I'm only going to say this once, then accept the ridicule that I will receive from some of you. Let's look at the likely scenario for THIS season. We finish 10-2 and either unranked or ranked 24-25. Assuming we have not already accepted the NO Bowl, our choices would be NO on a Saturday night in late December, indoors against an eminently beatable CUSA team with a respectable record of 8-4 or 9-3, in front of 50-60000 fans, 85% of which are Cajun fans... OR ... in early January, outdoors against a very good and very ____ed off 13-0 NIU team which will be ranked around 15th, but shut out of a BCS bowl because Fresno was ranked 14th, in front of maybe 35K fans, of which about 70% will be Cajun fans.
This choice is a no-brainer. We go to New Orleans, because it is better to WIN a bowl against a respectable team than it is to possibly lose one to an excellent one who is not perceived as much better than we are. Recruiting is MUCH better when our coaches can say: We have WON three straight bowl games and our Conference Championship, rather than: We have BEEN to three straight bowl games and won our Conference Championship.
The only time another bowl would be more attractive than NOLA [this year] is if we could be matched up in Houston, indoors, against a ranked 9-3 Big XII or Big X team.