11-2... Is winning out (Bowl included) enough to get into the Top 25?

[sdf1012]

I wouldn't call those first two games bad losses. Two middle of the road BCS teams that we were not favored against. We could have lost to Akron...that would be a bad loss.

True. K-State is probably the best 3-4 team in the country. They just happened to play Texas, OkState, and Baylor all in a row. They lost all those in the 4th quarter. Very close games. I am curious to see how they finish the season.

[Big Buds]

After watching damn near 3 full seasons of Hud football, I'm convinced that his teams get better as the year grows. I can assure you that we would win one of those two BCS games if we played them today.

[RaginDave]

I think if we played Arkansas now, it would be a much better game. Not sure if we would win, but we are better today then we were vs Arkansas and they are worse today then against us.

We always start the season off slow, we played like SHI& in that game. I think we would probably beat them now. Not so sure about KSU. I think they are a better team than the 3-4 record indicates.

[Just1More]

I think if we played Arkansas now, it would be a much better game. Not sure if we would win, but we are better today then we were vs Arkansas and they are worse today then against us.

We always start the season off slow, we played like SHI& in that game. I think we would probably beat them now. Not so sure about KSU. I think they are a better team than the 3-4 record indicates.

I don't buy the excuse that we "start the season off slow". I think our staff prepares for the season as a whole, and when you meet a substantial program first, you are very likely to be made to look like you're starting your season slow. The Florida game last year kind of screwed us for the Arkansas and KSU games. Our staff actually thought that our standard approach to a game can defeat a big program. It might. But that is not how a UL has to approach a big program if we are going to "knock them off". We were running on all cylinders when we met Florida and Florida was not. Florida was an anomaly. We are rarely going to get a big program late in our season.

Offensively, we should never attempt to "power" a big program in our first few games. We attempted it against Arkansas. You spread the field like you've never done in your life and you either barely win or you lose horribly. But, 9 out of 10 times that you line up like you think you are going to "over power" an SEC opponent... you are going to not like the scoreboard at the end.

Defensively, you never... ever play prevent defense. I don't care how inexperienced your secondary is. You do not tell your lineman to "hold their lanes". You tell the NG/NT to hold the middle and everyone else stunt to disrupt. And you do not tell your DBs "drop back 15 to 20 yards and don't give up the big play". You will not like the scoreboard 10 out of 10 times. If that's ok with the coaches... that's ok with me.

But, to our coaching staff's credit... we have been prepared to destroy FCS schools, win the majority of our SBC games and make it to a bowl... and this year we are prepared to seriously compete for the conference title.

There may be a trade off in there. I'm not sure. But if we are going to be a "giant killer"... it will require more than how we approach and what we do against the larger balance of our opponents.

[BearlyDoug]

Losing to Arkansas (and their subsequent record this year) has really hurt Louisiana's SoS and being able to be ranked. The loss to Kansas State did not help either, but hey, the Ragin Cajuns are first in the SBC right now, so that's a good thing for y'all.

There are too many 1 loss teams and even other 2 loss teams that would be placed higher than Louisiana at this time. The only way you'll have a chance of breaking the Top 25 (aside from winning the next 5 games) is to completely decimate/dominate each of the opponents remaining. I'm talking shutouts or very close to it. This should be possible against NMSU and GSU, but Troy, ULM and USA are going to be tough battles to shut out.

[CajunJack55]

I wouldn't call those first two games bad losses. Two middle of the road BCS teams that we were not favored against. We could have lost to Akron...that would be a bad loss.

Top 25 votes are mostly about perception and perception wise I think they are bad losses. Had we been a little more competetive then I would say no...These are teams we have to start beating consistently in order to be seriously considered for Top 25.

[CrappDaddy]

Highly doubt it. We arent a top 25 team. We play a weak schedule and have managed to win alot of those games the last 3 years, but we are still a long way from being a legitimate top 25 team. But if we do end up winning out and get ranked, I won't be dissapointed..

[MiamiCajun32]

I wouldn't call those first two games bad losses. Two middle of the road BCS teams that we were not favored against. We could have lost to Akron...that would be a bad loss.

No legit top 25 team would have lost so badly to those two teams and also would not have been big underdogs going into those games. Too bad cajuns can't reply those games now.

[moorecajun]

We're talking about top 25 after the bowl season ... and winning out ... keep in mind half the teams that play will lose, so our odds will increase.

I do think we will find out the answer in January!

[Cajunjeb]

Polls are too subjective. No way to determine where we end up.

Only legimate way to tell who is better is by using statistics. Take all of the team statistics (Total O, Total D, etc.) and rank each team based on that specific statistic. For instance, for "Passing Offense" Oregon State is 1st. They would be number one, then Baylor would be two, etc. Once you have a ranking setup for each team based on a specific statistic, then you take a team's average based on all of the statistics combined. The team with the lowest average number across all statistics would be your #1 team, and so on.

To take it a step further, you can use the number and weight it again W-L. And, at the end of the year, you can take every team's final ranking and figure out a strength of schedule and plug that into a formula with ranking and W-L to find out a team's true measure. Then you can create a playoff system based on statistics!

What a dream... Obviously that's won't happen. Because people love subjectivity. My team is better than your team because...

Now, off my soap box.

[CajunEXPRESS]

There are a number of polls that do it by stats only, and they pretty much are in line with the human polls. Human polls take into account an eyeball, and nose test that computers cannot.

I will take a human poll it will not be bluntly off. But to be honest once you move away from the worst and the best by any significant number the computer, nose, and eyeball are all pretty much off from week to week.

[cajunref]

11-2 would get us in top 25, possibly top 20.

No way, our SOS is weak at best.