Only UCLA's campus to the Rose Bowl at 26 miles is longer. The road trip from the Storrs main campus to the stadium in East Hartford is 22.5 miles. Miami's is 20 miles.

The Atlantic 10 has a bunch of teams that play 1-AA football. The Big East also has a few teams that do. Connecticut football would need a new home if they go back to the Big East. Massachusetts football has been a miserable failure at the 1-A level. Combining all of those interests into one league makes a lot of sense. Something like:

Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Fordham
Duquesne
Villanova

Dayton
Butler
James Madison
Georgetown
Richmond
Davidson

Maine, New Hampshire, Holy Cross, Delaware, Towson, and Williams & Mary could also be considered depending on just how large a league they wanted.

Butler, Davidson, and Dayton would all have to add scholarships, which would be a huge investment. It might be even harder to convince the programs currently in the CAA to leave that conference, as it's probably the second best FCS conference right now.



Also, it's FBS and FCS. Since 2006. FCS is fewer keystrokes than 1_AA.

If those three want to stay in the Pioneer League they can. Most of the current Colonial football teams were in the A-10 football conference before, they certainly could be again. Any concerns about competition should be alleviated by bringing in two formerly 1-A teams (and I know the NCAA changed the names, but I refuse to give into that political correctness). So that leaves us with:

Maine
UNH
UMass
URI
UConn
Fordham

Duquesne
Villanova
Delaware
Georgetown
Richmond
William & Mary

Yankee Division and Sheetz/Wawa Division.