2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[johnnylightnin]

_ Maybe that's why they play so many.
_

Smoothe transition! Hahahahaha! Yeah, it is about 600K for 05-06 (of course, that number will be higher in 06-07 because of a trip to Hawaii), but most Tech fans feel that price is worth it...especially with Boise's recent success and the national attention the WAC gained from it. Hawaii could do the same thing this year. While those BCS bucks won't totally off-set the travel difference, it certainly helps.

And, for the money games, we hear that our new coach has stipulated in his contract that we will only play ONE BCS road game per year after this season. Next year, that game will be @Kansas with a home game against either A&M (and when I say home, I mean Shreveport...we take what we can get).

I'm one of those that wishes Benson would've added a packaged deal of ULL/A-State/UNT/MTSU last go round instead of Idaho. Not all Tech fans agree, but I would've enjoyed the new E-WAC. It certainly would've kept us all from clamoring for a CUSA spot.

E-WAC:
Tech
ULL
UNT
A-State
MTSU
NMSU

W-WAC:
Boise
Fresno
Hawaii
Nevada
SJSU
USU

Oh well...

[shof]

_ I wonder if they buy season tickets to Cajun programs and work publicly to create interest in Cajun athletics? _

Careful now. You might confuse some folks!

[shof]

I think many of us would have supported such an affiliation; but Mr Benson was only interested in a single travel partner for you guys (from what I've seen). Too bad, because I agree with your hypothesis regarding future CUSA desires.

[Zeebart21]

JL lets back away from the CUSA hysteria for a moment. Got this from a friend of mine, in fact it was posted a few days ago.

In 2001 (the first year of Belt football) the average league attendance was 13000 and the biggest crowd in the league that year was 17000. Today the average crowd is 17000 and last year half the schools averaged over 20000. We still have a lot of work to do, but the direction is good.

In 2001 the league was 1-4 against 1-AA competition. In 2006 we were 4-3 against CUSA (5-0 vs. 1-AA.) We still have a lot of work to do, but the direction is good.

In 2001, the SBC was heavily criticized for sending 5-6 North Texas to a bowl game. In 2006 we sent two teams to bowls, won one of them went against a CUSA school and beat them by four touchdowns and both teams (TU and MT) exceeded ticket sales expectations.

This year, the Sun Belt has non conference home games vs. Memphis, SMU, Minnesota, South Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Tulsa, Navy, Oklahoma State and Ohio U.

Now, look at the trend at CUSA:

Their football was "rated higher" than the Sun Belt last year, but the SBC won the head to head competition. We beat the CUSA champion. The hierarchy in CUSA still hasn't realized that Louisville, Cincinnati, et.al. aren't in the league anymore, leaving them with very average football programs. Even Southern Miss, who dominated CUSA at one time, isn't a dominant team anymore. The league in football is trending downward and only the most closed-minded CUSA fan would disagree.

In basketball, CUSA has gone from a four-five bid league, to Memphis and a bunch of turkeys. In fact, except for Memphis, who is very very good, CUSA basketball really isn't much better than the Sun Belt, and the gap is about to close even more. Only the most closed-minded CUSA fan would disagree.

CUSA baseball is good. But they were rated 5th, the SBC 7th. And, save Rice, who in that league is that much better than the best teams in our league. Without Rice, that league would be trending down and only the most closed-minded fan would disagree.

We'll eventually come together with some of these guys, but it wont be called CUSA.

Z.

[rhineaux]

_ JL lets back away from the CUSA hysteria for a moment. Got this from a friend of mine, in fact it was posted a few days ago.

In 2001 (the first year of Belt football) the average league attendance was 13000 and the biggest crowd in the league that year was 17000. Today the average crowd is 17000 and last year half the schools averaged over 20000. We still have a lot of work to do, but the direction is good.

In 2001 the league was 1-4 against 1-AA competition. In 2006 we were 4-3 against CUSA (5-0 vs. 1-AA.) We still have a lot of work to do, but the direction is good.

In 2001, the SBC was heavily criticized for sending 5-6 North Texas to a bowl game. In 2006 we sent two teams to bowls, won one of them went against a CUSA school and beat them by four touchdowns and both teams (TU and MT) exceeded ticket sales expectations.

This year, the Sun Belt has non conference home games vs. Memphis, SMU, Minnesota, South Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Tulsa, Navy, Oklahoma State and Ohio U.

Now, look at the trend at CUSA:

Their football was "rated higher" than the Sun Belt last year, but the SBC won the head to head competition. We beat the CUSA champion. The hierarchy in CUSA still hasn't realized that Louisville, Cincinnati, et.al. aren't in the league anymore, leaving them with very average football programs. Even Southern Miss, who dominated CUSA at one time, isn't a dominant team anymore. The league in football is trending downward and only the most closed-minded CUSA fan would disagree.

In basketball, CUSA has gone from a four-five bid league, to Memphis and a bunch of turkeys. In fact, except for Memphis, who is very very good, CUSA basketball really isn't much better than the Sun Belt, and the gap is about to close even more. Only the most closed-minded CUSA fan would disagree.

