2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[jdebaillon]

Finals are not until this Friday. The first half of summer grades may be posted but second half and full summer classes are not complete.

[CrazyCajun]

_ Finals are not until this Friday. The first half of summer grades may be posted but second half and full summer classes are not complete. _

OK, THE REASON I ASKED IS B/C A FOOTBALL PLAYER SAID THAT THEY WOULD OUT TODAY IF A FEW CERTAIN PEOPLE WERE ELIGIBLE.

[MakoMaker]

I think I saw on CBS Sportsline where we were picked to win the SunBelt.

[ulforlife]

_ I think I saw on CBS Sportsline where we were picked to win the SunBelt. _

as they did...

[DestinCajun]

I think I saw on CBS Sportsline where we were picked to win the SunBelt.

Let's prove them correct so they can stick someone else in the "Bottom 20" for a change.

[Cajunpride101]

5 teams in the bottom 19 is OK for now.
Remember last season when ALL 8 teams "earned" that distinction. Now Troy in Middle turned some heads. My question is WHERE is North Texas? The Belt needs to keep going and keep winning and OUR time will come.

The situation with the Cajuns is that we open with a must win against NC A&T and dominate. We roll over Eastern Michigan with some revenge and pull a stunner AT Houston. Then we slip by FAU on national TV(I still can't believe the lack of offense in that game) and start losing to teams we shouldn't lose to. That Middle Tennesee game was REALLY hard to digest.

[NewsCopy]

"Nine times out of 10, there's going to be a slot for a seven-win team," Waters said. "There's 32 bowl games this year and maybe 33 or 34 soon, so run the numbers and it comes up pretty good."

[NewsCopy]

  NEW ORLEANS - Sun Belt Conference football teams recorded the second-most out-of-conference wins (11) and second-most wins (6) against non-league Division I-A teams in history last year.

But there's an even bigger measure of the league's growth in football. That measure comes in the area that's most rewarding for the players and coaches.

Twice in three years, the Sun Belt has put two teams into bowl games, with Troy and Middle Tennessee both playing in the postseason in addition to the league's regular slot in the New Orleans Bowl.

And the coaches from those two squads readily admit that wouldn't have happened had it not been for the Sun Belt.

"No question we wouldn't have been in last year without the league," said Middle coach Rick Stockstill, whose squad lost to Central Michigan 31-14 in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit. "The bowls have so many tie-ins with conferences, and if you're an independent other than Notre Dame, you're not going to get in."

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
The Daily Advertiser
(337) 289-6318
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

Urinary Tract Health

[NewsCopy]

The Cajuns will appear twice on the league's ESPN Plus package that is available to cable networks and which will air locally over Cox Sports (cable channel 37). UL's Saturday home games against North Texas on Oct. 6 and Florida Atlantic on Oct. 20 will be part of the regional network's eight-game package.

[NewsCopy]

  NEW ORLEANS - The Sun Belt Conference will have a record four games televised nationally in prime-time slots during the 2007 season. None will involve UL, though the Ragin' Cajuns will make a pair of regional appearances in two conference home games.

The league's television package was announced Monday during Media Day activities.

The conference will make up half of ESPN's first telecast of the season, that on Thursday, Aug. 30 when UL Monroe travels to Tulsa for a 6 p.m. ESPN2 contest. Sun Belt teams will also appear in ESPN2 games on Thursday, Sept. 6 when Middle Tennessee visits Louisville, on Friday, Sept. 14 when Troy hosts Oklahoma State, and on Tuesday, Nov. 20, when Troy hosts Middle Tennessee.

The league winner will grab another national appearance in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 21.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com