2010: Due to Midday Heat Louisiana Moves Game Time Back Where it Belongs

My blog on the UL-Middle Tennessee football game being moved back from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will not being on TV:

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pb...Id=personaDest

The school just sent out this release:


Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns, in cooperation with the Sun Belt Conference and Middle Tennessee, announced on Wednesday that the kickoff time for the Sept. 25 contest between the Cajuns and Blue Raiders will be moved back to its originally scheduled 6 p.m. start.

"We worked with the conference office and Middle Tennessee to move the game from a 2:30 p.m. start to its original kickoff time of 6:00 p.m.," athletics director David Walker said. "Although we welcome television exposure for our athletic programs, safety-related concerns for our student-athletes, coaches and fans must be our priority."

As a result of the change, the Sun Belt Network will select another game for its telecast. UL is scheduled to appear on the Sun Belt Network the following week (Oct. 2) at North Texas. Three other SBN appearances are possible with the SBC wildcard games in November.

Thank you SBC.

Thank you David Walker

Thank you Scott Farmer

Thank you.

More tailgating time for me and fellow Blue Raiders to gain more weight in Rice & Gravy country !

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Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns announced on Wednesday that the kickoff time for the Sept. 25 contest vs. Middle Tennessee at Cajun Field will be moved back to its originally scheduled 6 p.m. start.

The rest of the story

UL-SI

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I'm very torn on this issue.

I understand the unpleasantness of heat for 4 hours, but is it worth losing a TV game? This will hurt recruiting, exposure, future games on the SBC, etc. Safety should be a priority, but safety is also an individual responsibility. Hydrate, stop drinking an hour before the game, eat, bring an umbrella, bring a fan, apply sunblock, leave the kids at home..

All in all, this is not good for UL.

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Originally Posted by foofoochaisson

All in all, this is not good for UL. _

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This is a chance for the entire student body to show their appreciation and set a modern day record for student attendance.

This could be good for UL. It is better to win the hearts of the home crowd than win the eyes of the TV crowd.

jmo

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Originally Posted by foofoochaisson

_ I'm very torn on this issue.

I understand the unpleasantness of heat for 4 hours, but is it worth losing a TV game? This will hurt recruiting, exposure, future games on the SBC, etc. Safety should be a priority, but safety is also an individual responsibility. Hydrate, stop drinking an hour before the game, eat, bring an umbrella, bring a fan, apply sunblock, leave the kids at home..

All in all, this is not good for UL. _

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We are not in a position where losing this TV game is that big. We need to start winning consistently and put up good showings in bowl games before thinking that a week 3 sunbelt tv game is huge for recruiting.

What about the potential recruit that hears we play 2:30 games when it is 115 degrees on the field with no breeze?

i cant wait to see what excuse people have now for not going to the game, its going to be interesting.

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Originally Posted by CajunRage

_ We are not in a position where losing this TV game is that big. We need to start winning consistently and put up good showings in bowl games before thinking that a week 3 sunbelt tv game is huge for recruiting.

What about the potential recruit that hears we play 2:30 games when it is 115 degrees on the field with no breeze? _

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Recruits care about being on Television, no matter what the circumstances may be. They ask our staff this question almost immediately.. Being exposed to a regional TV audience which spans 5 states is no match for 20,000 fans in attendance (if we even get that). Losing this TV game is bad, period.

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Originally Posted by KAjunRaider

_ More tailgating time for me and fellow Blue Raiders to gain more weight in Rice & Gravy country ! _

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See you at the Krewe de Chew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:ms13:

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Originally Posted by foofoochaisson

_ Recruits care about being on Television, no matter what the circumstances may be. They ask our staff this question almost immediately.. Being exposed to a regional TV audience which spans 5 states is no match for 20,000 fans in attendance (if we even get that). Losing this TV game is bad, period. _

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Let's work on being 2-1 and fresh going into the ESPN2 game the next week and having 30,000 in the stands.

