You are way smarter than you've been acting tonight. It absolutely does something for the perception of the American. A UCF team beat a very good Baylor team. They didn't get lucky. They beat PSU away (perception win with a down PSU team) nearly beat eUSC and beat Baylor. That's a very good UCF team we saw tonight.
They just happen to be a part of the AAC. If the AAC can get 5 big OOC wins next year, get to a major bowl game and win...then it improves the perception.
Again, we only need to be better than the non P5 conferences. Which, right now, I believe we are.