The college football door is ajar in the northeast.... | Page 3 | The Boneyard

The college football door is ajar in the northeast....

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Duncan Idaho said:
Thank you for supporting my assertions ,Carl. We were discussing the level of play of UConn football. The point was, we were not playing Oklahoma in the 1975 Championship game if we were good enough, it would have been Northern Michigan. Butch, I take what I said back, I would consider our transtion years prior to moving in the Rent as Mid-Major level football.
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100 years from now, the 1-AA years will be a footnote.
 
Carl Spackler said:
Thanks for finding that Courant article from 1998 Butchy. Lots of great info in there. As far as history, a good place to start is the 200+ pages of the annual media guides!!

As for winning tradition, not doubt that there's a little work to do there. We've got some work to do get above .500 all time.

All time W/L is 486-510-38.

In perspective, of the 59 programs that have played at least 1,000 college football games, we rank 40th in winning percentage.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2011/FBS.pdf

So, we're definitely on the same page as Michigan in the record books, but were not the bottom feeder either.


http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/2011-media-guide-pdfversion.html
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We have a better winning percentage in the 2000s than a lot of "historical" programs. Such as Syracuse, Rutgers, Michigan State, Washington, Stanford and Illinois, etc. We just need to keep winning!
 
I edited out that last post, i read the columns wrong. Among programs currently listed as division 1/FBS level competition, I count 80 programs that have at least 1,000 games played historically. This starts to hint at the statistics keeping problem I talked about earlier. It's a big mess in the NCAA historically, b/c of those 80 programs, and significant percentage, don't qualify for division 1, throughout their entire history going back 100+ years.

BUt anyway, we rank 62 out of 80. Not great. Not worst either.

Programs we are ahead of with at least 1,000 games played.

Iowa St., Wyoming, Oregon St., Mississippi St, Colorado St, Tulane, New Mexico, Eastern Michigan, Temple, Rice, Northwestern, Kansas St., Indiana, Wake Forest
 
The door is a jar for UConn to be THE team in the North East. Penn St IS NOT the team it once was. Neither is Syracuse or BC. But UConn needs to put together 10+ win seasons and win a major bowl before you can realistically get 4&5 stars to pick UConn over their state U. The 2013 season I believe will show whether this program is moving up to the next level or not. Not at the next level, just moving to it. Got to beat Maryland and Michigan though. Hopefully that open date gets filled with a top 30 team.

-Win and your in. Lose and get boos.
 
Butchy said:
Did more research. We actually played on the three college oldest fields still in existence. Surprising we never played at Franklin Field. It is up to us how we present ourselves. It is up to us whether we want to think UConn football began with the FBS upgrade or whether we actually started playing football in 1896. The athletic department goes with the latter perception. Not difficult to inform fans we have been around for a long time. What certainly would help us from here on is winning! We have solid groundwork laid for future success. That does include the previous 100+ years.


Thank you for clarifying, Carl Speckler.
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UConn played Temple at Frankin Field in 2001 didn't they?

I started going to UConn games in the 80s and went to a vast majority of home games during the Tom Jackson era. UConn has no history to sell. People are aware that UConn had a football team before 2003. They just don't care, no amount of education about 1905 games against Wesleyan is going to change that.
 
Carl Spackler said:
Iowa St., Wyoming, Oregon St., Mississippi St, Colorado St, Tulane, New Mexico, Eastern Michigan, Temple, Rice, Northwestern, Kansas St., Indiana, Wake Forest
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That is an absolute Who's Who of college football. New Mexico, Eastern Michigan, Rice AND Indiana!
 
whaler11 said:
UConn played Temple at Frankin Field in 2001 didn't they?

I started going to UConn games in the 80s and went to a vast majority of home games during the Tom Jackson era. UConn has no history to sell. People are aware that UConn had a football team before 2003. They just don't care, no amount of education about 1905 games against Wesleyan is going to change that.
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If weren't a mid-major for about 75 years of our history, we'd probably have a much better winning percentage!

Damn, you are right! We played against Temple at Franklin Field in 2001. We got to play on 4 out of the 6 oldest fields in college football. Pretty cool. Nippert might be in the 10 oldest.
 
whaler11 said:
UConn played Temple at Frankin Field in 2001 didn't they?

