2012 New Orleans Bowl

[ULdude]

The Techies are having ball over ULM's bowl blunder.

http://www.latechbbb.com/forum/showt...e-at-Indy-Bowl

Tech staying home pouting is worse than ULM losing.....they never gave themselves a chance to even play in a bowl. That's about as low on the total pole you can get. Getting drilled is not good, we've been their and it's embarrassing. The failure to overplay your hand in your primary metro market as they claim, burning bridges in the process and not play at all is worse.

[Big Silly]

Anybody know what the two games last nite brought in attendance?

1. BRIDGEPOINT EDUCATION HOLIDAY BOWL_55,507
2. MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL OF TEXAS_50,386
3. R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL_48,828
4. BELK BOWL¬_48,128
5. RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL_48,127
6. AdvoCare V100 INDEPENDENCE BOWL_41,853
7. SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL_35,442
8. MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS_33,217
9. SHERATON HAWAII BOWL_30,024
10. FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL_29,243
11. GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL_24,610
12. LITTLE CAESARS BOWL_23,310
13. BEEF 'O' BRADY'S BOWL ST. PETERSBURG_21,759
14. MILITARY BOWL - PRESENTED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN¬_17,835

[Hammer58]

True but it's not like ULM had any hand I'm reporting it. The iBowl needed to salvage some good press from that debacle.

From all accounts ulm posted up like they were supposed to.

Now I will take issue if ulm is trying to take credit for the 41K.

This is the same school that has no shame in taking credit for the "home" game in Arkansas. Trust me, they will take credit for 41,000 in Shreveport.

[82Cajun]

interesting read when Scott Farmer was hired
Do you think there's a ceiling here?

[Chuckle] No, I don't. I think the sky's the limit. I see a great community that embraces UL, and the Ragin' Cajuns. I see a community made of strong businesses, and business leaders who are very anxious to support their local institution. Going through the parking lot at UL games, people come up and say, "I got a check here and I don't know who to give it to." Trust me, you don't get that everywhere in the country.

It's just a great community with great people, and great students... 17,000 is really a good-sized university, and it's probably going to grow. This is a place coaches can recruit to. We have some facilities that have to be taken care of, but as soon we get that done, then we'll be able to greatly enhance our recruiting. Because the first job of a coach is to recruit, and everything follows from that.

On a personal level, we thought Lafayette was just a great place to raise a family. I have an 8th grader and a 5th grader, and the educational and cultural opportunities afforded to them here are just fantastic.

Did anything about Lafayette and UL surprise you?

The gracious reception that the Farmers have received in Lafayette has really surprised me. People have opened their homes, their tailgating parties, their camps, and their hearts to us. And I have said repeatedly, we're not planning to leave Lafayette anytime soon, maybe never.

What's your vision here? What are your goals?

My goals are to position this athletic department to accept membership in the best conference that comes calling. I'm not knocking the Sunbelt by any means, it's a good conference. But there are changes coming in the future, conferences are going to shift, and we don't want UL to be left out because 5 years earlier we hadn't positioned ourselves properly. So I want to position the Athletic Department-- meaning the budget, the facilities, the teams, the attendance-- so that we can be ready for whatever opportunities appear, and whatever conferences come looking.

Do you have any idea what UL's future conference might look like?

No. But I think ADs around the country are starting to realize the importance of regional competition. It's almost like we're going back 50 years, when all conferences were regional. I think you're going to see that attitude, that philosophy, come back. I think you'll see us playing schools like Houston, Rice, USM, Tulane, and Tech, because regional opponents excite people, and bring people to the games. Even LSU saw some of their biggest crowds when they hosted UL. Whatever conference we end up in, I think you'll see us trying to schedule more regional games.

What does UL need to get into another conference?

There are two things that are critical: fundraising, and facilities. Facilities help us recruit, and recruiting helps us move up to the next level. But to get the facilities, we need the fundraising.

We hope that this Spring we'll announce some big news concerning fundraising and capital projects; not just one announcement, there are several large very projects in the works.

Tell us about the internal changes that have taken place since you've arrived here.

First of all, we've already reorganized the Athletic Department, and tried to align jobs and tasks with the strength of individuals in the Department. At the same time, we're trying to cover some of our pressing needs. And our internal assessment, quite honestly, showed where our true weaknesses are. We are hopeful that with fundraising, we'll be in a position to approach the Administration for more staff.

Internally, we're also looking at all of the UL marketing inventory that has been outsourced, and we're trying to evaluate where we are and how we can do things better. We want to publish our own schedule cards, posters and produce a lot of our other materials.

We need to control our product.

[RCAJUN90]

This is the same school that has no shame in taking credit for the "home" game in Arkansas. Trust me, they will take credit for 41,000 in Shreveport.

They really should be thankful that fewer people watched that debacle.

[moorecajun]

This is the same school that has no shame in taking credit for the "home" game in Arkansas. Trust me, they will take credit for 41,000 in Shreveport.

And I expect MOST of the ticket numbers came from the I-Bowl GIVING away seats to their sponsors ... remember, ULM's seat allocation was in the endzone because the I-Bowl keeps the premium seats for themselves. I hope EVERYONE keeps this in mind when thinking about a good bowl destination.

I am not against going to the I-Bowl at some point in the future ... but it would be just for a change and comparison, and I already am pretty sure how they will compare:

Indoor vs Outdoor: Indoor
New Orleans vs Shreveport: New Orleans
50-yard line seats vs endzone seats: 50-yard line
Beach Boys vs lsu tents: Beach Boys
French Quarter vs casino: French Quarter

This is pretty one sided.

[Hammer58]

They like to show the press release...no photos though.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs...2280805&Ref=PH

This section looks pretty packed. I assume they are Hoax fans. Hard to tell as there are a lot of colors other than maroon being worn. It's hard to get a feel for the overall attendance as ths is the widest shot of all the photos on the news star site.

Anyone know the max capacity of Independance Stadium?

[Big Buds]

They look like my coal mining cousins from West Virginia…man we got some good looking people in south Louisiana!

[RCAJUN90]

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs...2280805&Ref=PH

This section looks pretty packed. I assume they are Hoax fans. Hard to tell as there are a lot of colors other than maroon being worn. It's hard to get a feel for the overall attendance as ths is the widest shot of all the photos on the news star site.

Anyone know the max capacity of Independance Stadium?

That's some sad looking people. I didn't realize they gave tickets out to the homeless shelters in Shreveport.

[ZoomZoom]

There are a few pictures on La Polytech's BnB site...could of popped off a few rounds with a 12 gauge in the 3rd quarter and probably not hit anyone.

They could not of counted 40k in that place, even counting both teams twice when they entered the field at the start of both halves.

[moorecajun]

I would like to see Ohio's take on the I-Bowl compared to the NO Bowl since they have now been to both. We can probably validate our claims.

[Hammer58]

There are a few pictures on La Polytech's BnB site...could of popped off a few rounds with a 12 gauge in the 3rd quarter and probably not hit anyone.

They could not of counted 40k in that place, even counting both teams twice when they entered the field at the start of both halves.

I don't know if 3rd qtr pics are representative of peak attendance. I think a lot of people probably left by that point rather than sit in the freezing cold to watch that beatdown. I know the end zone sections had a fair number of folks as could be seen after the first PAT while it was pretty empty by Ohio's fourth score.