Happy Sunday and welcome to the latest episode of the GCR. Today is all about a conference that’s not a conference. With Army joining the American Athletic Conference (AAC) over the off-season, we now have just 3 FBS Independent football programs. Two of them (UCONN and UMASS) are considered Group of 5 level programs. What I mean by that is if they joined a conference, we would expect it to be either Conference USA or the MAC or possibly follow Army into the AAC. Granted, they could join the geographical mismatch Mountain West or Sun Belt, but I doubt it. Notre Dame is considered part of the Core 4 because they could join the ACC (they already play 5 games a year and are ACC in other sports), the Big Ten (which is the most geographic fit, but getting out of the ACC is currently an expensive venture), or possibly the Big 12, but I doubt it. I don’t see the Irish joining the SEC.
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Scheduling as an independent can be a little difficult. Most G5 schools play 1 or 2 Core 4 schools and play 1 FCS program. That leaves 1 or 2 non-conference G5 opponents. UCONN plays four Core 4 opponents (combined 26-25 record in 2023) and 1 FCS. UMASS plays three (28-10) record plus Liberty (13-1) while playing 2 FCS foes. These 2 teams get Strength of Schedule (SOS) bonuses for playing Core 4 teams just as Notre Dame suffers a reduction (like every other Core 4 team) for playing G5 schools. Speaking of the Irish, 4 of their 5 ACC games (combined 34-29 record despite playing both 10-win teams) are at home. If you take out tough games against Florida St and Louisville (combined 23-5), the remaining ACC opponents have a combined 11-24 record. They play 8 total games against Core 4 opponents (the average C4 team plays 8.5 conference games plus 1 or 2 other C4 teams) and no FCS teams. This is the 3rd year in a row that I’ve talked about the Irish’s weaker than should be schedule. They may be able to make a 12-team playoff, but I don’t expect them to have a high seed barring a perfect season.
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In the table below, (F) indicates a game against an FCS opponent, (G) indicates a Group of 5 foe, (I) indicates an intra-independent game, (4) indicates a Core 4 challenge, and (N) indicates a neutral site kickoff. Without further ado, the dwindling independents of 2024:
| Team | 2023 Record (Rank) | 2024 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Opp 2023 Rec |
| UMASS Minutemen (1) | 3-9 (92) | 8.32 (33) | (39-34/.534) C Connecticut (F), Wagner (F), Missouri (4), E Michigan (G), Liberty (G), UCONN (I) | (50-29/.633) Mississippi St (4), Georgia (4), Toledo (G), Buffalo (G), Miami OH (G), N Illinois (G) | 89-63 (.586) |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2) | 10-3 (15) | 7.82 (52) | (47-30/.610) Louisville (A), Stanford (A), Florida St (A), Virginia (A), N Illinois (G), Miami OH (G) | (38-38/.500) Texas A&M (4), Purdue (4), Georgia Tech (4), Southern Cal (4), Navy (GN), Army (GN) | 85-68 (.556) |
| UCONN Huskies (3) | 3-9 (111) | 5.76 (126) | (32-53/.376) Merrimack (F), Wake Forest (4), FAU (G), Buffalo (G), Temple (G), Rice (G), Georgia St (G) | (29-34/.460) Maryland (4), Duke (4), Syracuse (4), UAB (G), UMASS (I) | 61-87 (.412) |
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That’s it for today. Tune in next time as we breach the Core 4 conferences. Thank you for reading and, especially, for sharing with others, G
