Being a football independent could work

[UConnJim]

I went back and looked at Louisville's football schedule when they were an independent and they had a very good schedule. Granted, the money might not be as good as an independent, but you could easily build a fan base looking at these schedules that could drive revenues to somewhat offset the lack of conference money.

Here are the schedules for Louisville from 1991 to 1994 and they look pretty good:

1991
Home: Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Southern Miss., Cincinnati, Army, Florida St.
Away: Ohio State, BC, Virginia Tech, Memphis, Tulsa

1992
Home: Memphis, Wyoming, Syracuse, VT, Tulsa
Away: Ohio State, Arizona State, Florida, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, Pitt

1993
Home: Sam Jose St., Arizona St., Texas, Southern Miss, Navy
Away: Memphis, Pitt, West Virginia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Tulsa

1994
Home: Pitt, NC State, Memphis, BC, Texas A&M, Tulsa
Away: Kentucky, Texas, Arizona State, Army, Navy

If these were UConn's schedules as an independent and you could keep basketball in the BE, would you do it? Some of you will say bowls would be a problem. I say it wouldn't be. Why? Every year, some conferences can't meet their bowl commitments and you could make an arrangement to be included in the BCS if your ranking warranted it.

What about money? There would probably be a set back, but with a schedule like this, you would expand the stadium and you would have to have an athletic department that was hungry to market and fund raise.

I would only recommend being a football independent until an attractive conference bid came, but this idea would protect basketball, which is currently UConn's strength and allow football to continue to develop. If the BE split and UConn moved to a CUSA type situation, it would be neutral to bad for football and bad for basketball, especially if WVU and Louisville left the BE.

 

[1999.2004.2011]

I would totally support a move like this. Keep all sports in the big east (ala notre dame) and go independent in football if the big east doesn't work out

the sacrifice with conference revenue for football would be a loss, but uconn could offset that with playing a national schedule against a wide variety of teams

 

[Gate97]

The problem now is the size of the conferences. In the early 90's the conferences were 8-10 teams and there were 4-5 games available for OOC games. Fifteen years later, the conferences are 10-14 teams (except our beloved BE, of course!) and there are only 2-3 games available for OOC opponents. As long as 1 FCS opponent counts towards bowl eligibility, that really only leaves 1-2 OOC games for most decent programs. I'm really not sure someone like UConn, who does not have the national interest of an ND or a service academy would really end up with a quality schedule as an independent. Also, some schools would view a UConn matchup as a potential loss on the field, so that could degrade the schedule even more.

 

[UConnJim]

Army, Navy, ND, and BYU are independents. I could see scheduling 2 of them each year. Add in a couple of ex BE teams per year like Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, WVU, USF, and Louisville that we would probably continue playing in basketball. That's 2 more. Add 3 to 4 more other BCS caliber teams per year, that brings the total to 7 to 8 games. Add in a local 1AA team, and an assortment of CUSA, MAC, ...teams and you can get a schedule that is at least as good as what you have now. With fewer conference games, you would be more willing to play the big boys, which would probably be losses.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn would play 7-8 road games a year as an independent.

 

[UConnJim]

Why didn't Louisville play 7 games on the road? Yes, some years they played 6, but teams will schedule you. You don't think you could get home and homes with The old BE teams, the service academies, the middle to lower tier BCS teams, and BYU? We do have home and homes with Tennessee, Maryland, and Michigan, and have had them with UNC, WF, Duke, Vanderbilt, Iowa State, Indiana, Baylor, Army, Navy, ...when we had zero history with them and no football history.

 

[husky10]

UConn would play 7-8 road games a year as an independent.

How many teams are really too proud to come to the rent?

We scheduled Tennessee and Michigan to home and homes already. ND wouldn't come but there are enough programs in the country to fill our schedule with. Most teams in the ACC & Big-12 would come to east hartford as well as several B1G & SEC teams scheduling wouldn't be the issue.

 

[coachcap]

Why didn't Louisville play 7 games on the road? Yes, some years they played 6, but teams will schedule you. You don't think you could get home and homes with The old BE teams, the service academies, the middle to lower tier BCS teams, and BYU? We do have home and homes with Tennessee, Maryland, and Michigan, and have had them with UNC, WF, Duke, Vanderbilt, Iowa State, Indiana, Baylor, Army, Navy, ...when we had zero history with them and no football history.

