The AAC doesn't suck.

[Exit 4]

The hardest part for Aresco is with improving our bowl tie ins. Let’s start by getting us two good bowl tie ins with the long term goal to have four good tie ins. Right now we have no good tie ins unless someone lands a NY6 game which we are learning this year is not easy even when it should be.

If we could ever bridge the bowl problem, then we have come a long way to making the AAC legit. Maybe Aresco has to build our own bowls to lure better P5 programs to play us post season.

The problem is no school travels well just yet for bowl games. That takes time, a lot of time, to build such a fan base.

There is no escape for any of the AAC teams. The end of easy cable money will squash any more P5 growth unless it’s a lateral move. I think even the b12 may just survive as programs fear becoming Nebraska all over again in the world of concentrated power programs.

 

[UCFBfan]

The hardest part for Aresco is with improving our bowl tie ins. Let’s start by getting us two good bowl tie ins with the long term goal to have four good tie ins. Right now we have no good tie ins unless someone lands a NY6 game which we are learning this year is not easy even when it should be.

If we could ever bridge the bowl problem, then we have come a long way to making the AAC legit. Maybe Aresco has to build our own bowls to lure better P5 programs to play us post season.

The problem is no school travels well just yet for bowl games. That takes time, a lot of time, to build such a fan base.

There is no escape for any of the AAC teams. The end of easy cable money will squash any more P5 growth unless it’s a lateral move. I think even the b12 may just survive as programs fear becoming Nebraska all over again in the world of concentrated power programs.

The other problem with most of our bowl games is that they are played on weekdays before the holidays. Who is really going to take time off before XMas to travel to a state in the south to watch us play against a team from the MAC or CUSA on a weekday?

I agree that we need to find better opponents in bowl games. I don’t care if it’s the 6th place team in a P5 league. It’s at least a name school that people might want to watch.

 

[Redding Husky]

The conference has some good teams, although it's like a mini-version of the Big12 where the first team to 40 wins b/c no one plays D.

Regardless, every single UConn fan, administrator, coach, etc. would leave this godforsaken place in a New York minute

There are many different possibilities for UConn football:

1) Big 10 or ACC: The big boys finally recognize our value and let us in the club. We draw 50,000 per game in an expanded the Rent. Odds: 15%

2) The state and school are in a budget crisis. The pressure mounts and we're forced back to FCS status. Odds: 1%

3) We're in the AAC for a long time, which is a very good, fringe P5 conference. Odds: 84%

The AAC plays good football in FBS. We have a diverse group of interesting schools from Texas to New England and Florida to Ohio. I can't control what conference we play in and neither can you. We have two choices at this point: enjoy what we have, or look for other hobbies/interests.

 

[Adios]

Yeah I don’t see the point of doing UConn-ECU. The goal is to try and develop interest in a region. Temple and UConn won’t do tons but it might do more, long term, than UConn-ECU. In the end, none of it will really move the needle but trying to do the same geographic matchups on the last weekend would be at least a good try.

Wouldn't it be better to use our last weekend against a warm weather team than against Temple? We need wins.

 

[kemba]

I agree. I think the biggest problem for AAC teams is. A lack of any history and a lack of a solid geography/location. There are no rivalries so fans don’t care about games. Syracuse may have not been as good as UCF or Houston, but we hated that school and it made the game 100x more interesting. This is the biggest reason why our fan base will never fully support this program. There are no rivalries to get anyone excited.

We do need to get a good team to fully judge that though. We've sucked our entire time in this conference, so you can't really build any history if you never play meaningful games. Cincy and USF weren't in the Big East very long but we were able to develop a mini history with them. The good teams in our conference aren't big enough names to draw by themselves like the big name p5 teams are, but if we can build a good team I think people would be excited to see us play an undefeated UCF or a top 25 Memphis...if the games actually mean someting for us, and if there's a hope that we could actually win.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I think the quality of football is better than the old BE was. The problem is the names of the schools leave a lot to be desired by the casual fan.

Also the two best schools UCF and USF is not exactly historical. Both were created in 1958 (USF) and 1963 (UCF).

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I agree. I think the biggest problem for AAC teams is. A lack of any history and a lack of a solid geography/location. There are no rivalries so fans don’t care about games. Syracuse may have not been as good as UCF or Houston, but we hated that school and it made the game 100x more interesting. This is the biggest reason why our fan base will never fully support this program. There are no rivalries to get anyone excited.

