American Conference Commish Lauds His League's Standing, Points to Playoffs
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On Friday, Tulane will play host to North Texas for the American Athletic Conference trophy in football. Kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. in Yulman Stadium in Uptown.
In a video conference call with the media this week, American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti shared his thoughts ahead of the league championship game. It was a chance for the AAC commish to do a little chest pumping on behalf of his fifteen member universities.
"We just have a phenomenal brand of football," Pernetti bragged to the media. "It's a tough-ass league. It's just a gritty football league. I think that's (part) of what made it so deep and so challenging this year.
"We are one of four FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) conferences that has at least four teams with nine or more wins," After ticking off those squads, North Texas, Tulane, Navy, and South Florida, Pernetti continued. "When your top four (teams) are a combined 39-and-8, I think this speaks to how tough this league is, how competitively deep we were.
"I think this (Friday's contest between Tulane and North Texas) is higher profile game than the American has had in the past," he said comparing the previous trophy contests to this year's, "and I think it's one of the highest profiles of all the championship games."
To wit, Pernetti made his own predictions about the victor Friday night.
"I have no doubt in my mind," he told the media, "the winner Friday night will be in the College Football Playoffs. The data speaks for itself. I have faith in the (CFP) committee. I think they're looking at the right information, and I think this game, in all respects, is for a slot in the CFP this year."
Pernetti addressed the elephant in the room: four American head football coaches are moving out of the league into Power 4 jobs, and he said this doesn't surprise him.
"I had my eyes wide open coming in and expected this," Pernetti said referring to when he was hired in April, 2024. "When other programs come knocking to speak to leadership and head coaches in the American, we expect that. This league is overflowing with talented people, from administration, to coaches, to student athletes, and I think we have the ingredients that a lot of programs around America are looking for. As bittersweet as it is to see some of them move forward, I couldn't be happier for the four coaches who are moving on to new jobs."
What concerns Pernetti is the way the NCAA calendar is set up.
"To the American, this begs a bigger issue about the calendar," said Pernetti, "and what is the right timing for all this stuff (such as coach movement, signing day, and transfer portal dates), in order to make sure we preserve and protect the integrity of the post season. I'm sure that is something that is going to be continued to be discussed amongst the commissioners so we can evolve in a way that makes the system more productive for everyone."
Kickoff Friday night for the American Conference championship between Tulane and North Texas is set for 7:00 p.m. in Yulman Stadium. Tickets for the game are available here.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.