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UConn football’s 2020 schedule seemed to shrink by the hour on Thursday, as power conferences were forced to make tough decisions as the COVID-19 pandemic loomed large over the season. First, the Big Ten eliminated all non-conference opponents from their schedules. The ACC was rumored to not be far behind, and the two conferences together shrunk UConn’s schedule by a third.
“Many other FBS programs across the country have been affected by the Big 10 decision and we will work diligently to ensure that we can fill the open weeks on our schedule, should conditions allow us to play a full complement of games,” UConn athletic director Dave Benedict said in a statement.
The Big Ten is expected to announce today that it will go with a conference-only football schedule for this fall, a person with direct knowledge situation tells @TheAthleticCFB.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) July 9, 2020
As a result of these decisions, UConn football lost four games: September 12 at Illinois, September 19 at Virginia, September 26 vs. Indiana and November 7 at North Carolina.
ACC football also expected to play conference-only games, sources told @Stadium. Last month, ACC commish John Swofford told @Stadium if Power 5 schools played conference-only schedules that ACC would assist Notre Dame with as many games as it needed
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 9, 2020
UConn will have plenty of options to fill their four open slots, provided a 2020 season will actually be played (which looks increasingly unlikely by the day.) They could double up on games with independents UMass, Army or [gags] Liberty,