especially with the contracts we already have in place for the next 10 years.

Year 1: Michigan State, Missouri, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Houston, San Diego State

Year 2: Utah, South Florida, SMU, Memphis, Virginia, Boise State

Year 3: Baylor, Arkansas, East Carolina, Tulsa, San Diego State, Houston

Year 4: Tennessee, Utah, Navy, Memphis, SMU, Boise State 

* AAC conference games in Italics (assumes AAC goes to 14 with BYU, Boise State, and SDSU; Tulane and Navy move to the East).

Those are pretty good home schedules. You replace the likes of Arizona State and Utah State for Memphis, Houston, and San Diego State. And, trade out the Wyoming, Liberty, Georgia Southern, and FCS type opponents for SMU and Tulsa, as conference games. That's an upgrade.

Plus, the road schedules could still include:

Year 1: Utah, Boise State, Stanford, SMU, Memphis, Temple

Year 2: Arizona (in Vegas), UCF, Tulsa, Houston, San Diego State, USC

Year 3: Utah, Tulane, SMU, Memphis, Boise State, Stanford

Year 4: Virginia, Navy, Tulsa, Houston, San Diego State, USC

Those are pretty good schedules.

And, the AAC would bring much better bowl options - including real access to the Fiesta, Cotton and Peach bowls- and a conference championship opportunity and conference comraderie.