(08-12-2022 12:29 PM)everyone Wrote:  The AAC has no identity other than a stepping stone for the P5 but I think that is dead. The AAC will never be as strong as it was before. If you want to know the path of the AAC, look at CUSA. The Sunbelt just keeps building and growing slowly. The AAC is moving backwards. The SB will pass the AAC the same way the AAC passed CUSA. The SB is building tradition rich regional fanbases in the South...that will always be strong for football. The AAC is supposed to be the best of the rest with big budgets in cities but even if it was (which it is not) those teams always get called up so you end up right back where you started, or worse. One or two more teams might get a golden ticket but that's really it. The P5 money chasm created is too large...no matter how much any team in the AAC invests now it is not enough any more to appease the P5.

The AAC never passed C-USA. The AAC was BORN past C-USA, it had already taken the best C-USA programs. This comparison will never be correct until the Sun Belt is raiding the AAC of its best programs.

I think everyone's mantra should now be..."Any conference willing to have <enter your school's name> as a member is not worthy of having <enter your school's name> as a member."

Sorry, no pride right now.

However, next year...

I don’t mind the SBC fans having pride and thinking they’re better than us. WE know they aren’t – but I can’t blame them for being excited about their conference. It is MUCH better than it has been at any point. Still not at AAC-level, even with our departures – but they have closed the gap a LITTLE.

The west is absolutely putrid garbage, with the exception of Louisiana. It really is remarkable how awful it is.

The east has App & Marshall, who I think will probably trade league titles back and forth for the foreseeable future. Good programs. Once Coastal’s QB leaves, I think Coastal slides right back to fighting for 4th-5th in the east. Flash in the pan with no fan support.

They have a few hot teams right now, but c’mon – the conference that just added ODU & JMU doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on when criticizing our additions.

There are always going to be panicked, despondant, sky-is-falling doom and gloom types here... Posting daily. Can't get over the fact that their school is not in a P5 conference... so they want to rant and burn down their current home. Lots of this when the AAC was formed.

But... we did great. P6 pretty much worked out very well, as best as could be expected... as evidenced by the TV dollars, bowl wins, and OOC record against the P5. And finally... that many of our schools are 'called up'.

As a natural consequence of being raided, as the best G5, we get knocked back... but the exposure and dollars will similarly benefit the well chosen new members... and we're gonna do GREAT. AGAIN.

Just keep swimming...

clt says Charlotte is pumped to be here, and our recruiting in all sports is already seeing the impact.

7.1.23 will be a great day

(08-12-2022 04:03 PM)ghostofclt! Wrote:  clt says Charlotte is pumped to be here, and our recruiting in all sports is already seeing the impact.

7.1.23 will be a great day

Any shot at winning C-USA in football this season?

(08-12-2022 04:06 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(08-12-2022 04:03 PM)ghostofclt! Wrote:  clt says Charlotte is pumped to be here, and our recruiting in all sports is already seeing the impact.

7.1.23 will be a great day

Any shot at winning C-USA in football this season?

clt says we have a big matchup with fau in week zero that should provide guidance.

We can score points, but the D is a question mark. New DC and schemes will be fun to watch.

(08-12-2022 12:22 PM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR???!!!

Nope…………it ended when we dropped the big one on Berlin, and Hamburg!!!!!

The future of the AAC rests in two different areas.

1. Does SMU and Memphis stay and use their wealth in an NIL era to hover around 20-25 in rankings?

2. Do programs, that have never won, rise to a level where they are bowl teams two of every three years when stepping up their overall SOS. This climb up will be interesting to see who succeeds. ~Half of your programs will finish above .500 in conference which will rise?

(08-12-2022 05:28 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  The future of the AAC rests in two different areas.

1. Does SMU and Memphis stay and use their wealth in an NIL era to hover around 20-25 in rankings?

2. Do programs, that have never won, rise to a level where they are bowl teams two of every three years when stepping up their overall SOS. This climb up will be interesting to see who succeeds. ~Half of your programs will finish above .500 in conference which will rise?

