OT: Thinking Maybe UConn Isn’t a “Football School.”

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Well, if you're not convinced after their loss to Cincinnati, you'll find out for sure this Saturday when they play Oklahoma in Norman. Chip Kelly better have some tricks up his sleeve for this one.

PAC-12 is looking like a mid-major football conference themselves nowadays. 1 for 8 in bowl games last year. No NCs for the conference for the last 14 years (and the last one - 2004 - was vacated by USC for the Reggie Bush cheating scandal). Washington was the PAC-12's big hope this year, but now they have an uphill battle after their opening loss this weekend.

I would say the PAC in football has been disappointing. Not so much mid-major-ish as a lot of good, not great, combined with a lot of general inconsistency.

I don't even want to discuss Arizona.

Except that, to the original point of the thread - maybe UConn isn't a football school and maybe they never will be. Arizona isn't. Part of what defines it that way is, ultimately, fan interest. Yes, you can get 50,000 out to opening day. But the football program is never the hot topic of discussion that the men's basketball team is.

Part of what I see that defines Arizona is success in so many different sports. Not all in one year - and not as much recently, from what I read. But Volleyball is consistently good, Women's golf won the Natty, both golf programs have in the past, swimming and gymnastics are known for competing well, Women's Soccer was ranked at the start of the year, Softball with the 8 Championships, Baseball another one just a few years ago and etc. The goal is to become (again) competitive for the Sears Trophy under whatever name it is today - i.e. the best across all programs. We were high but have sagged in recent years.

UConn's problem is the conference. You don't have to be the best athletic school or even a great football school, if you are in a P5 conference. I know its beating a dead horse, but that has to be the goal.

 

[Longtime fan]

They might be competitive at the FCS level. Or maybe not.

UConn is not competitive in football anywhere in Division I. Hasn't been for a long time. Would be better off deleting the sport so Basketball programs could join top leagues.

 

[CL82]

The stadium in EH should have been for 80,000.

Yeah, appreciate the enthusiasm, but no.

UConn's problem is the conference. You don't have to be the best athletic school or even a great football school, if you are in a P5 conference. I know its beating a dead horse, but that has to be the goal.

Agree, of course to get a P5 (which is a football based term) invite, you need to be a football school. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[Vowelguy]

UConn is not competitive in football anywhere in Division I. Hasn't been for a long time. Would be better off deleting the sport so Basketball programs could join top leagues.

You don't understand how this works.