Scheduling is typically done at least 2-years in advance meaning UMass needs to be filling their schedule immediately.

But how do they fill their schedule? Do they assume in 2016 they will be independent and fill the entire 2016 schedule (if they even can) and then what happens if they get a conference invite? Do they have to break 8 contracts and pay penalties? Do they leave 8 slots open in 2016 hoping to find a home which is looking likely to never happen?

The more I look into it the more it seems to me UMass is hosed in 2016. Independence doesn't appear an option in any way. They won't be able to fill a schedule with 6 home games possibly.

- There is more emphasis on Strength of Schedule in 2016 because of the College Football Playoff emphasis on it. Who would want to schedule UMass? Especially UMass away AT UMass?

- UMass borrowed early by scheduling 2-for-1 games with BCS teams early to get them to UMass and must now pay them back with road games. If you look at their 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 schedules they are already committed for away games, and have no home games scheduled. Obviously they can't do anymore 2-for-1 deals or this problem will get worse.

- 2016 is when conferences like the Big Ten and PAC12 are going to 9-game conference schedules and SEC/ACC are putting criteria on only other P5 conferences can be scheduled thus leaving opportunities even tighter in 2016.

- Other teams are already completely booked in 2016 and committed to their available OOC away games they could schedule. For instance Temple, a team UMass would probably want to schedule a home for home game with in 2016, can't schedule a game even if they wanted to because their 2016 schedule is already completely booked and committed with 8 AAC games and 4 OOC already committed to Stony Brook, Army, Charlotte, and Penn State.


UMass right now has a 2016 schedule of 2 away games and needs 6 Home games.

Who has availability and motivation to schedule UMass AT UMass in 2016?

I don't see how they fill a schedule no matter how hard they try. And none of that considers no bowls, no post-season, no TV, no CFP money, no identity or conference championship to play for.

No recruit wants to sign for a team that has nothing to play for. No rings, no bowls, no identity. If they think they are a bad program now, it will only get worse the longer they stay in limbo. Their only glimmer of hope in their eyes is bringing back an old FCS-level coach who makes $200K who is installing new playbooks. Their 2014 schedule shows them a near automatic 0-5 start with some hefty blow-outs. When they are already demoralized at 0-5 staring down a MAC schedule that isn't much easier, reality and panic will start to set in for UMass and recruits, fans, and transfers may be jumping ship left and right. BYU even is having trouble filling a schedule, but who knows?, maybe UMass can pull it off?

(05-23-2014 12:16 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Scheduling is typically done at least 2-years in advance meaning UMass needs to be filling their schedule immediately.

But how do they fill their schedule? Do they assume in 2016 they will be independent and fill the entire 2016 schedule (if they even can) and then what happens if they get a conference invite? Do they have to break 8 contracts and pay penalties? Do they leave 8 slots open in 2016 hoping to find a home which is looking likely to never happen?

The more I look into it the more it seems to me UMass is hosed in 2016. Independence doesn't appear an option in any way. They won't be able to fill a schedule with 6 home games possibly.

- There is more emphasis on Strength of Schedule in 2016 because of the College Football Playoff emphasis on it. Who would want to schedule UMass? Especially UMass away AT UMass?

- UMass borrowed early by scheduling 2-for-1 games with BCS teams early to get them to UMass and must now pay them back with road games. If you look at their 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 schedules they are already committed for away games, and have no home games scheduled. Obviously they can't do anymore 2-for-1 deals or this problem will get worse.

- 2016 is when conferences like the Big Ten and PAC12 are going to 9-game conference schedules and SEC/ACC are putting criteria on only other P5 conferences can be scheduled thus leaving opportunities even tighter in 2016.

- Other teams are already completely booked in 2016 and committed to their available OOC away games they could schedule. For instance Temple, a team UMass would probably want to schedule a home for home game with in 2016, can't schedule a game even if they wanted to because their 2016 schedule is already completely booked and committed with 8 AAC games and 4 OOC already committed to Stony Brook, Army, Charlotte, and Penn State.


UMass right now has a 2016 schedule of 2 away games and needs 6 Home games.

Who has availability and motivation to schedule UMass AT UMass in 2016?

I don't see how they fill a schedule no matter how hard they try. And none of that considers no bowls, no post-season, no TV, no CFP money, no identity or conference championship to play for.

