Westhoff123
Dr. Doom
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL Power 5? American Athletic Conference using helmet decals to...
(11-06-2016 01:08 AM)texcane1982 Wrote: (11-05-2016 01:52 PM)Westhoff123 Wrote: (11-05-2016 01:39 PM)M1T4 Wrote: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...6-stickers
Quote:The AAC’s got somethin’ to say.
College football’s version of haves and have-nots lies in the distinction of Power 5 and Group of 5. The former includes the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12. The latter includes the Mountain West, MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA and American. The budgets and resources are different, as is the postseason setup: each of the power leagues have automatic New Year’s Six bids, while the entire Group of 5 fights for one.
The American isn’t content being lumped in that group.
The league’s teams are all wearing that decal:
The American wants you to believe its teams are just as worthy of respect as the Power 5’s, and there’s merit to it.
Adjusting for opponent, the American has three teams in the S&P+ top 50 as of Oct. 29. Tulsa sits at No. 57, ranked ahead of Arkansas and Mississippi State. Seven American teams rank ahead of Georgia.
The American formed from the remnants of the Big East, which was an automatic-qualifier, power conference in the old BCS system.
But this week, we took a look at each division from every conference and ranked them by average S&P+ ranking. We found that the Mountain West Mountain division is actually the best Group of 5 division this year (just a touch worse than the SEC East). But both American divisions were higher than the Mountain West East division.
Houston dispatched the Big 12’s Oklahoma in Week 1, though, and although the Cougars may not be having the season they hoped for, it’s clear that the conference can compete with anyone.
UH and Boise won the first two editions of the Playoff era’s mid-major-friendly bowls.
Now that the conference is whole, it has the peace of mind of not being poached and the depth to match up with any league.
During the latest round of Big 12 expansion talks, it seemed apparent that the conference was going to annex as many as two teams from the American, and Houston seemed the most attractive suitor. Thanks to that fiasco, the conference held back on rolling out this marketing campaign.
Commissioner Mike Aresco had this to say to CBS:
"Obviously, this was a colossal distraction for a long time and, now that it appears over, we have a real opportunity to pursue our goal to be viewed as a Power Six conference," Aresco said Tuesday. "Our schools have probably never been better known nationally, ironically, because of this process. When a Power Five conference looks to expand, they look at our conference."
We can wear whatever we want. Doesn't change the fact we still have that G5 label and will continue to be seen as a G5.
The AAC will never have the resources of the current P5 schools, but just like the post Miami/VT Big East, the AAC seems capable of producing higher paying head coaching jobs compared to the bottom 1/2-1/3 of P5 programs, annually producing multiple top 25 programs, annually producing 1-2 programs that factor into the CFP discussion at various points of the season, produce 1-2 programs who are worthy of the NY6 bid as of late Nov., and annually producing TV ratings that blow the other G5's out of the water due to greater exposure and larger markets.
I like the fact Aresco keeps kicking at the door and not accepting his conference is 2nd rate. There is one guarantee in life, "you will never get something done by doing nothing!"
As the current TV deal expires, Aresco's persistence could factor heavily on how well the AAC is positioned compared to the rest of the G5. Also, the current CFP runs for 12 years, and if the TV money starts drying up as predicted, conference commissioners and school presidents who formed the P5 cartel will look for a new revenue stream. IMO, the next revenue stream will come from expanding the CFP from (4) to (6) or (8), thus opening the door for a strong argument that awards the strongest G5 conference to earn a NY6 auto-bid. This may include BYU, but a BYU caveat is much better than having to beat out the entirety of 4 other conferences.
There is simply too much uncertainty beyond the control of the G5 schools to ever think 1 bid for the highest ranked G5 champion is a fair and honest way to collect a piece of the pie, especially if the AAC is much stronger in terms of TV $, coaching $, attendance/ticket $, and exposure.
just my .02
TX
No one said it was fair the whole system is crap. It should be like the nfl were its all a level playing field. Ultimately though i could see a scenario were the P5/P4 take the best teams from a G5 in order to ensure that they dont have to spread the wealth with who they consider lesser schools.
Lets also not forget that the P5 schools have to vote in favor of conference being granted power status. All i can say is good luck convincing the greedy P5 to vote in favor of the aac.
(This post was last modified: 11-06-2016 02:00 AM by Westhoff123.)
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL Power 5? American Athletic Conference using helmet decals to argue i
