2023 American Athletic Conference football season

The 2023 American Athletic Conference football season was the 32nd NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). It was the 11th season since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference and the ninth season of the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the Group of Five (G5) together with Conference USA, the MAC, Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. The American saw significant realignment prior to the season, with three schools departing the conference and six schools joining. It will be the final season with SMU, who will be leaving to join the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 2024–2025 school year.

Previous season
During the 2022 season, Tulane posted a 10–2 regular season record for the best regular season record in conference. Tulane and UCF advanced to the 2022 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, where Tulane won by a score of 45–28. Tulane was invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where they defeated USC, 46–45.

Conference realignment
The American Athletic Conference underwent significant realignment before the 2023 season. Three schools, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, departed the conference to join the Big 12 Conference, having accepted invitations to join two years prior. The American invited six schools to join the conference, all previously from Conference USA: Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA. The realignment brought The American up to 14 football members for the 2023 season.

This will be SMU's final season in the American before they move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024.

In response to SMU's departure, the American announced the addition of Army as a football-only member beginning in 2024. Army currently competes as an independent and its addition will keep the conference at 14 football members.

Media days
The 2023 American Football Media days were held July 24–25, 2023 at Live! By Loews, Arlington, Texas.

Preseason poll
The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at AAC Media Day on July 25, 2023.


 * First place votes in

Changes

 * On November 15, 2022, Charlotte announced that former Michigan associate head coach Biff Poggi would become their new head coach beginning in 2023, replacing Will Healy, who had been fired mid-season.
 * On November 30, 2022, UAB announced that they had hired Trent Dilfer as their permanent head coach, replacing Bryant Vincent, who had been the interim head coach for the entire 2022 season.
 * On December 1, 2022, Florida Atlantic announced that Tom Herman would take over as head coach, replacing Willie Taggart.
 * On December 4, 2022, South Florida announced that Alex Golesh would become the new permanent head coach starting in 2023 after the school had fired previous head coach Jeff Scott prior to the end of the 2022 season. Golesh was previously the offensive coordinator at Tennessee.
 * On December 6, 2022, Tulsa announced that former Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson would become the new coach for the team, replacing Philip Montgomery, who had been fired after the season.
 * On December 13, 2022, North Texas announced former Washington State offensive coordinator Eric Morris as their new head coach, replacing Seth Littrell who had been fired two weeks prior.
 * On December 19, 2022, Brian Newberry was promoted to head coach of Navy after the school declined to renew Ken Niumatalolo's contract. Newberry was the defensive coordinator for the team prior to promotion.

Records
Note: Source:
 * Records shown after the 2022 season
 * Years at school includes 2023 season

Post-season changes

 * On December 3, 2023, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz resigned from his position to take the head coach position at Houston in the Big 12 Conference for the 2024 season. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Slade Nagle was named the interim head coach. On December 8, Jon Sumrall was announced as Tulane's new head coach for 2024. Sumrall had previously been the head coach at Troy.

Regular season schedule
The 2023 schedule was released on February 21, 2023.

Versus other conference records
2023–2024 records against non-conference foes:

Postseason

Power 5 matchups
This is a list of games the American has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Group of Five matchups
The following games include American Athletic Conference teams competing against teams from C-USA, the MAC, Mountain West, or Sun Belt.

FBS independents matchups
The following games include AAC teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, UConn, or UMass.

American Athletic Individual Awards
The following individuals received postseason honors as chosen by the league's head coaches.

All-Conference Teams
The following players were selected part of the All-Conference teams.

All-Americans
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. College Football All-American consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

Home game attendance
Capacity source on all 14 stadiums:

NFL draft
The NFL draft was held at Campus Martius Park in Detroit. The following list includes all AAC players in the draft.