AAC Media Days: Commissioner Mike Aresco embraced impending 12-team CFP format

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bluntness, on occasion, can be the validation for proper communication.

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco was blunt Tuesday morning during his opening press conference to commence Day 2 of the 2023 AAC Football Media Days, communicating his stiff ideology that his conference remains the premier Group of Five group in college football.

“Make no mistake of the significant accomplishments of our teams,” Aresco said to the media. “The American (Athletic Conference) being a force and constantly knocking on the (College Football) Playoff door.”

Of course, Aresco was quick to shed light on Cincinnati’s renowned run to the 2021 College Football Playoff, where the Bearcats made history in becoming the first Group of Five program to attain a CFP bid.

Simultaneously, Aresco pointed out multiple instances in which the success of a Group of Five program may have been undermined.

Prior to its appearance in the College Football Playoffs, Cincinnati posted a 9-0 2020 record, featuring ranked wins over Army, SMU and Tulsa in the AAC title game.

The result? A No. 8 ranking and a clash with No. 9 Georgie in the Peach Bowl, a game that the Bearcats led for most of before the Bulldog’s walk-off field goal. Not to mention, the majority of that same Georgia roster would win the 2021 CFP National Championship.

And in spite of UCF’s historic 25-game winning streak, spanning from 2017-18 — which featured two undefeated regular seasons and AAC titles — the Knights were void of a CFP appearance in both respective seasons.

The purported solution? In September 2022, the 11-member CFP Board of voted unanimously to approve a proposed 12-team format and have it implement it no later than 2026. And just months later, the format is set to commence in the 2025 season.

The impending playoff model is based on a 6-6 model, orchestrated by SMU President Gerald Turner — who was unavailable to comment on the matter on Tuesday — awarding automatic CFP bids to the highest-ranked six conference champions.

Of course, five of those six automatic bids will be occupied by each Power Five champion, leaving the sixth to the highest-ranked Group of Five titleholder. The latter six spots will be given to the remaining highest-ranked six non-conference champions.

So, which non-Power Five conference holds the best chance of attaining that other bid? Well, since College Football Playoff’s inaugural season in 2014, the AAC has produced the highest-ranked Go5 team in seven of its nine years in existence.

“If there were more teams in the mix, it would be a good thing overall for college football,” said former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, a catalyst in creating the 12-team model, said in January 2022. “We don’t need the same teams in it all the time. It diminishes interest in the event on a national basis.”

Aresco continued with UCF’s 11-1 regular season record in 2013, where the Knights captured a win over Penn State in Happy Valley and fell inches short of an upset bid at home over No. 12 South Carolina one week later. Albeit during the pre-conference title game era (2013-14), the Knights were still well below a top 10 ranking heading into bowl season. They checked in at No. 15 ahead of their eventual 52-42 Fiesta Bowl win over No. 6 Baylor.

“Had the 12-team 6-6 playoff model existed from 2013 onward, we would have been in it eight times in (nine) years,” Aresco said. “It’s simply the truth.”

And while the lust for parity in college football is increasingly high, Aresco plans to continue fighting for an end to “the Power Five” narrative, where certain media outlets supposedly shed the spotlight primarily on five particular conferences.

Aresco already brought an end to the AAC’s self-proclaimed “Power Six” status ahead of the 2023 regular season. Now, he said he hopes for the same to transpire for other biases within the sport’s mainstream market.

“It is hard to understand how some in the media have continued to call us a non-power or mid-major conference, and nothing could be further from the truth,” Aresco said. “Our schools have hosted four ESPN College Gamedays. Our players have won numerous national awards such as the Outland, Trophy, and the Nagurski Award and Bednarik Awards, among others. Mid-major (programs) simply do not do that, and to call such powerful performances non-power is utterly silly. Major media outlets have recognized our success.

“We will continue to upset the Power Five narrative, we will continue, as an ESPN announcer said, to provide rocket fuel to our members. We will continue, as a P5 Commissioner mentioned to me, will our conference to greatness. All credit goes to our gritty teams and outstanding coaches and administrators, who day after day put in their sweat equity, displayed their fearless determination, and against all odds, took down the best of the best. I did not play a down, but I am proud to give voice to these brilliant accomplishments and will continue to do so.”