No recruit wants to sign for a team that has nothing to play for. No rings, no bowls, no identity. If they think they are a bad program now, it will only get worse the longer they stay in limbo. Their only glimmer of hope in their eyes is bringing back an old FCS-level coach who makes $200K who is installing new playbooks. Their 2014 schedule shows them a near automatic 0-5 start with some hefty blow-outs. When they are already demoralized at 0-5 staring down a MAC schedule that isn't much easier, reality and panic will start to set in for UMass and recruits, fans, and transfers will be jumping ship left and right. BYU even is having trouble filling a schedule, but who knows?, maybe UMass can pull it off.

Spot on!

If UMASS wants to stay FBS they will have to start scheaduling all games like they were an indepentant. When UMASS choose not to move all sports to the MAC several months ago they knew that this was one of the prices they would have to pay.

Quote:UMass right now has a 2016 schedule of 2 away games and needs 6 Home games.

Incorrect only needs to scheadule 5 home games. If they are able to schedule 6 great but they will have to do what ever they can to get 5 home games each years and also be able to fill the rest of there scheadule without any conference games.

really the number is 4 even- plus then the 1 FCS game.

(05-23-2014 12:46 PM)stever20 Wrote:  really the number is 4 even- plus then the 1 FCS game.

Actually thats a good point. I know only one FCS team counts toward bowl eligibility, but since UMass wouldn't even have a bowl tie-in opportunity why would they care if they scheduled 5 home games vs all FCS teams?

Anybody know the rule on that? Does NCAA require 5 home games of which at least 4 or 5 need to be FBS teams.

Most schools who schedule FCS teams as home games usually do that as their 6th home game. Does an FCS team count as one of the 5 home games required by NCAA? Isnt the rule 5 FBS home games?

(05-23-2014 12:59 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(05-23-2014 12:46 PM)stever20 Wrote:  really the number is 4 even- plus then the 1 FCS game.

Actually thats a good point. I know only one FCS team counts toward bowl eligibility, but since UMass wouldn't even have a bowl tie-in opportunity why would they care if they scheduled 5 home games vs all FCS teams?

Anybody know the rule on that? Does NCAA require 5 home games of which at least 4 or 5 need to be FBS teams.

Most schools who schedule FCS teams as home games usually do that as their 6th home game. Does an FCS team count as one of the 5 home games required by NCAA? Isnt the rule 5 FBS home games?

Yes it is...unfortunately that has been the typical home schedule of NIU since 2004 other than 3 seasons when we hosted Navy, Army and Kansas for our 5th FBS home game.

Going forward, most schools will have one of two scheduling strategies: Schedule up for SOS to enhance playoff chances, or schedule down for wins and bowl eligibility. UMass has a third: their only goal right now is survival, so take whatever you can get from teams looking to schedule down.

I think they will have to look strongly toward schools recently making the transition to FBS, like Charlotte, Old Dominion, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. Maybe Army might help them out as well. But there's no doubt UMass is hanging on to FBS status by a thread, and must find a conference that will take them in soon. Permanent independence is not an option.

(05-23-2014 12:46 PM)stever20 Wrote:  really the number is 4 even- plus then the 1 FCS game.

This is correct. The rules require five home games, and one game vs. an FCS team can be counted as one of those five. See page 2 of this: http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/...8%2B10.pdf

Northeast football is a mess with schools all in difference conferences. UMass should have realized that before they moved up.

They should get on the horn with NC State. They are so desperate for as weak of a schedule as possible they'll sign a home and home with anybody.

(05-23-2014 12:59 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(05-23-2014 12:46 PM)stever20 Wrote:  really the number is 4 even- plus then the 1 FCS game.

Actually thats a good point. I know only one FCS team counts toward bowl eligibility, but since UMass wouldn't even have a bowl tie-in opportunity why would they care if they scheduled 5 home games vs all FCS teams?

Anybody know the rule on that? Does NCAA require 5 home games of which at least 4 or 5 need to be FBS teams.

Most schools who schedule FCS teams as home games usually do that as their 6th home game. Does an FCS team count as one of the 5 home games required by NCAA? Isnt the rule 5 FBS home games?

i believe the rule is 60% must be FBS games

(05-23-2014 01:42 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  They should get on the horn with NC State. They are so desperate for as weak of a schedule as possible they'll sign a home and home with anybody.

+1

Beyond the challenges of Who and Where for scheduling as an Independent is When. Most conferences play the bulk of their OOC games in September, its going to be extra difficult to find willing participants in October and November, at home or away. Who wants to travel to one of the coldest spots in the country to play a non competitive team in an empty, outdoor stadium in November?

This needs to be restated- UMass knowingly and willingly brought this upon themselves. They are not victims of circumstance, they willingly transitioned to FBS and dumped millions of dollars into their football program without a realistic long term plan. Hoping to get by on charity from conferences they deem themselves too good to join fully with the unrealistic expectation of the AAC or a P5 conference coming to their rescue is just mind blowing.

