The AAC, with its markets and bball prowess along with improving football play, could very well emerge as a power conference once/if the BIG12 disbands and some of those schools end up in the AAC. It is greater than all the other G5s by far. There are way too many variables to pretend that it is going to hurt us at this point. Things could change in any number of ways, and if we are in the AAC and doing well, and winning lots of games and conference championships, we would arguably be in a better position than in the no man's land we are in right now. I don't see how being mostly irrelevant and in no man's land right now, with no conference title to play for, and consistent 8-10 win seasons is viewed more positively other than in your mind (and possibly others, not saying its a dumb opinion, just that I don't see a majority of folks agreeing with you).

Conference Champ of an up and coming conference that is head and shoulders above all the other G5s is greater than a 10-3 or 9-4 independent that is a solid team IMO.