Why the AAC's push to make itself part of the power five matters in College Football

Quote:The quest to be considered a power conference is alive and well with the hashtag #AmericanPow6r and a logo that was plastered all across Newport, Rhode Island.

Quote:No, there's no seat at the Power Five table right now. No, there probably won't be anytime between now and the end of the College Football Playoff contract in 2025.

That's not the point. At least, it shouldn't be.

Sure, the AAC would love a seat to magically appear, earn a guaranteed a spot in the New Year's Six and rake in Power Five television money. The alternative and more pressing goal, though, is the benefit of the doubt within the Group of Five.

The American Athletic Conference is celebrating the start of the season with its annual Summer Kickoff and Media Days, which features the traditional Monday night clambake.

Prior to that, though, the conference made news in other ways.

The quest to be considered a power conference is alive and well with the hashtag #AmericanPow6r and a logo that was plastered all across Newport, Rhode Island.

Good for the AAC.

No, there's no seat at the Power Five table right now. No, there probably won't be anytime between now and the end of the College Football Playoff contract in 2025.

That's not the point. At least, it shouldn't be.

Sure, the AAC would love a seat to magically appear, earn a guaranteed a spot in the New Year's Six and rake in Power Five television money. The alternative and more pressing goal, though, is the benefit of the doubt within the Group of Five.

The AAC has been home to some rather compelling football since the start of the CFP era.

Houston stunned Florida State in the 2015 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and followed it up with a resounding win over Oklahoma to open the 2016 season. That helped land former coach Tom Herman the gig at Texas -- one of the crown jewels of football coaching. Memphis produced a star quarterback in Paxton Lynch two years ago and vaulted coach Justin Fuente into the Virginia Tech job. Temple hosted Notre Dame on Halloween in 2015 in a game that was so big that ESPN's College GameDay set up shop in Philadelphia.

It has every right and every reason to exploit that, because perception matters for Group of Five programs.

It's the same reason SEC fans chanted "S-E-C" at the top of their lungs during the BCS era. College football is a beauty contest. Instead of a playoff spot, the AAC is hoping that the perception it creates by championing itself as the most powerful Group of Five conference will help its champion earn that benefit of the doubt when the selection committee places teams in bowl games and gives its top-ranked Group of Five team a spot in the vaunted New Year's Six.

That perception is the reason Auburn received the nod in 2013 to play in the BCS title game over one-loss Michigan State and played a part in Alabama's appearance vs. LSU following the 2011 season instead of Oklahoma State.

Guess what? It's working for the AAC. At least, for now.

Good
I hope it works out for them

Wait - what? It's working and one of the reason's is that the P5 teams continue to poach your best coaches? The AAC need to be a final destination not a stop along the way.....

Yes the AAC is the 6th best conference, but an NY6 auto bid is still a long ways away......

I'm not seeing any change in perception.

Newport, Rhode Island the Capital of P5 wantabees.

UConn signed a bodybag deal with Clemson for something like $1.2MM recently, how many P5 teams do that? No one except for the likes of Wake Forest maybe.

It continues to seem odd that the AAC remains in Providence (where the Old Big East offices are located) and not in a more centralized city for teams to be able to travel to. One would think that Memphis, Dallas or Orlando would be more logical (and geographical) fits.

And why even spend money on a billboard in Rhode Island? Their target market isn't even there. Heck, not even a portion of their audience is there. Get more advertisements in the South, where college football is king (and where UCF, USF, ECU, Tulane, Houston and SMU are all located. Very puzzling.

So losing Tom Herman, Matt Rhule, and Justin Fuente to the Power 5 is a positive, but Randy Edsall (and to a degree, Charlie Strong) returning isn't considered a negative as they couldn't make it at the Power 5 level? OK.

I don't know about all that, but I do know it's darn funny.

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Do people even read before they post here? the article is not saying the aac *IS* a P5 conference... and that's why coaches are still getting poached. The article is saying that the start of a very long process is underway... and so far so good.


"No, there's no seat at the Power Five table right now. No, there probably won't be anytime between now and the end of the College Football Playoff contract in 2025. That's not the point. At least, it shouldn't be."

(07-18-2017 08:29 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  It continues to seem odd that the AAC remains in Providence (where the Old Big East offices are located) and not in a more centralized city for teams to be able to travel to. One would think that Memphis, Dallas or Orlando would be more logical (and geographical) fits.

And why even spend money on a billboard in Rhode Island? Their target market isn't even there. Heck, not even a portion of their audience is there. Get more advertisements in the South, where college football is king (and where UCF, USF, ECU, Tulane, Houston and SMU are all located. Very puzzling.

