There was no glory in the football schedule the AAC released on Tuesday, and the only guts shown was by the University of Connecticut, which scheduled three ACC out-of-conference opponents. That represented the most Power 5 opponents for any AAC member, and the fact that other members did not follow the Huskies’ scheduling model is unfortunate.
The AAC, if it is going to be a serious conference, needs to step up its game. It is not going to happen this year, and because of the way schedules are made years in advance, it may not even happen next year. But it needs to happen and the rest of the member athletic directors need to follow the Huskies’ blueprint.
On opening weekend, UCF opens with South Carolina State, Cincinnati hosts Tennessee-Martin and South Florida hosts Towson. In the second week of play, Temple hosts Stony Brook. Playing cupcakes might be acceptable for a member of the already established Power 5 conferences, but it certainly is not for a fledgling conference trying to build a national reputation. UConn hosts Virginia and Syracuse and travels to Boston College. Playing those kind of games and winning them has to be the strategy of every AAC school.
The South Carolina States, Tennessee-Martins, Towsons and, yes, even Stony Brooks have to be removed from the schedules, the sooner the better. The AAC needs to do what it did last year — play the ACC seven times and beat them four times in the regular season. That’s the way a conference builds a strong reputation, not beating up on the Tennessee-Martins of the world.
It could be fixable now with a few phone calls, swapping out FCS opponents on other Power 5 schedules. For instance, on the day Temple is scheduled to play Stony Brook, Sept. 9, nearby Rutgers is hosting Howard. All Temple and Rutgers have to do is arrange for a more reasonable game between Stony Brook and Howard, buying out their games with those two FCS schools, so they can play that day in Piscataway. That has to be the OOC scheduling strategy going forward if the AAC is ever going to be taken seriously.
