Case for Independence - BYU

[UConn07]

2013 Sched:
@ Virginia (ACC)
Texas (Big XII)
Utah (Pac XII)
@ Utah State (regional rivalry)
Georgia Tech (ACC)
@ Houston
Boise State
@ Wisconsin (BIG)
Middle Tennessee State
@ Notre Dame
@ Hawaii

Obtain the annual BC game at the end of the year and you're crazy if you wouldn't sign off on a schedule like this.

 

[zls44]

A schedule like that is impossible for the University of Connecticut to construct. It cannot be done. Cannot.

 

[UConn07]

A schedule like that is impossible for the University of Connecticut to construct. It cannot be done. Cannot.

Great analysis - it would be better if you mentioned why you are so dead set on that not being possible.

 

[zls44]

Great analysis - it would be better if you mentioned why you are so dead set on that not being possible.

Don't worry, I slapped reality into you in the other thread.

 

[UConn07]

Great analysis - it would be better if you mentioned why you are so dead set on that not being possible.

Again, UConn has SNY that has a lot more reach than BYU's tv network.

 

[Dann]

Maine
Unh
Fordham
Ccsu
Temple
Ohio
Udel
Townson
Buff
Army
Odu
East mich

 

[zls44]

Again, UConn has SNY that has a lot more reach than BYU's tv network.

More reach than ESPN? LOL

Let me know when SNY is available throughout other continents like BYU TV is.

 

[UConnJim]

I think the ESPN deal for BYU football was ~$1 mill per home game ESPN picks up, so for that schedule, they will get $3 to $4 mill. The rest of the home games go on the BYU network, or low .

2014 home schedule looks worse than ours: Virginia, Houston, Utah St., Hawaii, Southern Miss., UNLV.

LT, ND will get out of their BYU games as they have committed to 5 ACC schools per year. In addition, there are very few decent 1A schools for OOC scheduling, thus BYU can get some decent OOC games with schools from the Pac 12 and Boise St. (BYU has the 3rd or 4th highest attendance of the western US schools behind only USC, UCLA and Washington.)

I really don't think UConn can put together a good schedule without a conference.

 

[hexlub]

Let's say we put together a 6 win season as an indy. Bowl game would be tough to come by.

 

[UConnDan97]

Maine
Unh
Fordham
Ccsu
Temple
Ohio
Udel
Townson
Buff
Army
Odu
East mich

THIS!!! Good luck convincing the non-believers, HFD. I'm sure New Mexico State and the Idaho Vandals are ecstatic that they are being forced into independence. So much so, that Idaho has already seriously considered the drop back down to 1-AA...

 

[freescooter]

Maine
Unh
Fordham
Ccsu
Temple
Ohio
Udel
Townson
Buff
Army
Odu
East mich

I don't believe that UConn could make it work, but I also don't think the schedule would be as bad as what you're showing, HFD...and I do believe you could get a couple of ACC or low end Big (Indiana always seems to be willing to play these types of games) teams on the schedule but it would look much more like our 2002-2003 schedule...Something like the following:
Stony Brook(1AA)
Virginia(ACC)
Indiana (Big)
Western Michigan (MAC)
Temple (NNNBE)
Kent State (MAC)
Army(IND)
Buffalo (MAC)
Ohio (MAC)
Cincinatti (NNBE)
Houston (NNBE)
UMass (MAC)
You want to replace one of the MACs with a Sun Belt, have at it. Troy State seems willing to do lots of games with folks. You could sub in Tulane for Houston some years...pretty much though the schedule won't be better and could well be worse than what we're looking at in the NNNBig East. I actually htink you could do Home and Homes with most of these teams, too which would be a serious consideration. If you look at Army, Navy, Temple when they were Indy in 2005 and 2006, this is pretty close to their "standard". A couple of MACs, couple of Sunbelts and 1 or 2 Majors plus some New New new New Big East teams, assuming they don't blackball you.