CUSA baseball is good. But they were rated 5th, the SBC 7th. And, save Rice, who in that league is that much better than the best teams in our league. Without Rice, that league would be trending down and only the most closed-minded fan would disagree.

We'll eventually come together with some of these guys, but it wont be called CUSA.

Z. _

I think that the proposal that JL posted has some sexiness to it, but maybe only because we don't have it. Also, because with a 12 team conference, there is the oppurtunity to have a conference championship game. The fact is that if you compare the Sun Belt and the WAC in each and every sport as far as conference RPI's go, then they are VERY similar, and i think that of the 5 sports, the SBC was ranked higher of them in 3 of them. It may be sexy to have something we don't, but the grass isn't always greener. there isn't enough evidence there to say that we made a mistake by not moving, other than perception of the much old conference is better than the much newer conference.

but I agree with Z, "We'll eventually come together with some of these guys, but it wont be called CUSA." I think that there are too many schools between Texas and the east coast, that are in two or more conferences, to not consider the two conferences re-aligning. Would it make more sense for UNT to continue traveling to south Florida and Eastern Carolina to continue traveling to Houston (UH and Rice)? It doesn't make sense financially or as far as rivalries go. A conference stretching from Central TX to MS or into AL, and another stretching from there to the east coast and into FL makes much more sense.

Its very simple...

West conference:
SBC-UL, UNT, ASU
CUSA-USM, Rice, UH, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa
LTU comes to this conference and UTEP takes their place in the WAC

East conference:
SBC-MTSU, WKU, FAU, FIU, Troy
CUSA-EDU, Marshall, Memphis UAB, UCF

I always really enjoy these hypotheticals. its the only thing that makes this time of year bearable.

So who wants to start a new conference?

[DestinCajun]

And, for the money games, we hear that our new coach has stipulated in his contract that we will only play ONE BCS road game per year after this season. Next year, that game will be @Kansas with a home game against either A&M (and when I say home, I mean Shreveport...we take what we can get)."

That is a smart move and the football program should benefit. You just can't "ho" your players for the money.

Am I mistaken? Don't you Latexsters come to Cajun Field next season?

[Zeebart21]

I think that the proposal that JL posted has some sexiness to it, but maybe only because we don't have it. Also, because with a 12 team conference, there is the oppurtunity to have a conference championship game. The fact is that if you compare the Sun Belt and the WAC in each and every sport as far as conference RPI's go, then they are VERY similar, and i think that of the 5 sports, the SBC was ranked higher of them in 3 of them. It may be sexy to have something we don't, but the grass isn't always greener. there isn't enough evidence there to say that we made a mistake by not moving, other than perception of the much old conference is better than the much newer conference.

but I agree with Z, "We'll eventually come together with some of these guys, but it wont be called CUSA." I think that there are too many schools between Texas and the east coast, that are in two or more conferences, to not consider the two conferences re-aligning. Would it make more sense for UNT to continue traveling to south Florida and Eastern Carolina to continue traveling to Houston (UH and Rice)? It doesn't make sense financially or as far as rivalries go. A conference stretching from Central TX to MS or into AL, and another stretching from there to the east coast and into FL makes much more sense.

Its very simple...

West conference:
SBC-UL, UNT, ASU
CUSA-USM, Rice, UH, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa
LTU comes to this conference and UTEP takes their place in the WAC

East conference:
SBC-MTSU, WKU, FAU, FIU, Troy
CUSA-EDU, Marshall, Memphis UAB, UCF

I always really enjoy these hypotheticals. its the only thing that makes this time of year bearable.

So who wants to start a new conference?

But what about ULM???? LOL

Oh yeah, you must really not care about your reputation.

Z.

[Zeebart21]

That is a smart move and the football program should benefit. You just can't "ho" your players for the money.

Am I mistaken? Don't you Latexsters come to Cajun Field next season?

I dont know about Latex coming here, Des. If you check out their board, lots of em think it should be a 2 for 1, or even 3-1. That old separation anxiety kickin in, in Ruston!!!

Z.

[CX DaddyWarbucks]

I dont know about Latex coming here, Des. If you check out their board, lots of em think it should be a 2 for 1, or even 3-1. That old separation anxiety kickin in, in Ruston!!!

Z. _

They need fans and UL does not need another road game, but I have a new venture, CXDW InflatableFans.com. They come in a baby blue, red & white offering. Others come in Maroon and Gold offering all include at no extra charge a cheer CD with a Northeast La accent that is PA friendly.

[johnnylightnin]

Am I mistaken? Don't you Latexsters come to Cajun Field next season? _

The only OOC games that we're hearing about thus far are the games with Kansas and whoever is coming to Shreveport (either Clemson or A&M). There's been talk of working out one for one's with one sunbelt team and one CUSA team. That would put us with six home games per year with a seventh in years when we travel to Hawaii. I certainly think this would be the best type of scheduling for the fans. BUT, our administration will have to really market and commit themselves to relying on home games rather than body-bag games.

[DestinCajun]

_ But what about ULM???? LOL

Oh yeah, you must really not care about your reputation.

Z. _

Yeah, what do we do with -

[Zeebart21]

Yeah, what do we do with -

The Warhoax.