I started going to UConn games in the 80s and went to a vast majority of home games during the Tom Jackson era. UConn has no history to sell. People are aware that UConn had a football team before 2003. They just don't care, no amount of education about 1905 games against Wesleyan is going to change that.
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Don't speak for me, and don't speak for anybody I know. UConn doesn't have a history in football that can be labled "winning" yet, as we're 24 games below .500 all time with 1,034 games total games played in 112 years.

But to say there is no history, is wrong. There may not be a lot of buyers right now, but that's because nobody's been selling until now.

So you paid attention in the 80s huh? how about that yale game in '85?
 
Here's a little gem for you UConn football history affectionado's. How is UConn football tied to the SEC? How is UConn football tied to the BCS?

Roy Kramer. SEC commissioner until 2002. Creator of the BCS. Wrote the blueprint for UConn's upgrade to 1-A, specifically for UConn.
 
I think Edsall may have been selling UConn's history, since he used the old UConn logo for the football program. They did also use the block "C" on older basketball rings.

Are we getting an invite to the SEC??
 
UConn is not going to the SEC. Roy Kramer, SEC commissioner, was charged with writing an implementation plan for upgrading UConn football to division 1-A status in the early 1990s. Board of Trustees at UConn reviewed it in 1996 and agreed that it would be the blueprint. Upgrade vote officially happened in october 1997.

In the SEC commissioner's office up til 2002, they were full aware of the what Big East football was all about, and that UConn would be joining the ranks, and they had laid out how it needed to happen.

Doesn't really mean antyhing at all currently, but it is a little part of history.
 
I was just kidding about going to the SEC. Bottom line in what you stated is that the SEC comissioner/BCS founder even thought we were worth his attention! That puts the value of our football program/athletic department in perspective. We ain't Indiana or New Mexico. Should have beaten Iowa State and Vanderbilt this past season!

I truly think the sky is the limit. Nothing happens overnight.
 
Butchy said:
I was just kidding about going to the SEC. Bottom line in what you stated is that the SEC comissioner/BCS founder even thought we were worth his attention! That puts the value of our football program/athletic department in perspective. We ain't Indiana or New Mexico. Should have beaten Iowa State and Vanderbilt this past season!

I truly think the sky is the limit. Nothing happens overnight.
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I like your attitude Butchy. Kick ass.

Check this article out. Seven part series on UConn Football. "The division of the spoils."

http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2000/writing/under40.enterprise.fifth1.html


I've said time and again, that Randy Edsall knew football. I had problems with the way he coached the game, but that's just because I look at the game differently than he did. The way the 2010 season opened, and the way we came out against Michigan and manged a total of 9 offensive possessions for an entire game? Oh man, I wanted to puke. THen the season falls apart.......made me start writing.

I also had problems with the way he recruited, because in the later years, - my opinion - he had a real hard time selling UConn to players, because the only way he knew how to sell UConn was they way he recruited Jamal Wilkins, cited in this piece. When we finally had the stadium and were in the big east, his strongest recruiting pitches, no longer had any meaning. He talked about big east championships, and he delivered on them, but his x's and o's and program for being competitive in the big east, basically handcuffed our offense and pigeon holed our defense. Randy Edsall was absolutely successful in his charge at UConn. He build a team that could compete and win Big East titles. Unfortunately, the program he built to do that, was capped out at Big East titles.

The program leadership now, is charged not just with competing for and winnign big east titles, but also becoming relevant on the national stage. That means the offense needs to get opened up, and the team needs to be able to play with anybody physically, on any Saturday from first weekend to last weekend. that means a depth chart that can hold up against anybody, on any day, with multiple players going down and out.
 
BTW - once again, for the record, I was completely in favor of Edsall staying, I just wanted him to change his program to reflect where it was at. Unfortunately, the program that Randy Edsall built, peak - was the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, and if not for the players rallying like hell that season, it would not have been reached.

I don't look at that season as a peak, though, I looked at it as a beginning.
 
Wow, I forgot this line by Kramer. This was in 1996.


