BYU and AAC

[Storrs South]

Yup, certainly not a good trend for independents. UCONN should lobby hard for a football only spot in the MAC.

The MAC commisioner was interviewed after we announced our decision to leave the AAC and he was asked about the possibility of adding UCONN football and he did not say no.

IMO this board overrates our current independent scheduling and underrates what an 8 game MAC schedule with 4 P5 games would look like. The MAC would give us a shot at a league title and a chance for a spot in the tournament. Western Michigan did it 5 years ago and so can UCONN.

As presently constructed, I do not see the benefit of going to the MAC. Before addressing the schedule, the TV visibility is worse. Games would mostly be on ESPN3 & ESPN+ with 1 or 2 games on CBSSN. UConn's deal with CBSSN guarantees all home games are on linear cable and added benefit of knowing game times months in advance. And the MAC TV deal ends in a couple years, the linear TV coverage assuming they stay with ESPN will only get worse since they now have even more SEC games.

Second point, the payout between the MAC deal (currently about $670k/school) and UConn Indy deal (estimated by SBJ to be around $500k/year) are about the same so there isn't significant TV money being left on the table.

Then lastly get to the scheduling. If you think no one in Connecticut cared about UCF, Tulsa, and SMU...boy are they going to care even less about Bowling Green, Akron, and Kent State. No disrespect to any of those schools but people in CT don't care. UConn has already signed deals to get Maryland, Purdue, Syracuse, Boston College, Duke, NC State, North Carolina, Army, UMass, Wake Forest, and Indiana to come to the Rent.

You can probably schedule a lot of those games with the MAC's 4 game OOC schedule, but not all of them. Especially when UConn needs to secure an FCS game every year to lock in a win so it only allows 3 FBS games not against teams no one cares about.

To UConn fans, playing Middle Tennessee, Utah State, or FIU is the same as a MAC schedule except you lose out on the flexibility to schedule a buy game, FCS game, UMass, 2-3 good P5 home games, then the scrap heap of G5 including the MAC (or even fun local game with Yale) in the same season and for worse TV coverage and not pot of money at the end of it.

Way more opportunity and upside as an independent v. the MAC. It ain't worth it.

 

[metsfan2323]

As presently constructed, I do not see the benefit of going to the MAC.

I'm not talking about "as presently constructed", I'm talking about the changing landscape that is to come if this 12 team playoff passes.

The six highest rated conference champions get a spot in the dance so expect more independents to look to join a conference. Scheduling as an independent will become much more difficult than it is now as P5 teams look to strengthen their schedule.

For once I am asking the people in power at UCONN to get ahead of the game so we do not get left out in the cold like we have been left out in the cold this past decade.

and if we aren't playing for a spot in the dance what the heck are we playing for? The only realistic way to get in is to join a conference.

 

[Storrs South]

I'm not talking about "as presently constructed", I'm talking about the changing landscape that is to come if this 12 team playoff passes.

The six highest rated conference champions get a spot in the dance so expect more independents to look to join a conference. Scheduling as an independent will become much more difficult than it is now as P5 teams look to strengthen their schedule.

For once I am asking the people in power at UCONN to get ahead of the game so we do not get left out in the cold like we have been left out in the cold this past decade.

and if we aren't playing for a spot in the dance what the heck are we playing for? The only realistic way to get in is to join a conference.

The idea of thinking about the playoff is laughable at this point. If they win 4 games this year it will be a minor miracle. They haven't even made a bowl in 5 years.

In general, I agree if you aren't playing for the playoffs, then what are you playing for. However, while this expanded playoff opens up access, it is still unrealistic for about half of FBS to make the playoff under this format.

The change in playoff format isn't going to stop any of the schools I listed above from scheduling UConn. It will affect the Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, USC of the world but not a Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Duke, or UNC. I doubt those big boys of CFB drop buy games since they will likely want a midseason tune up and the additional home game for revenue.

UConn would need to go undefeated as an independent to make the playoff and that would likely be the case in a conference too so there's no added benefit. Maybe if they were in the AAC they could slip in at 12-1 winning the conference title game, but this is pie in the sky stuff the program has never accomplished even during their best seasons in the late 2000s early 2010s.

 

[Husky25]

UConn hasn't had a 1 loss season since the beginning of the Baby Boom. The best place for them is the Big Ten East, but I've gotten over that will ever happen.

