A comparison of the early development of the AAC and former Big East FB conferences reveals that the "top 25 trajectory" (i.e., year-to-year increase in the number of top 25 teams) of AAC FB from 2014 through 2019 has now surpassed the top 25 trajectory of Big East Football from 1991 to 1996.

As shown in Table 1, the number of AAC FB teams in the final top 25 doubled between 2014 and 2015, tripled by 2017, and may quadruple this season if 4 AAC teams remain in the final top 25:

Table 1. # of FB Teams Ranked in AP Final Top 20 in Each Season

...........................AAC FB.........................Big East FB
2014*......................1.............................2 (1991)
2015:.......................2 (up 100%).............3 (1992)
2016:.......................1.............................4 (1993) (up 100%)
2017:.......................3 (up 200%).............2 (1994)
2018:.......................2.............................3 (1995)
2019:.current top 25:.4 (up 300%).............3 (1996) (up 50%)

Although Big East FB got off to a quicker head start with the #1 and #11 ranked teams in its first year, both conferences had an average of 2.5 final top 25 teams in the 4th and 5th seasons and are currently on par in the 6th seasons of the two conferences.

UPDATE: The most current top 25 poll includes 4 AAC teams, with a 5th close behind. If there are 4 AAC teams in the final top 25, then the


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As Table 2 indicates, the number of AAC and Big East teams that attained top 25 status at some point in the listed seasons increased by the third season. However, the AAC's rate of increase was steeper:

Table 2. # of FB Teams Ranked in Top 20 at Any Point in Each Season

.........................AAC FB......................Big East FB
2014*....................2............................3 (1991)
2015:....................4 (up 100%)............4 (1993)
2017:....................4............................5 (1994) (up 67%)
2018:....................4............................5 (1995)
2019:....................5.(up 150%). ..........4 (1996) (up 33%)


SUMMARY: Both the Big East and the AAC had rapid increases in the number of conference top 25 teams in their first few seasons. In both conferences, these increases were maintained in seasons 4, 5, and 6.

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*NOTE: AAC's season one (2013) data are not included, due to the departure of Louisville and Rutgers from the AAC in early 2014 , which made the 2013 data incommensurable (not directly comparable, like comparing "apples and oranges"). The 2014 data are from the initial AAC season following the departure of those two teams.

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ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM FB POWER RANKINGS:

Like the Big East FB Conference, which became recognized as a top tier conference and elevated to the Bowl Championship Series 2-4 years after having 3 or more top 25 teams, AAC FB has begun to establish near-parity with the power conferences as a result of being ranked ahead of PAC-12 and ACC FB in 2019.

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And somehow not one of those teams is even ranked now.. The big east was made for tv fiction and those schools are now overpriced punching bags. Glad our dead weight xconn is finally leaving. We've almost washed the big east stench off of us

this is confirmation of a theory I have held for a few years now. Im old enough to remember when the Big East added football - its a very very similar situation, the main difference being the BE added established names to gain credibility. the AAC is having to build credibility the hard way.

3 reasons AAC is no BE

Mia & National Champs
NE tv markets
BB MSG

(11-03-2019 12:41 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  3 reasons AAC is no BE

Mia & National Champs
NE tv markets
BB MSG

100 percent agree.

(11-03-2019 08:35 AM)shere khan Wrote:  And somehow not one of those teams is even ranked now.. The big east ... schools are now overpriced punching bags.

Wow, you're right - - none of the original Big East FB teams are ranked in the top 25 this week. Pitt picked up a couple of votes, but otherwise, nada.

In fact, the only former Big East FB team in the top 25 is Cincinnati, now an AAC team, which joined the Big East years after its inception.

How the mighty Miami, WVa, VT, Pitt, Syracuse, BC, and Louisville have fallen! Though these Universities have received larger media payments, membership in their P5 conferences has been no panacea from a competitiveness standpoint.

In contrast, 3 of the 4 former BE FB schools in the current AAC have had considerable success in the American Conference. Cincy has maintained a highly competitive FB program in the AAC and Temple FB has improved markedly in the AAC, winning an AAC championship. Though USF has struggled this season, the Bulls have had some very competitive seasons in the AAC.

As far as UConn is concerned, the AAC's FB ranking is likely to improve after their departure and may increase another notch if an institution such as Air Force joins the conference. The AAC's northeastern market and BB rankings will take a hit from the loss of their BB teams - especially WBB - but the conference will be better off by no longer bearing the taint of xConn's persistent recruiting violations during the Calhoun and Ollie years.