They are just waiting on some leases to expire. A very poorly kept secret is that they will be eventually moving conference HQ to Dallas.

#aacp6fail

(07-18-2017 09:19 AM)MWC Tex Wrote:  #aacp6fail

P6 my a**

(07-18-2017 09:00 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-18-2017 08:29 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  It continues to seem odd that the AAC remains in Providence (where the Old Big East offices are located) and not in a more centralized city for teams to be able to travel to. One would think that Memphis, Dallas or Orlando would be more logical (and geographical) fits.

And why even spend money on a billboard in Rhode Island? Their target market isn't even there. Heck, not even a portion of their audience is there. Get more advertisements in the South, where college football is king (and where UCF, USF, ECU, Tulane, Houston and SMU are all located. Very puzzling.

They are just waiting on some leases to expire. A very poorly kept secret is that they will be eventually moving conference HQ to Dallas.

Did not know that. Thanks!

(07-18-2017 09:19 AM)MWC Tex Wrote:  #aacp6fail

TFW you're envious enough of the Aresco League to hashtag. #haterade #watereddownhaterade #tasteslikepoolwater

As the AAC does not have a success of a Boise State, I do not considered them a P6 conference.

(07-18-2017 08:29 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Did not know that. Thanks!

And once they sever that last vestige of a connection to the BCS and move HQ to the south, The American can begin its official "CUSA 2.0" marketing campaign ...

(07-18-2017 08:40 AM)Bull Wrote:  Do people even read before they post here? the article is not saying the aac *IS* a P5 conference... and that's why coaches are still getting poached. The article is saying that the start of a very long process is underway... and so far so good.


"No, there's no seat at the Power Five table right now. No, there probably won't be anytime between now and the end of the College Football Playoff contract in 2025. That's not the point. At least, it shouldn't be."

Here's what the author says about the goal of the P6 campaign:

"Instead of a playoff spot, the AAC is hoping that the perception it creates by championing itself as the most powerful Group of Five conference will help its champion earn that benefit of the doubt when the selection committee places teams in bowl games and gives its top-ranked Group of Five team a spot in the vaunted New Year's Six."

There are two things wrong with this. First, the AAC's campaign is not about positioning itself as the most powerful G5 conference. The whole concept of "P6" is that the AAC is NOT a member of the G5 at all, but rather should be regarded as a Power conference.

Second, if he's right about the goal of the campaign, to get the benefit of the doubt in CFP deliberations about which G5 school gets the NY6 Bowl bid, the available evidence suggests it has NOT worked, as the AAC has gotten the NY6 bid only 1 time in the 3 years it has been available. Heck, it failed to get that bid this past year, when it was easily the best of the G5 conferences during the regular season.

So this article seems a lot of poofery with nothing to back it up.

(07-18-2017 11:25 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-18-2017 08:40 AM)Bull Wrote:  Do people even read before they post here? the article is not saying the aac *IS* a P5 conference... and that's why coaches are still getting poached. The article is saying that the start of a very long process is underway... and so far so good.


"No, there's no seat at the Power Five table right now. No, there probably won't be anytime between now and the end of the College Football Playoff contract in 2025. That's not the point. At least, it shouldn't be."

Here's what the author says about the goal of the P6 campaign:

"Instead of a playoff spot, the AAC is hoping that the perception it creates by championing itself as the most powerful Group of Five conference will help its champion earn that benefit of the doubt when the selection committee places teams in bowl games and gives its top-ranked Group of Five team a spot in the vaunted New Year's Six."

There are two things wrong with this. First, the AAC's campaign is not about positioning itself as the most powerful G5 conference. The whole concept of "P6" is that the AAC is NOT a member of the G5 at all, but rather should be regarded as a Power conference.

Second, if he's right about the goal of the campaign, to get the benefit of the doubt in CFP deliberations about which G5 school gets the NY6 Bowl bid, the available evidence suggests it has NOT worked, as the AAC has gotten the NY6 bid only 1 time in the 3 years it has been available. Heck, it failed to get that bid this past year, when it was easily the best of the G5 conferences during the regular season.

So this article seems a lot of poofery with nothing to back it up.

Seeing as the programs strategic plan was released in 2017 and I think most anyone would think the effect of any such plan is cumulative---it's a little early to pronounce it a success or failure. The reality? It's a marketing plan. The best measure of its success or failure is going to be TV ratings and the next tv contract.

The AAC schools will run out of money trying to spend an extra $20M per year without matching revenue to keep up.

The definition of working will be a $10-15M per year per school T1/T2 TV deal in 2020, negotiated in 2019