App's now looking for a new home game in 2016, very possible an FCS team could fill in the slot due to the short notice.

http://www.fbschedules.com/2015/08/umas ... e-changes/

UMass was previously scheduled to play at Appalachian State on Oct. 29, 2016, but they have pushed that game back four years to Sept. 26, 2020.

Can we please just cancel the series?

I say don't rush to schedule anyone. Maybe something falls through elsewhere and a P5 finds itself with a late opening. We can always schedule an FCS team relatively late in the process if necessary.

Just saw where UMass is paying us 325k to move the game to 2020 so they can play South Carolina. We have replaced the game with NC Central. Is it possible for this to happen this fast?

crap

Dmanuhone wrote:crap

Same here, was looking forward to a road trip back to NC. Appreciate you guys helping us out with South Carolina, which also includes a BB home and home as well. 2016 will be brutal for us with 3 SEC games. Much rather playing you guys as we are on a more equal footing, G5 compared to P5 teams.

Good luck this year in the Sun Belt.

Our 2016 schedule:
•Sept. 3 at Florida
•Sept. 10 vs. UConn (Gillette Stadium)
•Sept. 17 at Boston College
•Sept. 24 vs. Mississippi State (Gillette Stadium)
•Oct. 1 vs. Tulane (Gillette Stadium)
•Oct. 8 at Old Dominion
•Oct. 15 vs. Louisiana Tech (Gillette Stadium)
•Oct. 22 at South Carolina
•Oct. 29 vs. Wagner
•Nov. 5 at Troy
•Nov. 19 at BYU
•Nov. 26 at Hawaii

Adding some details.

As for specifics about the new additions, Bamford said UMass will receive $1.5 million in guaranteed money from South Carolina for the Oct. 22 game, while paying roughly $310,000-$315,000 to Wagner, an FCS program, to come to Amherst on Oct. 29 of that season.

Bamford said $325,000 of the money from South Carolina will end up going to Appalachian State as a payout for agreeing to move the 2016 matchup out to 2020. That money will be used by Appalachian State to secure an FCS home opponent of its own, a technicality that held up the overall deal, which Bamford said had been in place for three or four weeks, from being announced before Friday.

Additionally, as part of the negotiations with South Carolina, Bamford secured a home-and-home basketball series with the Gamecocks that is tentatively set to begin on the road in Columbia for the 2016-17 season before returning to Amherst in 2017-18. Exact game dates have yet to be established.

Oh well. Maybe UMass will be back in FCS by 2020 and pay us to cancel that one.

Ok took a quick look at several teams schedules and here is what I came up with.... The goal here is to play a top G5... Unfortunately my favorite top G5 Boise St is booked... so in order of preference

1. Marshall
2. BYU
3. UCF
4. N. I'LL.
5. La. Tech
6. W. Mich. (interesting that GASO plays them too)
There are other G5 teams available from all G5 confs.

Play NC Central....... Boring.... so much for playing a top G5 team. Bo!!!!

Seeing how many G5s have an opening it makes me wonder how many schools we contacted. Maybe they all said no but NCCU replacing a G5 is a disappointment.

The Athletic Dept makes 60K we had one year to find a team other FBS schools don't have an opening. (We have one opening in 2018 but from now to like 2020 I believe we are booked.) Take the one game that should be a win.(Still got to play the game) It will go towards our wins for a bowl game.

AppFan11 wrote:Play NC Central....... Boring.... so much for playing a top G5 team. Bo!!!!

Based on our scheduling philosphy, this is our only FCS game for '16. Until today we had @Tenn, @Akron and Umass at home. NCCU would have rounded it out. So long as the next game is G5 or P5, I do not view NCCU as a replacement for UMASS.

EDIT: disregard the above. I forgot about ODU at home next year.

By the way, I noticed it looks like the 'heels are still looking for 2 games next season....

Certainly a disappointment but two things:

1. NCCU is for us a game that could be rescheduled should a more preferred opponent surface.

2. NCCU adds some credibility to the argument that other teams in North Carolina should be working to schedule us.

NCCU is a disappointing replacement for UMass but as long as it is it is our only FCS game, I guess I can live with it. The challenge isn't JUST finding a team with an opening in there schedule (not many to choose from at this point) but also that they are willing to play in Boone. We need a HOME game, and that is probably the thing that made this necessary (although disappointing).

Who cares? It's one friggin game.

Based on the additional detail added to my original post, think you already have the FCS game lined up.
Referring to the three to four week delay for you guys guessing to secure a FCS game.

When I see announcements about schedules that are well down the road, I always hear the news much like I hear a weather report. "Based on the models we think this [or that] is going to happen." It's all subject to change all the time.