CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
TICKET INFORMATION
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two nationally ranked teams will meet for the conference title next Saturday as No. 25/24 Temple visits No. 21/21 Houston in the inaugural American Athletic Conference Football Championship at Houston’s TDECU Stadium.
Temple won the outright title in The American’s East Division as the Owls completed their regular season with a 27-3 win against UConn in Philadelphia. The win lifted Temple to 10-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play and gave the Owls their first 10-win regular season in program history. Temple is looking for its second conference title in program history and its first since the Owls won the 1967 Mid-American Conference title.
Houston was a 52-31 winner against No. 16/15 Navy Friday afternoon, improving the Cougars to 11-1 overall and 7-1 in The American. Houston finished tied with Navy atop the West Division standings, but earned the tiebreaker based on Friday’s head-to-head win against the Midshipmen. The Cougars have won 10 conference titles since 1952, most recently the 2006 Conference USA championship.
The American Athletic Conference Football Championship is scheduled for noon ET (11 a.m. CT) Dec. 5 and will be televised nationally on ABC. The winner of the game will be eligible to be chosen for the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl or the Vizio Fiesta Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff selection process.
Temple and Houston did not meet during the 2015 regular season, though the teams have four previous meetings on the gridiron. Houston was a 31-10 winner at TDECU Stadium in 2014, while the Cougars took a 22-13 win at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in a 2013 game which was the first American Athletic Conference game in history.
Houston also took both ends of a home-and-home series in the late 1980s as the Cougars were 37-7 winners at Veterans Stadium in 1987 and 65-7 winners at the Astrodome in 1989.