(05-23-2014 12:59 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Does an FCS team count as one of the 5 home games required by NCAA?

I think that one can count, if it gives within a certain percentage of the maximum allowed FCS FB scholarships (and remember that FCS is dollar count not head count, so a school could have 60 scholarship players but if 20 of those are on half-rides, they would only have 50 full time equivalent scholarships). I don't have time to look it up right now, but I think its 90%+.

The first step for UMass is to work out a scheduling deal for four home and away Sunbelt games in late October & early November. If they can get that organized, they could then look to work out a two game scheduling deal with the MAC or CUSA for early October.

If they could get two deals covering six games home and away, they have three home games per year covered, plus an FCS school buy game makes four, and they have five games to parley into a fifth home game through some combination of 2-1's with AAC and/or MWC schools or 2 P5 buy games to fund offsetting Go5 home and home contracts with healthy "travel subsidy".

The big issue to tackle with five games is they have to be all at Gillette or all on campus, since the "half or more of your games" rule lets you split 6 homes games 3/3, but you can't get half at both with five home games.

Five games on campus and one or two (mid to lower tier) P5 neutral site game with split revenue might be one strategy to try to work around that.

(05-23-2014 02:10 PM)john01992 Wrote:  i believe the rule is 60% must be FBS games

That's separate to the five home game minimum rule. The five home game minimum rule uses the exception that allows one FCS game to be counted as an FBS game if the FCS school is close enough to full scholarship. You can play more FCS games than that (within limit), but the others don't count toward bowl eligibility or to the five home game minimum, because they don't count as FBS games.

I'd have to look more closely at the home stadium rule to see whether two FCS home games can be used to get to six home games, three on campus and three at Gillette. If they can, then UMass might travel for two P5 buy games, host two FCS buy games, and have enough left over to help buy their way into a 4 home and 4 away slate of Go5 opponents.

I think the number is like 56 FTE's- which is 7 fewer than the 63 max.

(05-23-2014 02:22 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  Beyond the challenges of Who and Where for scheduling as an Independent is When. Most conferences play the bulk of their OOC games in September, its going to be extra difficult to find willing participants in October and November, at home or away. Who wants to travel to one of the coldest spots in the country to play a non competitive team in an empty, outdoor stadium in November?

This needs to be restated- UMass knowingly and willingly brought this upon themselves. They are not victims of circumstance, they willingly transitioned to FBS and dumped millions of dollars into their football program without a realistic long term plan. Hoping to get by on charity from conferences they deem themselves too good to join fully with the unrealistic expectation of the AAC or a P5 conference coming to their rescue is just mind blowing.

When we joined, the Villanova blockade was still in effect for Temple. So never thought they bolt before our first game. Conference realignment picked up and don't think it will stop. We have two years to get up to full scholarships and have a proven coach, who has been a winner from FCS to the NFL, and more importantly at UMass. This is an important season for us and think we'll win 3 games and average around 20k in attendance. We are at our weakest bargaining position. This will change as we go forward.

As usually Miami Oh posts what ever comes to his head with out checking. We have done ONE 2-1 game and that was with Boston College. It's our season opener at Gillette on Aug 30th. It was the only way to play them as we develop.

(05-23-2014 02:23 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(05-23-2014 12:59 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Does an FCS team count as one of the 5 home games required by NCAA?

I think that one can count, if it gives within a certain percentage of the maximum allowed FCS FB scholarships (and remember that FCS is dollar count not head count, so a school could have 60 scholarship players but if 20 of those are on half-rides, they would only have 50 full time equivalent scholarships). I don't have time to look it up right now, but I think its 90%+.

An FBS school must schedule at least 60% of its games against other FBS schools. If they play 12 games, that means 8 must be FBS. I suppose they could only schedule 11 games, which would allow them to only play 7. Only one of the FCS games counts toward bowl eligibility. In UMass' case, that's not the issue. D-I status is the issue.

However, they must also play at least five home games against FBS opponents. That's going to be very hard to do without being in a conference, which is why the NCAA has a moratorium on schools moving up, and will only allow an upgrade if you have a bona fide offer to join a conference.

There is no moratorium currently on schools moving up. You are only allowed to upgrade though if you have the offer to join a fbs conference....

They have to be thinking the AAC is in for them.

(05-23-2014 02:28 PM)stever20 Wrote:  I think the number is like 56 FTE's- which is 7 fewer than the 63 max.

That sounds right ~ the 90% figure may have been someone rounding 88.89% up to round figures.