If We Go Independent In Football... Scheduling

[Tigers69]

Maybe 2-3 at most. Probably all road games but it's better than nothing . . . I guess.

BC, UMass, Cuse, Rutgers, Penn State, UCLA, Appalachian State, BYU.........

The mens and womens basketball programs schedule about 13 non conference games each, that's 26 potential football opponents.

 

[Milo65]

I have to believe there is a plan for football that involves Fox, a football only conference affiliation or something else?

 

[huskymedic]

I have to believe there is a plan for football that involves Fox, a football only conference affiliation or something else?

 

[BlueDogs]

Brilliant strategy. We have to be the single most stupid college athletics program in the country over the last 10 years. On the cusp of playoff expansion with the AAC at least getting a spot on the dance floor and with the AAC positioned to be very competitive in basketball, we head for the doors for a increasingly irrelevant catholic basketball conference and no plan for football. Simply, stunningly stupid. You can’t make this stuff up if you tried. We truly deserve everything that is coming our way.

 

[Adios]

Past 30 years. We should have joined Big East football the moment it was created.

 

[B12]

To be perfectly honest this is a much better time to be indy than in the past. There are a lot of p-5 teams who will pay UConn a million for a bodybag game. Every p-5 is looking for home games so I expect there will be lots of options. Probably means only a few home games each season. The g-5 schools are exploiting this and as an indy you will have many options later in the season for an SEC payday.

In the end FCS is probably the destination as the bowl money distribution for a FBS indy is hardly going to justify the expense of the scholarships and coaches salaries. I suspect they will give this a try for a few years but the AAC is not going to be an option and the MAC is FCS level anyway so there really is not an option other than indy. Idaho went through this recently. On the bright side that would probably cut 20+ million from the AD budget.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

If Fox is working on coming up with a new football conference there is little chance it can be better than the AAC without many defections. As a last straw, I repeat something I said before: UConn could help create a new football conference based on academic and athletic quality. It could include: UConn, UMass, Buffalo/Army, Navy, Air Force/SMU, Rice, Tulane. It would include three sets of rivalries and academic quality just under the Ivy League. But it is far from perfect. It may be a place to hold UConn football until a P5 comes calling.

 

[John]

Brilliant strategy. We have to be the single most stupid college athletics program in the country over the last 10 years. On the cusp of playoff expansion with the AAC at least getting a spot on the dance floor and with the AAC positioned to be very competitive in basketball, we head for the doors for a increasingly irrelevant catholic basketball conference and no plan for football. Simply, stunningly stupid. You can’t make this stuff up if you tried. We truly deserve everything that is coming our way.

A moronic AD and short-sighted basketball fans, what a lethal combination

 

[B12]

. It may be a place to hold UConn football until a P5 comes calling.

That ship has sailed. This FBS experiment from the 90's will likely be over soon. At this point it's about saving money for the BB and WBB programs, not about trying to join a p-5 football conference. UConn is in a p-6 BB conference. One that is stronger than the PAC and possibly even the AAC although Memphis and Houston have it going on.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

These schools have open 2020 dates
FSU

Miami

Vetch

SMU

UCF

Florida international

La tech

Southern miss

Uab

Air Force

Arkansas

Coastal Carolina

Louisiana Lafayette

 

[Caronimo]

The irony is that the AAC could soon be a better basketball conference than the BE.

Not really. The bottom of the league is so weak and nobody wants to watch Tulane, ECU, etc. Big east has the brand and will draw fans, also not as much traveling flying all over the country.

 

[Caronimo]

A moronic AD and short-sighted basketball fans, what a lethal combination

I actually think AD David Benedict is pretty good. It’s our fan base that’s pretty pathetic and fair weathered. Doesn’t help that we haven’t seen a decent football team in almost a decade

 

[Adios]

I actually think AD David Benedict is pretty good. It’s our fan base that’s pretty pathetic and fair weathered. Doesn’t help that we haven’t seen a decent football team in almost a decade

As even implied by the AD, regarding fans. How do the fans reply? By crying more.

 

[John]

I actually think AD David Benedict is pretty good. It’s our fan base that’s pretty pathetic and fair weathered. Doesn’t help that we haven’t seen a decent football team in almost a decade

By AD I meant athletic department as a whole.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If Fox is working on coming up with a new football conference there is little chance it can be better than the AAC without many defections. As a last straw, I repeat something I said before: UConn could help create a new football conference based on academic and athletic quality. It could include: UConn, UMass, Buffalo/Army, Navy, Air Force/SMU, Rice, Tulane. It would include three sets of rivalries and academic quality just under the Ivy League. But it is far from perfect. It may be a place to hold UConn football until a P5 comes calling.

