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Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
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CliftonAve Offline
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Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
If you want to make a case for the ongoing improvement of the American Athletic Conference, Mike Aresco has you covered. The league’s commissioner and former television executive has stats. He has a lot of them. And he enjoys providing them to the media whenever possible.

Did you know that the top half of the AAC is 22–14 vs. the Power 5? Did you know that there’s a new 12-year TV deal with ESPN? Aresco will admit that the AAC — formed largely out of chunks of the old Big East and Conference USA in the last upheaval of realignment — isn’t the SEC or Big Ten, but he’ll quickly point out that the league is continuing to gain ground on the back end of the dreaded “P5,” a designation Aresco and his coaches have come to loathe.

Currently, AAC member schools receive around $2 million annually from their TV contracts. Starting in the 2020-21 academic year and running through 2031-32, the league’s new $83.3 million contract will pay around $7 million a year per school. So that’s not the $50 or $60 million annually that the Big Ten and SEC TV deals hand out to its members, but it’s enough improvement to try and nip at the heels of lower-performing Power 5s — specifically the Big 12 and Pac-12.

“This whole G5 label and being lumped together as a G5, it really hurts us. It really sticks in my craw. I think this TV deal really helps separate us,” Aresco says.

He’s right — the annual revenue for the AAC is now a clear divider between that conference and the rest of the (don’t say it!) G5. It’s still a long way from the estimated $30 million each Pac-12 school receives (the Big 12 is the next closest, with an estimated $36 million paid to each program).

But wait — why are we talking about program revenue? Why is everyone in college football — even fans and recruits — categorizing football by television contracts? Why aren’t we talking about UCF, a program that ran the table in 2017, beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and almost did it all over again with a new head coach in 2018?


“It drives me nuts,” Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell says. “OK, so one school makes $5 million in one area and another school makes $40 million. Still, that doesn’t hold you back on how you develop your kids. Do they have a nicer facility, a nicer training table, a nicer weight room? Sure. But that doesn’t prevent you from developing NFL talent. We’ve done it.



Fickell opposes the notion of a single, defining line separating the haves and have-nots of college football. Cincinnati is one of the few programs outside the Power 5 — along with UCF, USF and Houston — that’s arguably comparable in talent, resources, support and desirable geography.



And there’s one new, far more invaluable asset Aresco gained this offseason that has nothing to do with television revenue or playoff consideration that could end up being his most valuable argument to date in favor of the AAC’s validity as a “major” conference.

“This. All this,” new Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen says while waving his hands at the skyline in a crowded Houston restaurant. He’s answering the same question he’s been asked since leaving Power 5 West Virginia — a program just points away from a Big 12 Championship Game appearance last year — to come to a Group of 5 school.

Holgorsen is keen to point out his affinity for West Virginia but admits that in college football’s numbers game, Houston’s geography outweighs the value of any particular conference affiliation.

“We’ve had more high school players voluntarily attend our spring practices in a few weeks than what we could reach by going out on the road for weeks. That’s the power of this city,” Holgorsen says.

“You can’t overstate how important hiring Dana was, the kind of signal it sent,” Aresco says. “Certainly we’ve had a tough time retaining our football coaches, but I’d much rather have programs hiring coaches with tremendous upside who move on than mediocre hires who don’t build programs.”


More than any UCF win streak, Dana Holgorsen is the AAC’s biggest win to date: A coach at a successful Big 12 program left for a $20 million contract and a P5-competitive assistant salary pool because he saw a higher potential upside at a G5 program. And for the first time, the “POWER SIX” PR campaign Aresco has pushed for years in trying to edge the AAC back into the national conversation has succeeded, at least in this instance.

“Look, whether or not it was embraced with snark, the P6 effort has been successful,” Aresco says.

Entering 2019, there’s an understandable bounty of optimism for the American: UCF has dominated the conversation through two different college football playoff debates, while programs such as Memphis and Cincinnati have thrived. And with Holgorsen coming to quickly reinvigorate a UH team that fell to 8–5 and was walloped by Army in a bowl game, the conference has enough top-end depth not to hitch its wagon to a single favorite, a la the Mountain West and Boise State.

