https://fbschedules.com/northwestern-adds-utep-to-2023-football-schedule/
Even if Northwestern loses, I win!
Even if Northwestern loses, I win!
Northwestern adds UTEP to 2023 football schedule
- Thread starter FeralFelidae
- Start date
Poor negotiating. UTEP would have paid NU $1.2 million to come to Evanston and get a W over a B1G school.
You should see the small reaction on Twitter from their fanbase. Basically, "a winnable payout game for us" and "cool trip and likely win." Yes, that's where we are as program. Sad.
Interestingly, UTEP suffered through a concurrent Dark Ages with us, winning 21 games in 14 years starting in 1972
UTEP had one stunning upset during their Dark Ages in 1985, when they defeated defending national champions BYU. (I was a young child at that game, and I've never forgotten it.)
That was UTEP's only victory that season. It's baffling.
Well, a slot opened in UTEP's schedule because their rival, NMSU, is joining Conference USA next season.
What used to be an annual non-conference game is now becoming a conference game, so now UTEP has an extra non-conference slot available on their schedule.
I guess Northwestern was also looking to fill a non-conference slot, so it worked out. It's funny that Northwestern will be playing arch-rivals UTEP and NMSU in the same season.
My favorite--and really only--UTEP memory is when Mizzou poached away the great Bob Stull as HC after Stull had taken UTEP from 4 wins to 7 wins to 10 wins over his first three seasons in El Paso. Stull won 15 games in 5 years at Mizzou, at which point he was ejected from planet Earth (actually he returned to UTEP to serve as AD for 20 years, but living in El Paso is like being thrown off the planet).
Feral, with that said and the potential additions of USC and UCLA the schedules will be redrawn.
Well, we thought we could schedule winnable games against P5 academic rivals (Duke/Stanford). Then we thought we could schedule winnable games against regional MAC schools which would bring decent attendance (Akron/Miami/WMU). That failing, we thought winnable games against Illinois FCS schools (Illinois St, SIU)… we’ve lost to all those so here we go UTEP.
Sometimes you'll find an Aaron Jones courtesy of Ft. Bliss.
https://www.ktsm.com/news/jones-brothers-honor-fort-bliss-soldiers/
Yes. Grambling beat Oregon State 23-6 in 1985, and Florida A&M beat Miami not-Ohio in 1979.
Howard did beat UNLV for their biggest win over a FBS team in school history.
Howard’s upset of UNLV is biggest in HBCU football history
Freshman quarterback Caylin Newton, Cam’s younger brother, is already making a name for himself. In his first college game, Newton led Howard University to a 43…
andscape.com
Hey, UTEP actually beat NMSU this year, so NU actually traded up.
BTW, UTEP also beat perennial power Boise State this year. Don't sleep on the Miners.
Well we've lost to SIU and to Miami OH. Mind as well lose to some Miners. Won't be breaking any new ground there. But, Howard? I don't think we've ever lost to a Historically Black College, so that will be new.
I think its pathetic that a B1G school would intentionally schedule a HBCU with a straight face. This to me is utterly unforgivable especially with no historical reason to.
I know that Nebraska scheduled Bethune Cookman a few years ago to make up for a cancelled game. I know that Florida schools (UM, FSU, UF, UCF) do it. I know Clemson and South Carolina do also. I know LSU played Southern. But at least there was some in-state linkage to the games. There is shared respect between these programs that is at least traditional.
There is nothing more here than this program's outright desperation for a W. We could have called Jackson State, Southern, PVU, or FAMU. But we know why. They might actually lose.
And what disgusts me the most is they will trot out all the "respect we have for HBCUs bullshit" and try to call it a "classic". All I hope for is they beat us. #FIREFITZ.
And on another note why doesn't NU just play North Central or Wheaton College then? Oh wait. They might beat us also.
Two things. First, if we're going to hand out $1 million checks to lower-division schools with far fewer advantages, why not address some societal disparities while we're at it? Second, our basketball team once almost lost to Wheaton College and making a joke about them is still too soon. The final score was literally 41-39.
I agree sort of. 1st just funny NU got 'woke' about HBCUs when we suck. 2nd Howard University's endowment is $893M. They are by far the cash cow of HBCUs. But they are the black school everybody hears about out of the 100+ HBCU schools out there.
For reference, the endowment for Jackson State is $60M, Bethune Cookman $47.8M, and South Carolina State's $4.5M (they nearly went broke a few years ago) so the benevolence argument goes out the window. But Howard does relatively suck at football though and we sure do need a win.
With losing seasons THREE of the last four years this smells of desperation for the program. I have no issues playing a HBCU. I do find it 'magical' to do so when we never have before and when the program is swirling down the toilet. At least book a FCS playoff team like Jackson State. But OMG what if Deion came to Evanston and smoked us?
This isn't the sort of thing that keeps me up at night.
While it's not a HBCU, NU gave Chicago State some basketball payday games to help out with their similar financial woes.
I think that's why UTEP was swapped for NMSU. NMSU is joining a conference, so now they have several non-conference games scheduled that they need to divest themselves of. Meanwhile, UTEP's scheduled game against NMSU became a conference game, so suddenly UTEP had a non-conference game they needed to schedule. I assume all three schools worked together for the swap.
The Howard game, I would assume, is just NU's annual FCS game. They usually play an FCS opponent, after all. I don't understand why Howard would be "off-limits" to some people.
I went to the 2005 Sun Bowl. Never again, for either UTEP or El Paso.
Because there is a huge range of strength to FCS schools, from Group of 5-capabilities like SDSU or NDSU to the HBCU's at the lower end. Nothing to gain for NU from scheduling Howard.
The point of playing an FCS school is because one win vs. an FCS school (that gives scholarships, so Ivy or Patriot games wouldn't count) is allowed towards bowl eligibility.
If the goal were to play a good team, then we wouldn't be scheduling an FCS team. The only reason to play the FCS team is because it's allowed for bowl eligibility.
So, I don't care that NU chose Howard next season. They fit the bill.
Rutgers has recently scheduled Howard three times and almost lost to them in 2014.
They’re another B1G team, right?