No way Tulane is leaving the AAC. It’s great for them. Army, Navy and can’t be in a conference with a championship game that means they could play twice.

Army, UMass, UConn and Buffalo could be interested. But that’s not enough.

We have to hope that Fox is willing to incent B12 and B10 to give us home and home games. Maybe with hoop tie ins. Kansas, IU, MSU etc.

Edit: forget that Buffalo won’t leave the MAC. No place to park it’s other sports.

 

[UConnNick]

It will be rough if you are a fan who likes to attend games. The majority of home games will likely be against FCS, low level G5 (MAC/CUSA) and some combination of independents like Army, Umass, BYU, and NMSU. I imagine that there will be a good bit of black balling from current AAC Schools and ESPN Properties like The ACC and SEC. Fox will probably arrange some payday road games for your AD against Pac 12, Big 12, and B1G Schools as a reward for helping prop up the NBE. Here come 10 PM kicks at Oregon State on a Friday Night...

Hahaha...Oregon St. isn't good enough to guarantee us much of a payday game.

 

[UConnNick]

The irony is that the AAC could soon be a better basketball conference than the BE.

It already is.

 

[BY06518]

Any thoughts about what's feasible in terms of longer term arrangements with other programs?
What might we see? What would you like to see?

Maybe you guys can schedule teams you can beat. Good riddance to a crappy program that never should have existed anyway.

 

[Jimdish255]

Maybe you guys can schedule teams you can beat. Good riddance to a crappy program that never should have existed anyway.

Therapy is down the hall past the water fountain. Let us know how you make out. We're rooting for you

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Therapy is down the hall past the water fountain. Let us know how you make out. We're rooting for you

I only root for some basketball board fans. Not all of them.

 

[Hoophound]

Maybe you guys can schedule teams you can beat. Good riddance to a crappy program that never should have existed anyway.

It still amazes me how many people say UConn shouldn’t have gone FBS. We went to the Fiesta Bowl, we won Big East titles, we beat Notre Dame and WVU among others. It was a great run and it was killed by nothing but bad coaching hires. We were a media darling heading into our game at the Big House several years back.

This program can still prosper. It is entirely up to Fox and the administration. I’m viewing this as a good thing for UConn. I feel like we might have finally done something for us. We’ve made a move that says, “don’t tread on me”, and I like it. I may be wrong, but for now I will anxiously await football news from the school and I will be closely watching Randy Edsall.

I might add, we picked up some pretty decent recruits in the last 10 days. What did we tell them?

 

[Point6]

Notre Dame has done ok with independence and its NBC deal. If we can get a similar (but lite-version) with SNY, why are we not in a better position for football than we would be streaming on the AAC? Imagine we are on TV in NY for every football game for years to come. I don't think we would lose ground in football. And scheduling would come because we are on TV in NY- no? I suspect/hope this is what we are going to hear about independence and it will end up being much better in the end for us than being in AAC.

 

[Hornet22]

It still amazes me how many people say UConn shouldn’t have gone FBS. We went to the Fiesta Bowl, we won Big East titles, we beat Notre Dame and WVU among others. It was a great run and it was killed by nothing but bad coaching hires. We were a media darling heading into our game at the Big House several years back.

This program can still prosper. It is entirely up to Fox and the administration. I’m viewing this as a good thing for UConn. I feel like we might have finally done something for us. We’ve made a move that says, “don’t tread on me”, and I like it. I may be wrong, but for now I will anxiously await football news from the school and I will be closely watching Randy Edsall.

I might add, we picked up some pretty decent recruits in the last 10 days. What did we tell them?

Very good question

 

[SubInATub]

The irony is that the AAC could soon be a better basketball conference than the BE.

That will never happen. AAC bottom is way too low. BE will always be. 5-7 bid conference. AAC will max out at 4.

 

[Purple Stein]

These schools have open 2020 dates
FSU

Miami

Vetch

SMU

UCF

Florida international

La tech

Southern miss

Uab

Air Force

Arkansas

Coastal Carolina

Louisiana Lafayette

13-0