AAC + Future AAC

[DfromCT]

I think they may have the incorrect type of Fuutball team...speaking of eyeballs...ya can bet the big12 is watching UTSA's progression, they will need the SA media market and the large Corp's based there in the near future....in my opinion the PAC12 needs UTSA and SMU at this time to make up for the loss of the LA market media market...and please do not say anything about a "directional school' the pac12 had UCLA

Despite the market, I'd be surprised if UTSA is on or near the top of any expansion list. Sorry, but UCLA has been a college sports entity for well over 100 years. The average Joe might not know UTSA exists or plays football. Hell, I have relatives THAT LIVED THERE and have their offspring that live there now. They follow college sports and probably don't know UTSA plays football.

the people who write the contract for TV rights, they control who gets an invite...that is why you see NC Charlotte, UTSA and Rice in the AAC... TV markets, Corporate Hdq and commercial ad sales is what they are interested in ... those family members who live in metro SA and no nothing about UTSA's football team, must not be able to afford "cable" or a "streaming subscription".......SA is the number 31 TV market have a safe trip to Big D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... dia_market

They're all about ND (brother in Metroplex) and Ohio State (niece and her hubby that live in SA). Her sister went to UT. I'm flying to Big D tomorrow, quick trip, back to LGA Monday night. Safe drive to you and yours.

ROLL WAVE!

[golfnut69]

Don't sell UTSA short. They have a great coach with a 23-5 overall record (15-1 conference) in the last two years. They just had the best recruiting season of any G5 school. San Antonio is a larger city than Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. As eager as many of you seem to be to denigrate the AAC and compare it to Conf USA, I'm interested to know why you think UTSA chose to make the move to our conference after winning the ConfUSA championship the last two years.

Jeff Traylor has openly stated that his goal is to get into a P5 conference. When asked about his success for recruiting the top G5 team (57th in nation), he said that since his goals were P5, that ranking was about 40-50 positions too low. I haven't heard a lot of Tulane coaches speak with that kind of ambition. They will be a worthy opponent as will UAB.

I agree do not look down your nose at either UAB or UTSA both are committed and made physical improvements....The best thing UTSA can do is change their name to San Antonio State ...same for UAB...Birmingham State U...

[RobertM320]

The power ratings were higher. There's a reason why the AAC teams were ranked higher than other G5 teams all season. It's because the AAC had the best metrics.

The difference in power ratings are miniscule. As a matter of fact, the SBC played a tougher schedule and had a better OOC record playing a tougher schedule. But you're right. By a fraction of a point the last year of the AAC, it was ranked 6th to SBC 7th. And I'm guessing you're forgetting that the SunBelt in one poll this past season had the only G5 team in the top 25. That doesn't jive with your "best metrics" argument. It was a couple of months ago, so I guess it doesn't count.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_football ... f_Men.html

Depends on which ratings you use. If you go by the Massey composite rankings, its not close. In fact the AAC is closer to the ACC than they are to the SBC. And this takes into account all rankings and all teams, so a much better comparison.

1 SEC 31.72
2 B12 34.82
3 P12 48.29
4 B10 49.21
5 ACC 56.19
6 AAC 68.09
7 SBC 80.04
https://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

[Ruski]

Don't sell UTSA short. They have a great coach with a 23-5 overall record (15-1 conference) in the last two years. They just had the best recruiting season of any G5 school. San Antonio is a larger city than Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. As eager as many of you seem to be to denigrate the AAC and compare it to Conf USA, I'm interested to know why you think UTSA chose to make the move to our conference after winning the ConfUSA championship the last two years.

Jeff Traylor has openly stated that his goal is to get into a P5 conference. When asked about his success for recruiting the top G5 team (57th in nation), he said that since his goals were P5, that ranking was about 40-50 positions too low. I haven't heard a lot of Tulane coaches speak with that kind of ambition. They will be a worthy opponent as will UAB.

I agree do not look down your nose at either UAB or UTSA both are committed and made physical improvements....The best thing UTSA can do is change their name to San Antonio State ...same for UAB...Birmingham State U...

This is exactly why I make the argument that UTSA is the next UCF. It's got so many parallels but mainly it's the ambition of the schools. You only get a coach that speaks that brazenly when the administration has its sights on greater glory. It's why UTSA has championship parades down San Antonio's River Walk. It's why UCF's admin openly challenges the powers that be and claims that national championship and they did it in full pageantry. And it's why TroyBoy has missed on so many opportunities, like when we were snubbed for College GameDay and all he could come up with was a cheesy Twitter video put out at the last second.

The vast difference in gumption is startling.

[Ruski]

Don't sell UTSA short. They have a great coach with a 23-5 overall record (15-1 conference) in the last two years. They just had the best recruiting season of any G5 school. San Antonio is a larger city than Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. As eager as many of you seem to be to denigrate the AAC and compare it to Conf USA, I'm interested to know why you think UTSA chose to make the move to our conference after winning the ConfUSA championship the last two years.