Time to step up student body

I applaud the conference and university for doing this. I would be interested to see, if there are any records of this, how many people/coaches/players/band members/fans etc were treated for heat related problems Saturday and compared them to other games played in the south with temp like we had sat. I know some other games had way more people there....but it would be interesting to see. I don't care how important a game may be, there is no reason to put any player, coach etc etc in jeopardy just to play on tv.

igeaux.mobi

While everyone is talking facility upgrades, let's just put a retractable roof! Lol

igeaux.mobi

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Originally Posted by lifetimecajun

_ I applaud the conference and university for doing this. I would be interested to see, if there are any records of this, how many people/coaches/players/band members/fans etc were treated for heat related problems Saturday and compared them to other games played in the south with temp like we had sat. I know some other games had way more people there....but it would be interesting to see. I don't care how important a game may be, there is no reason to put any player, coach etc etc in jeopardy just to play on tv.

igeaux.mobi _

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Totally agree. Being put in harms way is unnecessary. So if you tell a school they are going to be on the TV schedule, take into consideration there geographic disadvantages. Keep the Cajuns on TV, move the game of the week later into the day, or back load all of South Louisiana games into the second half of the season..

At the same time, Baton Rouge has never had a problem with this. They're on mid day TV plenty, and there are 92,000 people in a bowl stadium.

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Originally Posted by foofoochaisson

_ I'm very torn on this issue.

I understand the unpleasantness of heat for 4 hours, but is it worth losing a TV game? This will hurt recruiting, exposure, future games on the SBC, etc. Safety should be a priority, but safety is also an individual responsibility. Hydrate, stop drinking an hour before the game, eat, bring an umbrella, bring a fan, apply sunblock, leave the kids at home..

All in all, this is not good for UL. _

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No one even has the Sun Belt Network, so we aren't losing that many viewers. And locally if they were to put it on Fox Sports then now those people have more reason to come to the game.

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Originally Posted by ulforlife

_ No one even has the Sun Belt Network, so we aren't losing that many viewers. And locally if they were to put it on Fox Sports then now those people have more reason to come to the game. _

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Cajun Field will have anywhere from 15 - 25k on any given Saturday. We know this. With the game being moved back, you're losing an entire market, including all MTSU fans that don't travel to the game. Other SBC participants watch these games with interest; now you've annexed them. Recruits that live in SBC network range will now miss out on seeing UL culture, tailgating, current team, etc.. Instead, they'll be getting a look at Troy.. The class of the SBC. Great.

Good decision, no discussion.

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Originally Posted by ulforlife

No one even has the Sun Belt Network, so we aren't losing that many viewers. And locally if they were to put it on Fox Sports then now those people have more reason to come to the game.

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The Sun Belt Network broadcast is available on CSS and CST. So it's available on plenty of TVs.

Personally, having dealt with heat-related issues in covering football in the past, I think this was a good move.


igeaux.mobi

Great news!

We already have a bunch of games on TV including one on ESPN2.

What we need more than a TV game is a win against MT. And with the game at 2:30 we would have low attendance with NO ONE sitting in the student section pestering MT. We need that home field advantage!

The way I look at it everything is a trade off.

Another year another season more time to prepare for known issues and this game might be had.

This year one is enough.

I agree with the plan to move the game to 6:00pm. Did anyone notice in the last few drives when Arkansas State was passing down the field and scoring how our D-backs had nothing left in them? Lance Kelly had to be carried off the field on the last defensive stand with cramps in both legs. In the last series that Arkansas State scored on, Cooper Germaine got beat on coverage down by the goal line and when he came off the field he immediately went to his back to work out cramps. The heat almost cost us the game in my opinion. I don’t think that the score would have been as close had the game started at 6:00pm. I will gladly trade a win for a TV Game any day. Winning brings in more recruits than playing on TV.

JMO

I blame global warming....


:rolleyes: