Should we play UMass every year?

[CL82]

The problem is that it has made it to Wikipedia.

Um, check back in 15 minutes....it won't be there!

 

[noeynox]

I would love to play UMass every year. It could be very good for the region. We have seen that BC wants no part of creating regional interest in Northeast College Football. We should do the exact opposite. If/when UMass can pull off the upset against us, the "Rivalry" will be back.

 

[rw005]

I say yes. Beats playing Buffalo every year. And if it helps promote CFB in New England, redevelops a local rivalry (and sticks it to BC in the process), I'm for it.

+1 Once in a rare case it would be also pretty cool to play New Hampshire, another poster mentioned playing Conference USA teams, that would also be good too. Open up some doors to potential recruits in different states, like playing Tulane could open up a small Louisiana base, same goes for Tulsa or East Carolina.

 

[mets1090]

Um, check back in 15 minutes....it won't be there!

It's also in the college football game. Can you edit that? I'll check for a patch download later tonight.

 

[UCFBfan]

I would like to play umass every year as long as this is followed:

1) we no longer schedule a 1AA team: we need to improve our strength of schedule. I also hope the new commissioner does not permit BE members to play 1AA teams.... there are plenty of conference usa teams to beat up on and we need to change our image and this could be a start.

2) we no longer schedule any more MAC teams. (I never want to see buffalo on the schedule anymore) and since UMASS is in the MAC it will fill the gap.

On a side note I have mentioned in the past I would like to open the season against Army every year in lieu of a 1AA teams. I no longer want to play western michigan, ohio, akron,..etc...

I agree with everything you said up until the final part. Why Army? You say you don't wanna water down the schedule with any 1AA schools and I agree but Army?? They're one of the worst teams in the country almost every year. I don't want another MAC school besides UMass but I'd take a C-USA or MWC school over Army any day.

 

[BigEastCT]

I like to use Army as our 1AA warm up game...for a few reasons

1) Even though they are weak team you don't have the stigma of playing a powder puff URI, Fordam, Texas Southern, Hofstra, Maine, Liberty, Lehigh

2) I would travel to this away game. I love tailgating at West point. I would not travel to a CUSA or MWC game. Lets face it, Army beats Tulane, Northwestern, so they are really all in the same.

 

[mets1090]

I went to a UConn game at West Point years ago. Didn't tailgate or anything, just drove up with my dad sort of spur of the moment. What a beautiful campus. Really fun trip that I would do again should they do a 2 for 1 or something in the future.

 

[pj]

Although the game may lose it's appeal if it continues to be this one sided.

It will be a very long time before 37 point victories stop appealing to me.

 

[gopher2]

UMass improves and joins NBE in a few years and we play them annually on rivalry week.

 

[Carl Spackler]

It will be a very long time before 37 point victories stop appealing to me.

More like never.

 

[HuskyBarker]

I would like to see UCONN fill Gillette Stadium with more fans than UMASS. Note I'm not sayin sell out the place. On the other hand only if this game could fill the stadium 3/4 full or more and that won't be happening any time soon.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Assuming 8 league games in the future, our OOC should look like this:

2 home and home with BCS or top mid-majors
1 mid major (2 for 1)
FCS

I have no problem with UMass filling the second slot, with even a 1-1-1.

We need the FCS game for financial reasons and to guarantee at least 6 home games every year.

With schools like Memphis, SMU and Navy in the league, and WVU and (the old) Pitt gone, we need to upgrade the non-conference schedule a bit, both for SOS for the playoff and to sell tickets.

 

[UCHuskies08]

I voted no, but would be totally willing to revisit the question in a few years.

Yeah, if they show signs of improvement, I'd be for it. I wouldn't want to continue if they're going to be the absolute bottom of the barrel in FBS.

 

[UConnDan97]

Yeah, if they show signs of improvement, I'd be for it. I wouldn't want to continue if they're going to be the absolute bottom of the barrel in FBS.

My feeling on this is the best way to keep our neighbors from the north at "the bottom of the barrel" is to continue to play them!! When northeastern recruits see that we are destroying them, they no longer want to go there. They want to come here. We will continue to steal their recruits (i.e., Holines). This is the mistake that BC made about 10 years ago with us, to be quite honest. 10 years ago, they were the better team, and the top northeastern recruits went there. Now that they have gone a decade without playing against us, the top recruits are just as likely to come here, because of our in-league successes and their in-league failures.

If BC continued to beat us, do we get the Jordan Todman's or Kendall Reyes's of the world?? I don't know. But we should learn from others' mistakes and continue to whoop the crap out of UMass. Continue the Northeastern domination, Huskies!!!