Jeff Traylor has openly stated that his goal is to get into a P5 conference. When asked about his success for recruiting the top G5 team (57th in nation), he said that since his goals were P5, that ranking was about 40-50 positions too low. I haven't heard a lot of Tulane coaches speak with that kind of ambition. They will be a worthy opponent as will UAB.

I agree do not look down your nose at either UAB or UTSA both are committed and made physical improvements....The best thing UTSA can do is change their name to San Antonio State ...same for UAB...Birmingham State U...

Skip "State". Just go straight to University of San Antonio, University of Birmingham. The average resident of those cities is much more likely to buy merch and rock the brand when it's just the name of the city.

[golfnut69]

Don't sell UTSA short. They have a great coach with a 23-5 overall record (15-1 conference) in the last two years. They just had the best recruiting season of any G5 school. San Antonio is a larger city than Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. As eager as many of you seem to be to denigrate the AAC and compare it to Conf USA, I'm interested to know why you think UTSA chose to make the move to our conference after winning the ConfUSA championship the last two years.

Jeff Traylor has openly stated that his goal is to get into a P5 conference. When asked about his success for recruiting the top G5 team (57th in nation), he said that since his goals were P5, that ranking was about 40-50 positions too low. I haven't heard a lot of Tulane coaches speak with that kind of ambition. They will be a worthy opponent as will UAB.

I agree do not look down your nose at either UAB or UTSA both are committed and made physical improvements....The best thing UTSA can do is change their name to San Antonio State ...same for UAB...Birmingham State U...

Skip "State". Just go straight to University of San Antonio, University of Birmingham. The average resident of those cities is much more likely to buy merch and rock the brand when it's just the name of the city.

viable names as well....I was just picking up on the Boise State and San Diego State vibe...sorta like when Florida Womens University changed their name to Florida State U

[arkhou02]

Off to Dallas. Great time to be a Tulane. This is the beginning of a major overhaul. Roll Wave! Be safe and have a blast this weekend.

[tpstulane]

The Athletic calling us CUSA again

The American = Conference USA.
Six CUSA schools — Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA — moved to the American on Saturday. They join six other schools (East Carolina, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, South Florida) that were also in CUSA at one time or another.

[anEngineer]

The writer is just trying, successfully, to be an ass. If he calls us CUSA, what is he going to call them? In the end, we are still a more powerful conference and ESPN pays us a lot more because of it.

[DfromCT]

The writer is just trying, successfully, to be an ass. If he calls us CUSA, what is he going to call them? In the end, we are still a more powerful conference and ESPN pays us a lot more because of it.

12 of the 14 programs in the AAC are former members of the C-USA. And this version of C-USAAC is nowhere near as strong or attractive to viewers as the C-USA we played in in the 1990's. Call him an ass, but he's speaking the truth.

[anEngineer]

The writer is just trying, successfully, to be an ass. If he calls us CUSA, what is he going to call them? In the end, we are still a more powerful conference and ESPN pays us a lot more because of it.

12 of the 14 programs in the AAC are former members of the C-USA. And this version of C-USAAC is nowhere near as strong or attractive to viewers as the C-USA we played in in the 1990's. Call him an ass, but he's speaking the truth.

OK, so let's just call us both CUSA and give the extra millions to the other CUSA because they are just as strong as AAC, and ESPN is just being charitable by giving us the extra money. Like everyone else, you're entitled to your opinion, but the fact is that the new AAC will be the highest ranked G5, like before. Is it as strong as last year? Not currently. Will it be? We will see.

[greenie78]

The writer is just trying, successfully, to be an ass. If he calls us CUSA, what is he going to call them? In the end, we are still a more powerful conference and ESPN pays us a lot more because of it.

12 of the 14 programs in the AAC are former members of the C-USA. And this version of C-USAAC is nowhere near as strong or attractive to viewers as the C-USA we played in in the 1990's. Call him an ass, but he's speaking the truth.

The C-USA in the 90s wasn't that great. It was always a below average conference and not as strong as the AAC the last several years. It was basically USM dominating the conference while some other teams would occasionally breakthrough. The only difference is the current AAC has way more teams now compared to C-USA so it dilutes the league, but Tulane, UTSA, SMU, Memphis could easily compete or win in the old C-USA days.

[tpstulane]

14 teams
https://theathletic.com/4722420/2023/07 ... alignment/

“We would have been happy going to 10 or 12; we didn’t really think about 14,” Aresco said. “As we were talking among the ADs, bubbling up in the conversation was, maybe we get a little bigger. If we get nicked again in realignment, we don’t have to worry about it as much.

“We looked around and I’m glad we did because FAU and Charlotte were not necessarily on the radar initially.”
In a decade, his conference has collected scores of victories over Power 5 teams. Tulane beat Big 12 champion Kansas State and Pac-12 runner-up USC last year. This year, Tulane hosts Ole Miss, North Texas hosts Cal and USF hosts Alabama, two of which have the look of potential upsets on paper.

[tpstulane]

Looks like Army joining the AAC may not be a lock
https://theathletic.com/4923350/2023/10 ... ed_article

The latest on Army-AAC is this: Army football home games are owned by CBS through 2028, and the Black Knights have a large amount of their schedule set through 2032. In order to join the AAC, whether that’s 2024 or 2025, ESPN, CBS, Army and the AAC need to come to some sort of agreement on the games. The Army-Navy game will remain a nonconference matchup on CBS, although the network is concerned about the (rare) possibility of an Army-Navy AAC championship game the week prior on ESPN.

