UConn, Penn State to play Week 1 showdown in Philly
Continuing a trend of tough out-of-conference scheduling, UConn has reached an agreement with Penn State to take their previously scheduled out of conference matchup for Week 1 of the 2021 season to a neutral site.
The Huskies and Nittany Lions will meet for the first time ever at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, on September 4 to headline a strong slate of exciting Week 1 games. The time is currently to be decided, but will likely be played in primetime.
While it will be the first game of the year for UConn, it will not be as such for Penn State. The Nittany Lions have a "Week 0 game" at home against Syracuse.
The neutral site game will mark the kickoff of the third season of UConn's Big 10 Tour, which began in 2019. UConn will play at Michigan State for their second Big 10 non-conference matchup this season, and conclude the series in 2022 with games against Iowa and Wisconsin.
Full Slate of Non-Conference Action:
Week 0:
Cowboys Kickoff: Auburn v. Texas (Arlington, TX)
Texas Kickoff: UCLA v. Texas A&M (Houston, TX)
Florida Kickoff: Michigan v. Miami-FL (Jacksonville, FL)
Week 1:
Military Opening Weekend: Oklahoma v. Army West Point (Meadowlands, NJ)
Chick-Fil-A Kickoff: Alabama v. Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA)
Indianapolis Kickoff: Louisville v. Notre Dame (Indianapolis, IN)
West Coast Kickoff: Ohio State v. Oregon (Santa Clara, CA)
Soldier Field Start-Up Weekend: TCU v. Missouri (Chicago, IL)
East Coast Kickoff: UConn v. Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)
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UConn adds home and home with UMass in '21, '23
After conquering Boston College twice, UConn will set to do the same against their other New England rival.
UConn has announced a home and home series with the UMass Minutemen; the 2021 game will be played in Hartford, while UConn will return to Foxborough in 2023 to face the Minutemen in neutral site action.
The two teams last played in 2016,
a 28-10 UConn victory in Amherst.
For reference, here's a look at UConn's (tentative) future out of conference schedule.
2021:
@ Penn State (Philly)
@ Michigan State
vs. UMass
2022:
@ Iowa
@ Wisconsin
vs. ?
2023:
@ UMass (Foxborough, MA)
?
?
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For Your Reference: A List of QB Grad Transfers for 2021
We all know about the grad transfer of Tanner Dean-Lowry (TDL) from UConn to USC, but who else is leaving with him? Due to some technical difficulties, I decided to scale back my grad transfer efforts this season.. besides, outside of these QB's there wasn't anyone really good enough to be hot commodities on the transfer market. In any case, here's the list for our reference!
The Notables: Steven Balchiar started for the Buckeyes when we traveled to the 'Shoe in 2019 and pulled off
the most epic comeback ever. He got hurt and backup QB Eric Tantgen led OSU to a National Title. So that ended well...
Austin Douglas led Nebraska for most of last year and through to the Playoff while starter Isaac Zazzarion was hurt.
Douglas, Balchiar and Cameron Ryan are all possible opponents for UConn next year, as all three of their schools (NC State, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest) are in the ACC.
What's to Come plus a Question for Followers
We're winding down the offseason.. as a matter of fact I'm actually at Week "0" right now. I'll get caught up here shortly and with any luck I'll have the first games up over my Fall Break next weekend.
My to-do list looks as such:
CAC 2021 Preview
Spring Ball Newsflash
FBS Head Coaches
News articles to settle any remaining housekeeping/Dan Orlovsky's hiring?
2021 UConn Schedule/Roster/Team Preview
Preseason Around the NCAA
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Week 0 recap
UConn opening weekend v. Penn State
CAC updates will take a while, but I want to go back to putting together in-depth previews for everyone like I used to do. It's more fun for everyone! (I think)
My question/plea for you all as I'm taking care of things:
Who would you like to see UConn play in future seasons? I still have a couple requests from two years ago that I'm still going to need to work in (Maryland, Alabama, for example), but at some point I'm going to need some ideas. This is where I open the floor to you. Nothing is too crazy, I promise. Thank you all!
And also.. if you have any ingenious suggestions for cool jersey numbers for our super hyped freshmen WR Chamarkelle Byrom and QB Jordan Brown.. please let me know.
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Hi Hunter! Welcome to the site and thank you for dropping in! It's always so enjoyable to see new followers pop in and say hello.
I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand why this is as popular as it is, but as I said up the page, I have mad respect for you trying to sit down and read this all at once. It gets better when you get further along.. as I figured out.. you know, how to actually write a write-up and that one sentence paragraphs are absolutely nightmarish for people to read..
I laugh at my younger self.
In any case, I hope you enjoy seven fictitious seasons of UConn football, and hoperfully you'll enjoy season 8 as well!