The league believes its aggression in scheduling will carry it further. Aresco specifically cites a mandate that he gave his member institutions five years ago to start scheduling as tough as they could, no matter the home-and-away structure of the deals. His message to schools like Houston — still angry about being left behind during the formation of the original Big 12 — and Cincinnati, a Big East team left alone after traditional rivals Louisville and West Virginia were scooped up, was to play their way out of the problem.


“I don’t know if I’d call it a mandate, but there was a very strong suggestion that every school schedule at least two P5 schools per season, and of course now we like to call them ‘other P6’s,’” Aresco says.

Everyone bought in, which is why you’ll see the AAC playing a slew of top-30 programs in the first three weeks of the 2019 season: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Washington State, Stanford, Wisconsin, Michigan State, NC State, Ohio State and Auburn.


Increased TV revenue and the lag in similar deals for the Big 12 and Pac-12 are helping the AAC argue that college football is stratified and not binary. Now, the conference will have to contend with the last and most important hurdle in public perception: the playoff committee.

UCF ran the table twice to no avail. Aresco’s short-term plan: If there’s a playoff expansion to six or eight teams, the AAC will lobby hard for an automatic bid alongside the other five major conferences. But if the system stays in place as a four-team format, then Aresco wants to kill ’em with kindness. Seriously.

“Look, I think the committee has a lot of integrity,” he says. “I think before McKenzie Milton was hurt, UCF was as good as any team in the country. I think it’s our job to persuade, to go out and change people’s minds, with the football that we play and tell people about the job we’re doing in that regard.”

If there’s one caveat to the newfound success, it’s that time — both the past and the future — is quietly working against a stable AAC. The most frequent frustration that individual programs cite is a lack of excitement in conference play relative to their various past histories. Houston wants Texas A&M or Texas, not East Carolina.

“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

The TV deal Aresco just negotiated will be a boon for athletic budgets but lacks one key safeguard. There’s no grant of rights provision in the deal, meaning that any AAC school could leave immediately for another conference and not forfeit any television revenue in the process. The grant of rights is the clause that keeps schools locked in place; without it, it’s just as likely now as it was before the new AAC deal that the Pac-12 or Big 12 could recruit Houston or UCF when their deals expire in the coming years.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Holgorsen shrugs off the ongoing narrative of P5 value, his actions having already spoken for him.

"It’s just not a smart way to look at things. It’s about the value of the individual programs. It’s not the schedule or the affiliations. It’s about what you can build and how far you can go. I didn’t think about the conference affiliation or the playoff. All I saw was enough potential to build something amazing, so I came here.”
[b]


— Written by Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) for Athlon Sports' 2019 SEC Football preview magazine.


https://athlonsports.com/college-footbal...gger-goals
 
(This post was last modified: 07-19-2019 12:02 PM by CliftonAve.)
07-19-2019 11:59 AM
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OKIcat Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
Excellent article; thanks for sharing.

Again, I think it makes Fickell's recruiting even more impressive knowing the caste system this P5/G5 split created and also knowing blue chip players are being tweeted, texted or told daily by P5 recruiters that Cincinnati competes at a "lower level".

Unfortunately, that's bled over to college basketball too. I'm amused by some new Big East fans who have co-opted the term "P6" to associate their conference with the P5. Total nonsense since this classification system only references football.

It's incumbent upon UC to compete at the top of the American so Houston and UCF aren't always the first names mentioned in realignment.
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.
 
07-19-2019 01:26 PM
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

Totally agree with this viewpoint. I'm excited to play UCLA at Nippert under the lights. Should be a great atmosphere. Just hope it's not 90 degrees.
I expect ECU and USF to improve with their current head coaches and their recruiting ability. The AAC East will be a very tough division in the future and Memphis, Houston, Navy and a rising Tulane program in the West Division should provide excellent depth to this league.
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

Agreed. All things considered, it remains a top ten brand in all of college sports in my mind. More than 100 national championship banners out there across multiple varsity sports; excellent academics, beautiful campus and the best 4 letter brand in the game. Most P5's would jump at a home and home with the Bruins.

With that said, we should rightfully expect a sellout to be announced before game day. If UC can get that done with Purdue under Tubs, how much more is this coach and team deserving of that kind of passion from the hometown fans? This is a real chance to shine in our city and for a national TV audience. It should be the hottest ticket in town next month.
 
07-19-2019 03:29 PM
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
I love that the game (and the UCF game) are night games. Nothing like Nip At Night!
 
