Independent Scheduling

[Chin Diesel]

Looked up teams with 2020 openings. I’m sure we can finagle something but even if we don’t theres a lot of good teams on this list

Get all of these done first.
Va Tech
ODU
Air Force
FIU
TCU

Get as many of these as possible:
South Carolina
Arkansas
FSU

Fill in with whatever:
Louisiana
UAB
ULM
Coastal
La Tech
So Miss

Someone like Coastal would be good to establish a relationship with for baseball as well.

EDIT:

Get Navy every year possible too.
Between Navy, Va Tech and ODU, plenty of exposure in mid-Atlantic for recruiting and news coverage.

Between USF, UCF, FIU and FAU, one or two of them a year to keep one (or two) games every year in Florida.

 

[Guapo]

I may have missed this, but if the AAC doesn't replace UConn, can those programs just continue to schedule UConn as an out of conference game?

Other than Aresco being (not mad) there’s no reason this cant happen

 

[Guapo]

For what it’s worth: our friends at No Escalators tweeted “I know a secret” with an excited Jimmy Fallon gif, then deleted it a couple minutes later.

I presume it has something to do with the future of the UConn football program.

 

[Kolumbo]

Did you know Ethel Merman thought microphones were for wimps. Sh elieved if your voice couldn’t reach the back of the hall unaided you had no business being on the stage!

She had some pipes.

 

[andy34]

As I feel at the current moment, the only thing I am concerned about is bowl tie-in when eligible.

Even if UConn were 9-3...in a few years...they would theoretically have to wait out the invitations to 6-6 conference affiliated teams, and this assumes an opening for a 5-7 bid, which while there are 86 or so spots, does not happen yearly. No way am I holding my breath for any ESPN help either, since UConn wiggled out of their most cost effective property. UConn is going to have to around ESPN in obtaining a tie-in guarantee. Not an easy task as ESPN pretty much controls most of the non-major bowls.

UConn just blew up ESPN's initial E+ experiment.

Agreed that we shouldn't expect ESPN to do us any favors, but I feel like there's an important distinction between vindictiveness from a university (Boston College obviously comes to mind) and a company like ESPN. ESPN is a profit-seeking entity and that's all it comes down to. They negotiate contracts and engage in partnerships that will bring them the most money, because they are held accountable by stakeholders. In contrast, a college president or AD may have pressure from their fan base and donor base to operate in ways that aren't aligned only to profit.

All of this is to say that if ESPN can make a good profit from a future partnership with UConn, I think its silly to expect them not to consider it.

 

[metsfan2323]

I may have missed this, but if the AAC doesn't replace UConn, can those programs just continue to schedule UConn as an out of conference game?

Since UCONN was a conference game they will need to replace that opening with another conference game. The AAC is going to one division with the top two going to the playoff.

 

[Exit 4]

Reposting from my July 10th post...

2020 Dates - decided to list the dates that are filled rather than open.

UConn (has 9/3, 9/12, 9/19 and 9/26 filled with UMass, at Illinois, Maine and Indiana respectively), so four games set.

School with an unfilled 2020 OOC slot:

• Miami (has 9/5, 9/19 and 9/26 filled) <--edit Miami now has a fourth OOC game.
• Vtech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• SMU (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• UCF (has 9/5, 9/19 filled)
• FIU (has 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• La Tech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 11/21 filled)
• Southern Miss (has 9/5, 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• UAB (has 9/3, 9/19 and 9/26 filled, usually plays an OOC in Nov)
• Air Force (has 9/19, 10/3 filled and a tbd with Army)
• Arkansas (has 9/5 and 9/12 filled - usually plays an OOC in late Oct or Nov)
• Coastal Carolina (has 9/12 and 9/26 filled and a tbd with South Carolina, has Oct and Nov OOCs planned in future)
• Louisiana Lafayette (has 9/5, 10/24 and 11/21 filled)
• TCU (has 9/5 filled)

Just a guess: our eight empty 2020 slots are filled with:

#1 - Arkansas or TCU (ahem M. Anthony SEC rumors)
#2 - VTech (ahem M. Anthony and others ACC rumors)
#3 - Army (Army shifts a game to make room for us - rumored)
#4 - Air Force (no rumors here, but it would make some sense - I think)
#5 - UCF (they have two open dates, I know they are aiming for the moon, but would a two game series make sense? plus we need FL on the schedule)
#6 - Coastal Carolina (we are recruiting well in SC, a two game series make some sense)
#7 - Pick one of La Tech/Southern Miss, UAB or Louisiana Lafayette (for a two game series)
#8 - Pick one of SMU or FIU (Texas and FL are good places to be)

Back up plan #1, do both the TCU and Arkansas games - but that would be a brutal schedule
Back up plan #2, make a two game series with BYU or Liberty where they bump someone from their 2020 schedule.
Back up plan #3, make a two game series with anyone in the MAC that is willing to bump a 2020 game (preference towards an Ohio team or Buffalo).
Back up plan #4, convince Temple (with basketball games) to bump someone in 2020 for a two game series.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

She had some pipes.

