AAC to split into two divisions in 2015

George O'Leary's UCF football team won the AAC and the Fiesta Bowl last season.  (Getty Images/Christian Petersen)

The American Athletic Conference will split into two divisions when Navy joins the conference as a football-only member in 2015, the conference announced Friday.

The league said the presidents and athletic directors of the conference unanimously approved the two six-team divisions Friday at the league meetings.

The AAC West will have Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa and Navy, with the East division featuring Cincinnati, Connecticut, Central Florida, East Carolina, South Florida and Temple.

The new format ensures an eight game conference schedule, with each school facing the other five teams in its own division as well as three from the other division.  Each school will play every conference opponent at home and on the road at least once in a four-year cycle.

The league will have a conference championship game between the two division champions at the home site of the highest ranked divisional champion.

There will be 11 teams in the AAC this season after the league added East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa from Conference USA. Former members Louisville and Rutgers left for the ACC and Big Ten, respectively.

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