Do We Care About Bowl Games?

[billybud]

The Pinstripe is contracted between the B1G and ACC through 2025...after that?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree, except I guess it kind of a chicken or egg thing, right?

We need to win to get a bowl but we need to recruit to win.

Having a bowl in place will make recruiting easier.

Of course. And Businesslawyer is right as well. But nobody coming here thinks we are going bowling this year, or even next. That's why building a winner from a basement program is so hard in football. You have to do it despite every disadvantage. And you probably need to get lucky and land a couple of kids who are way better than anybody thought.

 

[Nostical]

Of course Bowl games are important. Getting invited was always a big deal and I've been to all of them, from the Motor City to the St Petersburg. It was always a great time but the date, venue, opponent and cost often impeded a big UConn turnout. If we become Bowl eligible this year--or in the next few as an Independent--it will be critical to our re-ascension to respectability to turn out in big numbers. In the meantime, away games against "star power" teams like Clemson can feel like a "Bowl Game" until we regain our footing.

 

[Woof 101]

Other than the extra weeks of practice, do we care that as an independent UConn likely won't be going to bowl games? Aside from a couple during the heyday as a Big East member they were all third tier money losers anyway. Yeah, UConn got revenue form the success of others, in the BE and AAC, and UConn gives that up. But in the overall calculation does it really matter? Thoughts?

NO ATTACK RST...you could have made this a poll and only needed a yes box. While I agree many bowl games are money losers there are many peripheral benefits of going to a bowl. Many above have already stated the obvious.
I personally can't remember a team ever turning down a bowl offer and if there were any the number has to be low. This from writer Jonathan Crowl 2014.
The important point is that schools continue to accept bowl invites because of the benefits they do see: the national TV exposure (a huge boon for smaller programs), the slight recruiting edge, and the excitement a bowl berth can stir in a fan base.
Kind of hits / fits home here.....

 

[Purple Stein]

Last season...

The AAC had 7 teams with 7 or more wins

Well, they're all about to lose a win when we bail after this year. Mark it 6, Dude.

 

[freescooter]

I actually am not so worried about this. If we win we will make a bowl game. The NCAA rule is that 5-7 teams can only go if no 6-6 or better teams and the PAC has a rule banning its 5-7 teams. Add the total number of slots and I think we are pretty attractive.

 

[ScottVib]

I personally can't remember a team ever turning down a bowl offer and if there were any the number has to be low.

It's not frequent, but there have been a couple:

Louisiana Tech - 2012
Missouri - 2015
Texas - 2016 (not certain if they received one that year, but they announced preemptively they would decline)

 

[billybud]

Well, they're all about to lose a win when we bail after this year. Mark it 6, Dude.

Dude? Internet tough guy talk?

 

[EJHarrington]

Yes and I would not worry about not getting invitations if we get bowl eligible. There are so many bowl games even 5-7 teams occasionally sneak in.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Good God, yes, of course it matters. If you're a player, do you want to look forward to having a bowl game at the end of your season or don't you? And if you think the answer is of course you do, the next question is how in the world not being able to offer that to recruits isn't a huge disadvantage.

And that's before talking about getting thousands of well off and dedicated boosters travelling and drinking in one place for a game where you can hit them up for money.

And the swag bag for the players. Four bowl games in a career and you have a bunch of cool stuff.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Per Wiki - It appears that last season was the 3rd in the past 8 where all bowl slots were filled with eligible (6-6) teams. A handful of teams actually had 6 wins and were left out last season.

BYU has its own bowl (Hawaiian) should they be bowl eligible, but I wouldn't think that's on the table for UConn.

Best case would be finishing over .500 and filling in an eligible spot or (pipe dream) getting a deal with a league that Fox has a stake in and saying if you don't fill this with an eligible team we'd take UConn. Which I'd think the bowl and TV would perhaps prefer to a MAC or CUSA team filling in?

 

[ScottVib]

There were new bowls added this year as well.. even more spots will need to be filled.

 

[buddy]

The Pinstripe is contracted between the B1G and ACC through 2025...after that?

