The volume of teams involved in changing membership in the American Athletic Conference is greatly diminished from a year ago, but the newest arrival brings a high degree of tradition and national attention.

The AAC expands with the addition of Army for football only.

It’s a much smaller scale than when Alabama Birmingham, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and Texas San Antonio arrived from Conference USA while Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston exited for the Big 12.

The inclusion of Army was an intriguing stamp by Mike Aresco in his final year as AAC commissioner.

The Army-Navy matchup is scheduled for Dec. 14 at Commanders Field in Landover, Md. The 85,000-seat structure is already sold out. The stadium is home to Washington’s entry in the NFL.

The AAC championship, which could involve either or both of the military service institutions, is planned for Friday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. on ABC. The Dec. 14 matchup will be on CBS.

The deep-rooted rivals first played at West Point in 1890 with the Midshipmen winning, 24-0.

Navy leads the all-time series, 62-55-7, after a 17-11 Army win at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, in 2023.

The Army-Navy game has been played 90 times at venues in Philadelphia with United States presidents occasionally on hand.

East Carolina will meet both Army and Navy next season. The Pirates travel to West Point for a noon kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 19. That game will be shown on an ESPN platform.

ECU will host the Midshipmen in the regular season finale for the Pirates just after Thanksgiving on Nov. 29 or 30. The actual date will be announced on Oct. 14. It will be Military Appreciation and Senior Day at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

There is a wide disparity in the Pirates’ performance against the military academies. ECU is 8-0 against the Black Knights of the Hudson. The last meeting was in John Thompson’s last season as coach at ECU and resulted in a 38-28 win for the hosts in Greenville. That contest was played within the framework of Conference USA.

ECU is 2-9 all-time against Navy and has traditionally struggled to defend Navy’s option offense. In last season’s meeting in Annapolis, the Pirates kept the Midshipmen’s point production within a manageable limit but sustained their first shutout, 10-0, in 323 games.

Army is in the midst of a gridiron resurgence under Jeff Monken, who is 70-55 since taking over the program and going 4-8 in 2014. The Cadets won three straight bowl games from 2016-18. An 11-2 season in 2018 led to a No. 19 final ranking, the first appearance in the concluding national polls for the Cadets since 1958.

Army and Navy do not take players through the transfer portal, a stark contrast to the current landscape of college athletics.

ECU has gotten quarterbacks Katin Houser of Michigan State and Jake Garcia (Miami. Missouri) out of the portal to address offensive deficiencies. New offensive coordinator John David Baker has brought an up-tempo attack from Ole Miss.

The addition of Army further enhances the American’s position in the national spotlight and will be a challenge for the Pirates during program upgrades.

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