The problem is that most conference based schools like to schedule their nonconference games in the early part of their schedules. UConn would have to back fill their schedule with independents. That leaves out Army & Navy. Also the trend of major schools to try & schedule 8 home games per year. I agree, that UConn would be lucky to have 4-5 home games per season (And probably not attractive matchups from a fan's point of view)

 

[businesslawyer]

What Louisville did in 94 is not a fair comparison. There were about 6 times the amount of independents then that there are now. You won't be able to get good games after October. It is a recipe for failure. You want Army or Navy's schedule? And don't tell me ND can do it. We do not have their market power. Not to mention, far fewer bowls were tied in to conferenes before the start of the season than now.

 

[UConnJim]

Gate97: Conferences in the early 90s only played 3 or 4 OOC games. ACC, Big 10, PAC 10, and SEC had only 3 OOC games/yr. SWC and Big 8 had 4. Remember, teams only played 11 games back then vs 12 today. There is some truth to what you say, but I believe UConn has a brand name and could use basketball to help schedule football games.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Independence would be an utter disaster for: scheduling, bowl affiliations, and finances. Sorry, not happening.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

You gonna have a real hard time getting games in Nov as an independent.

 

[UConnJim]

So, the questions do BCS teams play non-conference games after October 1?

ACC: BC, Clemson, FSU, GT, Maryland, Miami, UNC, NC State, and WF will
BE: Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers, USF, and Syracuse will
Big 10: Northwestern will
Big 12: none
MWC: Air Force, Boise St., SD St., TCU, Wyoming will
PAC 12: Arizona, Oregon St., Stanford, USC, Utah will
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Miss St., Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt will.

I don't buy the thesis that conference play squeezes out late season games. Alabama plays Georgia Southern in November. Florida's last 2 games of the year are OOC. Georgia plays New Mexico St. In November. Wake Forest closes the season with Vanderbilt. Utah plays at Pitt this weekend. Miami plays at USF in mid November. Northwestern plays Rice in November. Fresno St. Closes the season with SD St. LSU plays Western Kentucky in November.

 

[whaler11]

USC playing Notre Dame, Georgia Tech playing Georgia, Florida playing FSU and Clemson playing South Carolina are your way of building an argument for UConn to be independent? Sure thing Giant Beer.

 

[UConnJim]

The real question is do you trash basketball in order to become a mid level CUSA football team. In my opinion, being an independent in football and in the BE in basketball is a better option until a conference spot opens up. I think some of the other BE schools would come to the same conclusion and would be available to play.

As for bowls, there are currently 8 to 9 bowl spots that have an "at large" provision. Usually this is in place if it looks like a conference will have trouble at times filling all of their bowls. If the BE blew up, there would be more bowls with spots.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The real question is do you trash basketball in order to become a mid level CUSA football team. In my opinion, being an independent in football and in the BE in basketball is a better option until a conference spot opens up. I think some of the other BE schools would come to the same conclusion and would be available to play.

As for bowls, there are currently 8 to 9 bowl spots that have an "at large" provision. Usually this is in place if it looks like a conference will have trouble at times filling all of their bowls. If the BE blew up, there would be more bowls with spots.

Basketball will be fine almost no matter what. As long as the transition from JC to KO is somewhat smooth we'll be ok. I mean, for christ sakes, Butler just made back to back National finals from the Horizon League. Look at Gonzaga in the WCC or even Memphis in C-USA. We love the BE because of the matchups, but we could succeed nearly anywhere....even if it was an A-10 / C-USA type league.

If the BE blew up, our decent bowls would be lining up to take the SEC's or ACC's last remaining Bowl Eligible team. They won't be lining up to take UConn, I can tell you that.

 

[UConnJim]

My point on OOC is that schools do play teams after Oct. 1.

Here are comparable games, excluding the end of season traditional rivals and ND.

Miami. Nov 19 @ USF
NC St. Oct 8 vs Central Mich
Virginia Oct 1 vs Idaho
Wake Forest November 26 vs Vanderbilt
Utah October 15 @ Pitt
Louisville. October 8 @ North Carolina
Rutgers October 15 vs Navy
Rutgers November 12 vs Army
Northwestern November 12 vs Rice
Boise St. October 7 @ Fresno St.
TCU October 28 vs BYU
Arizona St November 26 vs UL Lafeyette
Oregon St. October 15 vs BYU
Alabama November 19 vs Georgia Southern
Auburn November 19 vs Samford
Florida November 19 vs Furman
Georgia November 5 vs New Mexico St.
Kentucky October 22 vs Jacksonville
LSU November 12 vs Western Kentucky
Miss St November 5 vs Tenn-Martin
Ole Miss November 12 vs Louisiana Tech
South Carolina November 19 vs Citadel
Tennessee November 5 vs Middle Tennessee

 

[UConnJim]

Looking at bowls, do you think the BE has great bowls? UConn would be attractive to a mid to lwer level bowl, which is what the BE has right now. Yes, UConn will not be invited to the Gator, Peach, Capital One bowls..., but we are not going there today anyway.

