The startups hurt attendance at the older programs. No brand name = no draw. Play and beat some notable non-conference opponents please so people know who you are. USF has beaten Notre Dame. UCF has beaten Georgia. Those wins register with fans and improve your brand name.

AAC football is NOT far superior on-the-field. 85 scholarships levels the field. The G5 has very similar talent levels. There is a lot of parity. Ya'll did just notice Arkansas barely slipping by Coastal Carolina, right? We'll see during bowl season what the P6 hype is worth.

USM has 5 C-USA football championships. Those still mean something to me. Who has the most AAC football championships? I have no clue.

If the AAC expanded to 14, then yeah, we'd probably jump on that. If the Big12 finally imploded/exploded, then the landscape changes. Houston, Memphis, Cincy, and UConn own the best brand names. Lose any combination of those 4 and the desire to jump is greatly lessened, possibly extinguished. That might be a time where a mega-merger of what's left occurs.