The second best scenario (equally pie in the sky, at best) would be for the ACC to divest and the northern schools reform some facsimile of the old Big East football conference, but still keep P-5 status. The extra cherry is that this new conference would slip in ahead of the AAC at the grown up table.

On the other hand, the money is too great and this too would never happen.

 

[metsfan2323]

The idea of thinking about the playoff is laughable at this point.

Western Michigan would have qualified 5 years ago. Are you telling me that UCONN can't accomplish what Western Michigan accomplished?

By joining the MAC we might actually have an easier path to the tournament than BC, Syracuse, and Rutgers, so bonus points for joining the MAC. We might be able to accomplish in the MAC what Boise has accomplished in the MWC. Boise used the easier MWC schedule to out perform their PAC 12 neighbors and UCONN would have an opportunity to do the same.

We did make a BCS bowl by being in the easiest BCS conference, if this new playoff were in place in 2010 we would have qualified for the playoffs in 2010. So yes UCONN can dream big again if we join the MAC. We can get a playoff spot.

 

[Storrs South]

Western Michigan would have qualified 5 years ago. Are you telling me that UCONN can't accomplish what Western Michigan accomplished?

By joining the MAC we might actually have an easier path to the tournament than BC, Syracuse, and Rutgers, so bonus points for joining the MAC. We might be able to accomplish in the MAC what Boise has accomplished in the MWC. Boise used the easier MWC schedule to out perform their PAC 12 neighbors and UCONN would have an opportunity to do the same.

Could it happen? Maybe. But Western Michigan was paying $800k annually for PJ Fleck and offered $3.6 million annually for him to stay and he turned it down. UConn hasn't been interested in paying that much for a coach since the Diaco debacle and buyout. The assistant salary pool would also need to be increased significantly.

My point is, unless UConn decides to increase financial resources allocated to the program particularly from a coaching standpoint, you're basically hoping you run into a really good coach on the cheap before running off to a P5 program and that's not a sustainable way to run a program. You can't run a program on hope.

There would be more years they would not go on a WMU type run (realistically hoping for once every 10 years) and playing a bad schedule with limited TV exposure will promote apathy within the fanbase if we haven't reached that point already.

Indy you can at least craft a narrative and promote something interesting. I'd like to see a competitive team take the field for the first time in 5 years before thinking about the playoffs. Winning solves all problems.

This is not an issue I have with the MAC. I would make the same points if the argument were for UConn to try and get back into the AAC.

 

[Husky25]

Western Michigan would have qualified 5 years ago. Are you telling me that UCONN can't accomplish what Western Michigan accomplished?

By joining the MAC we might actually have an easier path to the tournament than BC, Syracuse, and Rutgers, so bonus points for joining the MAC. We might be able to accomplish in the MAC what Boise has accomplished in the MWC. Boise used the easier MWC schedule to out perform their PAC 12 neighbors and UCONN would have an opportunity to do the same.

We did make a BCS bowl by being in the easiest BCS conference, if this new playoff were in place in 2010 we would have qualified for the playoffs in 2010. So yes UCONN can dream big again if we join the MAC. We can get a playoff spot.

UConn is blamed for why they just had to blow up the BCS and why college football finds itself in the current crapshow.

 

[Viet Vet]

and as an OT aside,,,,

I will next week, for the first time, be coming through the fair state of Connecticut on my way to Bar Harbor....My GPS wants me to take I 95 through NY. and Boston..but I am skipping around by way of Scranton to Hartford to Worchester Mass. to Portland.

Wise move.

 

[CL82]

and as an OT aside,,,,

I will next week, for the first time, be coming through the fair state of Connecticut on my way to Bar Harbor....My GPS wants me to take I 95 through NY. and Boston..but I am skipping around by way of Scranton to Hartford to Worchester Mass. to Portland.

Seems way out of the way, but enjoy Bar Harbor. It is beautiful up there.

 

[Hoophound]

and as an OT aside,,,,

I will next week, for the first time, be coming through the fair state of Connecticut on my way to Bar Harbor....My GPS wants me to take I 95 through NY. and Boston..but I am skipping around by way of Scranton to Hartford to Worchester Mass. to Portland.

Your plan is better. Nicer ride and often quite a bit faster. 95 is a mostly flat, completely non-scenic ride and I never use it when making that trek. The only benefit to 95 is if you want to stop somewhere along the shoreline for seafood. That said, you’ll find plenty of good seafood in Maine, so no need to get it in CT unless you need a CT style lobster roll.

