---
title: "Memphis Gets Black Friday Finale as JMU Joins American"
url: https://www.herememphis.com/2026/10/13/memphis-temple-black-friday-jmu-joins-american/
date: 2026-10-13T06:24:42-04:00
modified: 2026-10-13T06:24:42-04:00
author: "Tomas Haynes"
categories: ["Sports"]
site: "HEREMemphis"
attribution: "HEREMemphis"
---

# Memphis Gets Black Friday Finale as JMU Joins American

> Memphis, Tenn. — The University of Memphis football team now has a date for its regular-season finale, and the American Conference it plays in is growing again. Memphis will host Temple on Friday, Nov. 27, the conference announced Monday. The game had been a flex date with four different American Conference matchups in play before

*Source: [HEREMemphis](https://www.herememphis.com/2026/10/13/memphis-temple-black-friday-jmu-joins-american/) — October 13, 2026 by Tomas Haynes*

Memphis, Tenn. — The University of Memphis football team now has a date for its regular-season finale, and the American Conference it plays in is growing again.

Memphis will host Temple on Friday, Nov. 27, the conference announced Monday. The game had been a flex date with four different American Conference matchups in play before the league settled on Memphis and Temple for the week 12 slot. The game will air on ESPN, with kickoff at either 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. Central. The exact time will be confirmed two weeks ahead of the game.

It will be the second year in a row that Temple has been picked to play on Black Friday. Single-game tickets are on sale online and through the Memphis Ticket Office.

On the same day, the American Conference Board of Directors voted unanimously to admit James Madison University as a full member. The Dukes will begin play in the American no later than July 1, 2028, leaving the Sun Belt Conference, which they joined in 2022.

James Madison has become one of the nation’s rising football programs and made an appearance in the 2025 College Football Playoff. The move brings 17 of the school’s 18 varsity sports into the American, with field hockey staying in the Mid-American Conference. The conference said it weighed academic fit, competitive strength, finances, media value and geography before the vote.

Commissioner Tim Pernetti praised the Dukes’ competitive success and fan support. For Memphis, the addition means another strong football opponent and a new conference rival in the years ahead, while the league office in Irving, Texas, said current members’ media distributions will be enhanced.