The way things have gone it will likely be the ACC and the AAC by then.

 

[Husky25]

I think ND preemptively declined a bowl game in Weis's final year as well, because they were about to fire him and everyone knew it.

 

[Purple Stein]

Dude? Internet tough guy talk?

 

[RSTuthill]

NO ATTACK RST...you could have made this a poll and only needed a yes box. While I agree many bowl games are money losers there are many peripheral benefits of going to a bowl. Many above have already stated the obvious.
I personally can't remember a team ever turning down a bowl offer and if there were any the number has to be low. This from writer Jonathan Crowl 2014.
The important point is that schools continue to accept bowl invites because of the benefits they do see: the national TV exposure (a huge boon for smaller programs), the slight recruiting edge, and the excitement a bowl berth can stir in a fan base.
Kind of hits / fits home here.....

Yeah, but actually looking for discussion. So far what I have heard are the extra practice and recruiting. Of course, neither helped much in Disco's final year

I wasn't looking at it from the fan's perspective. And the TV thing doesn't really resonate unless the bowl is a major one. A TV broadcast of a minor bowl on an obscure cable or streaming outlet doesn't do much for image.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Per Wiki - It appears that last season was the 3rd in the past 8 where all bowl slots were filled with eligible (6-6) teams. A handful of teams actually had 6 wins and were left out last season.

BYU has its own bowl (Hawaiian) should they be bowl eligible, but I wouldn't think that's on the table for UConn.

Best case would be finishing over .500 and filling in an eligible spot or (pipe dream) getting a deal with a league that Fox has a stake in and saying if you don't fill this with an eligible team we'd take UConn. Which I'd think the bowl and TV would perhaps prefer to a MAC or CUSA team filling in?

IMO I’m a bit disappointed AD David Benedict was unable to negotiate us getting a back up slot in the AAC lineup. I wonder if it was on the table

 

[CCSU97]

FWIW pretty sure the NEC now counts towards 6.

At this point every NEC team, with the exception of Sacred Heart, have FBS opponents scheduled and are a “bowl counter” win.

The NEC has somewhat become the FCS opponent of choice for MAC teams.

 

[billybud]

NEC does Not count as a win....reference below:

1. No more than one win against an FCS team may count toward that win total, and only if the FCS team has awarded at least 90% of the scholarships that FCS rules allowed it to award over the last two years.[2] (Currently, that means that wins against Ivy League, Pioneer Football League, and Northeast Conference teams and Georgetown do not count.) The requirement that the FCS team must have awarded 90% of its allowed scholarships may be waived if a "unique or catastrophic situation" prevented the FCS team from meeting that requirement.[2]

 

[whaler11]

NEC does Not count as a win....reference below:

1. No more than one win against an FCS team may count toward that win total, and only if the FCS team has awarded at least 90% of the scholarships that FCS rules allowed it to award over the last two years.[2] (Currently, that means that wins against Ivy League, Pioneer Football League, and Northeast Conference teams and Georgetown do not count.) The requirement that the FCS team must have awarded 90% of its allowed scholarships may be waived if a "unique or catastrophic situation" prevented the FCS team from meeting that requirement.[2]

your source is old champ

 

[billybud]

your source is old champ

2018-19 season Champ...got a update for 2019-20 that is different?

 

[whaler11]

2018-19 season Champ...got a update?

yeah nec games count. thats why nec teams are now on FBS schedules. uconn opens with wagner and they just signed a series with Central - they didnt schedule the NEC when they didn’t count.

 

[billybud]

LOL...show me any reference...other than your surmise....

They aren't and weren't last year.

 

[whaler11]

LOL...show me any reference...other than your surmise....

They aren't and weren't last year.

I asked the question nicely because I already knew the answer. Feel free to be wrong on this - your motivation for being here doesn’t even make any sense to me. I’m sure all the teams that schedule NEC teams don’t know but your wikipedia link does.

you might note that the guy with an NEC school avatar also knows...

 

[billybud]

NEC needs to award 56.7 scholarships to make 90% of the 63 available for FCS.

Wagner has 59...they make it.