Great movie.

 

[WrenchFan69]

It would be great if we could get UMass and Liberty to move their game to Halloween, move our UMass game to Thanksgiving, and schedule a P5 for week 1. Maybe Liberty can move an FCS game to Thanksgiving or replace one of them with us. Replacing us for West Carolina in November would be great for everybody (except WCU I guess)

 

[huskymedic]

Bryan Fischer @BryanDFischer 46m
Seriously, if USC wants to keep their no-FCS streak going, they should be on the phone to get UConn to come out instead of UCD. Makes plenty of sense on both sides.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

She had some pipes.

”Baby, get me a can of beer or something”

 

[WrenchFan69]

Reposting from my July 10th post...

2020 Dates - decided to list the dates that are filled rather than open.

UConn (has 9/3, 9/12, 9/19 and 9/26 filled with UMass, at Illinois, Maine and Indiana respectively), so four games set.

School with an unfilled 2020 OOC slot:

• Miami (has 9/5, 9/19 and 9/26 filled) <--edit Miami now has a fourth OOC game.
• Vtech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• SMU (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• UCF (has 9/5, 9/19 filled)
• FIU (has 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• La Tech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 11/21 filled)
• Southern Miss (has 9/5, 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• UAB (has 9/3, 9/19 and 9/26 filled, usually plays an OOC in Nov)
• Air Force (has 9/19, 10/3 filled and a tbd with Army)
• Arkansas (has 9/5 and 9/12 filled - usually plays an OOC in late Oct or Nov)
• Coastal Carolina (has 9/12 and 9/26 filled and a tbd with South Carolina, has Oct and Nov OOCs planned in future)
• Louisiana Lafayette (has 9/5, 10/24 and 11/21 filled)
• TCU (has 9/5 filled)

Just a guess: our eight empty 2020 slots are filled with:

#1 - Arkansas or TCU (ahem M. Anthony SEC rumors)
#2 - VTech (ahem M. Anthony and others ACC rumors)
#3 - Army (Army shifts a game to make room for us - rumored)
#4 - Air Force (no rumors here, but it would make some sense - I think)
#5 - UCF (they have two open dates, I know they are aiming for the moon, but would a two game series make sense? plus we need FL on the schedule)
#6 - Coastal Carolina (we are recruiting well in SC, a two game series make some sense)
#7 - Pick one of La Tech/Southern Miss, UAB or Louisiana Lafayette (for a two game series)
#8 - Pick one of SMU or FIU (Texas and FL are good places to be)

Back up plan #1, do both the TCU and Arkansas games - but that would be a brutal schedule
Back up plan #2, make a two game series with BYU or Liberty where they bump someone from their 2020 schedule.
Back up plan #3, make a two game series with anyone in the MAC that is willing to bump a 2020 game (preference towards an Ohio team or Buffalo).
Back up plan #4, convince Temple (with basketball games) to bump someone in 2020 for a two game series.

UCLA could also add a game because they play at Hawaii. Maybe Kelly wants to play an extra? We could sweeten it with basketball, of course, which I'm sure Cronin would enjoy.

 

[LIuconn]

Maybe the AD should survey alums/fans in different parts of the country to take their temp on ability/willingness to travel to see UConn play football. IE, west coast - would they get more people to go to a game in LA vs SF? Dallas or Atlanta? And schedule opponents, buy-game or not, accordingly?

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Maybe the AD should survey alums/fans in different parts of the country to take their temp on ability/willingness to travel to see UConn play football. IE, west coast - would they get more people to go to a game in LA vs SF? Dallas or Atlanta? And schedule opponents, buy-game or not, accordingly?

These types of surveys are notoriously unreliable. Fans' willingness to travel is heavily dictated by cost, and without those exact cost numbers in front of them, their response to such a survey is virtually meaningless.

