Huge Non-Conference Matchups with the AAC this weekend. You guys get Houston and we get South Florida. Ok, I am kidding. I will say those are better matchups than scheduling FCS programs though. We could do worse than Houston and South Florida. Both of those teams could potentially be Bowl teams.
ACC vs AAC this weekend.
- Thread starter SchmidtyNole
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I would much rather play AAC or MTN West teams out of conference than FCS schools. If I had it my way, all P5 teams should be required to fill their out of conference schedules with other P5 teams. This improves strength of schedule and gives a better path to the playoffs.
I agree. But that would never happen unless there were a rule that forced every Power 5 team to only schedule other Power 5 teams. That would eliminate a lot of neutral site games and would force Home and Homes. Scheduling would be a mess. But I would rather play Power 5s for all non-conference games.
But I agree with you that if you are going outside of the Power 5, then the AAC and Mountain West are the places to look. There are some decent teams in the AAC, there just aren't any Elite teams, and that is what a conference has to have to get consideration for the Playoff.
If you listen to AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, they are building their brand to become part of the P6 in the not to distant future.
If you listen to AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, they are building their brand to become part of the P6 in the not to distant future.
Lol. It's good that they have that as a goal. That's a tough ladder to climb. They lost all their top notch Football programs to the ACC and Big 12. You think about the old Big East and you see Miami, BC, VT were the first to bolt, then Cuse, Pitt, Rutgers, WV and Louisville bolted. You put those teams back in the Big East and you have a legit P6 league.
But basically the AAC is the Old Conference USA light. So to become a P6 league teams like Houston, South Florida, UConn, Temple, ECU, SMU, Tulane, Memphis, Tulsa, USF, UCF, Cincy have to become a combination of FSU, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, GT, NC State, Duke, UNC, BC ect. Not sure that is happening. Never want to say never though. Lol!
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Thank God we got our ticket punched to the ACC. Every time I see their games, I think of how hard UC and USF fought along with us to get into the Big East just for them to fall right back into C-USA status in the American.
Actually, Memphis is trying to build up its brand in hopes that the Big12 will decide to expand and take them. That is public discussion around here. No one here is talking about the AAC as a P6. What you have described may be Aresco trying to pump up his product to improve their bowl payouts.If you listen to AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, they are building their brand to become part of the P6 in the not to distant future.
The thing about playing AAC teams is they have everything to gain and nothing to lose and they are playing with a chip on their shoulder. You have to take them seriously and play hard or you will lose, some of those teams are good teams that are well coached.
As far as Memphis is concerned they are about 15 years behind in regards to overall athletics. They have a long way to go to get into a P5 conference. The big talk in Memphis is the fact that if the Tigers have a strong year in football this year Head Coach Fuentes will more than likely move on to a P5 school. This has been going on in Memphis since Spook Murphy retired back in the early 70's.
As far as Memphis is concerned they are about 15 years behind in regards to overall athletics. They have a long way to go to get into a P5 conference. The big talk in Memphis is the fact that if the Tigers have a strong year in football this year Head Coach Fuentes will more than likely move on to a P5 school. This has been going on in Memphis since Spook Murphy retired back in the early 70's.
I'm glad they didn't put in the "P5 only plays P5" rule 20 years ago. I'm not sure we'd be where we are today. A big part about how we got started under Howard is he was able to broker games with teams like Tennessee, Ohio State, West Virginia, and Texas.
Not sure we need a "play only P5" schools rule. But I surely would like to see a rule that requires P5 schools to play 10 other P5 schools (out of 12 regular season games), and at least 5 of those need to be road games, in order to be eligible for the playoff.
P5 Schools that do not want to play 10 P5 opponents don't have to do so, but I'm sure their fans won't be pleased to be eliminated from playoff contention before the season even starts.
Actually, they haven't had a decent head coach since then. They are 15 years behind because they had a clueless AD who was trying to build up the basketball team while everyone else figured out that football was driving the bus in college sports. He did not try to get the best coach available; he tried to get the best bargain in a football coach, resulting in a series a disappointments. Tommy West was the one good coach they had, and the school would not give him what was necessary to build a football program.
I think you are right that, if Justin Fuente has a a good year, he will be gone to a P5 school. Right now, my money is on Kansas, but who knows if Vandy or Miami will make a run at him. The end of the season will show us who needs a coach. Regardless, Memphis, will have to start again trying out a coach. That happens when you are outside of the P5. Glad we aren't in that position.
