I said "some" of these caliber teams. Consider our record versus these teams:
RICE
COLORADO STATE
UNLV
TULSA
FRESNO STATE
EAST CAROLINA
...for these years:
'77-'90---21-8 record
You can call it whatever you like, but that's more than just being competitive.
I think what the other poster was getting at is that for a couple of decades, Cajun fans could go into a game with any of the schools we've been talking about in this thread and expect to if not win it, at least play a good competitve game. We didn't sit around and discuss ways we could somehow surprise them and steal it.
The mindset back then was the same mindset we have today in regards to our conference mates. Although, we haven't done a very good job in this regard either lately .
As for the USM game this season, if our pony is doing its "one trick" very well, we have a chance. If not, it could be a long night.