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

6. North Texas

The Denton, Texas, based team has just five winning seasons since the year 2000. They’ve enjoyed being selected to 10 bowl games in program history, but have won just two of those games. Additionally, the Mean Green have never been ranked in the AP Top 25 in the 57 years of the program’s history, according to Sports-Reference College Football.

Before AAC realignment turned everything upside down, Texas-based Houston and SMU called the AAC home. With Houston exiting the conference, the AAC seemed hell-bent on retaining a strong presence in Texas. However, North Texas would be one of the least desirable teams on the table when UTEP (or even Texas State) seem like better options.

5. Charlotte

The Charlotte 49ers ceased football operations back in 1948 and were not reactivated until 2015. In the seasons since then, they have had one winning year, but could be on their way to another this season, as they’ve started 2021 with a 4-2 record.

Charlotte’s stadium, approximately 15,000 seats, wouldn’t even be considered worthy of a high school stadium in some Texas cities. However, if they can regularly pack the stadium, 15,000 screaming fans will seem pretty loud.

The 49ers are an interesting choice in applying for AAC realignment, perhaps they are still a few years away from being ready to take that leap into a bigger conference.