 season.
This will involve more than 300 officials that will be under the alliance’s umbrella, ensuring consistent training, evaluation and grading processes across the conferences. The alliance conferences will use this pipeline to develop a “bench” of officials that have been trained and evaluated under consistent philosophies and mechanics.
It will make philosophies similar and create a consistently for the college game.
“I am also pleased today to applaud the recent announcement of our officiating partnership with the Big 12 conference, which will deepen our pool of top-flight officials and enhance their training,” added Aresco. “Bryan Platt will continue to oversee our officiating, and we look forward to working with Big 12 Football Officiating Coordinator Greg Burks. “
The past few years has shown visits to and from AAC teams can be ‘upsetting’ as Aresco pointed out. “Has anyone forgotten the convincing Memphis win over an Ole Miss team in 2015 that had just defeated mighty Alabama or a UCLA team in 2017 that had just defeated Texas A&M? Or the Temple win over Penn State and the epic late loss to No. 9 Notre Dame in 2015? Or the many wins over P5 teams? Our schools have hosted four ESPN College Gamedays.”
Tulane’s top-10 finish was the sixth by an American Athletic Conference team in the league’s first 10 seasons, while the Green Wave gave the conference its fourth New Year’s Six bowl win. The American has sent a team to either the New Year’s Six or the College Football Playoff seven times in nine seasons of the CFP era and eight times in the 10-year history of the conference.
This is a Conference that will have to be dealt with this football season.