So what does an all Independent schedule look like?

[huskymedic]

SEC Missouri still pending (among others):

 

[BlueDogs]

Indies need to start playing last week in August and gain the market advantage with a 3 week virtual conference tourney format coined the “Patriot Cup”and cut an interim TV deal. They would pick up serious media $$. just need to find 1 other school to run a 8 team round robin.

 

[EASTFLA]

Looking at the UConn schedule and likely games not to be played:

ALREADY CERTAIN:

@ ILL
IND

Seems pretty certain the rest of P5 will go the way of Pac-12, B-10:

@VA
@OLE MISS
@NC

Likely that all conferences go that way as well:

MTSU
SJ ST. (unlikely anyway with 3,000 mile travel)
ODU

FCS teams are highly questionable:

Maine

That leaves:

UMass
Liberty
Army

At that point piecing together a schedule of independents that would not include ND (ACC more likely and makes more sense).

BYU & N.Mexico St. (distance makes it quite unlikely)

Leaves us Army & Liberty, both already on the schedule. Let's be honest with ourselves. Whatever way a schedule could be brought together, the quality of games is going to be horrific, and not even worth the effort putting kids at risk for a nothing burger. I just don't see this happening for UConn and many others.

 

[TMB4405]

For any conference to look at a conference only schedule and make any argument that it is about player safety is a complete joke. They still want some money from the TV deals and they are making it sound like this is a solution related to player safety. I don’t see how Illinois playing penn state is different than playing us or anyone else for that matter. College football is and always will be a money grab so let’s not pretend that we don’t all understand that.

I feel like the games should go on but that is because I personally feel like the risk is minimized for these guys. Less risk in their environments as proposed than you and I have in everyday life. I was an athlete back in the day and I would absolutely play right now with all the guidelines they will follow. Especially if it was the end of my career. It’s a risk I would take and you could leave it up to each individual player to decide.

That said, it seems most people don’t want to do anything related to college sports until there is a vaccine. So in my heart I know there will not be football this fall.

 

[EricCantona]

This is the same reason why I don't know how MLB thinks they're going to pull off their plan of teams playing in their home stadiums. How does flying to different parts of the country that have varying degrees of spread make any sense? If I were the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, I wouldn't want any teams from the South or West coming to my stadium. Actually I'm going to say the governors of those states won't want it.

Check out the Yankees, Mets, and Boston's schedule. Only playing teams from the AL East and NL East. Whole league is scheduled to just play regional teams.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Looking at the UConn schedule and likely games not to be played:

ALREADY CERTAIN:

@ ILL
IND

Seems pretty certain the rest of P5 will go the way of Pac-12, B-10:

@VA
@OLE MISS
@NC

Likely that all conferences go that way as well:

MTSU
SJ ST. (unlikely anyway with 3,000 mile travel)
ODU

FCS teams are highly questionable:

Maine

That leaves:

UMass
Liberty
Army

At that point piecing together a schedule of independents that would not include ND (ACC more likely and makes more sense).

BYU & N.Mexico St. (distance makes it quite unlikely)

Leaves us Army & Liberty, both already on the schedule. Let's be honest with ourselves. Whatever way a schedule could be brought together, the quality of games is going to be horrific, and not even worth the effort putting kids at risk for a nothing burger. I just don't see this happening for UConn and many others.

I wonder if the kids on the team share your view?

 

[HardFacts]

For any conference to look at a conference only schedule and make any argument that it is about player safety is a complete joke. They still want some money from the TV deals and they are making it sound like this is a solution related to player safety. I don’t see how Illinois playing penn state is different than playing us or anyone else for that matter. College football is and always will be a money grab so let’s not pretend that we don’t all understand that.

I feel like the games should go on but that is because I personally feel like the risk is minimized for these guys. Less risk in their environments as proposed than you and I have in everyday life. I was an athlete back in the day and I would absolutely play right now with all the guidelines they will follow. Especially if it was the end of my career. It’s a risk I would take and you could leave it up to each individual player to decide.

That said, it seems most people don’t want to do anything related to college sports until there is a vaccine. So in my heart I know there will not be football this fall.

Absolutely, I would bet almost every player wants to play the games. They probably have greater long term risk to game related injuries than to the virus based on the statistics to date.

 

[EASTFLA]

I certainly hope not, but the kids aren't making the decision

 

[uconnbill]

Looking at the UConn schedule and likely games not to be played:

ALREADY CERTAIN:

@ ILL
IND

Seems pretty certain the rest of P5 will go the way of Pac-12, B-10:

@VA
@OLE MISS
@NC

Likely that all conferences go that way as well:

MTSU
SJ ST. (unlikely anyway with 3,000 mile travel)
ODU

FCS teams are highly questionable:

Maine

That leaves:

UMass
Liberty
Army

At that point piecing together a schedule of independents that would not include ND (ACC more likely and makes more sense).

BYU & N.Mexico St. (distance makes it quite unlikely)

Leaves us Army & Liberty, both already on the schedule. Let's be honest with ourselves. Whatever way a schedule could be brought together, the quality of games is going to be horrific, and not even worth the effort putting kids at risk for a nothing burger. I just don't see this happening for UConn and many others.

I don't agree with the MTSU, or ODU. They need teams to play and your outlook is just the worse case scenario and nothing more.

Playing BYU is more real than most know unless BYU doesn't play the season at all. Not sure about NMST but my guess that would be at least 50/50 to play unless they don't play at all.