What is something the AD can (and likely will) do is to take stock of the master list of UConn alumni and determine geographical areas outside the northeast where there are large clusters of alumni. Use this information, as well as any data the Alumni Association has on how active those alumni have been in local UConn events, past sporting events in the area, etc. to make their scheduling targets.

 

[CTBballfan243]

The hard scheduling will be “if” or “when” UConn becomes respectable in football. UConn will have a hard time getting teams to come to the Rent. There is no benefit for a P5 team in taking a risk of losing to UConn at the Rent. Now P5 teams are willing to schedule UConn because it is a guaranteed win for them.

 

[Exit 4]

The hard scheduling will be “if” or “when” UConn becomes respectable in football. UConn will have a hard time getting teams to come to the Rent. There is no benefit for a P5 team in taking a risk of losing to UConn at the Rent. Now P5 teams are willing to schedule UConn because it is a guaranteed win for them.

You can say every program has scheduling "challenges."

No one will play a northern team, no one will play a loser, no one will play a winner, no one will play at an off campus stadium, no one will play in areas they dont recruit in, no one will play there in October or November, no one will play someone at X level in the SOS, no one will play an opponent with that style of offense/defense...no one will.....

 

[bc puckett]

Reposting from my July 10th post...

2020 Dates - decided to list the dates that are filled rather than open.

UConn (has 9/3, 9/12, 9/19 and 9/26 filled with UMass, at Illinois, Maine and Indiana respectively), so four games set.

School with an unfilled 2020 OOC slot:

• Miami (has 9/5, 9/19 and 9/26 filled) <--edit Miami now has a fourth OOC game.
• Vtech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• SMU (has 9/5, 9/12 and 9/19 filled)
• UCF (has 9/5, 9/19 filled)
• FIU (has 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• La Tech (has 9/5, 9/12 and 11/21 filled)
• Southern Miss (has 9/5, 9/26 and 10/24 filled)
• UAB (has 9/3, 9/19 and 9/26 filled, usually plays an OOC in Nov)
• Air Force (has 9/19, 10/3 filled and a tbd with Army)
• Arkansas (has 9/5 and 9/12 filled - usually plays an OOC in late Oct or Nov)
• Coastal Carolina (has 9/12 and 9/26 filled and a tbd with South Carolina, has Oct and Nov OOCs planned in future)
• Louisiana Lafayette (has 9/5, 10/24 and 11/21 filled)
• TCU (has 9/5 filled)

Just a guess: our eight empty 2020 slots are filled with:

#1 - Arkansas or TCU (ahem M. Anthony SEC rumors)
#2 - VTech (ahem M. Anthony and others ACC rumors)
#3 - Army (Army shifts a game to make room for us - rumored)
#4 - Air Force (no rumors here, but it would make some sense - I think)
#5 - UCF (they have two open dates, I know they are aiming for the moon, but would a two game series make sense? plus we need FL on the schedule)
#6 - Coastal Carolina (we are recruiting well in SC, a two game series make some sense)
#7 - Pick one of La Tech/Southern Miss, UAB or Louisiana Lafayette (for a two game series)
#8 - Pick one of SMU or FIU (Texas and FL are good places to be)

Back up plan #1, do both the TCU and Arkansas games - but that would be a brutal schedule
Back up plan #2, make a two game series with BYU or Liberty where they bump someone from their 2020 schedule.
Back up plan #3, make a two game series with anyone in the MAC that is willing to bump a 2020 game (preference towards an Ohio team or Buffalo).
Back up plan #4, convince Temple (with basketball games) to bump someone in 2020 for a two game series.

You can pretty much scratch TCU from your list. While they currently have 2 open dates going forward one of those will be filled by an FCS opponent (per Coach Patterson wishes) and the other I'm sure will be the continuation (sadly) of the series with SMU. The current contract runs out this season but I would be shocked if the series doesn't continue. SMU also has at least one open date on it's schedule going forward.

 

[CL82]

”Baby, get me a can of beer or something”

Totally saying that to the wife tonight.

 

[Guapo]

You can say every program has scheduling "challenges."

No one will play a northern team, no one will play a loser, no one will play a winner, no one will play at an off campus stadium, no one will play in areas they dont recruit in, no one will play there in October or November, no one will play someone at X level in the SOS, no one will play an opponent with that style of offense/defense...no one will.....

