Why football might actually be the biggest winner.

[shizzle787]

Here's the thing. Because we played in the AAC, the max number of P5 schools we could play on a yearly basis was 4. Some of you think we will have a hard time scheduling big good programs but I don't think so.

Almost every year, we will play UMass and Army H/H and one FCS school at home, which means that leaves 9 games (3 or 4 home games) to make a great schedule. I fully believe we will continue to be able to schedule low-level P5 schools on a H/H basis, mid-level P5 schools on a 2 for 1 basis, and juggernauts as pay games.

I can legitimately see this being a schedule once we get going as an independent:

1. Indiana (A) H/H
2. Rutgers (H) H/H
3. Purdue (A) H/H
4. Illinois (H) H/H
5. Maryland (A) H/H
6. Florida State (A) 2 for 1
7. Notre Dame (A) pay game
8. BYU (H) H/H
9. Army (A) H/H
10. Holy Cross (H) FCS
11. Auburn (A) pay game
12. UMass (H) H/H


This is realistic. The first six weeks of the season are fairly easy to schedule. I truly believe the Big 10 will continue to consider us a P5 "opponent" and we can get home and homes with 5 teams I mentioned. Florida State would be a 2 for 1. You would take a bye most years in Week 7. It wouldn't have to be Notre Dame but in any given year, a few big schools have an open date about half way through the year (enter Notre Dame in my example) for a body bag game. BYU and Army both admit they have issues scheduling so that is pretty realistic. Auburn being a pay game makes sense because SEC schools take the 2nd to last week of the season as a tune up game, and UMass would be our "rivalry" game at the end of the year. We won't be able to get this the first year, but it meets all of the requirements: 5 home games (some years 6 in our case). Oh, and by the way, we'll play 8 P5 in this scenario.

I'm just pissed we didn't do this 5 years ago.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Here's the thing. Because we played in the AAC, the max number of P5 schools we could play on a yearly basis was 4. Some of you think we will have a hard time scheduling big good programs but I don't think so.

Almost every year, we will play UMass and Army H/H and one FCS school at home, which means that leaves 9 games (3 or 4 home games) to make a great schedule. I fully believe we will continue to be able to schedule low-level P5 schools on a H/H basis, mid-level P5 schools on a 2 for 1 basis, and juggernauts as pay games.

I can legitimately see this being a schedule once we get going as an independent:

1. Indiana (A) H/H
2. Rutgers (H) H/H
3. Purdue (A) H/H
4. Illinois (H) H/H
5. Maryland (A) H/H
6. Florida State (A) 2 for 1
7. Notre Dame (A) pay game
8. BYU (H) H/H
9. Army (A) H/H
10. Holy Cross (H) FCS
11. Auburn (A) pay game
12. UMass (H) H/H


This is realistic. The first six weeks of the season are fairly easy to schedule. I truly believe the Big 10 will continue to consider us a P5 "opponent" and we can get home and homes with 5 teams I mentioned. Florida State would be a 2 for 1. You would take a bye most years in Week 7. It wouldn't have to be Notre Dame but in any given year, a few big schools have an open date about half way through the year (enter Notre Dame in my example) for a body bag game. BYU and Army both admit they have issues scheduling so that is pretty realistic. Auburn being a pay game makes sense because SEC schools take the 2nd to last week of the season as a tune up game, and UMass would be our "rivalry" game at the end of the year. We won't be able to get this the first year, but it meets all of the requirements: 5 home games (some years 6 in our case). Oh, and by the way, we'll play 8 P5 in this scenario.

I'm just pissed we didn't do this 5 years ago.

Interesting. Hope it comes to pass. We will see. But I wonder if some of the P5 opponents may come from the B12.

 

[shizzle787]

Interesting. Hope it comes to pass. We will see. But I wonder if some of the P5 opponents may come from the B12.

It's seems that you have been the biggest proponent against the move, but you have to admit, this is pretty realistic. It will probably take 2-3 years to get to this type of schedule.

 

[JMick]

It's seems that you have been the biggest proponent against the move, but you have to admit, this is pretty realistic. It will probably take 2-3 years to get to this type of schedule.

I would say this is a best case scenario. Definitely possible, even if unlikely. Hopefully Benedict can work his SEC and Pac-12 contacts, and fox might be able to work some pac-12 magic too. They'd love to get into the Eastern time block.

 

[shizzle787]

I would say this is a best case scenario. Definitely possible, even if unlikely. Hopefully Benedict can work his SEC and Pac-12 contacts, and fox might be able to work some pac-12 magic too. They'd love to get into the Eastern time block.

As long as we are playing 7-8 P5 schools a year and avoiding the NMSU, Liberty, and other direlicts.

 

[JMick]

As long as we are playing 7-8 P5 schools a year and avoiding the NMSU, Liberty, and other direlicts.

I think that:

BYU
Army
Liberty
UMass
NMSU

Are givens every year. Throw in an FCS, sometimes two, and we're looking at 5-6 P5 games a year at best. And I'd be happy with that

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Well yeah sure if shizzle’s totally unrealistic dream schedule we have no chance of doing comes to fruition.

 

[shizzle787]

Well yeah sure if shizzle’s totally unrealistic dream schedule we have no chance of doing comes to fruition.