What are the types of bowls that might be available?

New Mexico Bowl, Beef O'Brady Bowl, Military Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Ticket City Bowl, Little Caesers Pizza Bowl.

Sadly, are these much different than the types of bowls we can go to today?

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

My point on OOC is that schools do play teams after Oct. 1.

Here are comparable games, excluding the end of season traditional rivals and ND.

Miami. Nov 19 @ USF
NC St. Oct 8 vs Central Mich
Virginia Oct 1 vs Idaho
Wake Forest November 26 vs Vanderbilt
Utah October 15 @ Pitt
Louisville. October 8 @ North Carolina
Rutgers October 15 vs Navy
Rutgers November 12 vs Army
Northwestern November 12 vs Rice
Boise St. October 7 @ Fresno St.
TCU October 28 vs BYU
Arizona St November 26 vs UL Lafeyette
Oregon St. October 15 vs BYU
Alabama November 19 vs Georgia Southern
Auburn November 19 vs Samford
Florida November 19 vs Furman
Georgia November 5 vs New Mexico St.
Kentucky October 22 vs Jacksonville
LSU November 12 vs Western Kentucky
Miss St November 5 vs Tenn-Martin
Ole Miss November 12 vs Louisiana Tech
South Carolina November 19 vs Citadel
Tennessee November 5 vs Middle Tennessee

And out of all of those many games you listed, how many are BCS conference teams playing at a non-BCS team? I'll save you some time....none of them!

Anyone who thinks we could schedule an independent schedule and have even a decent schedule is insane. We would play 4-5 home games a year and the quality of opponent would be horrible (and would not be on TV outside of CT once). Our season ticket base would be below 20,000 within two years minimum!

Simply not an option.

 

[tduconn]

No to independence. At one time I was postulating it might be a good idea...but no longer.

We'd receive huge monetary losses from TV revenue plus a revenue loss from other conference teams that play in bowls even if UConn didn't.

Everyone is right. Home schedule would be worse than this years OOC .....and don't count on the big names coming to the Rent. In fact, with conference shuffling, I wouldn't be surprised if both Michigan and Tenn buy out the Rent game.

Recruiting will be down.......what teams do you sell to recruits now acknowledging that most major programs are "booked" years in advance?

And what major team would schedule UC at their house? UC is not a power house now, and definitely wouldn't be as an independent. They have to worry about strength of schedule.

It would be a horrendous disaster.......probably loose more money per year than the program did at the 1-aa level....for all of the same reasons

 

[HuskyFan16]

I have to agree with Jim that CUSA for our basketball would be horrendous, recruits just wont come to play UAB. But all conference moves should be football minded. If the Big 12 takes two teams and the SEC or ACC takes one and its not us, then really their wont be enough Big East schools left to do anything but join a crap conference. However if four or more stay, I think an independence where all schools agree to play each other home and home at the backend of each others schedule (allowing the front end to be filled with other schools) is the best option if we are going to lose the BCS bid. If we lose that bid we will have lost significant TV Revenue anyway, at least if we are independent we can keep all our personal TV revenues. And you cant tell me all those schools cant get independent/yet collective contracts with at least one bowl.

 

[CTMike]

Weren't we independent in 2003 when we went 9-3 and didn't get a bowl invitation? Yeah that was great.

 

[businesslawyer]

The real question is do you trash basketball in order to become a mid level CUSA football team. In my opinion, being an independent in football and in the BE in basketball is a better option until a conference spot opens up. I think some of the other BE schools would come to the same conclusion and would be available to play.

As for bowls, there are currently 8 to 9 bowl spots that have an "at large" provision. Usually this is in place if it looks like a conference will have trouble at times filling all of their bowls. If the BE blew up, there would be more bowls with spots.

No, sorry, that is not the real question. If we are staying in the Big East in hoops, you put together the best football league you can under the Big East brand name.

 

[UConnJim]

Why did I make this recommendation? It is possible that Louisville and West Virginia move to new conferences and the BE basketball schools say they are done with football. What does that leave you with? UConn could join CUSA or the MAC with Rutgers, Cincinnati, and USF, or go independent in football and keep basketball in the BE. Becoming a CUSA or MAC basketball school would be a disaster. Remember, being a football independent would only be temporary until a spot opens up in another conference.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Really? There's a 2 page thread on why UConn should go Independent in football? Now I've seen it all.