Who will Replace SMU in the AAC?

Mike Jackson · February 16, 2023

On 2/14/2023 at 12:00 PM, NT80 said:

That is all just fake asset value, based on a conference name, not membership or real power. We have the 20th version of the WAC now, and soon the 10th version of CUSA. At some point this conference ranking system by name alone, or past P5 and G5 references, must be updated. There is too much movement now to assign a conference food chain based on old memberships.

Especially as the market for televised FBS games changes. An unintended consequence of having a 12 team playoff and losing historical conference rivalries will be diminished viewership. All of these moves except for the playoff are short sighted and greedy for the big brand schools. Outside of the matchups of the featuring the upper half, upper 1/3 of Big 10 schools, and 4 anchor schools of the PAC 12 none of the conference game catalogs drive eyeballs to screens. Now that the PAC 12 is the only P5 shopping for a new deal media outlet executives and looking at that data. My teenage boys were VAGUELY interested in the Super Bowl this year. A generation ago in Texas that was a rarity. If they don’t go a school with a passionate football tradition, I don’t see them becoming regular FBS game viewers. Most people don’t go to 4 Year universities let alone universities than play FBS football. The long term prospects for regular season FBS game viewership are poor (especially the first 6 weeks of the season among all but the best big brands). Who really going to rush to a streaming service or cable network to watch unranked 4-2 UCLA vs 3-2 Nebraska other than diehard fans?

wardly · February 16, 2023

18 hours ago, NT80 said:

I would gladly trade Smut for Army, Air Force and Colorado State.

I think Army likes being an independent but that may change.The Air Force Academy and Colorado State are both in the same secondary market [Colorado Springs ] compared with Georgia State in Atlanta. I have been late to realize that our invitation to the AAC was a hedge in DFW should the Ponies gallop off into the sunset. I also have been wrong on about every realignment scenario in the past few years but looking at a map and the location of GSU in Atlanta its hard not to believe that they are #1 on the AAC's expansion list.

NT80 · February 16, 2023

1 hour ago, wardly said:

I think Army likes being an independent but that may change.The Air Force Academy and Colorado State are both in the same secondary market [Colorado Springs ]

No, Colorado State is north of Denver. AFA is south of Denver.

GrayEagle · February 16, 2023

On 2/10/2023 at 4:46 PM, wardly said:

I don't see an urgency to add another team. If SMU moves to PAC 12, that still leaves Texas with 3 programs in major markets. Texas State, UTEP, and LA. Tech bring nothing to the table. However Georgia State adds Atlanta , which fits nicely with UAB,FAU,ECU, and Charlotte.

If SMU leaves who do we play every year? If you have 13 teams you short one team every year or after four years you change to another who will not have an every year partner for four years. The simplest for scheduling is add another team who will also have a common opponent each year.

I believe that if we could add Army, our return to each member would be increased. And, of course, they will play Navy every year anyway so we would get Navy's every year opponent.