The American Athletic Conference remains the league to beat in the race for the access-bowl bid for the New Year's Six. The American has earned the bid in each of the past three years, with two coming from Central Florida, and four of the past five.
The conference champion will have company from the best team from the Mountain West Conference, which looks once again to be Boise State, or perhaps the random winner of Conference USA, the Sun Belt or the Mid-American Conference — such as Western Michigan in P.J. Fleck's last season or Appalachian State a year ago.