I don't think (1) helps the AAC, just as UCF/Cincy winning didn't help the AAC. It will help those schools, will position them to be next in line for a promotion to a better conference, like it did for UCF and Cincy, but the "AAC" will not benefit. Thus, to me, Memphis and SMU, or any other schools other than USF who rise up to be consistent top 25 teams, is not a good thing, because it makes it more likely USF will once again be left behind.

I never understood why, over the last several years, some USF fans seemed to cheer or take pride in the NY6 success of Houston, Cincy, UCF or Memphis. All it meant was that they were successfully rising up to use the AAC as a stepping-stone to go above us. What was good (from a USF pov) about that?

The way I see the AAC, and have always seen it, is as a "war of all against all". Any achievements by any AAC schools just mean they rise above the rest of the AAC schools and are more likely to get the only thing that matters - a promotion to a better league.

(08-12-2022 03:55 PM)Bull Wrote:  There are always going to be panicked, despondant, sky-is-falling doom and gloom types here... Posting daily. Can't get over the fact that their school is not in a P5 conference... so they want to rant and burn down their current home. Lots of this when the AAC was formed.

But... we did great. P6 pretty much worked out very well, as best as could be expected... as evidenced by the TV dollars, bowl wins, and OOC record against the P5. And finally... that many of our schools are 'called up'.

As a natural consequence of being raided, as the best G5, we get knocked back... but the exposure and dollars will similarly benefit the well chosen new members... and we're gonna do GREAT. AGAIN.

Just keep swimming...

IMO, the last 9 years, the AAC years, have easily been the worst of the 25 years of USF football history. Sure, in a technical sense, we were worse off, in a lesser league, from 1997-2004, but those were growing years. We were down on the totem pole, but we weren't expected to be anywhere else, and we were building and rising.

The AAC years are the "demotion" years, the years after we lost AQ/Power status. And there's no end in sight. It's actually now gotten even worse, with the losses due to realignment, and "P6" being rendered null and void by the emergence of a P2.

IMO, USF needs to focus on itself, build up the infrastructure that will make us attractive the next time one of the Quasi-3 conferences looks to add someone. That's the only thing that matters, nothing regarding the AAC matters at all. That's the way it has been, IMO, ever since 2011-2012.

Yes, we need to continue to try and "make the best" of the AAC situation, as that is the only thing we can do as long as we aren't just going to throw are hands up and give up, which I hope we never do. But IMO there is nothing worth celebrating or taking pride in about the AAC. It is a purgatory we must seek to escape, and always has been.

Thought pride ended in June

(08-12-2022 05:33 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-12-2022 05:28 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  The future of the AAC rests in two different areas.

1. Does SMU and Memphis stay and use their wealth in an NIL era to hover around 20-25 in rankings?

2. Do programs, that have never won, rise to a level where they are bowl teams two of every three years when stepping up their overall SOS. This climb up will be interesting to see who succeeds. ~Half of your programs will finish above .500 in conference which will rise?

I don't think (1) helps the AAC, just as UCF/Cincy winning didn't help the AAC. It will help those schools, will position them to be next in line for a promotion to a better conference, like it did for UCF and Cincy, but the "AAC" will not benefit. Thus, to me, Memphis and SMU, or any other schools other than USF who rise up to be consistent top 25 teams, is not a good thing, because it makes it more likely USF will once again be left behind.

I never understood why, over the last several years, some USF fans seemed to cheer or take pride in the NY6 success of Houston, Cincy, UCF or Memphis. All it meant was that they were successfully rising up to use the AAC as a stepping-stone to go above us. What was good (from a USF pov) about that?

