2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[CajunT]

University of Louisiana coach Ricky Bustle has been the given the task of rebuilding the winning days at UL. The fans have been patient with Bustle, but coming into his sixth season he understands that he is being measured on results now more than on a promise of a bright future. Free story for Cajun Football Fans!

http://louisiana.scout.com/

[IHateLaState]

_ All i can say is that, as far as football is concerned, wait until the end of the season to make a judgement. I don't think anyone has passed us by, per se. I think that by saying that some teams have passed us by, you concede that some of those schools were in the same position that we were. Troy has been a better program than us for a while. MTSU was on par with us, perhaps, but I don't know that they've zoomed ahead. They weren't very good in '05, and unexpectedly had a good season with a brand new first year head coach. ASU was good in '05, but like us, stumbled a bit last year. And as for the Florida teams, they continue to grow, and are growing and winning at a faster rate, if for no other reason, than high student populations, large amounts of money, and fertile recruiting grounds.

Just remember that earlier this decade, NT dominated the conference and went to the NO Bowl 3 or 4 years in a row, and lost them all. Since then they have fallen way back, and now the conference doesn't ahve one dominating team. Now all teams are performing better, winning more OOC games, and sending more teams to bowl games. In turn, the conference isn't seen as a horrible conference anymore. I don't think that teams in the conference have neccessarily passed us by, some may have been better than us last year, but we were better than them the year before. This year, we may rule the conference again, and other schools will take a step back. Its just what you get when you have such a competitive conference.

just remember that the fourth place finish they are predicting means nothing. We have a fair amount of lettermen returning. we have a new QB, but he has a lot of snaps under center and has a lot of game experience. We are returning a 2x 1000yd rusher, with an experienced offensive line. And we have four new coaches to bring a whole new philosophy. i bring up these points just to remind you that we should wait until after this season to ask questions. If its a failure this year, then we worry about the sky falling. _

I here you but really my comments were not specific to just this year but rather to the state of football in general. While we did have one year in which we made a run and got a piece of the title, in general we have not done much over the last 6 years have we? And then as I watch and hear about other SBC schools bringing in BCS conference schools rather than going on the road.. I begin to ask... Where are we really? By now with a community this size.. With facilities like ours... Shouldnt we be expecting more?

[ulforlife]

_ University of Louisiana coach Ricky Bustle has been the given the task of rebuilding the winning days at UL. The fans have been patient with Bustle, but coming into his sixth season he understands that he is being measured on results now more than on a promise of a bright future. Free story for Cajun Football Fans!

http://louisiana.scout.com/ _

thanks T

[DestinCajun]

_Even Tech seems to have taken a few steps forward..

You got that right. Not even the most hardcore Hokies fans ever thought they could get into the ACC but they did.

[CrazyCajun]

_ I just hope that we don't live and die by Desormeaux this year.

Mike is the man. But the coaches (and Hundley) better be ready to make a change if necessary. _

let me start by saying i think mike will get it done with his arm. The kid can throw the ball, he had alot of dropped passes last year. He knew what he had to work on all spring and summer if he wanted this to be his job. I'm confident he worked on that. I agree if he can't get it he needs to move to wide out/ running back and use his skills that way. However, where i disagree with you, is i think morel should get the nod. He fits our offense better, he is more mobile. Has more game experience and he just over all looked better in the spring. Let's just hope we don't see either hundley or morel b/c that will mean something went wrong.

[CajunCherokee]

However, where i disagree with you, is i think morel should get the nod. He fits our offense better, he is more mobile.

I'll take your word on it. My point was just not to ride Desormeaux until the end if he is not performing and moving the offense.

Has more game experience and he just over all looked better in the spring. Let's just hope we don't see either hundley or morel b/c that will mean something went wrong.

Agreed. Go Des!

[CajunT]

_ Ok first off I have 4 Season tickets to Football, 2 to basketball and 4 to Baseball... Will probably add at least 2 for Softball... I am a card carrying member, as my name illustrates , in the LSUA&M@BR is evil club... I just mention that so the naysayers don't respond with the "If you don't like it the way it is go to Baton Rouge" type stuff..

I have no problem with you venting. You have asked the same questions that many have asked on this forum and others. I think this coaching staff has to understand that they are now on the clock, thus the changes in staff by coach Bustle. So this staff needs to win games, and a losing season is not going to help this program in any manner.

But before you dismiss the importance of naming Walker as the Athletic Director, let me tell you a few reasons why it was a good appointment. First and formost, Walker has the support of all the coaching staffs in the Cajun Athletic program. In case you missed it, recently coach Robicheaux mentioned that one of the reasons he signed a four your extension was because of Walker and the mans' integrity. Watch closely the next year and see what other coaches might be in line for extensions. Secondly, while Walker is not the high profile personality that you or I would have prefered, he gets results. The scheduling for the football and basketball programs haven't been completed in a more timely manner in years. Negotiations and contracts are on-going for future schedules, infact the football schedule is close to being completed for next year. I can't remember when that was accomplished under the previous Athletic Director. And finally, do you really believe we were going to get anyone that had a proven track record as the athletic director of any successful Div.1A athletic program with our lack of financial funding?

