Having Paul Tagliabue didn't prevent recent defections. Just saying. I could imagine presidents would have been listening to him over Marinatto.
UConn's proposed 2015 BE Division
- Thread starter ConnHuskBask
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No, I'm not painting it to be anything other than it is. You just can't get over your wanderlust for WVU, Cuse and Pitt. I thought my description was pretty clear. 15 years ago, the UConn BOT voted to upgrade to 1-A football, based on an invitation extended by the Big East conference to join in 2005, and about a full year of feasibility study, most of which was headed up by Roy Kramer - former commish of the SEC, and founder of the BCS system. We joined a conference, who's leadership, led the conference from what it was in the 1990s, to what it became as of fall 2011. Our own university leadership went right along with it, to the point, where I was pretty clear, in September 2011, we were all standing around having had our shorts and underwear pulled down around our ankles in front of a huge crowd.
Our conference leadership, and our own university leadership has changed, and is doing the best they can with the hand they were dealt from teh past 15 years of activity.
I just prefer to look at things and find the positive, and see a ton of positive for the future here, for a program like ours, and make no mistake, understanding what our program really is, makes this conference look a lot better than it seems.
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Recruits from Texas, Florida, the west coast would get 2 trips home every 4 years minimum. I think we should go to 3 crossover games a year plus the 6 in division which would shorten the rotation. As for the home schedule we don't know how good SDSU, Memphis and SMU will be. Breaking out of our regional mentality has more upside for the conference. The travel to away games does become more difficult. Playing Navy and the option every year will be a pain in the neck.
CL82
James Breeding sucks
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That would be pretty much optimal. I could live with it even if they swapped UCF for Temple. But what's been proposed is a complete shitfest.
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BTW - that 1996 feasibility study commissioned by Roy Kramer for upgrading UConn football, was very clear on two things. #1. UConn, had all the makings of a significant state college football program, that was similar to any of the other programs in the SEC or in other conferences around the country - and #2. The biggest danger to the future of UConn football, was to remain affiliated with an intercollegiate sports conference, that did not prioritize and understand the importance of football in athletics.
So if you don't like where we're at right now, you've got nobody to blame, but the former leadership of both our own university and our conference.
Thankfully, both have changed, and for the better, and they're playing the hand they were dealt, the best they can.
So if you don't like where we're at right now, you've got nobody to blame, but the former leadership of both our own university and our conference.
Thankfully, both have changed, and for the better, and they're playing the hand they were dealt, the best they can.
Waquoit
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Spoken like a fan that doesn't buy season tickets. It's a steaming pile of crap.
And being in a division that doesn't "scare" you is a bad thing. It's like when I played pick-up hoop. The best was when I was the 4th (or 3rd in some cases) best player on the team. Being the worst meant you wouldn't see the ball. Being one of the two best meant it wasn't a very good game.
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This. They are choosing how they break the league up based on what gets us better TV deals. No one gives a rats ass if people on the Boneyard understand why this works better for the networks.
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I can't really come up with a truly appealing lineup with any of the prospective teams.
Welcome to the new Nuevo Big East.
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ConnHuskBask
Shut Em Down!
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How do you figure that breaking up any semblance of geographic cohesion and rivalries is better for TV?
Do you trust any decision that this conference would make?
It just doesn't add up.
How are we getting shafted any less than you? We'd have Navy, you'd have Temple.
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I'm not polishing anything, why is that so hard for y'all to grasp? This conference slate, is the hand that leadership of both our university and conference from the mid 1990s through 2011 has handed us.
What should ahve you all annoyed, is not that we're dealing with this now, because it really is the best we can do, we are one of the kids that's been left standing at the side of the gym at the 8th grade dance, while everybody else is dancing, and we've gathered up as many of the other boys and girls that weren't dancing and are starting our own party. We have a lot more in common with the football programs in this new conference, than we do with the football programs in any other high revenue football conference.
It's that it should have, and could have been prevented so many times, so long ago, that should have people pissed off, not that we are moving forward with this now, as best we can.
