AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco yesterday said that his conference "will not accept the status quo" whereby the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Pac-12 are "perceived to be on a different level," according to Pat Eaton-Robb of the AP. Speaking during the AAC's annual football media days in Newport, R.I., Aresco called his conference a “challenger brand.” Aresco: “If we look and act like the so-called Power Five, we will be in the conversation and eventually ‘Power Six’ will enter the media and public lexicon and perceptions." Aresco acknowledged that the AAC "cannot make the NCAA give it the level of autonomy in rulemaking it has bestowed on the Power Five." He noted that the AAC "already has joined the Power Five in instituting reforms such as full cost-of-attendance scholarships and strict concussion protocols." But "not everyone believes the league can keep pace." UCF football coach and interim AD George O'Leary said, “We obviously can’t sustain. When you are not getting a $35 million check, it’s hard to have that cost of attendance and keep up with everything" (AP, 8/4). Aresco said of the conference's first two years, "We faced some early adversity. But we never quit. There's no quit in this conference, we're going to fight." In Connecticut, Chip Malafronte notes Aresco yesterday "expanded upon his idea of the AAC continuing to fight." One of his examples was a conference that will "continue to schedule games against top programs." But the key is "finding ways to win those games." On the whole, the AAC last year "was 4-22 against the Power Five" (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 8/5). In Hartford, Jeff Jacobs writes defiance "always sounds good in August." But football "fills the college bank vault," and as the Power Five conferences "fill their vaults higher and higher, the American scraps." There is "only one thing" for the AAC to do. Jacobs: "Just win, baby. Quit talking. Start winning" (HARTFORD COURANT, 8/5).
