"Can the American conference turn early success into something bigger?"

[Drew]

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/p...ague-turn-early-success-into-something-bigger

"The Big Ten will reportedly count Navy, Cincinnati and UConn toward the league’s requirement of playing one nonconference Power 5 team per year, a seemingly arbitrary designation that has captured the predicament Aresco faces: He has never cared for the exclusivity of such scheduling rules, but he is glad that one league has at least cracked open the door for the American.

“If they’re going to have these requirements -- and not all the conferences do, but several of the big ones do -- then obviously we feel strongly that all the teams from our conference ought to be included as acceptable opponents,” he said."


Also brings up the possibility of an undefeated AAC team in the CFP

 

[TRest]

No.

 

[NYUConn]

No.

Welp, case closed. Time to delete the thread.

 

[husky210]

While I find it a good sign someone is talking about this I find it very unlikely the American gets into the playoff unless there are two-two loss conference champs from two of the 5 p5 teams. We just didn't have a high enough ranked team to start the season and currently only 1 ranked team. (We could have three depending on how this weekend pans out) Hell, given the current perception of the season ended today 1- loss Boise might get the access bowl over any of our teams.

 

[Dooley]

Another vote for no. Again, the P5 can make up their own rules, choose who has to follow them (and who gets penalized for not following them), and hoards all of the money. If this quote doesn't prove that, I don't know what does...

“If they’re going to have these requirements -- and not all the conferences do, but several of the big ones do -- then obviously we feel strongly that all the teams from our conference ought to be included as acceptable opponents,” he said.

You just can't lump the SMUs, Tulsas, Tulanes, Houstons, and Memphis of this garbage conference with the likes of UConn. Their AD budgets would struggle to cover our friggin' women's basketball budget alone.

 

[Adios]

C'mon. This conference still has some great comedic value for what it is. And it delivers.

 

[NYUConn]

I hate being in this conference. I truly do.

But that being said, there are worst places to be. Could be the MAC or Conference USA. So being a glass is half-full type guy, I'm gonna keep telling myself that.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The American will end up being what we already knew it was; the best G5 league.

The Big East had bigger programs, more tradition and auto BCS bid and was marginalized and then picked apart.

What makes anyone think the remnants of that league plus programs like Tulane, Tulsa and SMU do anything to legitimized the league?

 

[UConnDan97]

It's a positive article written on ESPN about a "non-P5" conference. This is a very good sign, even if the answer to the question is likely "no". But the answer is likely "no" for the same reason that it was "no" for the Big East, with the exception of West Virginia. We didn't have the right group of old school football programs, which was weird, because Syracuse and Pitt used to be really good 100 years ago. But then again, so was Houston, SMU, and Navy.

So here we stand again. But at least they are not lumping us in with the MAC, or even the MW. And positive news is positive news, no matter how you slice it. Keep winning, and let the rest of the story write itself...

 

[gioff23]

While we are in this conf, for FB only, I still wish we could create a true western wing, with Boise, BYU, SDSU, and Col St.

As for UConnDan - I'm very disappointed that you neglected the BE was also home to RU, the place where it all began

 

[amory]

The American will end up being what we already knew it was; the best G5 league.

The Big East had bigger programs, more tradition and auto BCS bid and was marginalized and then picked apart.

What makes anyone think the remnants of that league plus programs like Tulane, Tulsa and SMU do anything to legitimized the league?

This is a good point.

There's always going to be a "feeder" conference that basically serves the purpose of vetting smaller or unproven programs for the big conferences. The Triple-A affiliate of the P5. That's the American.

 

[NYUConn]

I said this in another thread last week but the only way in this conference thrives and becomes something bigger is if Aresco can cut a deal with the Cotton, Fiesta or Peach bowls and get us a guaranteed tie-in every year.

That's our only road to making this a P6.

Without that access, we will never be outside of the G5 and, candidly, none of those bowls have any incentive to get into bed with us at the moment.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

There is no way this league will ever be considered P6.

Who made the distinction of P5? The P5.

Why would they willingly split revenue and elevate another league to their level?

The best we can hope for is to be competitive with the P5 on the field and get the G5 bid every season to make sure we are the clear cut best G5 league on the field and viewed that way nationally. That's the best case.

 

[B1GOSU]

I don't see how the AAC can ever be at the level of the P5. For one thing, if any of the AAC teams get an invitation to join a P5, they are gone in a heartbeat. That means whatever "value" can be added to any of the teams in the AAC over time, if that value grows enough to net a positive for a P5, a P5 will just invite that school to join up, thus the AAC still finds itself in the same hole as before.

If Houston, Cincinnati and UConn join a P5, they will be back filled by the likes of Marshall, Southern Miss and UAB. Whenever the top team leaves the AAC, it will be back filled by a much weaker team.