"Plan B" ? | The Boneyard

"Plan B" ?

"If the UConn is jilted by the Big 12, should they leave the AAC, rejoin the Big East?

  • yes

    Votes: 88 44.4%
  • no

    Votes: 110 55.6%

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In your opinion, is the below proposal which was reported in the Manchester Journal Inquirer a credible "Plan B" ?

Report: Big East is UConn's Plan B if Big 12 bid fails

"If the UConn is jilted by the Big 12, should they leave the American Athletic Conference, rejoin their former Catholic school foes in the reconstituted Big East for basketball and accept second-class FBS football status in another league?

Boston-based sportswriter Mark Blaudschun reported Monday on his fledgling pay-to-view website, "it seems more and more likely that UConn WILL NOT be part of the American Athletic Conference" after the Big 12 expansion process shakes out. Blaudschun used the capital letters for emphasis.

Citing "people familiar with the situation", Blaudschun reported UConn "does not want to return to the status quo" if the Big 12 doesn't invite the Huskies and suggested the Big East as a home for UConn's "non-football varsity sports".
 
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UConn Dan

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I don't think this is yes or no. Need to know what team(s) left AAC for Big 12 and where football goes as well.

If say only Houston leaves, then no.
If Cinci and Memphis leave and the AAC says we'll take you as football only, then yes.
 

MattMang23

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I don't think this is yes or no. Need to know what team(s) left AAC for Big 12 and where football goes as well.

If say only Houston leaves, then no.
If Cinci and Memphis leave and the AAC says we'll take you as football only, then yes.

Yes and to add to that, I have a sneaking suspicion Navy won't be long for the AAC if a raid of 2-3+ teams comes. There was a reason they never joined a league like C-USA in the past when, presumably, they could have.
 
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I've been thinking a lot about this.

For the last 3 years I've been firmly entrenched in the "AAC over Big East" camp. Mainly because leaving The American as it's constituted today is completely suicidal for our football program.

However, if The American loses 2 or more schools to the Big 12, I'm not so sure that I can justify staying because honestly I don't think it's the best place for UConn sports, football included.

For starters, I said this in an earlier thread, but if The American loses Cincy and Houston, you can't necessarily make the case that it's the best of the G5 conferences anymore. You'd be left with two manic, directional Florida schools who in any given year can be solid or an absolute dumpster fire, a Navy program that is consistently good but never likely to be elite and Memphis and Temple who have had one decent season in the last half century each. You can't tell me that the MWC (especially if somehow they bring BYU back into the fold) isn't a better conference and frankly, I would even say that the MAC in recent years top to bottom could be as good as the American at that point.

From a basketball perspective this is even more terrifying. We lose the closest thing we have to a rival in Cincy, are left with a Temple team that hasn't been out of the opening weekend since George W. Bush's first two months in office, Larry Brown-less SMU and Josh Pastner-less Memphis. I mean this is an absolute horror show of a basketball conference.

So if UConn is looking at an AAC that is RPI death in basketball and maybe the 2nd or 3rd strongest G5 conference in football, how do you justify not exploring a new arrangement?

I think you need to start thinking Big East hoops and a football-only affiliation at that point.
 
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I would call up the ACC and tell them that we are going to go Independent in football and we need a place to park our other sports. If they oblige, then UConn has their foot in the door and the ACC will probably help UConn get some other ACC schools on their future schedule. It may also mean that UConn will need to be willing to have 5 true home games and / or 2 FCS opponents on schedule as an initial start up. I've heard going Independent is tough from a scheduling stand point.
 

Dream Jobbed 2.0

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I would call up the ACC and tell them that we are going to go Independent in football and we need a place to park our other sports. If they oblige, then UConn has their foot in the door and the ACC will probably help UConn get some other ACC schools on their future schedule. It may also mean that UConn will need to be willing to have 5 true home games and / or 2 FCS opponents on schedule as an initial start up. I've heard going Independent is tough from a scheduling stand point.
I like it a lot. Wouldn't happen
 

shizzle787

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Plan B is to go to the Big East for other sports (basketball included) and strong arm a weaker AAC into letting us be football-only. From a brand perspective in football, we are better than just about anyone they could realistically get.
 
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Not immediately. Stay for the share of the exit fee money, wait to see if an invite comes.

You can only play the Big East card once, and I believe we're done once we do. No need to rush
 

The Funster

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I like the idea of getting out from under ESPN's thumb but what is realistic? Didn't CUSA just get its deal sliced and diced by ESPN? Would the AAC allow us just for football? Why would the BE take us back if we were always looking for a way out? If we go to other G5 conferences what kind of exposure would we get?
 

BUConn10

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If we can regularly sellout the Rent this season and the team wins, we might not have to worry about any of this nonsense. Just sayin'.
Honestly Dooley, I love your positivity and what you bring to the CR discussion here, but I don't buy that.

