With UCF, SMU, Memphis, Navy, Cincinnati as top teams and Tulane, Temple as competitive and Tulsa, ECU, Houston and USF as weak but not terrible and UConn as the dreg - the AAC has a lot to sell as a football league. This was one of the best games of the year (like Oklahoma/Kansas State) and must have gotten a lot of "got to watch more of these games" thoughts by fans.
AAC sold themselves short on the rights contract; UConn performing at a Cincinnati or even Temple level in football would have forced ESPN's hand on coming up with some more money, especially if UConn had also brought winning basketball to the league over the last 2 year.
Tremendous lost opportunity for UConn and to a lesser extent the AAC for UConn's mismanagement of the two key men's sports. It's on UConn to make the current situation work.