The AAC doesn't suck.

[Redding Husky]

This week we had three games go down to the last play:

SMU 41, Tulane 38
UCF 49, USF 42
Cincy 22, UConn 21

The Houston-Navy game was also pretty good. And we have two very good teams to represent us in the bowls, #20 Memphis and #15 UCF.

I miss the whiny fans from Syracuse, BC, and Pitt less and less as the years go by.

 

[FDNY99]

I think the quality of football is better than the old BE was. The problem is the names of the schools leave a lot to be desired by the casual fan.

 

[Adios]

It's a better football conference than the post-2004 Big East. Miami and VT leaving was what killed that conference, long term.

In the AAC, we still have 2 programs that won national titles and at least 3 others that can win a national title somehow.

 

[The Viking]

The UCF's, USF's, etc have to schedule the best OOC games they can every year to try to give the conference some heft come bowl time. Knocking off a top 10 team early and then going undefeated in the AAC is different then just raking thru the AAC.

Agreed though, it's better than the Big East 2004-whatever

 

[Adios]

That means the AAC is best football conference we've ever been in.

OOC scheduling is clearly key.

 

[uconnbill]

It is a better conference that gets zero props nationally which sucks. UCF should be a top 10 team period

 

[Confident Carl]

The UCF's, USF's, etc have to schedule the best OOC games they can every year to try to give the conference some heft come bowl time. Knocking off a top 10 team early and then going undefeated in the AAC is different then just raking thru the AAC.

Agreed though, it's better than the Big East 2004-whatever

some P five teams duck them

 

[UConnJim]

The AAC is a good football conference and over time, it will be recognized. Unfortunately, UCF had a pretty weak schedule this year. They only played 11 games, played a pretty bad AAC East, and didn't play Georgia Tech due to weather, so their out of conference schedule was FIU, Austin Peay, and a bad Maryland. UConn played a much harder schedule than UCF.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

This week we had three games go down to the last play:

SMU 41, Tulane 38
UCF 49, USF 42
Cincy 22, UConn 21

The Houston-Navy game was also pretty good. And we have two very good teams to represent us in the bowls, #20 Memphis and #15 UCF.

I miss the whiny fans from Syracuse, BC, and Pitt less and less as the years go by.

Good observation. Interestingly, the offensive production in the first two games: 41,38, 49, and 42. Any wonder, why UConn and Cincy finished so poorly. Gotta score points, lots of them. Gotta outscore your opponent.

 

[The Viking]

It sucks when they duck them but just make hay for the big NY6 bowl - not just beating one of these P5 teams, but beating them by 2 TD's would send a nice signal to anyone willing to pay attention.

Of course we'll see if Frost is even the coach come bowl time, Nebraska had no shame in mentioning his name, usually I would think a school would keep it coy a bit.

 

[Jimdish255]

I'd love to see some of them rework their schedules going forward but honestly how do you do that when certain P5 teams are rewarded for never leaving their back yards? Are you expected to go play every good team on the road while your fans suffer a drab home slate? It really is a Catch 22 vs The Cartel.

 

[Redding Husky]

It sucks when they duck them but just make hay for the big NY6 bowl - not just beating one of these P5 teams, but beating them by 2 TD's would send a nice signal to anyone willing to pay attention.

Of course we'll see if Frost is even the coach come bowl time, Nebraska had no shame in mentioning his name, usually I would think a school would keep it coy a bit.

I'm not excusing the disgusting behavior of the Nebraska AD, but I'm sure he's under a lot of pressure to fill that position asap.

 

[Confident Carl]

The AAC is a good football conference and over time, it will be recognized. Unfortunately, UCF had a pretty weak schedule this year. They only played 11 games, played a pretty bad AAC East, and didn't play Georgia Tech due to weather, so their out of conference schedule was FIU, Austin Peay, and a bad Maryland. UConn played a much harder schedule than UCF.[/

You're right. Too bad the Georgia Tech game got cancelled. MD beat TX to-41, MN 31-24 and IN 30-27. Memphis beat UCLA 48-45. USF beat IL 47-23. Those are the only P5 reference points. Margin of victory should be factored in as they lead the nation in scoring average. Another thing In their favor is the USF game. Odds are because of the weak schedule they probably won't make the playoffs. Miami-UCF would be a great New Year's Day bowl game.

FIUW 61–17
Georgia Tech Cancelled
Maryland W 38–10
Memphis W 40–13
Maine Cancelled
Cincinnati No. W 51–23
East Carolina W 63–21
Navy–Marine W 31–21
Austin Peay W 73–33
SMU W 31–24 24,445
Connecticut W 49–24
Temple W 45–19
South Florida W 49–42
December 2 12:00 p.m. Memphis Spectrum Stadium • Orlando, FL (The American Championship)

 

[traitor71]

An 8 team playoff would solve this. 5 conference champs and 3 wild cards. No doubt in my mind UCF would be in. I also think this would open up OOC scheduling as P5 teams could afford a loss because they would still have their confefence title to shoot for. On the flip side a good OOC win would help them if they fell short in their league as Alabama has done this year. At least that is what I hope would happen anyway.

 

[CTMike]

I don’t think it’s any better than the old Big East and I think the only reason people here defend the AAC is cause we are stuck here. If we were in any other league we would trash it.

