- Joined
- Sep 24, 2011
- Messages
- 984
- Reaction Score
- 2,702
Here’s the issue. Goes along with “perception is reality.” It boils down to recruiting, and while this league may be better than the BE league we were in the perception is it’s a secondary league, the best of the 2nd level in D1.
When we were at our best, we were recruiting against ‘Cuse, BC, Pitt, Rutgers (leaving PSU out for obv reasons), and we were winning those recruiting battles for a good 5-8 year stretch.
Now, we are still recruiting against those schools bc geography hasn’t changed, but the league has and the perception. Imagine you’re a recruit and BC, ‘Cuse, Pitt staff is recruiting you to play in the ACC and have regional games (our conference being everywhere hurts also), and you get to play teams like Clemson, FSU, etc. Now imagine Rutgers comes in and you can play against OSU, MSU, Michigan, PSU, etc? Now UConn comes in and what are you selling? That is the problem, and that can only be solved by going into a P5 league so we are on an even playing field again. Issue is we can’t get into a P5 without improving football, which goes hand in hand obv.
I’m not a “go back to the BE guy” but if in 2-3 years we still are horrible it’s time to do something, beg the ACC to be an all-sports but FB member, go back to the BE, whatever. I’m willing to wait it out, but the deck is hugely squared against us.
When we were at our best, we were recruiting against ‘Cuse, BC, Pitt, Rutgers (leaving PSU out for obv reasons), and we were winning those recruiting battles for a good 5-8 year stretch.
Now, we are still recruiting against those schools bc geography hasn’t changed, but the league has and the perception. Imagine you’re a recruit and BC, ‘Cuse, Pitt staff is recruiting you to play in the ACC and have regional games (our conference being everywhere hurts also), and you get to play teams like Clemson, FSU, etc. Now imagine Rutgers comes in and you can play against OSU, MSU, Michigan, PSU, etc? Now UConn comes in and what are you selling? That is the problem, and that can only be solved by going into a P5 league so we are on an even playing field again. Issue is we can’t get into a P5 without improving football, which goes hand in hand obv.
I’m not a “go back to the BE guy” but if in 2-3 years we still are horrible it’s time to do something, beg the ACC to be an all-sports but FB member, go back to the BE, whatever. I’m willing to wait it out, but the deck is hugely squared against us.