 

[freescooter]

I don't have a huge problem with playing them annually. They would be a nice alternative to Buffalo. Would prefer to arrange it as a 2-1 type long term deal, though. I don't see much value in playing them at Gillette right now. Home is Home. the problem is that we don't know where they are heading as a program. If we continuously put 37 point beatings on them, it isn't much of a series, though my hope would be that it becomes one of those where if they win it is big news.

 

[ZooCougar]

I would rather play UMass every year than any other MAC team. Buffalo is just so non-descript. With UMass there is a real likelihood that we will end up hating them and that they will hate us. It's a good arrangement for our fans.

 

[IMind]

If we're going to schedule home and homes with MAC schools... it beats Kalamazoo. So yeah... every year.. or every other year if you have someone else you want to work into the schedule.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't see why we would prefer UMass over Buffalo. As a D-1 program, we have much more history with the Bulls. We started on out D-1 journeys at the same time. We helped fill our respective D-1 schedules over the years. We've met in a bowl game (that would have been too close for comfort had D. Brown not taken over). Our two programs are kindred spirits, in a way. We just happen to have had the advantage of being in a BCS conference at birth. Now some want to big-time Buffalo for the benefit of a bunch off knobs who badmouth our programs any chance they get? In the words of the great Herb Brooks, "Screw 'em!"

 

[Palatine]

The away game at Foxboro would be a nice road trip.

It would actually be an easier trip for UConn students than for UMess students. It might be a home crowd for us.

 

[BHusky]

I don't see why we would prefer UMass over Buffalo. As a D-1 program, we have much more history with the Bulls. We started on out D-1 journeys at the same time. We helped fill our respective D-1 schedules over the years. We've met in a bowl game (that would have been too close for comfort had D. Brown not taken over). Our two programs are kindred spirits, in a way. We just happen to have had the advantage of being in a BCS conference at birth. Now some want to big-time Buffalo for the benefit of a bunch off knobs who badmouth our programs any chance they get? In the words of the great Herb Brooks, "Screw 'em!"

I don't see how anyone would want to continue to play Buffalo over UMass. So what if we started the 1A journey together and played them in a bowl game. If anything we have given it 10+ years to become some sort of rivarly because of the points you mention and it is anything but. We really have nothing in common other than being a public school that started 1A football the same time. Fan interest, facilities, recruiting/player talent, academics, location as well as other things lean heavily toward UConn. That is not arrogance, it is fact. When I see Buffalo on the schedule as a home game I immediatley see what other dates are available because it does absolutely nothing for me and I suspect this is how most people react. And there is absolutely no way I would consider a trip to Buffalo to watch that away game.

Lets play UMass every year even if that is at Amherst when/if they eventually get the funding for new facilities. It would be a step up in almost every category for us, especially if UMass starts fielding some decent teams and some real school/fan animosity begins. We played BC tough the last couple times we played and it did not necessarily increase our recruiting in MA or the NE. I don't buy into the fact that if UMass was competitive with us or even beat us occassionally we would lose out in recruiting because of that. Players choose schools now adays for academics, facilities, national exposure and some of the newer perks like trendy uni's. UMass has a long way to go before they can trump us in those categories just based on the number of teams covered in MA and funding. We may lose a kid to UMass every once in a while, but the reason would likley have nothing to do with who won or lost the most recent game and therefore we should not play them to give them a shot to win and enhance their NE presence.

 

[ZooCougar]

Buffalo might as well be in the middle of Ohio.

I don't see why we would prefer UMass over Buffalo. As a D-1 program, we have much more history with the Bulls. We started on out D-1 journeys at the same time. We helped fill our respective D-1 schedules over the years. We've met in a bowl game (that would have been too close for comfort had D. Brown not taken over). Our two programs are kindred spirits, in a way. We just happen to have had the advantage of being in a BCS conference at birth. Now some want to big-time Buffalo for the benefit of a bunch off knobs who badmouth our programs any chance they get? In the words of the great Herb Brooks, "Screw 'em!"

 

[BlueMAB]

Dez Conner wrote an article leading up to the UMess game claiming they "owned" us (leading the overall series by 3 games, now 2).

I'd like to play them 10-15 more times. We'll own the series by 8-13 games. I don't understand why any UConn fan who doesn't live 30 minutes from Buffalo would prefer to play them over UMass.

 

[B1GEast]

We should play them every week.

 

[SAMCRO]

Buffalo might as well be in the middle of Ohio.

It's not?