I also wonder why there’s no emphasis to have teams play their closest team on “Rivalry weekend” and to try and at least make it somewhat possible a rivalry starts.

UCF-USF
UConn-Temple
SMU-Houston
Tulsa-Tulane
Memphis-ECU
Navy-Cincy

Easy slate that makes sense. I know Navy is closer to Temple then we are but at least we used to have a small history with Temple (which no one really cares about)

UCF - USF game had billboards around the area. The I-4 war it is called. Our rival Temple or Cincinnati? Come on... A rival would be UMass or URI, but UMass will never be in the AAC and URI would never have the $$$ to upgrade to go big time.

I remember when Pitt-PSU played Friday after Thanksgiving. One year when I was a kid, one of my cousins planned a wedding for that Friday. We were all watching the game - including the bride and groom. Even the pastor was watching the game.

I could never get excited for a Rivalry game against Temple or Cincinnati.

 

[Redding Husky]

UCF - USF game had billboards around the area. The I-4 war it is called. Our rival Temple or Cincinnati? Come on... A rival would be UMass or URI, but UMass will never be in the AAC and URI would never have the $$$ to upgrade to go big time.

I remember when Pitt-PSU played Friday after Thanksgiving. One year when I was a kid, one of my cousins planned a wedding for that Friday. We were all watching the game - including the bride and groom. Even the pastor was watching the game.

I could never get excited for a Rivalry game against Temple or Cincinnati.

I'd love to go to 16 football schools with:

UMass
Army
Air Force
Colorado State/BYU/Boise

That would give us a rivalry which would draw more interest than the private school snooze fest (Syracuse-BC). I realize 98% of UConn fans are against this.

 

[BlueDogs]

I don’t think it’s any better than the old Big East and I think the only reason people here defend the AAC is cause we are stuck here. If we were in any other league we would trash it.

The bottom half is terrible but getting better. The top half is for real. Houston, SMU, UCF, USF, Memphis sit in excellent football recruiting regions and pull talent. Navy is Navy. Tough squad that can compete with most. The old BE played power football, an entirely different style of football than the AAC other than WVU which was always a run QB oriented offense. The AAC is much more like the WAC in style.. lots of points.

 

[UConnDan97]

I don’t think it’s any better than the old Big East and I think the only reason people here defend the AAC is cause we are stuck here. If we were in any other league we would trash it.

I would say that the AAC is comparable to the old Big East, but the old Big East was likely better. Here are a couple of major differences;

1) The AAC doesn't have a program like WVU, where you have a perennial top 30 team that on any given day of any given year has the quality to beat a top 10 team. We have teams that can have a magical year, but not quite that top level.
2) The old Big East's worst team was Syracuse. Tulsa, Temple, Tulane, etc., would likely be underdogs even to a Greg Robinson-coached Syracuse team.

Our top end is not as good. Our bottom end is not as good. We definitely have a bunch of 20 - 60 ranked teams (Navy, Memphis, USF, UCF, Houston), so there is a depth of quality in this conference. But...you know...

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I'd love to go to 16 football schools with:

UMass
Army
Air Force
Colorado State/BYU/Boise

That would give us a rivalry which would draw more interest than the private school snooze fest (Syracuse-BC). I realize 98% of UConn fans are against this.

I think if we went 16 we would have a strong league...of course, UMass, at this time, is a mess, but if they were in the AAC they might get better. I'd love to see Boise State in the AAC or Air Force. Don't know much about Colorado State.

 

[RSTuthill]

2) The state and school are in a budget crisis. The pressure mounts and we're forced back to FCS status. Odds: 1%

This possibility depends almost entirely on program cash flow which depends on the W-L record. Staying at the current level of success for 2-3 more years will raise the probability into the 40% range, maybe even over 50%. Things aren't gonna get any better financially for the state in the near to medium term.

 

[whaler11]

OMG the last thing we need are more dregs.

Please stop with UMass and Army.

Army was in CUSA already. Do you not remember what happened? They had to quit because they couldn’t win a game.

UMass has nowhere to play and the last thing in the world UConn needs is another AAC mouth to feed with players from a shrinking pool.

My God please stop.

 

[ASweet3781]

OMG the last thing we need are more dregs.