 

[zls44]

I don't believe that UConn could make it work, but I also don't think the schedule would be as bad as what you're showing, HFD...and I do believe you could get a couple of ACC or low end Big (Indiana always seems to be willing to play these types of games) teams on the schedule but it would look much more like our 2002-2003 schedule...Something like the following:
Stony Brook(1AA)
Virginia(ACC)
Indiana (Big)
Western Michigan (MAC)
Temple (NNNBE)
Kent State (MAC)
Army(IND)
Buffalo (MAC)
Ohio (MAC)
Cincinatti (NNBE)
Houston (NNBE)
UMass (MAC)
You want to replace one of the MACs with a Sun Belt, have at it. Troy State seems willing to do lots of games with folks. You could sub in Tulane for Houston some years...pretty much though the schedule won't be better and could well be worse than what we're looking at in the NNNBig East. I actually htink you could do Home and Homes with most of these teams, too which would be a serious consideration. If you look at Army, Navy, Temple when they were Indy in 2005 and 2006, this is pretty close to their "standard". A couple of MACs, couple of Sunbelts and 1 or 2 Majors plus some New New new New Big East teams, assuming they don't blackball you.

Which, at the end of the day, isn't worth the hassle. The schedule doesn't benefit enough.

 

[Kevin Caliendo]

Let's say we put together a 6 win season as an indy. Bowl game would be tough to come by.

if you want football to be successful financially as an indpenedent, you want to play four to five paid road games at big schools. And you don';t want to make a bowl game and lose $$. Which almost every school does.

If Uconn was to go indpenednet in football, it is only to get the Olympic sports into a real conference. at that point, you use football to get as much $$ as possible, that model would be to whore itslef out to the Michigans of the world, go play at their stadiums for guarnateed $$, get beat a lot and not not lose $$ as a program

 

[freescooter]

Which, at the end of the day, isn't worth the hassle. The schedule doesn't benefit enough.

I agree with you. If I didn't make that clear, I should have. While I don't think we'd ever be in a position of having to play 2-3 1AA programs, the games we'd get would be no better and maybe worse than the Big East ones. There is an alternative, I guess of playing lots of road games against major powers and then try and put together 5-6 home games with MAC/Sunblet/NBE teams. I don't favor that at all though.

 

[Fishy]

There aren't enough directions in Michigan for UConn to set up an independent schedule.

We'd get eastern, western and central and then have to start asking whether there's a northern and a southern.

Even worse - those mean little duck*ers keep beating us.

 

[kingdobbs]

There aren't enough directions in Michigan for UConn to set up an independent schedule.

We'd get eastern, western and central and then have to start asking whether there's a northern and a southern.

Even worse - those mean little duck*ers keep beating us.

As it turns out: Yes, there is a Northern Michigan. They're pretty decent at ice hockey.

There's no Southern Michigan U, though. That being said, WMU and EMU are really in the southwest and southeast of Michigan (and, for that matter, so are UMich and Michigan State) , so they're more or less *both* the "Southern Michigan University".

 

[whaler11]

As it turns out: Yes, there is a Northern Michigan. They're pretty decent at ice hockey.

There's no Southern Michigan U, though. That being said, WMU and EMU are really in the southwest and southeast of Michigan (and, for that matter, so are UMich and Michigan State) , so they're more or less *both* the "Southern Michigan University".

Yet somehow north of Canada.

UConn being an independent would be like that team the Atlantic League put together that only played road games. The Road Dawgs or something stupid like that.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Let me know when SNY is available throughout other continents like BYU TV is.

Your other comments in this thread are dead on, but since when has BYU TV been available in other continents? Which other continents, and how? It may be, but is it via the internet, satellite, how, and where? It may be a good move for a school with a distinctly, unique mission few schools can replicate, and certainly not UConn.

 

[kingdobbs]

Yet somehow north of Canada.

UConn being an independent would be like that team the Atlantic League put together that only played road games. The Road Dawgs or something stupid like that.

