ACC

[CL82]

Actually message boards create a lot of false news cycles in sports.

Jeff Jacobs output would drop by 70% if you took away his ability to read the Boneyard. Does anyone have the Jeff Jacob's Boneyard Certified _____ graphic? That was pretty funny.

 

[UConnDan97]

I think you guys are delusional on the impact of message boards, and ignore how small of a percentage of a fanbase they represent.

Of course the media know about message boards - it's the people who read their stuff commenting on it. And of course the admin knows about it - once they get done laughing at 99% of the nonsense that is posted they take note of a few things I'm sure.

To improve UConn's station in athletics it's OTHER SCHOOLS and media companies that need to be convinced. So unless you are using the message board to create more diehard fans none of it matters in the end - because at the end of the day that is what the school lacks. Thousands and thousands of people who live and die with the football team. The rest is just pointless blabbering.

Without belaboring the point, Dez comments on Boneyard material many times. Andrea Adelson of ESPN (as worthless as she is) links Dez's articles almost daily in her "Lunchtime Links". That connection alone should be enough for you to realize that this message board at least means something! I'm not saying it is the be all / end all of our image. I'm saying that to some small degree, it matters.

 

[whaler11]

Without belaboring the point, Dez comments on Boneyard material many times. Andrea Adelson of ESPN (as worthless as she is) links Dez's articles almost daily in her "Lunchtime Links". That connection alone should be enough for you to realize that this message board at least means something! I'm not saying it is the be all / end all of our image. I'm saying that to some small degree, it matters.

Well then we just need a slide show on Bleacher Report and all our problems should be solved. I get that some people read the posts - I guess I'm missing who is actually influenced by them.

 

[UConnDan97]

I guess I'm missing who is actually influenced by them.

Simply put, it is the journalists that are influenced by them (hence the Adelson reference). Do I have to actually explain how journalists at arguably the most popular sports site influence the perception of a university or a team?

 

[Dann]

Well then we just need a slide show on Bleacher Report and all our problems should be solved. I get that some people read the posts - I guess I'm missing who is actually influenced by them.

lol at bleacher report. to funny. i actually was reading a post on another board about a fantasy draft they had recently. uconn was selected in like the 14th round of it. but the reason it caught my eye was that teams like sdsu, uh and usf were picked and guess who wasn't? yup bcu. haha

 

[metsfan2323]

but the reason it caught my eye was that teams like sdsu, uh and usf were picked and guess who wasn't? yup bcu. haha

That really shouldn't surprise anybody. SDSU and Houston have a ton of potential as does USF. In a very short period of time BCU may be looking up at UMASS's athletic program.

Check out the final score of the 2012 Cotton Bowl: Houston 30 Penn State 14.

 

[whaler11]

Simply put, it is the journalists that are influenced by them (hence the Adelson reference). Do I have to actually explain how journalists at arguably the most popular sports site influence the perception of a university or a team?

ESPN isn't the most popular site. They are third. Yahoo is first.

I don't need a lesson on how ESPN influences people's opinions. Their opinion on the Big Easy is pretty clear - I don't see any evidence that message boards have influenced them, it's 'journalism' that is driven by business - they don't ignore the NHL for no reason. They operate from the top down, not from the bottom up.

UConn's issue remains that not enough people truly care about the football team locally and nationally. Unless a message board can contribute to solving that issue it's not going to have a real impact.

I get that it's a chicken and egg problem. You need to play well for a long time to get national respect, but having national respect makes it easier to hire the coaches and recruit the players needed to play well.

Really it comes down to the alumni and people of Connecticut wanting to be part of the club badly enough that they buy into the program and support it in such a way that it can't be ignored by television and the bigger leagues. I don't have much faith in the 'casual' portion of our fanbase making the emotional and financial investment that takes. It's just not how people here operate. To have Rentschler sold out for the season would take 30,000 non-student season ticket holders, but we seem to be moving backwards on that front.

On the brightside, I did get a call from the athletic dept the other day because I haven't renewed my tickets yet (out of laziness) - it's the first time I remember them ever calling me about it.

 

[pj]

That really shouldn't surprise anybody. SDSU and Houston have a ton of potential as does USF. In a very short period of time BCU may be looking up at UMASS's athletic program.

BC aspires to be Wake Forest. They're proud they're not a football power.

 

[specialisthusky]

In regards to what it will take for us to help UConn football i think it's all about support right now and every thing will fall in line after that down the road a bit.

I was at a dinner party last night with a group of young alums. 3/4 other guys there had already purchased season tix and we convinced the 4th one to cave in and grab a set as well. As we continue to play decent-quality football all these students who get to watch the games for $5 a ticket enter the workforce (hopefully) and continue to support the team. We are all in our mid-20s and starting to purchase season tickets now.

If we continue to not #suckharder, the student level interst will continue because frankly the tailgaiting is really fun and the games are getting better. As the years continue the students, like myself and the group of guys i was with last night are going to continue to attend games...attendence is going to increase. Demand will increase...stadium will have to increase. And we put ourselves in a position to be a quality addition to a stronger conference. The key is just continue to win and gain the support of the state and students.

