Spartacus. ESPN going to feature the conflict

[Fairfield_1st]

assume you forgot BC (and local rival Maine )...

BC was away so that was intentional. I did forget Maine . Maine would have been a great rivalry game in the 1-AA days. They always had good football teams.
Looking ahead to next year, outside of BC and Missouri I'm not sure there's much else.Houston comes back. Hopefully Herman is still there. I should be refunded for the Holy Cross game.

 

[tiger paw]

I was one of the few (as usual) fans that stayed to the end of the game. If I knew they left the trophy I would have been more than happy to take it home. Bring it back to the USF game. It will look good at my pre-game tailgate party.

 

[ZooCougar]

UCF is actually kind of brilliant. In this rivalry, the loser keeps the trophy.

 

[UConnNick]

A sad reality....I would go to the radio show and ask him about the stupid trophy...but.the question would get twisted into some type of recipe for goulash.

Goulash is a good description of our red zone offense.

 

[Drew]

UConn coach defends 'Civil Conflict' rivalry - ESPN Video

 

[ZooCougar]

Lovely.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Though not one of the great all time rivalry games, Nebraska v Colorado was not a rivalry game until Colorado said it was. For years Nebraska never really acknowledged it as one, but Colorado sure hated them and with time the dislike went the other way as well. Now, I know several here will try to pick this apart stating all the differences between that game and the conflict but the fact is no two rivalries start the same. I agree the distance between schools is the biggest hinderence, but there are other long distance rivals. Navy v Airforce v Army and the biggest long distance one to me is ND v USC. Whether anyone wants it or not, something has been started. Only time will tell if this will fester into an oozing wound that can never heal but only be soothed by a victory. I know I'll check the date when the schedule comes out next year.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Like it or not, whenever we play UCF from now on, it's going to be referred to as the ConFLiCT.

In a league with no juice, no backstory, no tradition, why the hell not try something.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Though not one of the great all time rivalry games, Nebraska v Colorado was not a rivalry game until Colorado said it was. For years Nebraska never really acknowledged it as one, but Colorado sure hated them and with time the dislike went the other way as well. Now, I know several here will try to pick this apart stating all the differences between that game and the conflict but the fact is no two rivalries start the same. I agree the distance between schools is the biggest hinderence, but there are other long distance rivals. Navy v Airforce v Army and the biggest long distance one to me is ND v USC. Whether anyone wants it or not, something has been started. Only time will tell if this will fester into an oozing wound that can never heal but only be soothed by a victory. I know I'll check the date when the schedule comes out next year.

Oh, and another thing about Nebraska, not sure how I left this out on the original post, since they joined the B1G, at least 3 new "rivalries" were started with trophies. They have the Heroes trophy with Iowa. They have the Freedom trophy with Wisconsin, to be played this weekend. If those aren't contrived I don't know what is..... Then there is this Internet joke becomes actual Big Ten rivalry trophy

 

[UConnNick]

Oh, and another thing about Nebraska, not sure how I left this out on the original post, since they joined the B1G, at least 3 new "rivalries" were started with trophies. They have the Heroes trophy with Iowa. They have the Freedom trophy with Wisconsin, to be played this weekend. If those aren't contrived I don't know what is..... Then there is this Internet joke becomes actual Big Ten rivalry trophy

The difference between most of these other trophy games and the now deceased "ConFLiCT" is that both schools, or at least fans of both schools agreed on the trophy. Despite what Diaco is claiming went on at the AAC media event, UCF has repeatedly and consistently denied that they wanted any part of it ever since.

Rivalries have to be a two way thing or there's nothing to them. If Husky fans now want to get even for any real or perceived disrespect based on UCF's failure to play along that's fine, but even that factor doesn't make it a rivalry because it's not and it's doubtful it ever will be.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The difference between most of these other trophy games and the now deceased "ConFLiCT" is that both schools, or at least fans of both schools agreed on the trophy. Despite what Diaco is claiming went on at the AAC media event, UCF has repeatedly and consistently denied that they wanted any part of it ever since.

I see it a bit differently.

If a mediocre mid-major men's hoops program tried t star a trophy game with a new conference opponent who while having no real history had a recent run to the sweet sixteen in the tourney nobody would really care. If the UConn men's program somehow ended up with trophy games against Temple, Memphis and a ridiculous twitter created trophy with SMU, it would be time to lock a few people up.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

You know what creates a rivalry... Beat them.
Then beat them again. Bad.

I mean that's exactly what happened last year and the year before.

 

[TheDrifter75]

The difference between most of these other trophy games and the now deceased "ConFLiCT" is that both schools, or at least fans of both schools agreed on the trophy. Despite what Diaco is claiming went on at the AAC media event, UCF has repeatedly and consistently denied that they wanted any part of it ever since.

Rivalries have to be a two way thing or there's nothing to them. If Husky fans now want to get even for any real or perceived disrespect based on UCF's failure to play along that's fine, but even that factor doesn't make it a rivalry because it's not and it's doubtful it ever will be.

To this I point to what I mentioned about Colorado v Nebraska, though it wasn't a trophy game it was a one sided perceived rivalry on Colorado's part. Nebraska just eventually got sick of hearing about Colorado's occasional win and started to look forward to putting the whooping on them. If I'm not mistaken, it was Colorado's HC McCarthy that designated Nebraska as their rival.

 

[BlueMAB]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I don't care that they left the trophy. It doesn't make me want to beat them any more. Yes, he got some national attention for us. We were made fun of for a couple years, and then we lost a game, at home, against a mediocre team, in front of 20,000 people. Great promotional job Bobby.

I'm not mad at UCF for leaving the trophy, I'm mad at Hathaway, Pasqualoni, and DeLeone for burying the program; and Diaco for losing more games than he wins.

