And the 9 games for 2020 so far are...

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

9/3/20 is a Thursday - super happy to keep that tradition going. love opening thurs prime time

Mea culpa! Upon further review, except inexplicably on my iPhone calendar 9/3/20 is indeed a Thursday. Seriously, I just re-checked my phone; still shows up as Wednesday and is still wrong. Weird, but thanks for the helpful correction.

 

[Husky25]

9/3/20 is a Thursday - super happy to keep that tradition going. love opening thurs prime time

Added bonus: at least one more year of the FfC crew complaining about the drive to East Hartford the Thursday before Labor Day weekend.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hate to sound like an optimist, but this is similar to what I expected (check post history if you don't believe me). I know many here lost faith in Dave B., but he's an SEC football guy. He does get it. He dropped several hints that suggested that people really did want to play us. He said a surprisingly high number of P5 schools wanted to schedule us. I always thought that our Indy schedule would be better than our AAC schedule.

I mentioned before that my view is that football and college sports are a recruiting tool for paying students. If it wasn't for the desire to attract students, no school would have football. Almost all of them lose money on it. Connecticut has lots of very high achieving students with incomes to pay full freight out of state or private tuition. That is appealing to a whole lot of schools.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

9/3/20 is a Thursday - super happy to keep that tradition going. love opening thurs prime time

I personally hate the Thursday game. Saturday tailgating is the only reason to go for most fans.

 

[UConnRock]

So no buy games in 2020, but this is offset by what appears to be 7 home games vs. the traditional 6, so one less travel date and associated expenses. We can speculate all we want about the remaining 3 games, but as shown by the released schedule, things may not be as clear as speculated.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

So (Ole Miss is) just a one off game vs. a SEC team. Not the worst thing in the world for such late notice.

Agreed, put it down as a cost of doing business, getting the 2020 job done, opportunity to visit the Grove, investment in future relations and scheduling, etc. All good as you acknowledge so late in the scheduling game.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Apparently AD DB was doing more than playing Fortnite during his “radio silence” of the past few months.

Well done...Awesome schedule, all things considered.

 

[storrsroars]

Mea culpa! Upon further review, except inexplicably on my iPhone calendar 9/3/20 is indeed a Thursday. Seriously, I just re-checked my phone; still shows up as Wednesday and is still wrong. Weird, but thanks for the helpful correction.

Apple doesn't believe in leap years.

 

[Husky25]

I personally hate the Thursday game. Saturday tailgating is the only reason to go for most fans.

I'm not going to give you a frown face, but I am way outside that demographic. I like the afternoon game. The Week before Labor Day is typically great weather, and a half day of work is a small sacrifice for hanging out with buddies, drinking malted barley, and eating charred animal flesh.

 

[Dooooooomed]

 

[Huskygrad88]

I'm not going to give you a frown face, but I am way outside that demographic. I like the afternoon game. The Week before Labor Day is typically great weather, and a half day of work is a small sacrifice for hanging out with buddies, drinking malted barley, and eating charred animal flesh.

I like the Thurs night game, and have never considered a half day of work a sacrifice in any way...

 

[Husky25]

I like the Thurs night game, and have never considered a half day of work a sacrifice in any way...

Let me guess: You don't live and/or work in Fairfield County.

Follow up guess (that also doesn't count): You are aware of the schedule months in advance and doesn't catch you by surprise on August 28.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Was hoping the UVA game would be a return date in East Hartford, but all things considered it turned out ok so far.

 

[huskymedic]

Alex Putterman@AlexPutterman 7m
The games currently announced for UConn's 2020 schedule will cost the school $380,500 in aggregate. That reflects the fact that UConn had little leverage in negotiating on such short notice. The guarantees will almost certainly be greater in the future.

Alex Putterman @AlexPutterman 4m
For example: UConn essentially gets nothing for playing at Ole Miss, which would normally be a lucrative game. But instead, Ole Miss will pay Middle Tennessee State $1.5 mil, as those schools had originally planned, while UConn will play both w/o receiving or paying anything

Alex Putterman@AlexPutterman 2m
Also, UConn's guarantee for the game against Virginia next fall is $400K, which is likely less than what it would likely get under different circumstances. Story coming soon to hopefully explain some of this a little more clearly!

 

[Dooooooomed]

That's not too bad as we would've had to pay MTSU for a one-off at UConn. Smart move for everyone involved, really.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Apple doesn't believe in leap years.

Hah, that’s kinda fruity!

 

[Dooooooomed]

So MTSU at home is opponent #10. That leaves an unnamed ACC school and someone else, 1 at home and 1 away.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Well done.

 

[HuskyAlum012]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[SubbaBub]

One thing unmentioned: a quality schedule like this, now and into the future, makes recruiting a good new coach that much easier.

Randy is being set up for another losing season unless the his recruits step up next year. He'll have to beat at least 1 P5 team to get to 6 wins.

 

[UConnRock]

MTSU will not be a very attractive or lucrative home game (probably the equivalent of Tulsa), but the benefits of the Ole Miss game from the perspective of the fan base and recruiting far outweighs the any costs. Seems the focus of Benedict's wheeling and dealing was to get additional P5 games as he cut deals for Ole Miss, a one-off with UVA, and one yet to be announced P5 team.

The 5 P5 games plus, regional games (Army, UMass, Maine) outshines any AAC schedule and I think that was the short term goal. It would have been a public relations nightmare to trot out a schedule with an array of the AAC southern schools or other southern schools like La. Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, UL-Monroe, Florida International or FAU. P5 and regional needs to be the focus.

 

[Jimdish255]

I can see a possible trip to SF then a car ride to SJ or even fit in Palo Alto if Stanford has a game that makes sense. Fly back from SJ to Newark or JFK. A bit goofy but checks off a few boxes for me.

Let's also factor in date and time flexibility as an added benefit of independence. As we move forward with more options dates and times that work better for us not just our league or opponent.

 

[CL82]

Apparently AD DB was doing more than playing Fortnite during his “radio silence” of the past few months.

Well done...Awesome schedule, all things considered.

Hmm, all this was announced after Fortnite when down for the upgrade.... coincidence?