"Having observed many conferences through the years, I would suggest that the Division I-A members of this conference will become the dominant members and have the most significant role in the governance of the conference affairs," Kramer wrote. "Whether this may eventually be reflected in conference membership will be determined over time. I happen to believe the likelihood of this change to be very strong." - Roy Kramer, SEC Commissioner. speaking on Football in the Big East conference.


If you don't know your history...........you know what they say.
 
Very, very cool link. We were also VERY close to sharing a stadium with the New England Patriots. (, Giants fans!) One family member was all for the stadium in Hartford and Robert Kraft knew that staying in Foxboro defied all business logic. But loyalty won out in the end for Robert Kraft.

We have plenty history to appreciate. Heck with Rutgers, BC, Syracuse, and UMD. (The Patriots were founded by a BC alum...) It will be interesting to see if our series with UMass will continue. UMass is playing in Gilette this upcoming season, not BC! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

It's a very good thing Edsall moved on. He certainly did help us get further up the football ladder, but as you said, he reached his peak for whatever reasons. The NCAA did last for over 100 years. But it's time is up. So long, NCAA!
 
Oh man, do we have to win games. We have to win games.

I hope those players are up in there in Storrs running stairs till they puke and lifting till they can't lift no more, and are training like hell to go undefeated.
 
Carl Spackler said:
UConn is not going to the SEC. Roy Kramer, SEC commissioner, was charged with writing an implementation plan for upgrading UConn football to division 1-A status in the early 1990s. Board of Trustees at UConn reviewed it in 1996 and agreed that it would be the blueprint. Upgrade vote officially happened in october 1997.

In the SEC commissioner's office up til 2002, they were full aware of the what Big East football was all about, and that UConn would be joining the ranks, and they had laid out how it needed to happen.

Doesn't really mean antyhing at all currently, but it is a little part of history.
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I think he also ran the evaluation/study. I believe he said something close to: "I very seldom find enough to support an upgrade, but CT is similar in many ways to SEC schools."
 
FAIRTIDES said:
I think he also ran the evaluation/study. I believe he said something close to: "I very seldom find enough to support an upgrade, but CT is similar in many ways to SEC schools."
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After the Vanderbilt game at home 2 seasons ago, I ended up having a bunch of Vandy fans/relatives stop by my tailgate on their way out to their cars. All of them were very much impressed, and said that what we had going out their on the airstrip was on par, if not better, than any SEC venue that they had traveled to, so that definitely jives.
 
We also have a very decent-sized population base/market to serve.
 
Carl Spackler said:
Don't speak for me, and don't speak for anybody I know. UConn doesn't have a history in football that can be labled "winning" yet, as we're 24 games below .500 all time with 1,034 games total games played in 112 years.

But to say there is no history, is wrong. There may not be a lot of buyers right now, but that's because nobody's been selling until now.

So you paid attention in the 80s huh? how about that yale game in '85?
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There is history, it's just history that the vast majority of people don't care about. I do and you and others who played for the program do, but 95+% of the people at Rentschler on a given Saturday don't.

I don't specifically remember the Yale game in 85, I was only 11.
 
Caring about UConn football before the move to I-A is like caring about the history of the Connecticut Whale.
 
Butchy said:
Very, very cool link. We were also VERY close to sharing a stadium with the New England Patriots. (, Giants fans!) One family member was all for the stadium in Hartford and Robert Kraft knew that staying in Foxboro defied all business logic. But loyalty won out in the end for Robert Kraft.

We have plenty history to appreciate. Heck with Rutgers, BC, Syracuse, and UMD. (The Patriots were founded by a BC alum...) It will be interesting to see if our series with UMass will continue. UMass is playing in Gilette this upcoming season, not BC! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

It's a very good thing Edsall moved on. He certainly did help us get further up the football ladder, but as you said, he reached his peak for whatever reasons. The NCAA did last for over 100 years. But it's time is up. So long, NCAA!
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Loyalty didn't win out, them building him a new stadium won out. I'm pretty sure that the fact that Kraft screwed Connecticut allows Giants fans to say Kraft and the Patriots.

UMass playing in Gilette is ridiculous. That defies all types of logic.
 
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