NEWPORT, R.I. -- Everybody in the American Athletic Conference is prepared for the storm. Publicly, nobody is panicking.The AAC held its annual gathering in New England to eat lobster, kick off its fourth football season and start talking about what happens if the conference loses members to Big 12 expansion.I cannot stand here this morning and ignore the recent Big 12 news regarding realignment, Commissioner Mike Aresco said during his state of the conference address Tuesday. Although I do want to address it at the outset, Im not going to dwell on it.Coming off a successful 2015 on the field that included 10 victories against Power Five teams and four teams ranked in the Top 25 at some point, the conference is again facing uncertainty. While Aresco likes to tout the American as the equal of a Power Five league -- he uses the term Power Six -- the fact is there is still a wide gap in revenue and prestige between the AAC and high-resource conferences.The Big 12 offers a chance for two or maybe even four schools access to the pot of gold that comes with Power Five inclusion. And most of the 12 schools in the American have expressed interest either publicly or privately in joining. There are no secrets here.I think its pretty evident whos been maneuvering, but we respect each other enough to not put each other on the spot, said East Carolina athletic director Jeff Compher, who is the chairman of the American ADs group.Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said: Were committed to the present right now. I think that keeps us balanced.Aresco met with AAC athletic directors in Rhode Island over the last three days. He said the meetings were productive and all schools participated. While the public nature of the Big 12s exploration of expansion is not ideal, Aresco said, he is pleased with the transparency of his members.I think weve set a tone that we are going to approach this in a workman like fashion, Aresco said in an interview with the AP. Were not going to be morose. Were not going to be acting like woe is me. Just the opposite of that. This just means there is work to be done.Aresco said contingency plans to deal with possible departures have been discussed. He would not give details, but said the league has considered that it could lose as many as four members, dropping membership to eight.All things considered I think wed like to be back at 12 if we lose some schools because it gives you more (television) inventory, Aresco said. The American is halfway through a six-year television deal with ESPN.There is only a handful of schools that I think would be attractive to us. What we dont want to do is risk the progress weve made, put it in jeopardy. We dont want to do anything to dilute our brand in any way. Could we stay at 10? If it makes more sense, absolutely. Especially in the short-term. We can play a championship game at 10.Aresco said he has not had an extensive conversation with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby about the Big 12s plans, but they did talk. Aresco said he is comfortable that he will be kept in the loop as the Big 12s plans come into focus. Aresco said Bowlsby did not lay out a timetable other than to say the Big 12 hoped to work quickly.Aresco took over as commissioner in 2012 when the American was still the Big East. The conference was falling apart during that round of realignment. Ultimately, defections forced the conference into a near-complete makeover and what emerged was the American Athletic Conference. Aresco said having gone through the Big Easts downfall will help the American get through this.This is not going to be fun. Its not going to be easy, Aresco said. We know we had to rebuild three years ago. I think it was a dire situation then. Its probably less so now but that doesnt mean that there wont be specific challenges. Were trying to be prepared.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP Cheap Jordan 11 Low . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. Cheap Jordan 11 2019 . The Masters champion and winner of last weeks Australian PGA has a three-round total of 14-under 199 at Royal Melbourne. "Im in a really good position for tomorrow," Scott said. http://www.cheapairjordan11.com/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Cheap Jordan 11 Free Shipping . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Air Jordan 11 Retro Low Cheap .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. HOUSTON -- Tom Herman began his media conference on the Monday after the Cougars 33-23 defeat of Oklahoma with a reference to the physical mismatches that his team might confront when it takes the field. Asked later to elaborate, Herman said the Cougars are smaller than half the teams in the Power 5.Did you see those running backs? he asked, referring to the Sooners Samaje Perine?(5-10, 235) and Joe Mixon (6-1, 226). Oh my! Are they not gorgeous human beings?And yet the Cougars beat Oklahoma the same way they have won 14 of 15 games under Herman. They are physical, a polite way of saying they hit their opponents in the mouth. Then they line up and do it again. It doesnt matter how many five-star recruits the Cougars see on the other side of the line.Turn on the Florida State film, Herman said, referring to Houstons 38-24 victory in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl last season.We train, hopefully harder than anybody in the country, Herman said. I dont have any metrics that say we do. Our goal is, train harder and more physical than any program in the country. ...?We like to think that we practice so hard that the games are easy.Herman, one of the sports youngest head coaches, has planted himself in its oldest verities. If you listen closely enough to his words, you might hear the mumble of Bear Bryant. But America doesnt celebrate smashmouth football quite the way it did when Woody Hayes stalked the sideline.The specter of CTE looms over the sport. Youth participation is declining because parents are scared. NFL players in the primes of their careers are walking away from the game. The league has curtailed contact in the offseason. Thud practices, where players hit but dont take anyone to the ground, are as common in college football as water breaks.Herman has little use for thud.I dont think you can ask anybody in any walk of life to do anything at a championship level without doing it over and over and over and over and over again in preparation, he said.Herman said he is frustrated by the beating that football has taken in the public discourse.When the President of the United States comes out and says, If I had boys, I wouldnt let them play tackle football, thats a big punch to the gut for our sport, Herman said.Herman is convinced that fewer kids in Pop Warner guarantees a diminished quality of play in college and pro football down the road.Yet, he is savvy enough to understand the political volatility of advocating for the benefits of contact at a time when football is fighting for its reputation as a safe sport.I hope youre not going to make me out to be this meatgrinder that doesnt care about kids safety, Herman saidd.dddddddddddd We do. You go to Iowa and Alabama and Stanford, Im sure youre going to find the same amount of physicality at those places [as] Ohio State. Im not a butcher. I dont want you to make me out to be some heathen butcher.Equipment has made the game safer. So have rules changes. Herman is all for them. If research shows that the kickoff should be eliminated, you wont hear a squawk out of him. Herman is teaching the rugby-style tackle advocated by Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.Yet the players who made it through August -- and, middle linebacker Matt Adams said, not all of them do -- receive a certificate congratulating them for enduring the hardest fall camp in college football. The Cougars suffered six concussions during preseason practice, which Herman said is within the range of what happens elsewhere.Asked to describe the physical nature of Cougar practices, Adams said, Its like beating your head against a wall for two and a half hours. The Cougars Tuesday practice is referred to inside the football building as Bloody Tuesday.That means theyll get after it, said strength coach Yancy McKnight, whose job it is to prepare the Cougars for what Herman demands of them. I know this: The first day we go full pads and we go to inside drill ....it is like game reps. It is nasty. It is physical. Its intense. Its as intense as any place Ive ever been at.That is how a team overcomes a physical mismatch.Measurable-wise, we wont be an Alabama or a Clemson, so theyll try to take advantage of that, safety Khalil Williams said. Thats when our physicality and training comes into play, and you take over.On the Sooners first snap of the second quarter Saturday, Perine caught a swing pass and turned upfield. Sophomore safety Garrett Davis, all 6-1, 200 pounds of him, gives up 35 pounds to Perine. Davis raced forward and launched himself into Perines body. Perines left shoulder, already banged up, took the brunt of the hit, and he didnt play much after that.Here a guy is, right at 200 pounds, a safety coming up and he aint going at the ankles, McKnight said. Hes going for the torso. That was a big momentum swing for our guys. At least from our sideline, you could feel a little different.Asked if football has to be coached the way he coaches, Herman said, I dont know that it has to, but its the one proven way so far.He is convinced that the work his players have done more than levels the playing field against the Oklahomas and Florida States and their five-star recruits.Said Herman: Its our edge. 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