We should strive to be the best G5 team in the country and joining a G5 conference for football only would help us to achieve that goal. Last year Liberty made the Fiesta bowl playing zero P games.
We may be able to do that as an independent. Having gone from BCS to G5 to independent only to go back to G5 again is fairly convoluted when the goal is to join a Px conference. Joining a G5 is the last resort when
all Px options have evaporated. Liberty, in contrast, is in a bit of ascendancy in terms of what their football is doing compared to UConn. Yes, our team beat them 2 years ago, but would they beat them now, who knows. I totally agree with you that at the very least, UConn needs to be among the better of the G5s but as an independent, because frankly, what conference is going to take our football in its current condition? That said, I've no qualms about some (loose) scheduling agreement with the MAC, Mountain West, PAC
12, or SBC as these are the teams we need to beat to show we can hang as a middle team in a Px. Though, I think a G5 only slate doesn't help us as we do need a few high profile Px games too (for both the money they bring in and to show that UConn is not merely a G5 level team).