How is it unrealistic?

 

[huskymedic]

How is it unrealistic?

Florida State, Notre Dame and Auburn in the same year?

 

[LoyalFanCT]

One other possible positive for UConn -- schools that like to play in New York City region may want to play UConn at venues like Yankee Stadium or Citifield. So if UConn returns to being in top 50 I think Duke, UVA, Texas, SMU or even Stanford. They may have large NYC alumni presence. But if UConn remains at the bottom of the pool it may be New Mexico State and Central CT.

 

[shizzle787]

Florida State, Notre Dame and Auburn in the same year?

Pay games? We're not asking for H/Hs with these schools are even 2 for 1s in the case of Notre Dame or Auburn. Is it unrealistic to play a major SEC team the second to last week of the year? You can swap West Virginia for Florida State and somebody else for Notre Dame but my point stands. We CAN schedule 5 low-level P5 schools for H/H the first five weeks of the year. We can schedule a major SEC school during their body bag week, and two more major schools will have free weeks.

 

[shizzle787]

One other possible positive for UConn -- schools that like to play in New York City region may want to play UConn at venues like Yankee Stadium or Citifield. So if UConn returns to being in top 50 I think Duke, UVA, Texas, SMU or even Stanford. They may have large NYC alumni presence. But if UConn remains at the bottom of the pool it may be New Mexico State and Central CT.

Duke will play us at Rentschaeler. No reason to whore ourselves out if we don't have to .

 

[Exit 4]

Um, I’m pretty upbeat, but not nearly as upbeat at shizzle. Probably looking at five P5 game per year max, then three G5, three independents and one FCS.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Suggest pinning possible scheduling post consolidation with minimally 2 similar threads;

Thinking like a AD with a cellphone

Taking off on the Shawn McGrath article in the UCONN blog. Then - reviewing the Army schedule & the BYU schedule & then considering Liberty + NM State + UMASS Would we be happy with 2 FCS games per year (even can make the school prestigious LIKE Holy Cross or Fordham or Bucknell) ... because...

the-boneyard.com

 

[shizzle787]

Um, I’m pretty upbeat, but not nearly as upbeat at shizzle. Probably looking at five P5 game per year max, then three G5, three independents and one FCS.

There is no reason why we can't schedule like UCF of the 90s. They played any body bag game anywhere.

 

[shizzle787]

Suggest pinning possible scheduling post consolidation with minimally 2 similar threads;

Thinking like a AD with a cellphone

Taking off on the Shawn McGrath article in the UCONN blog. Then - reviewing the Army schedule & the BYU schedule & then considering Liberty + NM State + UMASS Would we be happy with 2 FCS games per year (even can make the school prestigious LIKE Holy Cross or Fordham or Bucknell) ... because...

the-boneyard.com

You can't combine negativity with positivity.

 

[Yup!]

Florida State, Notre Dame and Auburn in the same year?

That’s definitely unrealistic.

We can’t forget about Rutgers ( I read somewhere they’re willing to play us if we went the independent route ) Syracuse, and Maryland who are all near by. This independent route for football can definitely work.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

How is it unrealistic?

How is it realistic?

 

[Storrs South]

That’s definitely unrealistic.

We can’t forget about Rutgers ( I read somewhere they’re willing to play us if we went the independent route ) Syracuse, and Maryland who are all near by. This independent route for football can definitely work.

Well it wouldn't be for awhile regardless:

The earliest a Rutgers-UConn game could be scheduled is likely 2024. Rutgers only has one of its three non-conference games for that season - a road game at Virginia Tech.

UConn wants Rutgers’ help as it forges new football path; When could Scarlet Knights provide it?

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

You can't combine negativity with positivity.

Most people are capable, happens all of the time

 

[UConnNick]

As a purely academic exercise, this is all well and good. But we need to attract good quality recruits and start winning games. That has to be our No. 1 priority. Without that, this is all just an academic exercise.

My biggest fear is that this will be the toughest task we face. Without good quality talent, all the imaginative schduling in the world won't solve our problems. We need good quality recruits and enough wins. It can be done, but will it be?

 

[Guapo]

As a purely academic exercise, this is all well and good. But we need to attract good quality recruits and start winning games. That has to be our No. 1 priority. Without that, this is all just an academic exercise.

My biggest fear is that this will be the toughest task we face. Without good quality talent, all the imaginative schduling in the world won't solve our problems. We need good quality recruits and enough wins. It can be done, but will it be?

I sense some turn around in outlook?

 

[UConnJim]

I think that:

BYU
Army
Liberty
UMass
NMSU

Are givens every year. Throw in an FCS, sometimes two, and we're looking at 5-6 P5 games a year at best. And I'd be happy with that

Not realistic in the next few years. BYU and Army are pretty well scheduled over that time frame. Honestly, it would be close to impossible to get a reasonable schedule for 2020 which is why football will probably play in the AAC in 2020. I would expect this will be part of the exit negotiation.

 

[uconnyankee]

How is it unrealistic?

May be it is and maybe it isn't possible.

BYU doesn't have that schedule. They are a bit higher on the FB totem pole so one has to ask why we could get this schedule while BYU can't.

 

[CTMike]

Woe befall anyone who ignores a @shizzle787 prediction.