In fairness, at least nine states, and most of Massachusetts, Michigan and New York by land area, are north of Canada.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I imagine that if we had a national title and heisman trophy winner in our not too distant past things would be a bit easier for our football program. BYU has that, along with good to very good performances over nearly every one of the past 35 seasons and home attendance that averages some 65k for more than thirty years.

If that were our football profile, going independent wouldn't be a concern as we would have been in the B1G by now.

 

[Adios]

Yet somehow north of Canada.

UConn being an independent would be like that team the Atlantic League put together that only played road games. The Road Dawgs or something stupid like that.

Pennsylvania Road Warriors.

 

[zls44]

Your other comments in this thread are dead on, but since when has BYU TV been available in other continents? Which other continents, and how? It may be, but is it via the internet, satellite, how, and where? It may be a good move for a school with a distinctly, unique mission few schools can replicate, and certainly not UConn.

It's available throughout South America via DTV.

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/22/In-Depth/BYUtv.aspx?

"The school isn’t sure how many more homes throughout Latin America receive BYUtv International, but it’s significant enough that many of BYU’s live events will be broadcast in English, Spanish and Portuguese to more than 100 countries."

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

It's available throughout South America via DTV."The school isn’t sure how many more homes throughout Latin America receive BYUtv International, but it’s significant enough that many of BYU’s live events will be broadcast in English, Spanish and Portuguese to more than 100 countries."

zls44 - Thanks for the BYYtv update - not so sure too many South (or Central) Americans beyond the well-to-do have DTV access nor care about Nortes Americano football. I've never seen BYUtv in Asia, AUS, or Europe, but also have zero interest. On the other hand, BYUtv obviously serves a broader, primary mission purpose than gridiron, and the American football games are an extra focused more on the North American LDS market.

BYUtv makes sense for BYU, but you correctly emphasized such a channel is unlikely to work for UConn. Others can and will continue to inexplicably believe independent football's an option for our Huskies. Go figure!?

 

[Kevin Caliendo]

I really guess its perception of what you think UConn football is. I think the view here is that UConn football can be relevent nationally or even regionally. I no longer agree with this assessment, especially if not in a top 5 conference. I think its clear the administration does not think it is either, since it retained PP and is committed to a conference that would never attrack more than 20k to a game at the Rent. Playing in the NNNNBE has no endgame, no goals, no upside. There is no BCS game, there is no good bowl tie-in. Fans around here won't support that. A best case scenario or 10-2 or 11-1 gets you to the Meineke toilet Bowl vs SEC#6 or Big12#5. While the passionate here might be impressed, there are not 25k people in this state that give two craps. think about it this way...Boise St is the best case scenario for what UConn could be in the NNNBE. and they were desperate to get out of their situation. And the situation for the have-nots is a lot worse starting in 2014 than it ever has been.

If you can align the olympic sports with the C7 or ACC, then why not just whore the football program out as an independent? Seven or eight road games a year playing for guarantees at BCS schools and four-five home games, maybe one in NYC vs big-name program or Gillette? Have them play Umass or URI or some MAC school at home. At this point, that is 100x better for the athletic department than playing Tulane, Tulsa, ECU and UCF every year in all sports. If that is your destiny, then football at UConn is dead anyways and the other sports would be headed in the same direction. Salvage the brand equity you do have in hoops and other olympic sports. Playing in the NNNNBE destroys it all.

Just an FYI, I have been a season tix holder at the rent since 2003. have 12, go with three other adults and up to 8 kids. Love going, love the tailgate, love the stadium. This is my last year. Why should I give the AD thousands of dollars to support a product that has no upside (when I can get tix for $10 apiece at the game)? And that is what football at UConn is at this point. I'm at the point where if they killed football to guarantee the long-term success of hoops I would sign up for that. Sad, but true. They had the state captivated five years ago and blew it through horrible marketing and promotion locally and nationally and then hiring PP.

 

[whaler11]

I think there is an idea they can somehow kill football for the sake of basketball? That option doesn't exist. It's both or neither.