For a league that was maligned as the leftovers and mismatched parts of realignment, the American Athletic Conference has experienced some pretty significant highs in its 2 1/2 seasons of existence, including Central Florida's Fiesta Bowl victory in 2013 and Connecticut’s basketball national title in 2014.

But Sunday was maybe the most gratifying yet for Commissioner Mike Aresco, as three teams from his conference landed in the Amway Coaches Poll led by Memphis at No. 17, Houston at No. 22 and Temple at No. 24.

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“I’ve always been optimistic, and some people may have been skeptical and that's understandable,” Aresco told Paste BN Sports. “But I always thought we had a really good group of coaches and a great group of administrators who would hire good coaches even if we lost some. They’re really building sustainable programs. This is not the Memphis of 10 or 20 years. This isn’t the Temple of 10 or 20 years ago. They’re really trying hard to sustain it. We have big markets and brands people know and our TV deal that has given us exposure.”

Aresco, who was in Memphis to watch the Tigers’ 37-24 victory against Ole Miss on Saturday, said it was “maybe our most significant win ever” because it will change the perception of the league for the second half of the season.

Memphis beat the team that beat Alabama, and yet with games coming up against Navy (Nov. 7), at Houston (Nov. 14) and at Temple (Nov. 21), the 6-0 Tigers are not even a lock to win their division much less the conference title and the spot in a New Year's Six bowl game that goes to the highest-ranked champion among the so-called “Group of Five” conferences.

At the same time, if Memphis were to run the table, it would potentially have multiple wins against top-25 teams and at least spark a conversation (a la Boise State from a few years ago) about consideration for the College Football Playoff.

“The UCF win in the Fiesta Bowl was important and helped establish immediate credibility but this was maybe our most significant win ever based on where we are now,” Aresco said. “Because now we’ve vaulted more into the public and media perception and I thought if our teams kept winning it would be just a matter of time. It's gratifying.

“The best thing about winning nonconference games is that your conference games mean more. Those games get more respect. We have big matchups within the conference that will be seen.”

Since its formation out of the chaos of the old Big East and losing Louisville to the ACC and Rutgers to the Big Ten, the American has been trying to position itself as unique in the dynamic between the Power 5 conferences and the rest of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

This year, the American is 18-16 overall against FBS competition with a few more non-conference games still to play. But more notable is the fact that AAC teams are a combined 10-1 against the Mountain West, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference and the Sun Belt.

The league is 4-3 against the ACC including Cincinnati’s win against Miami, Houston’s win at Louisville and East Carolina beating Virginia Tech. (Two of the three losses belong to struggling Tulane). Temple also scored a massive early victory against Penn State.

It would appear the AAC, at least for the time being, has separated itself from the other Group of Five conferences.

“I’ve never wanted to make it about the Group of Five,” Aresco said. “Our sights have been set on trying to be in the conversation with the other five and this year we’ve got seven wins against them now and we’ve beaten a ranked team and a couple teams that might be ranked by the end of the season so we’ve done that part of it. It’s also important for us to win against the Group of 5 because we’re competing against them for that New Year’s Day slot. It’s all come together for us. We’ve had some really significant eye-opening wins that shows some strength throughout the conference.”

The interesting thing will be to see how the College Football Playoff selection committee views these teams, given the emphasis on strength of schedule.

The first CFP rankings will come Nov. 3, and barring a major upset Memphis would be 8-0 and potentially knocking on the door of the top 10 of the polls. But will the committee see it that way?

“Last year when we had a chance to talk after the season, the committee made it clear they admired how we challenged ourselves with the tough schedules we took on,” Aresco said. “Last year we came up a little short because we didn’t win enough non-conference games. This year I’m pleased we have undefeated teams at this point. I felt if we had undefeated teams and significant non-conference wins they would treat us fairly and I think they will.”

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