UConn could win 10 games this season and sell out every single one and the comments section of every single realignment article would be filled with the same mouth breathers harping about how garbage UConn Football is and how they don't want it in their conference. This sentiment likely reaches the presidents who make this decision too, after all it's hard to miss in the online echo chamber and those very people are the constituents whom they represent.
 
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I would call up the ACC and tell them that we are going to go Independent in football and we need a place to park our other sports. If they oblige, then UConn has their foot in the door and the ACC will probably help UConn get some other ACC schools on their future schedule. It may also mean that UConn will need to be willing to have 5 true home games and / or 2 FCS opponents on schedule as an initial start up. I've heard going Independent is tough from a scheduling stand point.
You sir are ....well naive at best and a troll at worst. Enough with you ACC delusions. They betray an comple lack of comprehension of the last 5 years.
 
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Honestly Dooley, I love your positivity and what you bring to the CR discussion here, but I don't buy that.

UConn could win 10 games this season and sell out every single one and the comments section of every single realignment article would be filled with the same mouth breathers harping about how garbage UConn Football is and how they don't want it in their conference. This sentiment likely reaches the presidents who make this decision too, after all it's hard to miss in the online echo chamber and those very people are the constituents whom they represent.
I disagree. Think UCF, Memphis, and Houston are even in the conversation if not for recent success? Because I don't.

A flash in the pan may not be the be-all, end-all in CR, but it gets people's attention. We've shown that flash, but unfortunately that's like ancient history at this point.
 

BUConn10

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I disagree. Think UCF, Memphis, and Houston are even in the conversation if not for recent success? Because I don't.

A flash in the pan may not be the be-all, end-all in CR, but it gets people's attention. We've shown that flash, but unfortunately that's like ancient history at this point.
Recent success is one thing, but when it comes to football down south pure "name recognition" means a ton. UCF and UConn could have both entered FBS the same year and had identical records over a decade span playing the same exact schedules, but 80% would vote UCF as the better program and add for the Big12. Why? Because of the "Florida" part of the name. No one equates the word "Connecticut" with college football success, hell I'd say most southerners dot want a yankee state to ever be as good as them at the game, yet names like "Houston" and "Memphis", as weak of candidates as they may be, will always be perceived greater at football.
 
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I disagree. Think UCF, Memphis, and Houston are even in the conversation if not for recent success? Because I don't.

A flash in the pan may not be the be-all, end-all in CR, but it gets people's attention. We've shown that flash, but unfortunately that's like ancient history at this point.
Name one conference who will expand after this round with the Big12.
 
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You sir are ....well naive at best and a troll at worst. Enough with you ACC delusions. They betray an comple lack of comprehension of the last 5 years.

You really think that it's going to be easy for UConn to get OOC games on their schedule if they declare for Independent? Most P5 schools are going to want UConn to travel without a return game....if you can actually find a few that has an opening in their schedule, thus the suggestion that it would be difficult at first and you may end up with a few scrub FCS teams on the home schedule.

The ACC has most of UConn's former Big East buddies and pride themselves on basketball, if UConn attempts to park their other sports in some other conference then the ACC is the first one they should call.
 
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You really think that it's going to be easy for UConn to get OOC games on their schedule if they declare for Independent? Most P5 schools are going to want UConn to travel without a return game....if you can actually find a few that has an opening in their schedule, thus the suggestion that it would be difficult at first and you may end up with a few scrub FCS teams on the home schedule.

The ACC has most of UConn's former Big East buddies and pride themselves on basketball, if UConn attempts to park their other sports in some other conference then the ACC is the first one they should call.

If you are getting tepid responses to this scenario, it is because it is not perceived as realistic. The ACC and its members want UCONN to die. To suggest otherwise ignores quite a bit of history,
 

HuskyHawk

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You really think that it's going to be easy for UConn to get OOC games on their schedule if they declare for Independent? Most P5 schools are going to want UConn to travel without a return game....if you can actually find a few that has an opening in their schedule, thus the suggestion that it would be difficult at first and you may end up with a few scrub FCS teams on the home schedule.

The ACC has most of UConn's former Big East buddies and pride themselves on basketball, if UConn attempts to park their other sports in some other conference then the ACC is the first one they should call.

It involves a lot of "ifs". If Fox wants UConn in the BE, and say...Temple. Maybe they both make the move, and can schedule each other. Maybe Fox can contact its leagues, including B1G and Big 12, and arrange a scheduling deal. We are already listed as a P5 by the B1G and ACC I believe. Maybe we can trade basketball games well enough to fill a schedule. Army, Navy could be annual games, and perhaps BYU and UMass.

Is it likely? No. But not impossible. If we are really willing to split hoops and football, I think the ACC would need to seriously consider adding UConn. If they did, an ACC scheduling deal would solve independent status fairly easily.
 
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"Plan B" must be code for "Plan B1G." The only constant is change, and UConn may have to wait a while for the ultimate prize.
 
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