But you can't change the past, you can only learn from it, so it learn from it, and suck it up, and as I said before - get ready for the UConn - Southern Methodist, UConn Sand Diego State, to go along with Uconn Louisville, UConn Rutgers, UConn Navy.........
You know what the common theme in there is? UCONN. That's who I go to see, who I want to see win, and why I buy tickets. It's nice to get a big name opponent on the schedule, but I go to see UConn play.
For people as old as I am, that have been around football in the northeast as long as I have, the changing schedules are a part of life. We've only played a Big East schedule for 8 years, and that schedule had changed conference opponents three times already.
I don't know what conference stability is like, and the way the college football post season is changing, this conference probably won't last longer than the TV deal either.
Boise and Cincy more than make up for that.
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Do I understand personally why it's better for TV? No. Do I have any reason to doubt that the new Commissioner is making this decision in conjunction with TV (as opposed to just being a genius)? No, I don't. And neither do you.
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I just can't see the NNBE going from geographic divisions the first two years to the zipper divisions after 2015. They'll probably do one or the other from the start so scheduling has some continuity. In the article it mentions that the zipper idea was something that was floated in September. Since then, on several occasions, Aresco has mentioned he likes geographic divisions as they are more fan friendly. My gut tells me we'll eventually have geographic divisions.
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I think if BYU comes in then the East/West balance of power is a little better, and therefore just sending Louisville or Cincy to the west would make for fairly even divisions and would prompt the league to stick with East/West Divisions.
RU, UCONN, CINN, NAVY, TEMPLE, USF, UCF
vs.
BOISE, SDSU, UL, SMU, HOUSTON, MEMPHIS, BYU
Not bad.
RU, UCONN, CINN, NAVY, TEMPLE, USF, UCF
vs.
BOISE, SDSU, UL, SMU, HOUSTON, MEMPHIS, BYU
Not bad.
Hope to see you in the championship game...
CTMike
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I don't entirely disagree with you Carl, but we, collectively, want to feel like we are moving forward as a program. We all root for UConn but it doesn't exist in a vaccum- who you play is a big part of the fun. And between this conference crap, and our on-field product lately, there's a lot of fun that's missing. I'll still go, I'll still cheer, I'll enjoy the wins... But it's a step backwards. Our measuring sticks are getting smaller, not bigger. And it pisses me off that there's nothing we can do to change it.
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Yes. Presumably they want to have a selection of games going on simultaneously at every time slot, so that you can regionally broadcast each one, and also switch between broadcasts to the most interesting game, much like CBS does in the NCAA tournament. It will make for a much more exciting broadcast for casual fans who don't have deep ties to an individual team but want to see interesting football.
Say you're NBC and you have 2 time slots on Saturday plus your Notre Dame game (3 time slots when Notre Dame plays away). Schedule 3 BE games in each of the two slots, with a selection of teams playing from all parts of the country. Each home area gets to see it's own team, and on NBC Sports Network and in NBC markets that don't have a home team, you show whatever game is most interesting at the moment with highlights from the others. Make the Big East football season an event that excites people's interest like the NCAA tournament. Let people know they'll get entertaining broadcasts, and let people have a rooting interest in West vs East or South vs North or Texas vs Florida rivalries, not just in the individual colleges.
I think it will work out best for TV, and I think the league needs money and TV exposure more than it needs short travel times and the ability of fans to travel to away games.
pj that's the best post I've seen in terms of how to get a good tv deal done. Now our leaders just have to get it done.
And as sad as it sounds, I'd take a deal for less a year to be on a network that will try rather than ESPiN. I want our football to feel important. Not just faceless programming on a network that just wants to stifle competition.
And as sad as it sounds, I'd take a deal for less a year to be on a network that will try rather than ESPiN. I want our football to feel important. Not just faceless programming on a network that just wants to stifle competition.
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ConnHuskBask
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I'm going to guess this is being discussed and done in accordance with the university presidents.
The same presidents that invited Memphis, Temple and decided to go to 14 teams in the first place.
