Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell stands on the field during an NCAA football intrasquad scrimmage, Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Cincinnati. The sixth-year Cincinnati coach is tasked with following up a historic 2021 season that saw the Bearcats become the first team outside a Power Five conference to crack the College Football Playoff. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster, File)
The Big 12 is skimming the cream off the top of the American Athletic Conference next season, shifting the landscape for a second-tier conference that has struggled for a measure of national respectability.
