(07-30-2014 08:52 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 08:25 AM)Carolina Stang Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 09:20 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  The AAC is still pretty much where the Big East was. Better than the rest but never a real member of the power club either.

I have a problem with this statement, although I tend to agree with your overall point.

If the Big East wasn't a "real member" of the power club when they had Miami, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers, BC, Cuse, et al...then of course the current makeup of the AAC doesn't constitute a "power" conference either.

However, look at the schools I just named as former Big East members. Would you call these schools "power" schools? Of course you would. Why? Just because they moved from one conference to another? If you think the ACC is a power conference (which I assume you do), they took almost half of the teams from the old Big East.

What is your reasoning there? The ACC surely thought at least half of the Big East conference was "power-worthy".

If that is your reasoning, then just slap a new title on the AAC and...voilà. Power conference.

The problem with that is that it equates the Big East in 1991 to being equal to the Big East in its last 2 years and we all know thats not true.

As I said, the AAC is a lot like the Big East. Unquestionably able to compete with the P5 but lacking the power money and influence they have from big, powerful and wealthy fan bases. This was reflected in the Big East never getting a BCS bowl home that wanted them every year and likewise with no contract bowl desiring a relationship with the AAC.

This puts them in that same no mans land of above the rest of the G5 but not a member of the club either.

So naturally the AAC wants to "fight its way in" and thats fine. Grow your fan bases, grow your rivalries, grow your brand and eventually someone will take a chance on you because they believe you too can make them the big bucks. There is literally nothing the P5 can do to stop the Cotton, Peach or Orange Bowl from deciding to become a contract bowl with your champion or ESPN from offering you a big fat pay day for your TV rights.

I should also point out that while in similar circumstances, their paths are the opposite of each other. The Big East was a former power conference that had lost its glory while the AAC is a non-power conference that is growing into a potential power conference

At the end of the day, that's what makes you a power conference: if somebody thinks you can make them the big bucks. We will recognize that when they start paying you the big bucks. Until then, the labels don't matter.