AAC Football: Ranking the 6 teams applying for membership by value

The American Athletic Conference is set to receive applications to initiate AAC football realignment after weeks of rumors about how the conference will adjust after losing Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston to a Power Five conference, according to Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports.

The list is comprised of teams exclusively from Conference USA, leaving that Group of Five conference with just eight programs. Now we know why Conference USA was pushing so hard for a total regionalization of the AAC, C-USA, and Sun Belt — they saw the writing and the wall and had nothing to lose by pitching their radical idea.

In reality, that idea never had real credence. It was all just pie-in-the-sky and a haphazard attempt at appearing to be proactive. In a perfect world, when tens of millions of dollars weren’t already committed to television contracts and other things, it would make sense to cluster teams together to reduce travel and expenses.

Which teams are reportedly set to apply for membership during AAC football realignment?

Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA are all going to submit applications to join the AAC this week, per Yahoo’s Pete Thamel.

These are all nice choices, but you have to wonder why the Sun Belt was not involved. Was there a process to see if Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, and Louisiana were interested in switching conferences? Was there one-sided interest or no interest? Either way, it’s puzzling not to see at least one of those teams from the Sun Belt involved.

One thing that stands out immediately is that after AAC realignment, the conference will have four teams that call Texas home (SMU, North Texas, Rice, and UTSA).

Another, interesting tidbit, is the conference will have three teams featuring an owl as their mascot: Rice, Florida Atlantic, and Temple.

Finally, a majority of these schools have been playing football for 20 years or less (FAU, Charlotte, UAB, UTSA), making their move to the AAC all the more impressive.

Let’s take a deeper look at who these schools are and who brings the most value to the AAC during conference realignment at the Group of Five level.