(10-10-2017 12:07 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 11:48 AM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  With the shape of their football program is UConn really a viable B12 school? Replace them with Houston.


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UConn is viable in the sense that it has all of the off-the-field metrics (academics, flagship school, large and new TV market on paper) that are honestly much harder to change and generally more important to university presidents than on-the-field performance. The true value of a school is really measured by what it's still bringing to the table when the football team record is 0-12 instead of 12-0.

That being said, I have said many times before that one of the most underrated aspects about why UConn has been locked out of the P5 is simply time: they have a FBS program that isn't even 20 years old at this point. When you have administrators with power that have been working in college football for 40 or 50 years, they just can't wrap their heads around bringing in a school that, for all intents and purposes, is still a start-up football program from their vantage point. This is an issue for UCF and USF, too (where their FBS programs started in the 1990s/2000s as opposed to the 1890s/1900s). Academia is quite possibly the most blue blooded atmosphere anywhere, so youth is definitely a huge disadvantage. There's nothing that can really change that aspect other than time itself.

So in other words Rice is seen as a blue blood because of their history and past affiliations. Other G5s might be seen that way such as SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, BYU, the Academies, etc.