07-19-2019 04:12 PM
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BringBackthe Glory Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 11:59 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  If you want to make a case for the ongoing improvement of the American Athletic Conference, Mike Aresco has you covered. The league’s commissioner and former television executive has stats. He has a lot of them. And he enjoys providing them to the media whenever possible.

Did you know that the top half of the AAC is 22–14 vs. the Power 5? Did you know that there’s a new 12-year TV deal with ESPN? Aresco will admit that the AAC — formed largely out of chunks of the old Big East and Conference USA in the last upheaval of realignment — isn’t the SEC or Big Ten, but he’ll quickly point out that the league is continuing to gain ground on the back end of the dreaded “P5,” a designation Aresco and his coaches have come to loathe.

Currently, AAC member schools receive around $2 million annually from their TV contracts. Starting in the 2020-21 academic year and running through 2031-32, the league’s new $83.3 million contract will pay around $7 million a year per school. So that’s not the $50 or $60 million annually that the Big Ten and SEC TV deals hand out to its members, but it’s enough improvement to try and nip at the heels of lower-performing Power 5s — specifically the Big 12 and Pac-12.

“This whole G5 label and being lumped together as a G5, it really hurts us. It really sticks in my craw. I think this TV deal really helps separate us,” Aresco says.

He’s right — the annual revenue for the AAC is now a clear divider between that conference and the rest of the (don’t say it!) G5. It’s still a long way from the estimated $30 million each Pac-12 school receives (the Big 12 is the next closest, with an estimated $36 million paid to each program).

But wait — why are we talking about program revenue? Why is everyone in college football — even fans and recruits — categorizing football by television contracts? Why aren’t we talking about UCF, a program that ran the table in 2017, beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and almost did it all over again with a new head coach in 2018?


“It drives me nuts,” Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell says. “OK, so one school makes $5 million in one area and another school makes $40 million. Still, that doesn’t hold you back on how you develop your kids. Do they have a nicer facility, a nicer training table, a nicer weight room? Sure. But that doesn’t prevent you from developing NFL talent. We’ve done it.



Fickell opposes the notion of a single, defining line separating the haves and have-nots of college football. Cincinnati is one of the few programs outside the Power 5 — along with UCF, USF and Houston — that’s arguably comparable in talent, resources, support and desirable geography.





And there’s one new, far more invaluable asset Aresco gained this offseason that has nothing to do with television revenue or playoff consideration that could end up being his most valuable argument to date in favor of the AAC’s validity as a “major” conference.

“This. All this,” new Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen says while waving his hands at the skyline in a crowded Houston restaurant. He’s answering the same question he’s been asked since leaving Power 5 West Virginia — a program just points away from a Big 12 Championship Game appearance last year — to come to a Group of 5 school.

Holgorsen is keen to point out his affinity for West Virginia but admits that in college football’s numbers game, Houston’s geography outweighs the value of any particular conference affiliation.

“We’ve had more high school players voluntarily attend our spring practices in a few weeks than what we could reach by going out on the road for weeks. That’s the power of this city,” Holgorsen says.

“You can’t overstate how important hiring Dana was, the kind of signal it sent,” Aresco says. “Certainly we’ve had a tough time retaining our football coaches, but I’d much rather have programs hiring coaches with tremendous upside who move on than mediocre hires who don’t build programs.”


More than any UCF win streak, Dana Holgorsen is the AAC’s biggest win to date: A coach at a successful Big 12 program left for a $20 million contract and a P5-competitive assistant salary pool because he saw a higher potential upside at a G5 program. And for the first time, the “POWER SIX” PR campaign Aresco has pushed for years in trying to edge the AAC back into the national conversation has succeeded, at least in this instance.

“Look, whether or not it was embraced with snark, the P6 effort has been successful,” Aresco says.

Entering 2019, there’s an understandable bounty of optimism for the American: UCF has dominated the conversation through two different college football playoff debates, while programs such as Memphis and Cincinnati have thrived. And with Holgorsen coming to quickly reinvigorate a UH team that fell to 8–5 and was walloped by Army in a bowl game, the conference has enough top-end depth not to hitch its wagon to a single favorite, a la the Mountain West and Boise State.

The league believes its aggression in scheduling will carry it further. Aresco specifically cites a mandate that he gave his member institutions five years ago to start scheduling as tough as they could, no matter the home-and-away structure of the deals. His message to schools like Houston — still angry about being left behind during the formation of the original Big 12 — and Cincinnati, a Big East team left alone after traditional rivals Louisville and West Virginia were scooped up, was to play their way out of the problem.


