American Athletic Conference: Post-spring 2017 power rankings

The American Athletic Conference fancies itself to be a Power Six conference. Which American team has the best shot at reaching a New Year’s Six bowl?

Since being relegated to the Group of Five from its former position as a BCS conference, the American Athletic Conference has aimed to regain top-tier status. The conference recently started its “Power Six” campaign to further the discourse in this direction. Over spring practices, this narrative gained steam, especially once the American saw more players drafted than the Big 12 in the 2017 NFL Draft.

But the American still has its work cut out for it if it hopes to legitimize its Power Six claims. In the first three years of the College Football Playoff system, the American champion has earned the Group of Five’s automatic bid to a New Year’s Six game just once. What has the AAC done to separate itself from the Mountain West, the MAC, and the other Group of Five leagues?

One way or another, this season will be decisive among those schools outside the Power Five. Either a team from the American will return to a major bowl game, bolstering the Power Six claim, or the league will once again be shut out. After spring practices have concluded, let’s rank the AAC teams to see which has the best chance of reaching the Cotton, Peach, or Fiesta Bowl in 2017-2018.

Connecticut is certainly beginning to adjust to Randy Edsall in the coach’s second tenure at the school. Last in Storrs when UConn was still playing in the Big East, Edsall won two conference titles and guided the Huskies to the 2011 Fiesta Bowl. He did not get to coach in that game, however, and has not come close to a New Year’s Six game since he left Connecticut.

Now he returns, hoping to generate similar success now that the team plays in the American. The Huskies are probably a few years off, and until then interest will continue to skew toward basketball. One need look no further than the fact that few actually attended this year’s spring game:

The offense should be better than it was last season. They managed to generate a touchdown in the first quarter of the spring game, something that was in short supply for the American Conference’s worst offense in 2016. Bryant Shirreffs looks to have regained his starting job, throwing for 310 yards in the game. Bowl eligibility might still be too much to ask, though, given the learning curve for the defense in a new system.