(11-03-2019 12:41 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  3 reasons AAC is no BE

Mia & National Champs
NE tv markets
BB MSG

That's a "straw man" response, to be truthful, because no one suggested that the AAC has attained the peak level of success that the former BE achieved.

In addition, this thread doesn't compare the TV markets or the conference BB tournaments.

The discussion is focused, in particular, on the similarities and differences between the early years of the AAC and BE FB conferences.

NOTE THE UPDATE IN POST #1, which now reflects the fact that the season-high top 25 trajectory of AAC FB has now increased by 150%, surpassing the BE's trajectory of 67% in their first six seasons.

Even in absolute terms (the number of top 25 teams, rather than the rate of increase in that number), the season-high # of top 25 teams now matches that of Big East FB in their first six seasons.

(11-03-2019 12:41 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  3 reasons AAC is no BE

Mia & National Champs
NE tv markets
BB MSG

No championships were ever accomplished in the Big east... and if you are going to list Miamis National championships, then you also have to list Pitts multiple titles and Syracuses one claimed.... and hell, Rutgers has an 1800s claimed title too.

As far as TV markets... um... Philly, Dallas, , Washington DC, Houston, Tampa and Orlando give us 6 in the top 20. Our markets are every bit as strong as the Big easts.

As far as basketball, yes the Big east was elite, but I wouldnt call Memphis, Cinci, Wichita, Temple and the rest to be all that shabby.

Honestly, the Big east was never respected and neither is the AAC but I actually see improvement here, where I never did in the BE.

Ironic how the Big east was looked at as a crap conference by the "elite" schools and yet when they expanded, the super majority of teams ended up in the same conferences that said they werent good enough.

(11-03-2019 09:35 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(11-03-2019 08:35 AM)shere khan Wrote:  And somehow not one of those teams is even ranked now.. The big east ... schools are now overpriced punching bags.

Wow, you're right - - none of the original Big East FB teams are ranked in the top 25 this week. Pitt picked up a couple of votes, but otherwise, nada.

In fact, the only former Big East FB team in the top 25 is Cincinnati, now an AAC team, which joined the Big East years after its inception.

How the mighty Miami, WVa, VT, Pitt, Syracuse, BC, and Louisville have fallen! Though these Universities have received larger media payments, membership in their P5 conferences has been no panacea from a competitiveness standpoint.

In contrast, 3 of the 4 former BE FB schools in the current AAC have had considerable success in the American Conference. Cincy has maintained a highly competitive FB program in the AAC and Temple FB has improved markedly in the AAC, winning an AAC championship. Though USF has struggled this season, the Bulls have had some very competitive seasons in the AAC.

As far as UConn is concerned, the AAC's FB ranking is likely to improve after their departure and may increase another notch if an institution such as Air Force joins the conference. The AAC's northeastern market and BB rankings will take a hit from the loss of their BB teams - especially WBB - but the conference will be better off by no longer bearing the taint of xConn's persistent recruiting violations during the Calhoun and Ollie years.

Even with the terrible season last year Louisville has the 4th best ACC record since entering the league.

Syracuse and Pitt werent ever that competitive from 2004-2013 anyway, but BC has competed for conference championships/won their division multiple times since leaving the Big East, only recently have they become a perennial 6-7 win team, same with Virginia Tech.

Basically Im saying the fall of the BE is being a bit overblown around here

(11-06-2019 10:16 AM)mtmedlin Wrote:  

(11-03-2019 12:41 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  3 reasons AAC is no BE

Mia & National Champs
NE tv markets
BB MSG

No championships were ever accomplished in the Big east... and if you are going to list Miamis National championships, then you also have to list Pitts multiple titles and Syracuses one claimed.... and hell, Rutgers has an 1800s claimed title too.

As far as TV markets... um... Philly, Dallas, , Washington DC, Houston, Tampa and Orlando give us 6 in the top 20. Our markets are every bit as strong as the Big easts.

As far as basketball, yes the Big east was elite, but I wouldnt call Memphis, Cinci, Wichita, Temple and the rest to be all that shabby.

Honestly, the Big east was never respected and neither is the AAC but I actually see improvement here, where I never did in the BE.

Ironic how the Big east was looked at as a crap conference by the "elite" schools and yet when they expanded, the super majority of teams ended up in the same conferences that said they werent good enough.