Please stop with UMass and Army.

Army was in CUSA already. Do you not remember what happened? They had to quit because they couldn’t win a game.

UMass has nowhere to play and the last thing in the world UConn needs is another AAC mouth to feed with players from a shrinking pool.

My God please stop.

Exactly, the AAC would be even better if Tulsa and East Carolina were never invited.

 

[Exit 4]

Umass can’t be considered. Not enough talent in this region, they have no stadium, and they have no real fan base.

I like Colorado State as a single add if the league were to lose one school. But that is unlikely to happen. I also like the idea of adding BYU, Air Force and Boise State, but that is very unlikely to ever happen.

I strongly dislike any of the conf USA or sun belt schools - they are all third or fourth tier in their own state.

Maybe we should look at something in Canada.

 

[whaler11]

I know when I look at the ACC I think to myself - boy this league isn’t geographically far flung enough yet.

Then I think boy you know what else is missing? There aren’t enough schools I don’t care about.

I think those two birds need killing with 4 stones.

 

[Exit 4]

I know when I look at the ACC I think to myself - boy this league isn’t geographically far flung enough yet.

Then I think boy you know what else is missing? There aren’t enough schools I don’t care about.

I think those two birds need killing with 4 stones.

I would make the conf geographically bigger if it meant we get a cable channel, 10 to 15 year tv deal and real money on the scale of say 1/2 the P5 level....but none of that is happening so no need to worry. We can’t get bigger without real money to pay for the travel.

 

[UCFBfan]

UCF - USF game had billboards around the area. The I-4 war it is called. Our rival Temple or Cincinnati? Come on... A rival would be UMass or URI, but UMass will never be in the AAC and URI would never have the $$$ to upgrade to go big time.

I remember when Pitt-PSU played Friday after Thanksgiving. One year when I was a kid, one of my cousins planned a wedding for that Friday. We were all watching the game - including the bride and groom. Even the pastor was watching the game.

I could never get excited for a Rivalry game against Temple or Cincinnati.

Look I’m not saying it’s ideal or something I’d want, however, we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Why not try something if you’re Aresco? I’d much rather see us play BC the last weekend of the season instead of us playing any AAC team. But I’m not going to hold on to that pipe dream happening considering any home games vs them will likely be at Fenway so we can get more money.

 

[gioff23]

I think we sound a lot like BC when we say “no way UMass”

I always liked the season ending game with USF.

 

[NE Football]

I think the AAC should consider adding UMass. The “U” game (UConn vs UMass) is a natural rivalry. UMass beat BYU this year and Whipple is building that program up to the bottom half of the AAC level. UMass would be a good addition in hoops as well.

 

[CTMike]

Think back 10 years. How many people were clamoring for a rivalry game with UMass?

We’ve got a lot of Stockholm Syndrome up in here. Maybe out of necessity, but that’s what it is.

 

[Exit 4]

I’d rather have Buffalo than Umass. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me, but I just don’t want a third D1 team directly competing with us in this shrinking market. Yes, I am using the BC argument and I’m fine with it.

 

[Woof 101]

You really think I am here to defend the AAC?

USF, UCF, Houston > WVU, Pitt, Syracuse. The only thing you're seeing is what the ACC saw, ancient prestige. Was BC ever even prestigious? We're "stuck" here temporarily. God have mercy on us.

WOW I love the optimism that we are only stuck here temporarily! Sounds like you have some intel that us not in the know do not possess.
Older fan, hope its in my life time....

 

[metsfan2323]

If the AAC were to add another basketball only school UMASS should be considered. I know their basketball isn't strong now, but joining the AAC would help them upgrade and of course it would give us a much needed regional rival. Basketball only though, I wouldn't add UMASS for football.

ARMY, Airforce football only.

UMASS, VCU basketball only.

 

[tduconn]

The AAC is a good football conference and over time, it will be recognized. Unfortunately, UCF had a pretty weak schedule this year. They only played 11 games, played a pretty bad AAC East, and didn't play Georgia Tech due to weather, so their out of conference schedule was FIU, Austin Peay, and a bad Maryland. UConn played a much harder schedule than UCF.

UConn schedule was understandably rated as a tougher schedule because they were picked last in the AAC conference and was
not expected to win many games. Instead of knocking UCF because of a supposedly weak schedule, how about giving them credit for going 12-0.