First off, I state emphatically that I would LOVE to see UCONN in the Big Ten. I really only enjoyed beating two teams (and absolutely hated losing to only 2 teams) and they are UCONN and Syracuse. I think UCONN was RU's number one rival the last several years. I travel ALL over the state, and I guess we'll have to agree to disagree with you on whether or not you see the block R in North Jersey. I see them EVERYWHERE. My kids play a game where they count how many they see everytime we drive through NJ and North Jersey on our way into NYC.
Fair enough. Agree to disagree though. It always strikes me how often AAU teams NJ and the NYC area are named the Huskies, how the plays that they call out are UConn, but I've never seen a Scarlet Knight team or here someone yell out Rutgers. Not a knock, it is what it is.
Yes the 6 million people I cited comes from the 12 counties that are part of the NYC DMA.
http://www.newportmedia.com/maps/countyinfo.php?m=1
2012 Census
Ocean (580,470)
Monmouth (629,384)
Middles e x (823,041)
Somerset (327,707)
Hunterdon (127,050)
Union (543,976)
Ess e x (787,744)
Morris (497,999)
Warren (107,653)
Bergen (918,888)
Suss e x (147,442)
Passaic (502,885)
total - 5,994,000
Obviously the number of potential fans in these 12 counties that make up a big part of the NYC DMA played a HUGE role....HUGE...but for people who think it is the only reason, that is just not true.
As noted in my prior post, I agree. Thanks for doing this. It is interesting and seems a lot of work went into it.
We are also
1.) Strong academically and members of the AAU
2.) Flagship State University (11 of the 14 schools in the Big Ten are their state's flagship. Maybe UCONN becomes #12?)
3.) We fit in well, academically and student body size-wise. We look like a Big Ten School. (UCONN does as well)
3.) recently expanded and renovated football facilities to 54,000 capacity
4.) RU has had a little success in football, going to bowl games in 8 of the last 9 years (winning 5 of them)
5.) RU has finished in the top half of the league 6 times in the last 10 years (UCONN has only finished in the top half 2 times in the last 10 years...2007 and 2010)
Dude, stop auditioning you're in already! Lol, part of me wants to bait you a little to how long this goes on (i,e., Wow all those top half finishes and how many conference championships?) but I'm a little distracted by the March Madness, you know the basketball event that other teams go to? - Sorry couldn't help myself.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/standings
I really do hope things shake out so that UCONN ends in the Big Ten. The only school I hate in the Big Ten is Penn State. RU needs another real rival.