The way I see the AAC, and have always seen it, is as a "war of all against all". Any achievements by any AAC schools just mean they rise above the rest of the AAC schools and are more likely to get the only thing that matters - a promotion to a better league.

recruiting... everyone recruits off the conference name...
we all recruited off of uconn title, we all recruited of each others ny6..and if cincy wasnt leaving we'd all be recruiting off cincy playoff berth .. "we are next"
and even if not specific teams, weve recruited off strength held up by others -- larry brown/smu kept the basketball conference rep high at our moment of need

reallignment is spontaneous and beyond anyones controll...conference success is actually something you can use

ive seen a coach from almost every aac team literally speak of recruiting from conference strength (including usf)

(08-12-2022 06:23 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Thought pride ended in June

Wrong thread.

(08-12-2022 04:03 PM)ghostofclt! Wrote:  clt says Charlotte is pumped to be here, and our recruiting in all sports is already seeing the impact.

7.1.23 will be a great day

Thought y’all’s was already in for Mens Soccer?!

(08-12-2022 03:55 PM)Bull Wrote:  There are always going to be panicked, despondant, sky-is-falling doom and gloom types here... Posting daily. Can't get over the fact that their school is not in a P5 conference... so they want to rant and burn down their current home. Lots of this when the AAC was formed.

But... we did great. P6 pretty much worked out very well, as best as could be expected... as evidenced by the TV dollars, bowl wins, and OOC record against the P5. And finally... that many of our schools are 'called up'.

As a natural consequence of being raided, as the best G5, we get knocked back... but the exposure and dollars will similarly benefit the well chosen new members... and we're gonna do GREAT. AGAIN.

Just keep swimming...

Yup, and Rice is already here for Womens Swimming!!! #AAC! #P6 #KeepSwimmong

(08-12-2022 02:50 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  Sorry, no pride right now.

However, next year...

See above!!
#RiceAAC

(08-12-2022 04:06 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(08-12-2022 04:03 PM)ghostofclt! Wrote:  clt says Charlotte is pumped to be here, and our recruiting in all sports is already seeing the impact.

7.1.23 will be a great day

Any shot at winning a game in C-USA in football this season?

FIFY

(08-12-2022 05:33 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-12-2022 05:28 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  The future of the AAC rests in two different areas.

1. Does SMU and Memphis stay and use their wealth in an NIL era to hover around 20-25 in rankings?

2. Do programs, that have never won, rise to a level where they are bowl teams two of every three years when stepping up their overall SOS. This climb up will be interesting to see who succeeds. ~Half of your programs will finish above .500 in conference which will rise?

I don't think (1) helps the AAC, just as UCF/Cincy winning didn't help the AAC. It will help those schools, will position them to be next in line for a promotion to a better conference, like it did for UCF and Cincy, but the "AAC" will not benefit. Thus, to me, Memphis and SMU, or any other schools other than USF who rise up to be consistent top 25 teams, is not a good thing, because it makes it more likely USF will once again be left behind.

I never understood why, over the last several years, some USF fans seemed to cheer or take pride in the NY6 success of Houston, Cincy, UCF or Memphis. All it meant was that they were successfully rising up to use the AAC as a stepping-stone to go above us. What was good (from a USF pov) about that?

The way I see the AAC, and have always seen it, is as a "war of all against all". Any achievements by any AAC schools just mean they rise above the rest of the AAC schools and are more likely to get the only thing that matters - a promotion to a better league.

This is really rich from a USF fan. A program that literally did nothing to warrant a BCS invite. Bitter ECU fan? Yeah probably. That said the sentiment of your post is 100% correct IMHO. I hope ECU can rise to a level that we skull drag everyone in here.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I'll root for whoever in our conference can go get the NY6 bowl bid! That would make six in a row including Cincinnati's CFP appearance last season. Not too shabby AAC.

EDIT - NY6 Appearances

2015 - Houston Peach Bowl
2017 - UCF Peach Bowl
2018 - UCF Fiesta Bowl
2019 - Memphis Cotton Bowl
2020 - Cincinnati Peach Bowl
2021 - Cincinnati CFP Semi-Final Cotton Bowl