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BYU football: Should the Cougars consider joining the AAC?

By Nathan Cunningham

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: (L to R) Kevin White, director of athletics at Duke University, Bernard Muir, director of athletics at Stanford University, and Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, listen as committee chairman Mark Hollis (not pictured) speaks as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: (L to R) Kevin White, director of athletics at Duke University, Bernard Muir, director of athletics at Stanford University, and Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, listen as committee chairman Mark Hollis (not pictured) speaks as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /
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A mixture of a down on-field product and a bevy of political issues may very well keep BYU football from a Power Five conference. But is the AAC a bad option?

For BYU football, a lot hinges on the next five years or so.

If the Cougars play well and make some noise nationally, they may be able to secure a P5 invite when conferences realign.

But if that invite doesn’t happen, is it the end of the world for BYU football?

Well, monetarily it may already be too late. But if funding changes, then things will more than likely be fine. However, there are still other options on the table for BYU.

The best among them might be the American Athletic Conference.

At face value, that may seem like a step down from independence. Financially, I don’t know if the AAC provides access to more cash, but from a football standpoint it would be tough to dismiss the notion of the Cougars in the AAC.

In fact, adding both BYU football and Boise State would make for a pretty fun conference.

Currently, the divisions look as follows:

American East

UCF, South Florida, Temple, Cincinnati, Connecticut, ECU

American West

Memphis, Houston, Navy, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa

Adding the Cougars and Broncos to this mix would not only stretch the influence of the AAC into the west, but it would add in a viable rivalry pair to the conference.

Not to mention BYU already has history with Memphis (imagine the video packages featuring the brawl), Houston (all those shoot outs) and SMU (Miracle Bowl).

Plus, to add them both, there’s a fairly easy fix.

Moving Navy from the American West to the American East would allow BYU and Boise State to slide into the West division. That also gives the Cougars yearly meetings with Memphis, Houston and SMU.

I know that, for many fans, it’s P5 or bust. But there’s plenty of good football out there. There are plenty of opportunities for conference titles, NY6 bowls and exposure.

There’s really no difference from what’s happening as an Independent. If you win games, you end up on TV. If you don’t, you’re not on. But is a 9PM MT kick on CBS Sports Network or ESPNU all that great?

I suppose, if you consider being on TV is always better than not being on TV, you wouldn’t really be incorrect.

But in 2019, the AAC’s TV contract expires. And after UCF completed a magical 13-0 season, one would imagine ESPN will try to get more eyes on the product.

Will it happen? Probably not. However, one can’t deny that BYU football in the AAC would provide a ton of intrigue (not to mention the opportunity to win a conference title). It certainly isn’t the P5 offer Cougar Nation is hoping for – but rest assured it’s a quality option that will likely be on the table should the Cougars want or need it.

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