I still want to see the numbers for those under 18-23 and how many are asymptomatic

 

[uconnbill]

I wonder if the kids on the team share your view?

My guess is no as players want to play this season

 

[UCFBfan]

Check out the Yankees, Mets, and Boston's schedule. Only playing teams from the AL East and NL East. Whole league is scheduled to just play regional teams.

Thx, I didn't look closely as I don't think the season will start so I haven't followed it too close. Regional games make sense if you're not going to use a bubble. Still don't see it being successful but it's better

 

[Waquoit]

At least leaving the AAC improved our recruting by the leaps and bounds in football and men's basketball.

And WBB

 

[BlueDogs]

The joke is that at this point BYU can’t play Utah but Utah can play the Arizona and LA schools. But umm. Schedule. Flexibility There’s no football this season

There is no apparent logic behind much of this which means follow the money. This is an opportunistic cartel freeze out. Trim pay games, under cut G5 teams, protect conference media $$, and make sure the FBS playoff echo chamber remains in tack.

 

[metsfan2323]

There is no apparent logic

There is logic behind it, it allows for an October start in the hope that as time passes the situation might improve and it also allows the NFL to start and play a few weeks so that their experience with the virus under game conditions can be studied and evaluated.

 

[bobbyinaz]

There is logic behind it, it allows for an October start in the hope that as time passes the situation might improve and it also allows the NFL to start and play a few weeks so that their experience with the virus under game conditions can be studied and evaluated.

The more obvious logic is that this allows the conferences to create and manage their own protocols for testing and managing the virus going forward.

Instead of relying on whether the G5 can afford the same protocols they eliminate that risk.

The real blame here in not with the P5 conferences but, in the inept, weak leadership at the NCAA. Instead of being out in front of this, demonstrating true leadership FOR ALL THEIR MEMBERS, they punted it to each conference to make their own decisions.

Once the NCAA made that decision, the conferences were almost left with no choice.

There is certainly still a chance that the season gets blown up. It also sucks that the conference only decisions will make a mess out of the UConn season.

That doesn't make the decisions the conferences are making wrong.

 

[Nextmanup]

The NCAA is totally useless and not coming out with any uniform rules or policy is just unbelievable!! What the heck are they doing?? Where are they in this time that we need them for some type of guidance?

UConn is left to fend for themselves now that we are independent and personally I don’t want to play just 3-4 games and call the season done..

I’d much rather just not play till next fall and give all the boys another year.. plus there are seniors that didn’t redshirt and would be eligible for the 4th year in 2021..
This would be the right thing to do like they did with spring sports.

I just don’t see how we will be able to get competitive games on short notice against anyone but Army, Liberty and UMass. And that’s not a schedule.... I don’t want to play them twice. what a mess.

 

[metsfan2323]

I just don’t see how we will be able to get competitive games on short notice against anyone but Army, Liberty and UMass. And that’s not a schedule.... I don’t want to play them twice. what a mess.

It wouldn't bother me at all to see a couple teams twice. That's no different than the NFL.

 

[Waquoit]

It wouldn't bother me at all to see a couple teams twice. That's no different than the NFL.

After all, we beat UMass twice the year they won the NC.

 

[HardFacts]

After all, we beat UMass twice the year they won the NC.

We need to play games if not NCAA will probably not allow practices till spring!
Giving seniors one more season will also cause problems with recruiting class as enough scholarships may not be available. Players get better with games reps and speed of the game can not be simulated in practice sessions. Doesn’t matter who we play with or without fans season must go on.

 

[metsfan2323]

After all, we beat UMass twice the year they won the NC.

I've posted in the past that in an effort to save on travel costs and make independent scheduling easier we should play UMASS twice every season and promote the border war rivalry.

 

[billybud]

After all, we beat UMass twice the year they won the NC.

That must have been a great series...both games together yielded a 4 point separation....

 

[Storrs South]

I am skeptical anyone is playing college football this year, but if UConn does play I don't see why this couldn't happen:

• UMass (x2)
• Army (x2)
• Temple (x2)
• Navy
• Maine
• Central Connecticut
• Buffalo
• Akron
• Kent State

I am assuming the waiver goes through that you can play 2 FCS and be bowl eligible, but even if it isn't for one season it's OK to play two FCS teams. All of those schools are within driving distance (the MAC schools are far but doable without a plane). All of those schools have gaps in their schedule now as a result of P5 going conference only.

It's a pretty similar schedule to the last time UConn was independent in 2002-2003. They'd win a bunch of games with that schedule and build momentum towards hopefully a legitimately competitive team in 2021.

From a $ and cents standpoint, while this will not be as a lucrative for CBS Sports deal this season, they would save a ton in travel costs and they were getting no buy game revenue due to the quick scheduling necessary so the school would likely come out ahead.

 

[UCONNJACK]

SEC Missouri still pending (among others):

From the UMass Football Blog. ESPN to assist BYU finding games this fall. UConn mentioned as a possible opponent.

BYU loses 3 more contests after Pac-12 goes conference-only for 2020

The Cougars have had five of their games for the 2020 season canceled over the past two days, making athletic director Tom Holmoe’s tough job even tougher

www.deseret.com

 

[huskymedic]

To continue to play along... if the ACC doesn’t go to a Conference only schedule (like B1G/PAC12) - BC and Cuse will have a number of open spots sitting there:

 

[uconnbill]

The NCAA is the most toothless organization unless you want to discipline say Eastern Washington or UConn. Yet UNC has fake course and zero was done. The payments to players has been ignored for years for a number of schools. It is a sham