Revenge is a dish best served cold!

[Jax Husky]

I sat in the dome in Tempe over a decade ago and cheered on the Huskies, as many of you here did. It was a tough loss after a breakthrough season. Was so proud, only to wake up to the news that Coach had flown on a separate plane to Maryland. Tonight, we shoved it back down OU's throats in their own house, and I could not be happier. Way to go Huskies!

I know this isn't the baseball forum, but this post is half about football.

 

[CL82]

 

[ZooCougar]

I sat in the dome in Tempe over a decade ago and cheered on the Huskies, as many of you here did. It was a tough loss after a breakthrough season. Was so proud, only to wake up to the news that Coach had flown on a separate plane to Maryland. Tonight, we shoved it back down OU's throats in their own house, and I could not be happier. Way to go Huskies!

I know this isn't the baseball forum, but this post is half about football.

It’s college baseball though. A condiment to a side dish.

I watched the game. Pretty awesome defense. And I HATE baseball. That’s how much I love UConn.

 

[DoctorWho85]

The beginning of the season, I though UConn was going nowhere. They were getting blown out by teams they should have beat handidly. Then the second half of the season they seemed almost unbeatable. Making it to the super regional is freaking sweet. Even if they lose in the first round, I think they far exceeded expectations. Penders deserves a statue out side the baseball field at this point.

 

[GoConn]

Basketball (m&w), Baseball....just need a breakout football season and were dominating college sports

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The beginning of the season, I though UConn was going nowhere. They were getting blown out by teams they should have beat handidly. Then the second half of the season they seemed almost unbeatable. Making it to the super regional is freaking sweet. Even if they lose in the first round, I think they far exceeded expectations. Penders deserves a statue out side the baseball field at this point.

If I was told in early January that we would go into Norman and win the sub regional in the manner in which we did I wouldn't have been very surprised.

With what we've seen throughout this season however, I don't see how anyone could have anticipated this.

It was absolutely beautiful by the way!

 

[Jax Husky]

Basketball (m&w), Baseball....just need a breakout football season and were dominating college sports

There are no other schools in the country that have played in a Bowl game, 2 Final Fours and 2 Super Regionals over the last 3 years. None.

 

[BugsyCT]

Y'know, I've seen people online have the same take on it - revenge for the Fiesta Bowl loss. Is it though?

Look what's happened to the football program since that day. Had we won maybe the program wouldn't have collapsed so quickly in the 2010s & beyond, because the football program with a BCS bowl win would have had more prestige, maybe enough to have gotten a P5 life raft in one of the rounds of the CR apocalypse, and the program consequently could be in a much better & healthier place today. But OU was just much better & quicker, our offense couldn't score a TD, and unfortunately the perception began to stick that an 8-4 co-Big East champion like UConn shouldn't have been there in the first place. Then Randy bailed, the Big East collapsed, and the downfall began.

Baseball winning last night in Norman could be seen as a measure of revenge for some fans, and it was very satisfying, but for me it can't make up for Glendale.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Agree that not revengeful but happy to beat okay on their turf. They’ve been dismissive of UConn and have undervalued them.

 

[gsmooth]

It’s college baseball though. A condiment to a side dish.

I watched the game. Pretty awesome defense. And I HATE baseball. That’s how much I love UConn.

I enjoyed the win over Oklahoma yesterday, but your sentiment is correct. A win in a football playoff game is more valuable than baseball-it just is. College football and college basketball are the cash cows in the big business of college sports. College football more so because the schools can keep the money and not have a large portion of the revenue generated go back to the NCAA.

Anything besides football and basketball are merely the mint candies the waiter brings you with your bill after you finished the entree at Capital Grille (or add your favorite high end restaurant).

 

[UConnDan97]

It was an awesome game yesterday. Proud of how the Huskies played.

I know that I'm a homer, but I think it's safe to say that when you consider the finances, climate, etc., there is no athletic department in the country...NONE... better than UConn...

 

[Jetskies]

there are times where i think that even if we HAD miraculously beaten OU in the bowl game, it still might not have been enough to overcome our overall program status, to join the big boys in 2012/2013.

Look no further than Boise State - they beat OU in the same game, in 07 and maintained a very talented program in the years following - i remember many marquis games for them against BCS/Power 6 opponents, in the years following their fiesta bowl win, even though they were still a WAC/Mountain West team. I remember ESPN was even giving some of these games primetime EST evening slots, which speaks tons to the brand that BSU was building at the time.

They (BSU) seemed to be 100% on their way to the big boys table and were getting respect from BCS conference teams. And yet, fast forward to today and they are still a MW team, and not even as good as they were during Chris Petersen's days. Their brand still has value, but IMO they lost most, if not all, of the momentum they had in those years following the fiesta bowl win.