[HoustonWave]

Looks like Army joining the AAC may not be a lock
https://theathletic.com/4923350/2023/10 ... ed_article

The latest on Army-AAC is this: Army football home games are owned by CBS through 2028, and the Black Knights have a large amount of their schedule set through 2032. In order to join the AAC, whether that’s 2024 or 2025, ESPN, CBS, Army and the AAC need to come to some sort of agreement on the games. The Army-Navy game will remain a nonconference matchup on CBS, although the network is concerned about the (rare) possibility of an Army-Navy AAC championship game the week prior on ESPN.

I'd be shocked if Army opts to work through all of that just to join a sinking ship. I think there is a better chance that Navy punches out and follows the current Army model.

[tpstulane]

Looks like Army joining the AAC may not be a lock
https://theathletic.com/4923350/2023/10 ... ed_article

The latest on Army-AAC is this: Army football home games are owned by CBS through 2028, and the Black Knights have a large amount of their schedule set through 2032. In order to join the AAC, whether that’s 2024 or 2025, ESPN, CBS, Army and the AAC need to come to some sort of agreement on the games. The Army-Navy game will remain a nonconference matchup on CBS, although the network is concerned about the (rare) possibility of an Army-Navy AAC championship game the week prior on ESPN.

I'd be shocked if Army opts to work through all of that just to join a sinking ship. I think there is a better chance that Navy punches out and follows the current Army model.

Exactly

[OUG]

Looks like Army joining the AAC may not be a lock
https://theathletic.com/4923350/2023/10 ... ed_article

I'd be shocked if Army opts to work through all of that just to join a sinking ship. I think there is a better chance that Navy punches out and follows the current Army model.

Exactly

I think you guys are looking at this wrong — when you view it more as a football scheduling agreement under the guise of membership it makes more sense. They’ll make the dollars work. Army wants this for their own reasons — creating a channel through which to ultimately get a little piece of CFP pie, which is the future of college football.

[anEngineer]

This is the second conference game I have seen at UAB and there is almost no one there. I joked to my son that the band outnumbered the crowd. It's not like UAB is playing poorly; they have been competitive in conference games, including ours. If they have fans, they don't seem to care about going to games.

[HoustonWave]

This is the second conference game I have seen at UAB and there is almost no one there. I joked to my son that the band outnumbered the crowd. It's not like UAB is playing poorly; they have been competitive in conference games, including ours. If they have fans, they don't seem to care about going to games.

I noticed the same thing, very few fans in the seats. Of course, it could be worse, as it was at the Temple vs SMU game last night where there was almost nobody in the seats--but then that's a Temple game which makes it understandable.

[DfromCT]

The power ratings were higher. There's a reason why the AAC teams were ranked higher than other G5 teams all season. It's because the AAC had the best metrics.

The difference in power ratings are miniscule. As a matter of fact, the SBC played a tougher schedule and had a better OOC record playing a tougher schedule. But you're right. By a fraction of a point the last year of the AAC, it was ranked 6th to SBC 7th. And I'm guessing you're forgetting that the SunBelt in one poll this past season had the only G5 team in the top 25. That doesn't jive with your "best metrics" argument. It was a couple of months ago, so I guess it doesn't count.

http://realtimerpi.com/college_football ... f_Men.html

Depends on which ratings you use. If you go by the Massey composite rankings, its not close. In fact the AAC is closer to the ACC than they are to the SBC. And this takes into account all rankings and all teams, so a much better comparison.

1 SEC 31.72
2 B12 34.82
3 P12 48.29
4 B10 49.21
5 ACC 56.19
6 AAC 68.09
7 SBC 80.04
https://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

Check out those rankings now. As predicted, the AAC is no better, or according to the Massey Ratings, actually worse than 3 other G5 conferences and comes in 9th in their conference ratings. NINTH. AnEngineer, your post from Jan 2 about the strength of C-USAAC is not aging well.

[anEngineer]

Jan 2? Would you like me to apologize? I imagine many will disagree, but I think we are seeing that UAB, UNT and UTSA will continue to elevate and become strong programs and contributors.. FAU and Rice will likely become solid. Charlotte will be crap. The AAC is actually being dragged down by the legacy teams. Tulsa, Temple and ECU are horrible, and Navy is not very good. USF has continued to be an underachiever. We're actually lucky we have the Texas and Alabama teams or the conference rankings would be sh!t.

[greenie78]

Also it's gonna take time for the new teams. They're coming from a bad CUSA conference. However, outside of SMU, Memphis, and Tulane, the new teams are outperforming the other legacy teams. ECU is an abomination. USF has improved, but still had a bad team. Temple and Tulsa are embarrassing as well.

[anEngineer]

Charlotte - FAU is on ESPN2 tonight. Who has seen the Charlotte head coach? He is coaching in a T shirt with cut off sleeves. He looks like John Daly, but with less class.