These are the P5 teams on our future schedules:
USC
Tennessee
Mich St
Az St
Minnesota
Missouri
Stanford
Arizona
Baylor
Washington St
Virginia
Oregon
Arkansas
VA Tech
NC State
How many of those games do you honestly think we play if we have to play ~8 AAC conference games per year?
An Independent schedule isn't as good as a true P5 schedule, but it's MUCH better than an AAC schedule. There would be 1 or 2 AAC conference games per year that MIGHT move the needle as much as any one of those P5 games.