I realize a lot of what has transpired is out of the BE's hand, but when it comes down to making a moronic decision you can be certain the BE leadership won't dissapoint.
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I agree. UConn v. Michigan and Rentschler Field is a lot different than UConn v. Buffalo. I haven't compared anywhere what our future conference schedules are like compared to our past.
But we are not taking steps backwards, (don't get me started on the W/L record for the past 2 seasons) - but in other respects, there is nothing going backwards. Our university is growing, and the athletic department is growing, and the football program is growing, and set to make more money than we ever have, we don't have a low ceiling on growth at all.
For some reason, everybody here, well the majority, seem to assume that our future conference schedules will make for worse games than our past. Why? That's not necessarily the case. We played WVU what 7 times? 8? ever? we played Syracuse and PItt how many times? (We'll miss them for one reason and one reason only - we won a lot against them) We never got to play Miami, or VTech as conference members. We got BC once. Part of the intial allure of UConn football, was the Big EAst lineup that existed in 2000, 2001. That time is long gone, and we've got a solid 25,000 people that have invested in UConn football for a decade now. Those weekend days of tailgating at the stadium aren't just going to be given up.
It's up to the program to continue to grow, and we do that by winning game, scheduling everybody and anybody, and winning. Which leads me to the other problem we face thinking about future schedules. Aside from Michigan next year, and Tennessee in what 2015? There's nothing on the schedule to look forward to right now, which was a product of our former leadership at the university as well. THat just magnifies the changes in scheduling we're seeing right now.
In the 8 years I've been in the Big East, our slate of conference opponents has changed already - three times, and will change for the fourth time in year 9, and for the fifth time in year 11. Do the math - in 11 years of one single conference play - we will have had our conference lineup changed on average every other year.
What's good for UConn, is that this is happening now, and not in 2003. In 2002, there was no UConn football fan base to speak of. There is interest now in UConn football that can sustain us through this mess of conference shifting for the next 2-3 years, without a doubt, as new opponents work their way through Rentschler, and hopefully go home losers.
The best thing we can do is recruit like hell, and start winning more games than we lose. That's what we can control, and we've got the toys with Shenkman, and Burton work with, and what should have Pasqualoni working harder than he's ever worked in his life at recruiting.
geordi
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
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Carl and BusinessLawyer are absolutely right! All we can do is to work with what we have. For those of you that are demanding geographic divisions, you've got to start thinking through another prism. Fact is that SMU, Boise State, Houston, maybe Air Force and/or BYU have much, much more football cache than Temple, USF, Rutgers, and yes, Connecticut in the eyes of most people in the country. Building our brand with them, at least for the time being, is a good thing...until our football brand can stand alone. As much as you might want it to, it doesn't right now.
Sure, everyone would be happy with a schedule of Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, A&M, and LSU or Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State, and Iowa coming into the Rent each year. But are you going to be happy getting hammered 48 - 3 every week or with the 1 - 11 seasons being in those conferences would produce? We'd take over the roles of Vanderbilt, Indiana, or Puke, then you'd be complaining about something else.
The only thing that is going to make us relevant in the future is to win...to start a string of 10 - 2/ 11 - 1 seasons with a few conference championships. Then begin winning those 10 games by 25, 30, 40 points. Then beating some "Power Conference' teams in bowl games. Then we become desirable and, oh, by the way, able to compete with the SEC or Big 10 if and when offered.
Don't fall into the trap of believing that, just because the SEC is the best conference in 2012, it will always be. Over the past 50 years, the 'best' conference has rotated among various conferences, including some in the east. It will again.
Boise wasn't complaining about who they were playing. They just went out and won and started to show up on the rankings. We've got to do the same and playing a national schedule, at least in this league at this time, is the only way we can do it. (Now don't get me started on whether Pasqualoni can get us there.)
Sure, everyone would be happy with a schedule of Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, A&M, and LSU or Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State, and Iowa coming into the Rent each year. But are you going to be happy getting hammered 48 - 3 every week or with the 1 - 11 seasons being in those conferences would produce? We'd take over the roles of Vanderbilt, Indiana, or Puke, then you'd be complaining about something else.
