Our MNC Wednesday miniseries continues with an examination of the last football conference still in existence, and it’s one few people probably even recognize. The American Athletics Conference has only been a “thing” since 2012, after all, and most of its schools are not household familiar to a lot of college football fans. Nevertheless, we do our bit: the AAC has a 26-37 bowl record with 19 AP finishes so far.

5. 2016

With an 82-71 record, the 12 teams of the AAC finished sixth in win percentage this season among the FBS conferences. The Temple Owls (10-4) won the conference title, as five different teams finished with at least 9 wins. After winning the Birmingham Bowl, the South Florida Bulls (11-2) finished No. 19 in the Associated Press poll. Overall, seven teams went bowling, yet only the Tulsa Hurricanes (10-3) also won their matchup.

4. 2017

With three teams ranked at the end of the season, this year stands out for the AAC: UCF went 13-0 with a Peach Bowl win, and the Knights deserved some MNC consideration with their No. 6 poll finish. The Bulls (10-2) ended up at No. 21, and the Memphis Tigers (10-3) wound up at No. 25 themselves. USF won the Birmingham Bowl, while Navy and Temple also won their postseason matchups. Very impressive!

3. 2021

Only four schools reached bowl season, but one of them was Cincinnati: the Bearcats (13-1) reached the CFP before losing to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. That was historical in itself as Cincinnati finished fourth in the AP poll; the Houston Cougars (12-2) won the Birmingham Bowl to finished 17th in the nation. Meanwhile, UCF (9-4) beat Florida in a bowl matchup in a symbolic statement of a different kind.

2. 2022

With a 12-2 record and a Cotton Bowl victory over USC, Tulane ended up ranked No. 9 in the country. Overall, seven teams received bowl invitations: UCF (Military, L); East Carolina (Birmingham, W); Memphis (First Responder, W); Houston (Independence, W); SMU (New Mexico, L); and Cincinnati (Fenway, L). The league’s SRS was No. 6 out of the 11 FBS leagues, so it was a great season for the American Athletic, in total.

1. 2019

A whopping four teams finished in the AP Top 25: Memphis (17), Navy (20), Cincy (21), and UCF (24). The Tigers were the league champs, but they lost the Cotton Bowl to Penn State. The Bearcats (Birmingham), the Green Wave (Armed Forces), the Knights (Gasparilla), and the Midshipmen (Liberty) won their respective bowl games, as the conference’s .569 winning percentage was third overall in the nation—as good as it gets.