With the new additions, the AAC will be just as good as the old Big East. We may still hold that "#6" spot but we are much, much better than the others, including the MWC.

In football, ECU, CInci, UCF, USF and Houston will carry the load. There should at least be two of these teams ranked at all times.

Memphis and Tulane will come on strong soon enough (their coaches are really good).

In basketball, Cinci, Temple, Memphis and UConn will make this one of the top 4 conferences year-in and year-out. SMU may join this group very soon as well.

UCF, USF and Houston will do their part and I think that ECU will join them in doing so soon enough.

We will be fine in baseball and the other sports as well.

The Top of the American looks good this year... better than a lot of Big East years!

1st - UCF (9-1)
2nd - Louisville (10-1)
3rd - Cincinnati (9-2)

Leaving is Louisville (10-1) and Rutgers (5-5)
Incoming is ECU (9-2, receiving votes), Tulane (7-4), and Tulsa (3-8)

I've actually found the conference to be far better than expected... I assumed it would be Louisville carrying the torch and taking titles with it, instead, they've struggled in conference play and lost to UCF, who appears poised to win things outright (rarely done in the Big East/American) and go to the BCS bowl.

(11-25-2013 10:10 PM)Ned Low Wrote:  With the new additions, the AAC will be just as good as the old Big East. We may still hold that "#6" spot but we are much, much better than the others, including the MWC.

In football, ECU, CInci, UCF, USF and Houston will carry the load. There should at least be two of these teams ranked at all times.

Memphis and Tulane will come on strong soon enough (their coaches are really good).

In basketball, Cinci, Temple, Memphis and UConn will make this one of the top 4 conferences year-in and year-out. SMU may join this group very soon as well.

UCF, USF and Houston will do their part and I think that ECU will join them in doing so soon enough.

We will be fine in baseball and the other sports as well.

No faith in Tulsa?

This year the AAC has a better looking top than the worst of the BE years however its bottom is far worse as well (and by worse years I mean the year when UConn won and so an unranked team got to go to a BCS game). In addition the top still isn't ranked that high and one of the two team listed is gone the very next year. Expectations were apparently higher in the BE as well if these comments are any indication asonly two ranked teams and in the back half of those rankings would not be considered that good back in the hey day (which is a long time ago mind you but still).

You cannot look at this year as a success if you really believe that the AAC is even close to a P5 conference. It looks more like last years MAC. 2 ranked teams, some good middle teams, and a bunch of bad teams. Granted the middle is slightly larger but it still is not a great sign especially with one of the ranked teams (and your best overall athletic product) is leaving the very next year.

UCF should be looking at this as a good year. Louisville should see it as a good year though disappointing considering what it could have been (especially with their schedule). For the most part everybody else should be disappointed with the overall product. Heck even UCF should be disappointed because if the AAC was doing better then the additional respect would have them higher in the polls.

(11-25-2013 03:48 PM)stever20 Wrote:  best performing team? in football that is UCF- who beat Louisville at their place. Only the moron voters won't acknowledge that little fact.

And UConn beat Us at Our Place last Year. So ?

(11-25-2013 03:46 PM)miko33 Wrote:  It's not a well thought out conclusion. As of today, it shows that the AAC is inferior to the other P5 conferences but better than the rest of the G5. Considering that the best performing team is leaving at the end of the BB season, it's a little embarrassing. If UL wins the American, it's not a good sign IMHO.

The best preforming team is UCF. The knights have a tougher schedule, and beat the cards in their house.

(11-25-2013 03:35 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  The ACC and Big XII each have two top 10 teams. The B1G has two top 11 teams. The American's top ranked member, and best team, is departing to the ACC. The American doesn't measure up to either of those three conferences.

Dude, just take your meds and go back to drooling.

Just an observation, but if AAC fans are going to pound their chests and brag about what their conference is doing by using underwhelming accomplishments, don't get offended if others try to tell emperor Aresco that he and his conference are not wearing any clothes...

(11-25-2013 05:43 PM)john01992 Wrote:  the top of the aac is pretty good......

however: temple, uconn, Memphis rutgers and south florida are pretty much a giant dumpster fire right now

Right now. They'll get their sh-t together

(11-25-2013 09:16 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 07:51 PM)natibeast21 Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 07:30 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 06:11 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 03:50 PM)miko33 Wrote:  I don't understand why they still have an auto bid. The conference changed so fundamentally on the FB side that it should no longer be a part of the BCS. No offense to the American conf fans intended, but it's a far cry from what the conference used to look like when the BCS contract was renewed. In the interest of fairness, it the American's auto bid should go become an at large bid.

Why does Pitt go 6-6 every year? UCF, Cincinnati, or Ville would smack Pitt all over the field, same for Cuse and WVU. The football got better when your program left.

ok now you are just being stupid.

cuse actually plays decent OOC teams & decent ACC teams. they dont pull the cupcake BS that cincy does.

cincy ooc opponent record 10-34
syracuse ooc opponent record 20-24

cincy aac opponent record 21-47
syracuse acc opponent record 47-29

combined opponent record
cincy 31-81
syracuse 67-53

cincy is the definition of stat padding cupcakes.

-you have yet to play a single opponent with a winning record.

-you play in the "tough" AAC however after cincy the AAC has just 2 other teams of note, cincy conference dodges one of them and doesnt play the other until the final game of the season.

