recent years - USF, UCF, Houston, Navy, Tulsa, even Temple (3-4 years ago) have almost all had close to or undefeated seasons. Add BYU, USU, a BSU added to that mix, and that's a core of 9 solid teams to compete against. ECU, Memphis, and Cinci have all also had some good runs, and are frequently bowl teams. Even the lower tier of the AAC - including SMU, Tulane, et al are far better competition than the Liberty, UMass, SUU, and Portland state's of the world. They are established division 1 programs with storied histories that could easily move back in to the top tier with the right coach.

People talk about the USC game as a "big" game, and although they're a storied program, they haven't been that stellar since the Sarkisian years, so it puts them at a similar level as some other formerly storied programs. Stanford has been up and down the last 4-6 years, and UVA has barely sniffed the top 25. The fact is, the top 9 teams in a re-vamped AAC could challenge for P5 inclusion, and BYU could still schedule 3 other big time opponents every year. Not sure anyone wants more than 3 Alabama / Ohio St / Clemson / Auburn / Michigan / Oklahoma type teams on the schedule any given year anyway - 3 is plenty to show your stuff, if you play well, and combine that with 9 other really solid teams, and it beats the crap out of 6 meaningless games to end every season just to get bowl eligible.