 

[mikejays]

Guess who was conspicuous by his absence at today's UConn Hockey East public event at the XL Center? The ADs from PC, BU, UMass and UMass-Lowell were present. BCU? Nada.

 

[whaler11]

Guess who was conspicuous by his absence at today's UConn Hockey East public event at the XL Center? The ADs from PC, BU, UMass and UMass-Lowell were present. BCU? Nada.

Would we want him there any more than he'd like to be there?

 

[jrazz12]

In the interest of moving this debate along.... 999

 

[SubbaBub]

I'd like to use the 1000th reply to this thread to say that BC sucks.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[UConnDan97]

In the interest of moving this debate along.... 999

Wow! To nail the 1,000th post in this God-forsaken thread, you chose to do the Herman Cain! Very gutsy play. Very gutsy indeed...

(wait, is my counter off?)

 

[jrazz12]

Wow! To nail the 1,000th post in this God-forsaken thread, you chose to do the Herman Cain! Very gutsy play. Very gutsy indeed...

(wait, is my counter off?)

Ha it was all an assist to SubbaBub on that one

 

[UCFBfan]

Well played Gentlemen! I think the 1,000th post was the best one of the thread!

 

[Dann]

My stake to BY fame 15 years from now will be starting this thread.

 

[UConnDan97]

My stake to BY fame 15 years from now will be starting this thread.

And 15 years from now, I will add one last post to it to say I ended it. BC still sucks...

 

[TRest]

Would we want him there any more than he'd like to be there?

There was a minimum height requirement to gain entrance.

 

[whaler11]

My stake to BY fame 15 years from now will be starting this thread.

Don't sell yourself short. When UNLV plays New Mexico @ the garden in the BET championship game you'll be a legend.

 

[Marty Jackson]

If UConn fans want to improve UConn's position they aren't going to do it on message boards. They are going to do it by selling out the stadium, being passionate during the games, watching college football on television to drive the ratings to where they are attractive to other leagues and cable operators, traveling to road games and making it a more attractive school for recruits to attend.

Gee maybe playing a neutral site game nearby would give UConn fans a chance to show how much they care by bringing tens of thousands to a game. That might be more productive than pretending we are too good to play a home game against a more traditional opponent anywhere but East Hartford.

So really the 15-20k passionate UConn football fans need to grow into a much larger number. Ignoring the issues in the Big East don't make them go away.

This isn't going to happen overnight... Its taken 10 years to get here... And that is considered unprecedented.
What we need is the next generation of husky fans to bring the passion. Programs like Bama
And LSU have have generations brought up on spending Saturdays watching college football. Uconn is growing but it's going to take a generation or two for the next big step.

 

[whaler11]

This isn't going to happen overnight... Its taken 10 years to get here... And that is considered unprecedented.
What we need is the next generation of husky fans to bring the passion. Programs like Bama
And LSU have have generations brought up on spending Saturdays watching college football. Uconn is growing but it's going to take a generation or two for the next big step.

Agreed. It's a critical time though as if the money isn't there and the quality of football drops some, it's that much harder to catch up. Could end up in a hole that can't be dug out off.

 

[SubbaBub]

Agreed. It's a critical time though as if the money isn't there and the quality of football drops some, it's that much harder to catch up. Could end up in a hole that can't be dug out off.

These are exactly the stakes the program is facing these next few years, beginning with this one. The program's rise was predicated partly on the promise of "Big Time Football" For its first decade in 1-A, it nailed it. Its future is predicated on not receding with the NNBE tide. Without a new conference, our future may depend on how well our brethern step up to the plate. If the NNBE is not regularly winning OOC and Bowl games against top team, then the number of NNBE teams that will be viable in a national context is limited.

Stay at the current level with the ACC and eventually it will wither. Consolidation that comes with a playoff, see Mandel's latest SI.com column projecting last year's "Playoff selection" and you'll see the bulk of the 12 BCS spots going to the SEC (4), B12 (3), and P12 (2). No way the B1G (1) only gets one come 2014. The last two spots went to the ACC (didn't deserve it) and Boise (wouldn't have gone 11-1 in the BE). Notably absent in this list was the actual BE champ WVU, who beat Clemson by about abajillion and it was only that close because football is a timed sport. Even with the benefit of hindsight, the BE got zero respect from an opinion maker who is supposed to know something about CFB.

No flowering defense of past BCS records, bowl wins, head to head matchups will help the situation. The ACC has a leg up with it's Orange Bowl tie-in. It will be a three year death match between the ACC and the NNBE for the street cred necessary to survive the next 12 years. It starts now and there can be only one.

 

[Dann]

After reading that....... Lets go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RS9999X]

The ACC has a leg up with it's Orange Bowl tie-in. It will be a three year death match between the ACC and the NNBE for the street cred necessary to survive the next 12 years. It starts now and there can be only one.

This is where Notre Dame can come to the rescue and partner with the BE as they did in the past in bowl selections. It's win/win. ND gets regular revenue and the BE gets slotted higher than they would normally.

Of course it might be against the best available ACC or the Orange Bowl agrees to select a BE/ND team twice every 4 years and partners with the SEC for 2 years in years when they don't host the semi-final---which might be never in the Orange Bowl's case.