-your ooc is most likely the weakest in the nation consisting of 2 horrible b10 teams with a combined record of 5-17 (one of which beat you), a winless mac team, and an FCS who doesnt even have a winning record.

-you only have 8 wins vs FBS programs. of those 8 wins, 4 of them came from schools with a combined 3-40 record.

you seriously need to take your sh.it talking about su, pitt & wvu and shove it. with stats like that you have ZERO right to talk about your program being able to hang with those 3 until you play someone with a pulse.

Can't always help the schedule especially since Cincy scheduled most of those easy games when they were in the big east thinking they would play enough quality teams in conference. Look at Cincys future schedule for out of conference now that they know they aren't going to have as tough as a conference slate. They play OSU, Michigan, BYU twice, Miami Florida twice, and Purdue all within the next 4 years.

Btw, last i checked Cincy did just fine the last 7 years in the big east while Syracuse struggled big time, Pitt started trending down hill. WV will be just fine they just need a new coach in my opinion.

yeah and i get that its hard to make a schedule 7 years in advanced. very rarely do i ever make fun of other schools SOS's (unless its an sec school).

but wen a cincy fan says hes better than cuse simply because they have a better record.....i will surely bring up cincys sub par sos.

now as for SU sucking the last couple years, keep in mind that that was the worst 10 years in our programs history and came as the result of greg rob who has also played a part in trashing michigan & texas

You can point to decades past and note how great Syracuse was but that would not change the fact that Syracuse is not a better team this year and neither have they been for the past decade (the argument thatat Syracuse did not have more wins than UC simply because they had a tougher OOC schedule is foolish). UC has beaten Syracuse 8 of the last 9 times we've played (including one when UC was still in C-USA) and nearly all of those wins were blowouts. The one time the Orange was able to beat the Bearcats was in UC's worst season in over a decade (coaching transition after Kelly left). UC also was without their starting QB who had just went down the week before. The series became so lopsided that UC frequently played Syracuse for Homecoming several times.

I am not going to be one of these guys to post that the AAC is stronger than the ACC. But to say that Syracuse is > than Cincinnati is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen posted.

(11-26-2013 08:49 AM)miko33 Wrote:  Just an observation, but if AAC fans are going to pound their chests and brag about what their conference is doing by using underwhelming accomplishments, don't get offended if others try to tell emperor Aresco that he and his conference are not wearing any clothes...

So you are defending a statement that Louisville is better than UCF...when the BCS results and ACTUAL results on the field say otherwise.

If so, we can lump you in with OrangeCrush as being clueless "now ACC" trolls. In reality, the American is just as strong up top as it ever was with Pitt and Syracuse in the conference. And it is adding ECU next year, who will be a quality P5 level program.

Here's a real question...why is the ACC so god awful that Duke is going to be its 3rd best team?

in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

I think West Virginia was the biggest loss in football. But I still think moving to the Big 12 was a huge mistake. They are now locked into a conference they will only be average at best just for a pay check they didn't need.

In ten years West Virginia is going to be an Iowa State level program on an island. The ACC and AAC are going to have improved and moved on with a likely 8 team playoff.

(11-26-2013 02:30 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

Yeah, and that's all of Pitt and Syracuse's exploits the last 14 years... And they didn't have to compete with Miami, VT, and BC either the last 6-7 years.

(11-26-2013 02:30 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

That post would be credible if you remove Pitt and Syracuse. But gee it's not like Ucf didn't have to play Louisville, South Carolina, and Penn State. But honestly I would take Houston over most of those terms you listed. Sorry man the ACC is terrible aside from two teams.

(11-26-2013 02:30 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

And how did that Fiesta Bowl turn out?
I believe Pitt got smacked around by a Mountain West team.

(11-26-2013 02:30 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

Pitt went the year that Miami and VT left, before UC, UL, and USF came in. BC was still there and UConn moved up that year.

(11-26-2013 02:39 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:30 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  

(11-26-2013 02:23 PM)stever20 Wrote:  in football the big loss was never Pitt or Syracuse. UCF has done more in 1 year than those 2 did put together in the last 14 years.

Pitt did go to the Fiesta Bowl about 8 years ago.

UCF is not having to compete with Miami, VT, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, or Syracuse this year. That's a big difference. The current version of AAC does not compare to the old Big East.

Yeah, and that's all of Pitt and Syracuse's exploits the last 14 years... And they didn't have to compete with Miami, VT, and BC either the last 6-7 years.

That's correct. That's what happens when you can't keep a coach. Syracuse and Pitt are on their 4th in 10 years.

They still had to compete with each other and West Va most of that time. Cincy had Brian Kelly for 4 years. There's two years of Petrino with Louisville. UCF's road is much easier than what the others had.

(11-26-2013 02:46 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  That's correct. That's what happens when you can't keep a coach. Syracuse and Pitt are on their 4th in 10 years.

They still had to compete with each other and West Va most of that time. Cincy had Brian Kelly for 4 years. There's two years of Petrino with Louisville. UCF's road is much easier than what the others had.

Ahem... UC had Mark Dantonio for 2 years in the Big East (3 total), Brian Kelly for 3 years, Butch Jones for 3 years, and now Tommy Tuberville in his 1st year.

Look at UC's record in that time.