Danny White's non-conference football scheduling philosophy has been very clear.
The UCF AD is open to a home-and-home series, maybe a neutral site game, but he's against the idea of inequitable scheduling arrangements that put the team at a competitive disadvantage. That means he's unwilling to entertain a 2-for-1 series, which is a very different stance from his counterpart at South Florida. Michael Kelly, who assumed the Bulls AD post last summer, recently signed 2-for-1 deals with Florida, Miami and Alabama. That's one game in Tampa and two on the road.
Of course, UCF and South Florida are coming from different places. UCF has been one of the most successful teams in college football of late which has led to sold-out stadiums and a significant increase in home game revenue. USF, playing off-campus at Raymond James Stadium, has suffered from sagging support and needs the boost of revenue that a Florida/Miami/Alabama home game can provide, even if they have to give up two road games in the process.
American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco, speaking last week to Memphis sports radio station WHBQ, supports South Florida's scheduling tactics.
"USF has just done a 2-for-1 with Alabama," Aresco said. "This is huge. Incidentally, we are the only conference that now has Miami, Florida and Alabama coming to one of our stadiums. USF has 2-for-1s with all of them. We've had some controversy about the 2-for-1s, but I favor those. If Memphis hadn't done a 2-for-1 with Ole Miss, this conference might not be where it is today. That Memphis win 2015 really put our conference on the map. We were a very good conference in 2013, very good in 2014, but in 2015 we really broke out. Penn State did a 2-for-1 with Temple. If they didn't, Temple wouldn't have been able to beat Penn State by 17 in their own stadium. They did a 2-for-1 with Notre Dame. They never would have had Notre Dame in prime time and almost beat them. It's a huge boost to our conference. Look, we'd like to do 1-for-1s with those teams eventually, but for now we may have to do that to get the marquee teams in our building."
The program's host, Dave Woloshin, corrected Aresco by informing him the Memphis-Ole Miss series was a home-and-home series, not an inequitable 2-for-1 series.
"I thought they were a 2-for-1?," Aresco said. "I stand corrected then. You do these games for a reason. I don't think you should do them unless they're a marquee opponent you can't get in any other way. We're not at the point we can dictate that, so it's something we need to do."
Aresco was asked about UCF AD Danny White's reluctance to play 2-for-1s.
"I think the vast majority if not almost all of our other schools are open to doing 2-for-1s," Aresco said. "By the way, the 2-for-1 can eventually become 1-for-1s. For years, Tulsa had to play 2-for-1s with Oklahoma State and even a 3-for-1 once, now they have an eight-year deal for a 1-for-1, four-and-four. Same thing with Penn State. They did a 1-for-1 with Temple, but they had to go out there twice to get the game at Veterans Stadium.
"You do what you have to do to build a league. Bobby Bowden did buy games for years. He went to LSU apparently, I read somewhere, six straight times. I know he went to Michigan, places like that. Everywhere. It strengthened his program and ultimately put them on the map. That's what we have to do. Somebody once said, 'In order to be the best, you have to beat the best.' You have to have an opportunity to play them. It can't just be a New Year's Day game every once in a while because we're not guaranteed every year to be in that game."
Aresco also added that the league is "obviously in favor of an expanded playoff," which is a complete turnaround from his stance during UCF's undefeated run in 2017-18.
The UCF AD is open to a home-and-home series, maybe a neutral site game, but he's against the idea of inequitable scheduling arrangements that put the team at a competitive disadvantage. That means he's unwilling to entertain a 2-for-1 series, which is a very different stance from his counterpart at South Florida. Michael Kelly, who assumed the Bulls AD post last summer, recently signed 2-for-1 deals with Florida, Miami and Alabama. That's one game in Tampa and two on the road.
Of course, UCF and South Florida are coming from different places. UCF has been one of the most successful teams in college football of late which has led to sold-out stadiums and a significant increase in home game revenue. USF, playing off-campus at Raymond James Stadium, has suffered from sagging support and needs the boost of revenue that a Florida/Miami/Alabama home game can provide, even if they have to give up two road games in the process.
American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco, speaking last week to Memphis sports radio station WHBQ, supports South Florida's scheduling tactics.
"USF has just done a 2-for-1 with Alabama," Aresco said. "This is huge. Incidentally, we are the only conference that now has Miami, Florida and Alabama coming to one of our stadiums. USF has 2-for-1s with all of them. We've had some controversy about the 2-for-1s, but I favor those. If Memphis hadn't done a 2-for-1 with Ole Miss, this conference might not be where it is today. That Memphis win 2015 really put our conference on the map. We were a very good conference in 2013, very good in 2014, but in 2015 we really broke out. Penn State did a 2-for-1 with Temple. If they didn't, Temple wouldn't have been able to beat Penn State by 17 in their own stadium. They did a 2-for-1 with Notre Dame. They never would have had Notre Dame in prime time and almost beat them. It's a huge boost to our conference. Look, we'd like to do 1-for-1s with those teams eventually, but for now we may have to do that to get the marquee teams in our building."
The program's host, Dave Woloshin, corrected Aresco by informing him the Memphis-Ole Miss series was a home-and-home series, not an inequitable 2-for-1 series.
"I thought they were a 2-for-1?," Aresco said. "I stand corrected then. You do these games for a reason. I don't think you should do them unless they're a marquee opponent you can't get in any other way. We're not at the point we can dictate that, so it's something we need to do."
Aresco was asked about UCF AD Danny White's reluctance to play 2-for-1s.
"I think the vast majority if not almost all of our other schools are open to doing 2-for-1s," Aresco said. "By the way, the 2-for-1 can eventually become 1-for-1s. For years, Tulsa had to play 2-for-1s with Oklahoma State and even a 3-for-1 once, now they have an eight-year deal for a 1-for-1, four-and-four. Same thing with Penn State. They did a 1-for-1 with Temple, but they had to go out there twice to get the game at Veterans Stadium.
"You do what you have to do to build a league. Bobby Bowden did buy games for years. He went to LSU apparently, I read somewhere, six straight times. I know he went to Michigan, places like that. Everywhere. It strengthened his program and ultimately put them on the map. That's what we have to do. Somebody once said, 'In order to be the best, you have to beat the best.' You have to have an opportunity to play them. It can't just be a New Year's Day game every once in a while because we're not guaranteed every year to be in that game."
Aresco also added that the league is "obviously in favor of an expanded playoff," which is a complete turnaround from his stance during UCF's undefeated run in 2017-18.
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