You mentioned Southern Miss. as a model for our program to follow, I think that would be a great program to emulate. But, look at their athletic budget and tell me how many millions are generated from student athletic fees? You can check the other Sun Belt programs outside of Louisiana as well. Once you have done that, please tell me that those dollars are not part of the seperation and are not important. The Cajuns recent income adjustment from the state will not get us even close to the upper income programs in the Sun Belt. So how long can we sustain, or as you have stated maintain in the middle of the pack?

As for recruiting, there is no question we need to win. But I don't listen to talk radio for my recruiting information. I speak to recruits and we are getting alot of positive feedback from some really good prospects. Most of these athletes have mentioned the indoor practice facility and the weight room. We have athletes from Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky considering the Cajun program. So we are not a BCS program, but athletes are starting to look really hard at this program. Winning will take care of the rest.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but one should look at the whole picture and understand we are not close to were we need to be in the total funding picture. The rest of your questions are going to be played out on the football field and basketball court this year. We need to win, no arguements.

[Shammy]

_ I'll take your word on it. My point was just not to ride Desormeaux until the end if he is not performing and moving the offense.



Agreed. Go Des! _

I would not be surprised if you see Des at wide reciever for most of the time and at qb in short yardage situations. JMO.

[rhineaux]

_ I here you but really my comments were not specific to just this year but rather to the state of football in general. While we did have one year in which we made a run and got a piece of the title, in general we have not done much over the last 6 years have we? And then as I watch and hear about other SBC schools bringing in BCS conference schools rather than going on the road.. I begin to ask... Where are we really? By now with a community this size.. With facilities like ours... Shouldnt we be expecting more? _

I understand you were looking at the larger picture. I still think that we are at a crossroads right now and need to wait until the end of this season until voting either way. If we had been 5-7 or 4-8 during the last two years, then i would be totally in agreeance with you, but we were underrated (overperformed) two years ago, and were overrated (underperformed) last year. I think that with a lot of those guys returning and such, and having all of RB's recruits with a little experience, I feel that this year, more than any, will be a fair measuring stick for this program.

As far as bringing in BCS teams...In my opinion, its not worth giving up a 3 for 1 or something just to have a middle to lower ranked BCS school come in. If we are gonna go for that, then I would much rather see Texas, or A&M again, or Ole Miss, or something like that, that we would be sure would bring a fair amount of fans, and would garner some name recognitions around here. And other than Ole Miss, who would be a long shot in this day and age, there really aren't that many more "BCS" schools in the region who will bring a lot of fans and bring the big name, that would be willing to come here.

[IHateLaState]

_

As far as bringing in BCS teams...In my opinion, its not worth giving up a 3 for 1 or something just to have a middle to lower ranked BCS school come in. If we are gonna go for that, then I would much rather see Texas, or A&M again, or Ole Miss, or something like that, that we would be sure would bring a fair amount of fans, and would garner some name recognitions around here. And other than Ole Miss, who would be a long shot in this day and age, there really aren't that many more "BCS" schools in the region who will bring a lot of fans and bring the big name, that would be willing to come here. _

I'd happily give Ole Miss 3 games if they come here for 1.... A&M the same.. But your point on a Oklahoma State or Texas Tech type of program is well taken... If that is what they demand probably not.... Is that what Troy had to do to get Ok State?

[rhineaux]

_ I'd happily give Ole Miss 3 games if they come here for 1.... A&M the same.. But your point on a Oklahoma State or Texas Tech type of program is well taken... If that is what they demand probably not.... Is that what Troy had to do to get Ok State? _

Not sure, but I would be willing to bet it benefitted OSU more than Troy. Especially if troy loses that game, and the money they make off of that one home game is less than what they paid to get OSU there, or what they would have made by traveling to OSU for one game.

I understand where you are coming from. it would be great to see some of those teams come to Cajun Field, but, I would rather see Houston, UCF, etc...teams that we have a good shot at beating, to give our fans a reason to come back. Beating those teams at home will have a greater effect on expanding the fan base and so forth, than getting hammered at home by A&M, etc. The folks that would go, that don't normally go to Cajuns Games, would likely be going to see A&M, not necessarily pull for the Cajuns.

[CrazyCajun]

_ I'd happily give Ole Miss 3 games if they come here for 1.... A&M the same.. But your point on a Oklahoma State or Texas Tech type of program is well taken... If that is what they demand probably not.... Is that what Troy had to do to get Ok State? _

i heard troy's coach yesterday say they wre giving 2 for 1 for ok state. and they would receive money on the back end of the deal to insure a profit