A Good First

[bulls phanatic]

AAC has had some good press this year with top 25 teams and a good showing by Temple on Sat night vs. ND, but Ed need to do this every year if we are going to get respect 

[Rocky Style]

The Big East had the BCS tie in, but this conference isn't bad at the moment. I am not sure how teams can hold on to their coaches when LSU is willing to spend 15 mil to fire a guy who won a national championship.

 

 

 

[MikeG]

The BCS tie in was a pretty nice thing to have on one hand ($$$$ didn't hurt either) but it also led to constant bashing by media and fans that the conference wasn't deserving after OTHER conferences poached team after team. Kind of ridiculous how the other BCS conferences consistently tore the BE apart and then whined about how weak it was. We'll steal your best teams and then whine about how weak the conference is at the same time.

I see the AAC having about as much respect if not slightly more than the old BE did-- the exception being the auto qualifier and money involved.

[Triple B]

We talk as if the Big East got so much respect as a football conference. I don't remember anyone singing its praises like they do for the AAC.

That's because they're at different levels. The BE was the shortest giant while the AAC is the tallest midget. 

[namuh-bull]

The AAC has some good teams, but you don't have to play everybody each year.  The Big East had too many co-champions, but it was nice to play everybody and nobody had a break by not playing the toughest team(s).

 

Go Bulls!

[Mama_Bull]

How far back are we talking? Big East on any year was better than this conference, but the gap isn't as big as I thought going into this year. Memphis quality win against Ole Miss. Navy had a good year and almost beat ND. Ditto Temple. Houston had a good year. 

 

But the Big East had WVU when they were good, and Cincy/UConn were way better in the Big East too. 

Recruiting in the BE, was stronger for more teams. The talent overall was better.

Having said that, I'm therefore surprised how good the AAC has been this year. More teams have been better able to develop their supposed lesser talent.

We shall have to see whether this trend continues for a few years.

I'm interested in seeing whether the AAC success leads to better recruiting classes.

Right now there are less than a handful of 4-star recruits for the ENTIRE conference.

In the Big East, that was not the case. 

[Soopuh Fly]

how many ranked OOC teams has the AAC beaten this year?

[cmhatter]

The strength of the AAC versus the Big East isn't dramatically different.

All the teams that left the BE are bad to middle of the road in their new conference. 

AAC has had a number of big wins this season. If Houston, Cinci, USF, UCF, Memphis, Temple, ECU play good football it's a good conference.

Also, the AAC is going to own that G5 bowl spot. How much worse off are we than BE which was widely considered the worst AQ conference?

 

[Guest]

The strength of the AAC versus the Big East isn't dramatically different.

All the teams that left the BE are bad to middle of the road in their new conference. 

AAC has had a number of big wins this season. If Houston, Cinci, USF, UCF, Memphis, Temple, ECU play good football it's a good conference.

Also, the AAC is going to own that G5 bowl spot. How much worse off are we than BE which was widely considered the worst AQ conference?

 

$$$$ is a lot worse than it could have been... that is how much worse off we are.  (Although the AAC $$ is more than the old BE $$ -- if the BE had stuck toegether, the $$ would have been significantly more)

[cmhatter]

$$$$ is a lot worse than it could have been... that is how much worse off we are.  (Although the AAC $$ is more than the old BE $$ -- if the BE had stuck toegether, the $$ would have been significantly more)

and that can change... We made a short term TV deal for a reason... The Big East got zero respect and was regularly trashed. AAC is getting a ton of love and we have excellent TV exposure.