Much was made when the American Athletic Conference 2014 football schedule was released. We at Cincy on the Prowl lambasted the AAC front office for, among other things, leaving a matchup between last year’s conference champion Central Florida and this year’s title favorite Cincinnati off the schedule.
That certainly was frustrating. Logically, pairing two of the better teams provides excitement for both fan bases and significant for the growth of the conference, as slotting these teams would yield more attractive TV slots. But the AAC refused to deviate from their plans.
In hindsight, they might have been on to something.
With one week left in the regular season, a sizable rift between the conference’s best and worst teams has been established, with five decisively at the top and six in the basement. It doesn’t get more apparent than when you look at the AAC standings.
AAC Standings week 14.
Of those five teams at the top, their strength of schedule within the conference seems to be fairly even. You can argue until you’re blue in the face about how good Memphis is compared to Cincinnati compared to East Carolina. But by and large the teams at the top have been beating each other up.
- Memphis: Games v. top 5 – 2
- Cincinnati: 3
- Central Florida: 2
- East Carolina: 2
- Houston: 3
It’s not like Memphis has played a slate exclusively filled with the likes of Tulane, Tulsa, and SMU whereas Cincinnati had to take on Memphis, UCF, East Carolina, and Houston. Sure Memphis missed both the Pirates and Knights but the Tigers and Bearcats played each other and both have Houston, SMU, USF, and UConn on the docket. UC probably had the slightly tougher slate but overall the differences are minimal.
So it seems the folks in the AAC’s front office knew what they were doing, as shocking as that sounds. Or Justin Fuente’s incredible rebuilding job at Memphis made them look like geniuses. Either way, in the end it worked out for the better even though Cincinnati fans will have to wait until 2015 to see their Bearcats play Central Florida.
As long as UC brings home that AAC trophy next Saturday, that is.