“I don’t know if I’d call it a mandate, but there was a very strong suggestion that every school schedule at least two P5 schools per season, and of course now we like to call them ‘other P6’s,’” Aresco says.

Everyone bought in, which is why you’ll see the AAC playing a slew of top-30 programs in the first three weeks of the 2019 season: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Washington State, Stanford, Wisconsin, Michigan State, NC State, Ohio State and Auburn.


Increased TV revenue and the lag in similar deals for the Big 12 and Pac-12 are helping the AAC argue that college football is stratified and not binary. Now, the conference will have to contend with the last and most important hurdle in public perception: the playoff committee.

UCF ran the table twice to no avail. Aresco’s short-term plan: If there’s a playoff expansion to six or eight teams, the AAC will lobby hard for an automatic bid alongside the other five major conferences. But if the system stays in place as a four-team format, then Aresco wants to kill ’em with kindness. Seriously.

“Look, I think the committee has a lot of integrity,” he says. “I think before McKenzie Milton was hurt, UCF was as good as any team in the country. I think it’s our job to persuade, to go out and change people’s minds, with the football that we play and tell people about the job we’re doing in that regard.”

If there’s one caveat to the newfound success, it’s that time — both the past and the future — is quietly working against a stable AAC. The most frequent frustration that individual programs cite is a lack of excitement in conference play relative to their various past histories. Houston wants Texas A&M or Texas, not East Carolina.

“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

The TV deal Aresco just negotiated will be a boon for athletic budgets but lacks one key safeguard. There’s no grant of rights provision in the deal, meaning that any AAC school could leave immediately for another conference and not forfeit any television revenue in the process. The grant of rights is the clause that keeps schools locked in place; without it, it’s just as likely now as it was before the new AAC deal that the Pac-12 or Big 12 could recruit Houston or UCF when their deals expire in the coming years.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Holgorsen shrugs off the ongoing narrative of P5 value, his actions having already spoken for him.

"It’s just not a smart way to look at things. It’s about the value of the individual programs. It’s not the schedule or the affiliations. It’s about what you can build and how far you can go. I didn’t think about the conference affiliation or the playoff. All I saw was enough potential to build something amazing, so I came here.”
[b]


— Written by Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) for Athlon Sports' 2019 SEC Football preview magazine.


https://athlonsports.com/college-footbal...gger-goals

x2 on what Oklacat said. That was a good read and somewhat telling. Thanks.01-ncaabbs
 
07-19-2019 07:44 PM
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 12:59 PM)OKIcat Wrote:  Excellent article; thanks for sharing.

Again, I think it makes Fickell's recruiting even more impressive knowing the caste system this P5/G5 split created and also knowing blue chip players are being tweeted, texted or told daily by P5 recruiters that Cincinnati competes at a "lower level".

Unfortunately, that's bled over to college basketball too. I'm amused by some new Big East fans who have co-opted the term "P6" to associate their conference with the P5. Total nonsense since this classification system only references football.

It's incumbent upon UC to compete at the top of the American so Houston and UCF aren't always the first names mentioned in realignment.
Good post and I agree. I'll also add that Coach has to get this team ( not saying THIS season) - but there is no reason he can't reach the bar that Coach Kelly raised. We all seen what can be done here. It was absolutely magical and I believe he is just as good a Coach as Coach K. It CAN be done. We all and the entire college football nation witnessed it also. Go get em' Bearcats!
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.
 
(This post was last modified: 07-19-2019 08:50 PM by BringBackthe Glory.)
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those to teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Two thoughts.
UCLA is a name brand, and I am glad they are coming into Nippert Stadium.

The three teams I would most love to have coming into Nippert on home and home series are Louisville, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Close enough for fans to travel both ways, and I think all the stadiums would rock.
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 08:44 PM)ucbandguy Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those to teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Two thoughts.
UCLA is a name brand, and I am glad they are coming into Nippert Stadium.

The three teams I would most love to have coming into Nippert on home and home series are Louisville, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Close enough for fans to travel both ways, and I think all the stadiums would rock.

