This year it has seven, although one of them is against cross-town foe Southern Connecticut. New Haven also travels to IUP, a semifinalist last year and highly ranked preseason this fall. Last season's loss to Elon came late in a game New Haven appeared to have won. New Haven appeared ready to score a game-sealing score late in the contest, but a fumble by its running back was returned for a touchdown that gave Elon a last minute win. What if New Haven again loses to Jackson State and also loses to UMass and Elon and has only one D-II loss.
New Haven is trapped.
It has no conference affiliation and couldn't get one if it tried. Regardless of how strong some D-II conferences claim to be each one has several teams in their ranks that annually become fodder for the rest of the conference. New Haven can't easily schedule easy wins. It also has to travel more than nearly anyone else in the Division, other than UC Davis, perhaps. Conceding losses to I-AA teams, however, might be a mistake.