At least we have love and trust and brotherhood and unicorns and rainbows and fairy dust and all that happy horseshit.

 

[StoweD210]

To this I point to what I mentioned about Colorado v Nebraska, though it wasn't a trophy game it was a one sided perceived rivalry on Colorado's part. Nebraska just eventually got sick of hearing about Colorado's occasional win and started to look forward to putting the whooping on them. If I'm not mistaken, it was Colorado's HC McCarthy that designated Nebraska as their rival.

That's the way I remember it, in terms of McCarthy making the Nebraska game Colorado's rivalry game. I think he took it to the lengths of forbidding anyone who worked on his staff (not just coaches, but secretaries and office personnel) from wearing red during the week before the game. Before both teams left for different conferences, the Big 12 moved their game to the day after Thanksgiving to showcase it.

 

[TheDrifter75]

That's the way I remember it, in terms of McCarthy making the Nebraska game Colorado's rivalry game. I think he took it to the lengths of forbidding anyone who worked on his staff (not just coaches, but secretaries and office personnel) from wearing red during the week before the game. Before both teams left for different conferences, the Big 12 moved their game to the day after Thanksgiving to showcase it.

That's right, I remember that now that you mention it. It's so funny to me, people in Colorado just have a genuine hate for them, and they'd tell you about it. But ask a Nebraska fan and it's just, man I really want to beat them. Some of that is the culture there, the rivalry with Oklahoma, though very intense, was a gentlemens rival. The two programs just respected each other and wanted to win. Sad that when it went from the Big 8 to the Big 12, Colorado took the place of Oklahoma on the schedule due to division alignment. No matter who they played, win or lose, they would stand applaud the opposing team... even Texas.

 

[ZOOCONN]

I think we should make every effort to schedule Rutgers, Syracuse or BS College so we play at least one or more of them every season. We had developed a real rivalry with these teams, particularly Rutgers. They're all close enough to bring a significant number of their fans to games at PAWS-ARF, which adds to the interest and excitement of playing against them.

Picking a team like UCF for a rivalry game made zero sense. They already have an arch rival in the same conference, USF. Very few of their fans will be at games in E. Hartford, and the same goes for our fans in Orlando. It was always a hair brained idea that was doomed to failure.

i dont think it was ever about geography it was about pointing out the biggest baddest kid on the block and saying "we're coming for you.". The first yr of the "conflict" UCF hadnt lost a game in AAC play and was undefeated at the time that we took it to em. last yr with them being down didnt help and finally now that they are back up again they are to "good" for a lighthearted rivalry against the farthest school from them in the conference.

 

[ZOOCONN]

UConn coach defends 'Civil Conflict' rivalry - ESPN Video

first off F@*@#*&@*& ESPN for cutting this up to make him look like even more of a psycho than he already is. he was clearly talking about the AAC championship and he is right but they clearly cut that part out. also conveniently leaving out the parts where he calls out UCF for backing out of the agreed rivalry when they kept getting beat.

 

[UConnNick]

i dont think it was ever about geography it was about pointing out the biggest baddest kid on the block and saying "we're coming for you.". The first yr of the "conflict" UCF hadnt lost a game in AAC play and was undefeated at the time that we took it to em. last yr with them being down didnt help and finally now that they are back up again they are to "good" for a lighthearted rivalry against the farthest school from them in the conference.

That's not entirely true. UCF had already lost two non-conference games before they played us that season (2014), and they should have lost to UH in a game where Greg Ward, Jr. fumbled as he was crossing the goal line for a go ahead TD late in the 4Q.

I understand why Coach Crazy picked UCF, and I agree it had nothing to do with geography. My point was your more traditional rivals will be those schools in close geographic proximity, because you've likely played those schools more often historically.

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of history at the D IA level, so we haven't had much of a chance to develop those regional rivalries. That's why I suggested the non-conference games vs. some teams we were in the process of developing some good rivalries with before CR ruined it all.

 

[ZOOCONN]

That's not entirely true. UCF had already lost two non-conference games before they played us that season (2014), and they should have lost to UH in a game where Greg Ward, Jr. fumbled as he was crossing the goal line for a go ahead TD late in the 4Q.

I understand why Coach Crazy picked UCF, and I agree it had nothing to do with geography. My point was your more traditional rivals will be those schools in close geographic proximity, because you've likely played those schools more often historically.

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of history at the D IA level, so we haven't had much of a chance to develop those regional rivalries. That's why I suggested the non-conference games vs. some teams we were in the process of developing some good rivalries with before CR ruined it all.

ah yes for some reason i thought they were undefeated but it was that they hadn't lost a conference game yet.
as for the rivalry games i couldn't agree more, we need to schedule or more natural rivals but with all of those being P5 with nothing to gain from playing a G5 team and everything to lose by losing to one i see it being a hard sell to those universities.

 

[UConnNick]

ah yes for some reason i thought they were undefeated but it was that they hadn't lost a conference game yet.
as for the rivalry games i couldn't agree more, we need to schedule or more natural rivals but with all of those being P5 with nothing to gain from playing a G5 team and everything to lose by losing to one i see it being a hard sell to those universities.

We are being looked upon as a P5 by the B10 and possibly some other conferences when they play us, so that objection should be moot. It's ironic they credit themselves with playing a P5 opponent when they play us, yet they won't admit us to their P5 clubhouse because we don't bring enough value. You can't make this stuff up.

 

[champs99and04]

The stupidest part was
A: Picking the one FBS team they beat year 1 seemingly for the reason it was the only FBS team they beat.
B: Building a trophy that left the prior year's UCF blowout off of it

That was the best part.