AAC Football: These 3 teams should get realignment invite

3. Army

The Army Black Knights, one of the most storied teams in college football, have been playing football for 128 years. They have an all-time record of 696-522-51 and have made appearances in nine bowl games. They’ve been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 146 total weeks since beginning play in 1891.

America’s largest branch of the military would give the AAC a huge footprint of fans across the country. Not to mention, it would give the conference the right to have the entire Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series. This is, of course, assuming that Air Force joins AAC member school Navy as has been reported.

Michie Stadium, home of the Army football team, seats about 38,000. It’s located in New York, making it an ideal travel partner for Temple (Philadelphia) and Navy (Annapolis, Maryland).

Honorable Mention: Arkansas State

Arkansas State, a long-time Sun Belt Conference member, would be a great fit in the AAC. The Red Wolves would fit right in geographically, being about an hour from AAC member Memphis, five hours to Tulsa, six to Tulane, and six to SMU.

Arkansas State has produced a really solid football program, evident by the coaches who have made coaching stops over the years. Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and Blake Anderson have all served as head coach for the Red Wolves in the past 10 years.

The team has won seven conference championships and been to 10 bowl games. In fact, the team went to nine straight bowl games from 2011-2019.

Centennial Bank Stadium has a seating capacity of just over 30,000.