If Boise State couldn't make the jump work, I am hesitant to put my "what-if" eggs in the "UConn beat OU in fiesta bowl" basket. We could still be here, talking about the glory days of 2011 --- maybe even MORE miserable to be scheduling "rivalry" games with UMass, cuz we have a fiesta bowl victory banner hanging. I've learned that history fades QUICKLY unless you're a storied brand from the 50's and prior (USC/ND/Michigan, etc.)



football & college athletics is weird. id kill to be a fly on the wall at the back alley meetings undoubtedbly held over the years between ESPN/Disney, CFP, P4 presidents/AD's, NCAA, and conference Comish's ... that got us to this point

 

[GoConn]

There are no other schools in the country that have played in a Bowl game, 2 Final Fours and 2 Super Regionals over the last 3 years. None.

Without P5 resources, it's amazing what we still accomplish.

 

[Hoophound]

there are times where i think that even if we HAD miraculously beaten OU in the bowl game, it still might not have been enough to overcome our overall program status, to join the big boys in 2012/2013.

Look no further than Boise State - they beat OU in the same game, in 07 and maintained a very talented program in the years following - i remember many marquis games for them against BCS/Power 6 opponents, in the years following their fiesta bowl win, even though they were still a WAC/Mountain West team. I remember ESPN was even giving some of these games primetime EST evening slots, which speaks tons to the brand that BSU was building at the time.

They (BSU) seemed to be 100% on their way to the big boys table and were getting respect from BCS conference teams. And yet, fast forward to today and they are still a MW team, and not even as good as they were during Chris Petersen's days. Their brand still has value, but IMO they lost most, if not all, of the momentum they had in those years following the fiesta bowl win.

If Boise State couldn't make the jump work, I am hesitant to put my "what-if" eggs in the "UConn beat OU in fiesta bowl" basket. We could still be here, talking about the glory days of 2011 --- maybe even MORE miserable to be scheduling "rivalry" games with UMass, cuz we have a fiesta bowl victory banner hanging. I've learned that history fades QUICKLY unless you're a storied brand from the 50's and prior (USC/ND/Michigan, etc.)



football & college athletics is weird. id kill to be a fly on the wall at the back alley meetings undoubtedbly held over the years between ESPN/Disney, CFP, P4 presidents/AD's, NCAA, and conference Comish's ... that got us to this point

If we did what Boise did in football, we’d be in. We could’ve done quite a bit less and still gotten in, but we blew it.

 

[uconnfan68]

I enjoyed the win over Oklahoma yesterday, but your sentiment is correct. A win in a football playoff game is more valuable than baseball-it just is. College football and college basketball are the cash cows in the big business of college sports. College football more so because the schools can keep the money and not have a large portion of the revenue generated go back to the NCAA.

Anything besides football and basketball are merely the mint candies the waiter brings you with your bill after you finished the entree at Capital Grille (or add your favorite high end restaurant).

Better to win than lose.

 

[Hskies4Ever]

there are times where i think that even if we HAD miraculously beaten OU in the bowl game, it still might not have been enough to overcome our overall program status, to join the big boys in 2012/2013.

Look no further than Boise State - they beat OU in the same game, in 07 and maintained a very talented program in the years following - i remember many marquis games for them against BCS/Power 6 opponents, in the years following their fiesta bowl win, even though they were still a WAC/Mountain West team. I remember ESPN was even giving some of these games primetime EST evening slots, which speaks tons to the brand that BSU was building at the time.

They (BSU) seemed to be 100% on their way to the big boys table and were getting respect from BCS conference teams. And yet, fast forward to today and they are still a MW team, and not even as good as they were during Chris Petersen's days. Their brand still has value, but IMO they lost most, if not all, of the momentum they had in those years following the fiesta bowl win.

If Boise State couldn't make the jump work, I am hesitant to put my "what-if" eggs in the "UConn beat OU in fiesta bowl" basket. We could still be here, talking about the glory days of 2011 --- maybe even MORE miserable to be scheduling "rivalry" games with UMass, cuz we have a fiesta bowl victory banner hanging. I've learned that history fades QUICKLY unless you're a storied brand from the 50's and prior (USC/ND/Michigan, etc.)



football & college athletics is weird. id kill to be a fly on the wall at the back alley meetings undoubtedbly held over the years between ESPN/Disney, CFP, P4 presidents/AD's, NCAA, and conference Comish's ... that got us to this point

I would agree with what you’ve said here, with the caveat that UConn was already a power conference team at the time. IMO that is an important difference.