 

[Husky25]

Your plan is better. Nicer ride and often quite a bit faster. 95 is a mostly flat, completely non-scenic ride and I never use it when making that trek. The only benefit to 95 is if you want to stop somewhere along the shoreline for seafood. That said, you’ll find plenty of good seafood in Maine, so no need to get it in CT unless you need a CT style lobster roll.

I-95 generally mean GWB. That alone would compel me to find an alternate route.

 

[whalerfan]

and as an OT aside,,,,

I will next week, for the first time, be coming through the fair state of Connecticut on my way to Bar Harbor....My GPS wants me to take I 95 through NY. and Boston..but I am skipping around by way of Scranton to Hartford to Worchester Mass. to Portland.

No disrespect but where is Worchester Mass? No such town exists.

 

[billybud]

No disrespect but where is Worchester Mass? No such town exists.

Yeah...my GPS may not understand "Wooster" either...OK...what the "H"?

 

[billybud]

If I have time, coming or going I would like to pop over to Storrs...Eat at the Toast Four Corners.

Say hi to John Reuber...

 

[Husky25]

Yeah...my GPS may not understand "Wooster" either...OK...what the "H"?

Yes, the "h."

My guess is he's just giving you static, but it is spelled "Worcester" and pronounced "wuh-ster (even though I grew up between Worcester and Framingham, I do not drop my "Rs"), as opposed to "War-chester."

 

[billybud]

Huh? Could almost be southern...we pronounce thangs thataway.

But it is like the sauce....so maybe British.

 

[baggerbob]

Yes, the "h."

My guess is he's just giving you static, but it is spelled "Worcester" and pronounced "wuh-ster (even though I grew up between Worcester and Framingham, I do not drop my "Rs"), as opposed to "War-chester."

Was stationed at Fort Devens in 65, and learned the correct way to say it.

 

[Husky25]

Was stationed at Fort Devens in 65, and learned the correct way to say it.

I remember the air convoys flying almost directly over my house in the '80s-early 90s.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Yes, the "h."

My guess is he's just giving you static, but it is spelled "Worcester" and pronounced "wuh-ster (even though I grew up between Worcester and Framingham, I do not drop my "Rs"), as opposed to "War-chester."

howzaboot Peabody? Chatham? Needham? Quincy? Woburn? and my favorite, Billerica? lol. youse talk funny.

 

[Husky25]

howzaboot Peabody? Chatham? Needham? Quincy? Woburn? and my favorite, Billerica? lol. youse talk funny.

Invalid post without Haverhill and Quincy is pronounced as spelled.

I was going to say that Woburn is as well, but I suppose the pronunciation requires another 'o," as in "Woo-burn."

Also, Berlin is pronounced like the German city as opposed to the Connecticut town, where the emphasis is on the first syllable.

 

[whalerfan]

Yes, the "h."

My guess is he's just giving you static, but it is spelled "Worcester" and pronounced "wuh-ster (even though I grew up between Worcester and Framingham, I do not drop my "Rs"), as opposed to "War-chester."

I thought it was pronounced Wi-stah. I spent plenty of time there as I have close friends in Shrewsbury and Westboro. I will say this, my favorite grinder store is Elsa's Bushel and Peck at Tatnuck Square.

 

[Husky25]

I thought it was pronounced Wi-stah. I spent plenty of time there as I have close friends in Shrewsbury and Westboro. I will say this, my favorite grinder store is Elsa's Bushel and Peck at Tatnuck Square.

As I said, even after 18 years in the adjoining town, I don't have much of an accent.

 

[Adios]

and as an OT aside,,,,

I will next week, for the first time, be coming through the fair state of Connecticut on my way to Bar Harbor....My GPS wants me to take I 95 through NY. and Boston..but I am skipping around by way of Scranton to Hartford to Worchester Mass. to Portland.

95 is the better route. Unless you care to go by the UConn championship signs and Hartford. I'd move to Maine if I could.

 

[billybud]

Cairo Georgia is phonetically pronounced Kay Ro.....Vienna Ga. is pronounced VY-EEna....

Lafayette is not Laf ee et...but La Fay et.....and down my way Stiff and Ugly Floriida (Estiffanulga on map).