And then I wake from that dream. Indeed it would be incredible and make sense.
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 01:26 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
Quote:“I’m not sure what playing UCLA does for our fans, locally. I’m not sure it really does anything, at least not what scheduling a West Virginia or Louisville could do,” Fickell says.

Aresco knows there’s no fix to this, and it dogs fan bases at some of his best programs.

“Our message has been, make new traditions. Build new rivalries,” he says.

With all due respect to Coach, I'm very excited to play a brand program like UCLA in Nippert. It's awesome that we can get a storied program to come to our stadium. I'm with Aresco on this. Look, we can trip the light in the past fantastic all day and all night long. Old traditions ain't happening. UCF, USF, and Temple are in our division. That's a good start.

I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Similar to when the Miami Hurricanes came to Nippert. It's not a natural rivalry but it is really cool seeing those uniforms in our home stadium. We need to schedule more "brand name" schools to come here.
 
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 08:57 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Similar to when the Miami Hurricanes came to Nippert. It's not a natural rivalry but it is really cool seeing those uniforms in our home stadium. We need to schedule more "brand name" schools to come here.

Slim pickens in the foreseeable future. We have Nebraska coming to the Nip in 2025. Hey Coach Kelly! Can you help us out?
 
07-19-2019 09:05 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 11:59 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  “Look, whether or not it was embraced with snark, the P6 effort has been successful,” Aresco says.

I agree with Aresco here.

The P6 campaign was never about saying UC is equal to OSU. It wasn't even primarily about saying UC is equal to Mississippi State. It was about saying that UC is clearly better than Toledo, Wyoming, Fresno, Marshall, etc.

Based on that measuring stick, the P6 campaign succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
 
07-20-2019 07:35 AM
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doss2 Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-19-2019 09:05 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:57 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Similar to when the Miami Hurricanes came to Nippert. It's not a natural rivalry but it is really cool seeing those uniforms in our home stadium. We need to schedule more "brand name" schools to come here.

Slim pickens in the foreseeable future. We have Nebraska coming to the Nip in 2025. Hey Coach Kelly! Can you help us out?

2022 IU
2024 PITT
2025 NEBRASKA
2025 BOISE (Not P5 but better than many and a BIG Name)
 
07-20-2019 07:51 AM
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UCGrad1992 Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-20-2019 07:51 AM)doss2 Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 09:05 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:57 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Similar to when the Miami Hurricanes came to Nippert. It's not a natural rivalry but it is really cool seeing those uniforms in our home stadium. We need to schedule more "brand name" schools to come here.

Slim pickens in the foreseeable future. We have Nebraska coming to the Nip in 2025. Hey Coach Kelly! Can you help us out?

2022 IU
2024 PITT
2025 NEBRASKA
2025 BOISE (Not P5 but better than many and a BIG Name)

True Diamond Doss. I was thinking more along the lines of a "prime, recognizable, historic" band. I would argue Indiana is known more for hoops and Pitt football isn't on the same level as USC, Texas, Ohio St., Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, et al. I'm really excited to play a program like Nebraska in the Nip to be honest.
 
07-20-2019 09:42 AM
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doss2 Offline
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RE: Athlon Sports: AAC on Solid Grounds
(07-20-2019 09:42 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
(07-20-2019 07:51 AM)doss2 Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 09:05 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:57 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  
(07-19-2019 08:25 PM)BringBackthe Glory Wrote:  I really agree with your first sentence.COGS Does anyone have a clue which Jersey's the Bruin's will be sporting? Just to see those two teams AT Nippert is a huge deal IMHO. "ALMOST" goose bump material to myself. Then thrash them and send them on their way.

Similar to when the Miami Hurricanes came to Nippert. It's not a natural rivalry but it is really cool seeing those uniforms in our home stadium. We need to schedule more "brand name" schools to come here.

Slim pickens in the foreseeable future. We have Nebraska coming to the Nip in 2025. Hey Coach Kelly! Can you help us out?

2022 IU
2024 PITT
2025 NEBRASKA
2025 BOISE (Not P5 but better than many and a BIG Name)

True Diamond Doss. I was thinking more along the lines of a "prime, recognizable, historic" band. I would argue Indiana is known more for hoops and Pitt football isn't on the same level as USC, Texas, Ohio St., Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, et al. I'm really excited to play a program like Nebraska in the Nip to be honest.
Good points but they are P5 (except BSU). These are games we need to win.
 
07-20-2019 10:43 AM
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