The only thing that is going to make us relevant in the future is to win...to start a string of 10 - 2/ 11 - 1 seasons with a few conference championships. Then begin winning those 10 games by 25, 30, 40 points. Then beating some "Power Conference' teams in bowl games. Then we become desirable and, oh, by the way, able to compete with the SEC or Big 10 if and when offered.
Don't fall into the trap of believing that, just because the SEC is the best conference in 2012, it will always be. Over the past 50 years, the 'best' conference has rotated among various conferences, including some in the east. It will again.
Boise wasn't complaining about who they were playing. They just went out and won and started to show up on the rankings. We've got to do the same and playing a national schedule, at least in this league at this time, is the only way we can do it. (Now don't get me started on whether Pasqualoni can get us there.)
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... and since none of us here can control it, I'm not losing sleep over it. 2015 is a long way away with the changes we've been seeing on the past few years. The only thing that is constant - is change. Key will also be how UConn fills non-conference schedule.
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http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/4...NS,-CHAMPIONSHIP-GAME,-STARTING-IN-2013-.aspx
CHICAGO – BIG EAST Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco, emphasizing his conference’s national scope, announced that East and West divisions of six teams each in football will begin play in the 2013 season, culminating in a new BIG EAST Championship Game.
“This new alignment gives the Conference and its fans the best of both worlds – national exposure that is a result of the BIG EAST being in six of the top 10 U.S. media markets – with a schedule that focuses on spirited regional rivalries,” said Aresco.
The BIG EAST Football Championship Game will be played between the East and West champions at the home field of one of the participating teams, not at a neutral site, promising an exciting fan experience.
“This unique combination of nationwide scope and regional flavor reflects our commitment to innovation in response to the changing landscape in college football,” Aresco said, “while honoring a tradition of success on the field and in the classroom.”
Aresco continued: “Combined with the extension through 2026 of our historic relationship with Madison Square Garden for the BIG EAST Basketball Championship, the new BIG EAST Football Championship Game will provide two signature events of national significance in college sports.”
The new divisions will be:
East Division
UCF
Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Rutgers
USF
West Division
Boise State
Houston
Memphis
San Diego State
SMU
Temple
Aresco noted that this alignment will likely be revisited after the 2014 season, when the U.S. Naval Academy and possibly other schools begin play in the BIG EAST.
In this new structure, each team will play eight Conference games per season, of which five will be against divisional rivals. The home and away opponents for each school will be announced after the BIG EAST athletic directors’ annual meeting in New York on Dec. 3.
CHICAGO – BIG EAST Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco, emphasizing his conference’s national scope, announced that East and West divisions of six teams each in football will begin play in the 2013 season, culminating in a new BIG EAST Championship Game.
“This new alignment gives the Conference and its fans the best of both worlds – national exposure that is a result of the BIG EAST being in six of the top 10 U.S. media markets – with a schedule that focuses on spirited regional rivalries,” said Aresco.
The BIG EAST Football Championship Game will be played between the East and West champions at the home field of one of the participating teams, not at a neutral site, promising an exciting fan experience.
“This unique combination of nationwide scope and regional flavor reflects our commitment to innovation in response to the changing landscape in college football,” Aresco said, “while honoring a tradition of success on the field and in the classroom.”
Aresco continued: “Combined with the extension through 2026 of our historic relationship with Madison Square Garden for the BIG EAST Basketball Championship, the new BIG EAST Football Championship Game will provide two signature events of national significance in college sports.”
The new divisions will be:
East Division
UCF
Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Rutgers
USF
West Division
Boise State
Houston
Memphis
San Diego State
SMU
Temple
Aresco noted that this alignment will likely be revisited after the 2014 season, when the U.S. Naval Academy and possibly other schools begin play in the BIG EAST.
In this new structure, each team will play eight Conference games per season, of which five will be against divisional rivals. The home and away opponents for each school will be announced after the BIG EAST athletic directors’ annual meeting in New York on Dec. 3.
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