 

[Adios]

I don’t think it’s any better than the old Big East and I think the only reason people here defend the AAC is cause we are stuck here. If we were in any other league we would trash it.

You really think I am here to defend the AAC?

USF, UCF, Houston > WVU, Pitt, Syracuse. The only thing you're seeing is what the ACC saw, ancient prestige. Was BC ever even prestigious? We're "stuck" here temporarily. God have mercy on us.

 

[UCFBfan]

I think the quality of football is better than the old BE was. The problem is the names of the schools leave a lot to be desired by the casual fan.

I agree. I think the biggest problem for AAC teams is. A lack of any history and a lack of a solid geography/location. There are no rivalries so fans don’t care about games. Syracuse may have not been as good as UCF or Houston, but we hated that school and it made the game 100x more interesting. This is the biggest reason why our fan base will never fully support this program. There are no rivalries to get anyone excited.

I also wonder why there’s no emphasis to have teams play their closest team on “Rivalry weekend” and to try and at least make it somewhat possible a rivalry starts.

UCF-USF
UConn-Temple
SMU-Houston
Tulsa-Tulane
Memphis-ECU
Navy-Cincy

Easy slate that makes sense. I know Navy is closer to Temple then we are but at least we used to have a small history with Temple (which no one really cares about)

 

[Adios]

Memphis can also play Cincy. Old Metro Conference rivals. Also can do Navy-Temple and UConn-ECU. Which would suck for us and make us look even more out of place in the conference. Rivalry weekend is going to take time to develop here, if it ever happens. But there's some obvious choices.

 

[UCFBfan]

Memphis can also play Cincy. Old Metro Conference rivals. Also can do Navy-Temple and UConn-ECU. Which would suck for us and make us look even more out of place in the conference. Rivalry weekend is going to take time to develop here, if it ever happens. But there's some obvious choices.

Yeah I don’t see the point of doing UConn-ECU. The goal is to try and develop interest in a region. Temple and UConn won’t do tons but it might do more, long term, than UConn-ECU. In the end, none of it will really move the needle but trying to do the same geographic matchups on the last weekend would be at least a good try.

 

[Redding Husky]

You really think I am here to defend the AAC?

USF, UCF, Houston > WVU, Pitt, Syracuse. The only thing you're seeing is what the ACC saw, ancient prestige. Was BC ever even prestigious? We're "stuck" here temporarily. God have mercy on us.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

No doubt the quality of play in the AAC is better than Big East football ever had. And instead of playing in MA, NY, PA, NJ, and WV, the UConn football brand is being seen in FL, NC, TN, OH, LA, TX, OK, etc.

 

[huskymedic]

I agree. I think the biggest problem for AAC teams is. A lack of any history and a lack of a solid geography/location. There are no rivalries so fans don’t care about games. Syracuse may have not been as good as UCF or Houston, but we hated that school and it made the game 100x more interesting. This is the biggest reason why our fan base will never fully support this program. There are no rivalries to get anyone excited.

I also wonder why there’s no emphasis to have teams play their closest team on “Rivalry weekend” and to try and at least make it somewhat possible a rivalry starts.

UCF-USF
UConn-Temple
SMU-Houston
Tulsa-Tulane
Memphis-ECU
Navy-Cincy

Easy slate that makes sense. I know Navy is closer to Temple then we are but at least we used to have a small history with Temple (which no one really cares about)

Navy already has a historic rival in Army - AAC would be second thought.

Temple-UConn makes most sense if they went down that road of manufacturing rivalry games because of possible spillover to Olympic sports involvement.

 

[Exit 4]

I agree. I think the biggest problem for AAC teams is. A lack of any history and a lack of a solid geography/location. There are no rivalries so fans don’t care about games. Syracuse may have not been as good as UCF or Houston, but we hated that school and it made the game 100x more interesting. This is the biggest reason why our fan base will never fully support this program. There are no rivalries to get anyone excited.

I also wonder why there’s no emphasis to have teams play their closest team on “Rivalry weekend” and to try and at least make it somewhat possible a rivalry starts.

UCF-USF
UConn-Temple
SMU-Houston
Tulsa-Tulane
Memphis-ECU
Navy-Cincy

Easy slate that makes sense. I know Navy is closer to Temple then we are but at least we used to have a small history with Temple (which no one really cares about)

Good list, except that I like ECU vs Navy and Memphis vs Cincy.

 

[gioff23]

The conference has some good teams, although it's like a mini-version of the Big12 where the first team to 40 wins b/c no one plays D.

Regardless, every single UConn fan, administrator, coach, etc. would leave this godforsaken place in a New York minute

 

[UCFBfan]

Navy already has a historic rival in Army - AAC would be second thought.

Temple-UConn makes most sense if they went down that road of manufacturing rivalry games because of possible spillover to Olympic sports involvement.

I agree which is why you could pair Navy with anyone. They don’t need a rival as Army will always be number one. However, the rest of the schools could use something to try and move the needle a little bit regionally.

 

[metsfan2323]

UCONN's schedule this year stacks up with any we have ever had in terms of difficulty. Memphis, UCF, USF, Missouri, BC and even the road game at Virginia. That's 6 very good teams. The other 6 aren't very good and we should have won 5 of those games.

Hopefully next year proves to be a much weaker schedule.