Miami was in the Big East for its 1991 and 2001 national Championships. BE teams also played for 2 more 1999 and 2002

The point is trashing everything & calling them garbage doesn't prove to me AAC improving. Im enjoying the renaissance. AAC AAC AAC

(11-06-2019 10:16 AM)mtmedlin Wrote:  As far as TV markets...Philly, Dallas, , Washington DC, Houston, Tampa and Orlando give us 6 in the top 20. Our markets are every bit as strong as the Big Easts.

As far as basketball, yes the Big east was elite, but I wouldnt call Memphis, Cinci, Wichita, Temple and the rest to be all that shabby.

Honestly, the Big East (FB) was never respected and neither is the AAC but I actually see improvement here, where I never did in the BE.

By their sixth or seventh season, the Big East was so successful that it was considered the equivalent of a current Power Conference, as evidenced by their classification as a BCS conference. There was a broad national consensus from then on that the Big East was one of the top 5 or 6 FBS level conferences.

True, the SEC, Big Ten, and Big-12 tended to be the perennial FB powerhouse conferences, but the BE FB conference certainly achieved parity with the ACC and Pac-10/12 by 2001, if not earlier. The top BE teams also had their share of success against many of the teams in the top 3 FB conferences

As the Tables in the original post above make clear, the BE FB Conference averaged ~4 teams in the mid-season top 25 rankings and also had teams in the final top 25 rankings in each of its first 6 seasons. Their conference maintained its status as one of the upper tier conferences until ~2012, the transitional BE/AAC season (2012 members: Cincy, Louisville, South Florida, UConn, Temple, Rutgers; Syracuse & Pitt's final BE season).

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On the separate topic of the development of AAC basketball vis a vis the first 6 years of Big East basketball (1979-1985), I definitely agree that the AAC's development as a basketball conference hasn't been as dramatic as the original Big East's was, because they started out with many of the top eastern and national basketball power teams. The original BE averaged 4+ NCAA teams over its first six seasons (peak # of NCAA teams: 6). In comparison, the AAC has averaged 3 NCAA teams since its inception (peak # of NCAA teams: 4).

On the plus side, the AAC has had a NCAA BB Champion, numerous mid-season top 25 teams, and a few final top 25 teams since its inception. More importantly, the AAC moved ahead of the P5 PAC-12 last season in both the computer rankings and # of NCAA teams, demonstrating increasing parity with the top conferences. The AAC also finished very close (nearly tied) behind the Big East conference in the computer rankings and sent the same number of teams to the NCAA tournament that the BE did.

(11-03-2019 08:35 AM)shere khan Wrote:  And somehow not one of those teams is even ranked now.. The big east was made for tv fiction and those schools are now overpriced punching bags. Glad our dead weight xconn is finally leaving. We've almost washed the big east stench off of us

This man types wisdom.

(11-06-2019 09:27 PM)8BitPirate Wrote:  

(11-03-2019 08:35 AM)shere khan Wrote:  And somehow not one of those teams is even ranked now.. The big east was made for tv fiction and those schools are now overpriced punching bags.

This man types wisdom.

The current ranking of the original BE FB teams is an interesting topic in its own right, but their current rankings have nothing to do with the success of BE FB during its formative years (the topic of this thread).

The fact that they have struggled since leaving the Big East doesn't diminish their success when they were in the Big East in any way. Miami was a consensus football power for years and won National Championship while in the BE by winning FB games against OOC and conference opponents. Virginia Tech was a national power because they had their share of OOC success against quality FB programs. Pitt and Louisville and Syracuse all earned their national rankings the same way that all the other top 25 teams in the country did.

----------------------------

If you want to discuss the fall of the original BE FB powers, that would be a great topic for another thread.

It seems likely that switching conferences and playing in different regions had a disruptive impact on some of the old BE FB programs. with various impacts, such as changing their recruiting footprints and regional audiences. Recruits and fans who were jazzed at playing their regional rivals might not have been so jazzed about playing in the Carolinas.

The better original BE teams that had been big fishes in a small pond were scooped out of their pond and plopped into a bigger pond with some bigger fish (ACC: Fla St, Clemson) or into a slightly bigger pond (B12) with several bigger fish (Oklahoma, Texas, OK St., Baylor).

In addition, teams such as West Virginia had to go through a major transition in order to compete in the much more physical Big-12 conference, which no doubt is much more competitive top-to-bottom than the BE was with cupcakes such as Rutgers and UConn.

Teams like VT, Pitt, Syracuse, Miami, & BC entered the ACC, which had two dominant FB powers, Florida State & Clemson, which made it much harder for the former BE teams to make their way into the top 25.