AAC
Likely Ranking: 3rd
Biggest Competition: UCF
The AAC was saved for last because it is where most of the fan attention is going with rumors of interest between the AAC and BYU.
Since UCF had their magical stretch of 25 straight wins, this conference has been the top G5 conference in the nation and it isn’t really debatable. The AAC has three, maybe even four teams that would be favored to win in every other conference with Cincinnati, UCF, Tulsa and Memphis all bringing back great teams this year.
This conference would be a great fit for BYU, and the Cougars would immediately begin to compete for, but not be favored to win conference championships. Given this conference is already so big, the Cougars would likely only play two, maybe three of the top tier teams. Aside form the top tier of teams, I really don’t see BYU losing to any other team in the conference.
Unfortunately, I believe that the top five teams would all go 2-3 or 3-2 against each other meaning that it really does depend on who beats who as far as who makes it to a Conference Championship game. Could that be BYU? Sure, but the winner would ultimately probably be Cincinnati, who I believe will be a top five team this year.