“No one will schedule a triple option team”

 

[WrenchFan69]

Week Of	UConn	UMass	New Mexico St	Liberty
8/29			at UCLA
9/5	FIU/Air Force/Coastal	Air Force/Coastal Carolina	at UAB	at VA Tech
9/12	at Illinois	Troy	Akron	NC A&T
9/19	at TCU/Arkansas	Albany	New Mexico	at WKU
9/26	Indiana	at App St	at UTEP	FIU
10/3		at New Mexico	Texas State	at Bowling Green
10/10	Army?	Temple	at Hawaii	ULM
10/17		at Akron	at Fresno State	at Cuse
10/24		FIU	Louisiana	Southern Miss
10/31	UMass	at UConn
11/7	New Mexico St		at UConn	at UVA
11/14	at Liberty	at Auburn	Texas Southern	UConn
11/21	Maine	Army	at Florida	at NC State
11/28	at UCLA	at Liberty		UMass

I got to this point without any crazy moves (assuming NMST/Liberty/UMass will be accomodating seeing as we'll be scheduling mates going forward).

• New Mexico St comes to PAWSARF instead of going to UMass on 11/7, presumably they guarantee a later date on their series (2024?)
• UConn and UMass move their game to Halloween
• UConn schedules a lower FBS team with a Week 1 opening, UMass schedules one of the others for Week 1 but not FIU as they play them 10/24
• Maine game is moved back because they're FCS and can make it work for the pay day, allows us for a week 3 game at TCU/Arkansas
• Liberty buys out of/reschedules their West Carolina game on 11/14 and we play in Virginia so they only have one FCS.
• Play at UCLA on 11/28 because they can add a game for playing at Hawaii

Leaves us 3 games over 4 weeks in the middle. Army, AAC teams, another FCS, perhaps getting two opponents playing each other to play us instead to fill these. Army 10/10 would slot in pretty seamlessly

 

[Life Is Good]

Looked up teams with 2020 openings. I’m sure we can finagle something but even if we don’t theres a lot of good teams on this list

I think Florida State could be a good measuring stick for us in 2020.

 

[ASweet3781]

Looked up teams with 2020 openings. I’m sure we can finagle something but even if we don’t theres a lot of good teams on this list

Both Old Dominion and Liberty are associate members of the Big East and play UConn in Field Hockey. Wouldn't stun me if both are on the schedule.

South Carolina has had a pretty long relationship for us that is continuing with women's hoop so they could also be ones on our schedule soon/

 

[Exit 4]

Both Old Dominion and Liberty are associate members of the Big East and play UConn in Field Hockey. Wouldn't stun me if both are on the schedule.

South Carolina has had a pretty long relationship for us that is continuing with women's hoop so they could also be ones on our schedule soon/

Along those lines, OD has one unfilled OOC slot for 2020. Currently they have games against Wake on 9/5, NC State on 9/26 and Virginia on 11/21. It does seem logical a two or four year series would be set up with Old Dominion given they are in Norfolk VA.

From my list, scrap the games against the Sun Belt or CUSA which are not on the eastern seaboard in favor of a series with OD.

And good observation about South Carolina. In lieu of playing Coastal Carolina, perhaps we can arrange a H & H with SC. Their long term OOC schedule is rather thin and for 2020, they have an open date after lining up ECU on 9/12, Clemson on 11/28 and a TBD date with Coastal Carolina.

My revised eight games:
#1 - Arkansas pay day game (M. Anthony SEC rumors)
#2 - South Carolina series for H&H (M. Anthony SEC rumors) / Take Coastal Carolina as alt if necessary
#3 - VTech series for a H&H (M. Anthony and others ACC rumors)
#4 - Army (Army shifts a game to make room for us - rumored)
#5 - Air Force (no rumors here, but it would make some sense - I think)
#6 - UCF (they have two open dates, I know they are aiming for the moon, but would a two game series make sense? plus we need FL on the schedule)
#7 - Old Dominion (CUSA game for a perhaps a 2 or 4 game series)
#8 - FIU (they have a wide open schedule and a second FL game wouldn't hurt)

 

[History Geek]

She had some pipes.

What a great, great, great, great movie.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Both Old Dominion and Liberty are associate members of the Big East and play UConn in Field Hockey. Wouldn't stun me if both are on the schedule.

Likewise, Temple is a NBEE gal’s field hockey associate member. Aside from that less important consideration, it won’t be shocking for Temple to schedule reasonably convenient UConn in football.