We have played several AAC teams over the last 6 or 7 seasons. Most of those games have been fun and exciting. Come-from-behind wins against Houston, ECU, and Cincinnati. Overtime games against UCF and Memphis. UConn is the only AAC opponent that we easily handled.

Also, it gets the team to Texas, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, etc. Those are locations that make sense for a national fan base and as part of a national schedule. However, I would convince the AAC to go to 14 teams with 3 western teams and convince Boise State and SDSU to make the move with us. That gives us regional games in Idaho and California, again, for our national fan base and schedule. 

I actually like the front loaded schedules because I love the weather in Provo in September and the first half of October. With 4 OOC games, and a ton of quality series with P5 opponents already scheduled, we could likely keep 4 quality P5 opponents in the OOC portion of the schedule. Personally, I would keep Utah, any series with a P5 game scheduled in October or November (Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, USC, Stanford, etc.) and the P5 games in Provo that are the back-end of series where we have already played at the P5 location (ie, '20 Michigan St., '23 Tennessee, Arizona, etc.). Always finish the season in warm-weather California.

With Boise State, SDSU, Houston, Memphis, SMU, and Tulsa (and 2 other AAC East teams, like UCF, Cincinnati, or Navy) plus 4 P5 opponents, we could have some very strong schedules, with a good balance of home and away games all over the country. 

I believe the expanded AAC could deliver additional bowl ties in California against the PAC 12 and in Texas against the Big 12. When you include the eastern bowl games against the ACC and SEC, the expanded AAC's bowl lineup becomes extremely attractive. Not to mention actuall access to the Fiesta, Cotton and Peach bowls on the biggest stage! There is absolutely no way BYU could ever come close to these types of bowl options on our own. 

Personally, I would do everything we could to make the move one for ALL SPORTS....and, I would beg, borrow, and do other honor-code friendly things to get Gonzaga and perhaps Saint Mary's involved in the move. For Olympic sports, we could then focus on annual home-away series with Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, Boise State, and SDSU, and more Wichita, Tulsa, Houston, and SMU and less ECU, UCF, USF, and Temple. No more than a single 2-game eastern road trip each year. The size of the conference and the regional scheduling limits the travel and associated costs. 

The expanded AAC would be a good home for football, with tremendous post-season opportunities - way better than independence. And, BYU would have a fantastic basketball schedule in a high-major conference, with better access to at large NCAA tournament bids.