The UConn Huskies ended the 2024 football season on Saturday with a dominant 27-14 win over the UNC Tar Heels in the Fenway Bowl. It caps off a 9-4 season for UConn, which gives the program the most wins since 2007 under Randy Edsall, when the program also went 9-4 and lost the Meineke Car Care Bowl against Wake Forest 24-10. UConn finished that season first in the Big East Conference.
Now, the Huskies are Independent, and are trying to figure out what, or if, they have a future home in a Power 4 Conference. They remain in the Big East for basketball, but of course, the rest of the Big East schools either don’t have a football program, or play at a lower level.
Related: Why Was UConn to the Big 12 Canceled?
It’s been well known that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has longed to add the Huskies to the conference. It would give the conference a foothold in the No. 1 media market, New York City, and bring in a blue blood basketball brand that would only add to the Big 12’s brand as the best college basketball conference in the country, hands down.
But there is enough pushback from various athletic directors and University Presidents who remain hesitant in further expansion, especially given the added geographic extension of a conference that already stretches from Salt Lake City to Orlando.
But maybe the bigger and better question is whether or not UConn is ready for big-time college football?
Can UConn Play With the Big 12 in Football?
If you look back on this season, UConn’s four losses all came against Power 4 schools. Technically UConn did not beat a Power 4 team until the Fenway Bowl vs. UNC.
But a deeper look at the season shows that after getting blown out by Maryland 50-7 in Week 2, UConn lost all their other games against Power 4 opponents by one score or less. There was a five-point loss to Duke, a three-point loss to Wake Forest and a seven-point loss to Syracuse. Yes, that Syracuse team that knocked off No. 6 Miami in the final week of the regular season, with the Hurricanes still hoping to make the College Football Playoff, at that time.
And frankly, the question doesn’t need to be about whether or not UConn can win in the Big 12. The question should simply be, “Can they be competitive?”
No one wants a program like Kansas, pre-Lance Leipold, where you win six Big 12 games over a 10-season stretch. But UConn doesn’t need to be Iowa State, Colorado, Arizona State or BYU, either.
The addition of UConn is a basketball play, with the hope, and promise from UConn’s end, that the University and athletic department will properly invest on the football field to have a competitive program that simply doesn’t embarrass the Big 12.
That’s the play.
And that’s the mindset any athletic director and/or University President needs to have when diving deeper and thinking about the added value of the Huskies to the Big 12 Conference.
Big 12 Paused Talks on UConn in September
The Big 12 Conference announced on Thursday, September 5th, it had paused conversations about expanding the league with the UConn Huskies.
The conference put out a statement on Thursday from Commissioner Brett Yormark, saying, “As Commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12. Following detailed discussions with my conference colleagues alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.”
But a pause, of course, is just that. From the league office’s perspective, the conversation has never really ended.
Could the ACC Pounce First?
Heartland College Sports has learned that the Huskies remain of serious interest for Yormark, but he still needs further buy-in around the conference,.
And it’s important to note that in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, there is power in numbers, especially with a basketball product that has won five National Championships in the last quarter century.
There’s no doubt that the ACC, which has been dealing with its own legal troubles and in-fighting, may finally settle down and see the value in sticking together. And if they get there sooner than later, the conference, which has already tried to make a play for the NYC market by occasionally hosting its conference tournament in New York City, playing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2017, 2018 and 2022, could look back to the Big Apple and realize the value in having a league tournament comprised of Syracuse, Notre Dame, UConn, Boston College (all former Big East teams with great alumni bases in the NYC market), along with Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, and others that could rival the Big 12 from a quality and basketball brand perspective.
If the race is on, the Big 12 and its decision makers would be wise to look at the potential addition of UConn as part of the arms race that college sports has become. And take the “trust, but verify” approach that the Huskies will do what they need to do to continue to make football competitive, while understanding the value is not about the gridiron, but rather the hardwood.
And the hardwood value in the zero-sum game of conference expansion, likely makes this a very worthy pursuit for the Big 12 Conference.
