College football has tiers. The simplest are “Power 5” and “Group of 5” conferences — the former made up of the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and Big 12, and the latter comprised of everyone else in the Football Bowl Subdivision. You can break things down in more detail in any given year, but those are the general groupings.
The AAC beat the Big 12 in draft picks and again says it’s a power football conference
The American wants to break college football’s defined mold for it. That’s hard to pull off.
The American Athletic Conference rose from the ashes of the Big East in 2013, and it’s established itself as the best of the Group of 5. The league’s had a few excellent teams, the best one being the 2015 Houston squad that beat Florida State in the Peach Bowl. Its best head coaches have been hired in droves at Power 5 schools.
The worst power conference these days — by on-field performance, recruiting rankings, and professional talent produced — is the Big 12. And a day after the AAC had more total NFL draft picks than the Big 12, it’s trying to level up.
The AAC released a “strategic plan” on Monday with a “Power 6”-themed header.
Setting aside the patriotic branding at play here, the American is calling itself a power conference. This is more a renewal of that point than something new; the league’s teams donned Power 6 helmet decals for at least some of last season.
You can read the league’s plan here, if you want. It’s mostly a broad outline. I thought this passage about the league’s annual football plans was worth a read:
This is interesting because it’s specific, at least in some parts. The league is setting a .500 benchmark against the Power 5, which is a big ask but not impossible if the scheduling’s right. Seven or eight bowl teams is a lot for a 12-team league that really isn’t a power conference by resources or prestige. But the AAC had seven bowl teams last year and eight before that, so this isn’t star-shooting. It’s a good conference.
The Big 12’s not a big league, with just 10 members, and its teams can’t recruit like those in the other power conferences. (Here, again, is how badly its last Signing Day went.) But there’s no evidence that the AAC, right now, is on the Big 12’s level.
How the FBS conferences stacked up last year, by the opponent-adjusted stat S&P+:
2016 average college football S&P+ ratings
Conference | Avg. S&P+ | Rk | Avg. Off. S&P+ | Rk | Avg. Def. S&P+ | Rk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC | 8.91 | 1 | 32.6 | 3 | 24.0 | 3 |
| ACC | 8.70 | 2 | 32.4 | 4 | 23.7 | 2 |
| Big Ten | 6.22 | 3 | 28.8 | 6 | 22.7 | 1 |
| Pac-12 | 5.85 | 4 | 33.5 | 2 | 27.7 | 4 |
| Big 12 | 5.61 | 5 | 35.4 | 1 | 29.8 | 6 |
| AAC | -1.16 | 6 | 28.2 | 7 | 29.4 | 5 |
| MWC | -2.98 | 7 | 29.3 | 5 | 32.7 | 8 |
| MAC | -6.15 | 8 | 26.9 | 9 | 32.7 | 9 |
| Conf USA | -7.96 | 9 | 27.4 | 8 | 35.2 | 10 |
| Sun Belt | -8.29 | 10 | 23.5 | 10 | 31.5 | 7 |
Bill Connelly, SB Nation
Keep in mind that the Big 12 has been dealing with a mediocre Texas for several years now. The Longhorns are rich and powerful, and they’re already recruiting more like their old selves under Tom Herman, whom they hired away from Houston hours after last season ended.
The Big 12 probably has better days ahead, simply because Texas should be more competitive than it’s been. Oklahoma (and to a lesser extent, Oklahoma State) won’t be the league’s only great teams forever. And the better the Big 12 is, the harder it becomes for the American to argue it’s on the same level.