 

[gsmooth]

there are times where i think that even if we HAD miraculously beaten OU in the bowl game, it still might not have been enough to overcome our overall program status, to join the big boys in 2012/2013.

Look no further than Boise State - they beat OU in the same game, in 07 and maintained a very talented program in the years following - i remember many marquis games for them against BCS/Power 6 opponents, in the years following their fiesta bowl win, even though they were still a WAC/Mountain West team. I remember ESPN was even giving some of these games primetime EST evening slots, which speaks tons to the brand that BSU was building at the time.

They (BSU) seemed to be 100% on their way to the big boys table and were getting respect from BCS conference teams. And yet, fast forward to today and they are still a MW team, and not even as good as they were during Chris Petersen's days. Their brand still has value, but IMO they lost most, if not all, of the momentum they had in those years following the fiesta bowl win.

If Boise State couldn't make the jump work, I am hesitant to put my "what-if" eggs in the "UConn beat OU in fiesta bowl" basket. We could still be here, talking about the glory days of 2011 --- maybe even MORE miserable to be scheduling "rivalry" games with UMass, cuz we have a fiesta bowl victory banner hanging. I've learned that history fades QUICKLY unless you're a storied brand from the 50's and prior (USC/ND/Michigan, etc.)



football & college athletics is weird. id kill to be a fly on the wall at the back alley meetings undoubtedbly held over the years between ESPN/Disney, CFP, P4 presidents/AD's, NCAA, and conference Comish's ... that got us to this point

Everything you stated sounds correct about Boise State. However, for football, I wish UConn was on Boise State's level because the last 10 years UConn Football is looking very far upwards at where Boise State Football. I mean, looking up in the way a person standing on the sidewalk looks up at a skyscraper.

Your point still stands though, playing the "what if" game for UConn Football should approached cautiously.

I am still optimistic this year UConn can start a good run in football as according to On3 their transfer rankings is #24 in D1-A football. I am predicting a 7-5 record before bowl season.

 

[DoctorWho85]

What if this is UConn's turning point? Baseball wins the WS which carries over athletic moment into football and we go undefeated, getting an invite to SEC because they want to get into B1G territory for TV.

 

[Hoophound]

Perfect time for me to remind people that Chief00 once predicted we’d be in the SEC. I can’t ever forget it because I secretly thought it myself. If the SEC ever decides to pick up UNC and Virginia and then make a move to the north, we are sitting there ready. I’ve always found the idea silly, yet possibly clever. We’d immediately eclipse Rutgers, Cuse and BC in football and start challenging PSU in the northeast. It could be a brilliant play. I’m sure it isn’t on the SEC radar, but maybe it should be.

 

[CJasmer]

Perfect time for me to remind people that Chief00 once predicted we’d be in the SEC. I can’t ever forget it because I secretly thought it myself. If the SEC ever decides to pick up UNC and Virginia and then make a move to the north, we are sitting there ready. I’ve always found the idea silly, yet possibly clever. We’d immediately eclipse Rutgers, Cuse and BC in football and start challenging PSU in the northeast. It could be a brilliant play. I’m sure it isn’t on the SEC radar, but maybe it should be.

I do not see VA in the SEC. Maybe NC. Football is a religion in the SEC so I do not see UConn being a good fit in the SEC.

 

[Hoophound]

I do not see VA in the SEC. Maybe NC. Football is a religion in the SEC so I do not see UConn being a good fit in the SEC.

No doubt, but if we were in the SEC, football would be religion in CT too.

 

[CJasmer]

No doubt, but if we were in the SEC, football would be religion in CT too.

Really? Have you been to a SEC game between GA, Louisiana, Alabama or Tennessee? That is a stretch if you believe that same atmosphere would happen in CT.

 

[CJasmer]

Really? Have you been to a SEC game between GA, Louisiana, Alabama or Tennessee? That is a stretch if you believe that same atmosphere would happen in CT.

Best fit is the ACC for UConn where the conference is more basketball focused than football.

 

[Hoophound]

Really? Have you been to a SEC game between GA, Louisiana, Alabama or Tennessee? That is a stretch if you believe that same atmosphere would happen in CT.

Yes. I’ve been to many SEC games and a ton of FSU games as well. I live in Florida.

CT may not get that crazy, but being in the SEC would make UConn football electric. Did you go to the Michigan game at the Rent?

 

[CJasmer]

Yes. I’ve been to many SEC games and a ton of FSU games as well. I live in Florida.

CT may not get that crazy, but being in the SEC would make UConn football electric. Did you go to the Michigan game at the Rent?

In my opinion it is not a good fit. The South takes college football over the top serious. One game against Michigan where the stadium is full with Michigan fans is not a good indication. The BIG 10 is a better fit than SEC for UConn.