The Book 2008 Football

[GoEagles]

The point was that the "worst conference in America" had a winning record against your conference over the past two years. Bring up whatever poll, ranking formula, or excuse that your like; the results will not change.

You reference the wins came against the "lower teams" in your conference. Please explain. Who are the "upper teams" in your conference? What determines such a classification? I can only speak to games that I'm aware of, and on that note, I remember that we beat Houston the year that they won your conference championship. Were they a "lower team" that year?

I'm sure that you have a nice program. And you're favored in this game. So why puff up so much and try to belittle our lowly little insignificant conference? Could it be that you're a little bit worried?

It's interesting that you guys are dodging the question that I posed earlier, so I'll ask it again. If some good CUSA teams beat some bad SEC teams, would you proclaim CUSA to be better than the SEC? So you slipped up and beat Houston? It happens. UL-Monroe slipped up and beat Bama. Are you guys claiming superiority to the SEC?

[GoEagles]

So what you are saying is you guys are to CUSA what North Texas is to the Belt? Get a grip dude, you guys are slightly better than we are. A MID LEVEL Mid Major.

So you guys have 15 winning seasons in a row, and have been to 10 bowl games the past 11 years? Didn't think so. Get a grip, dude. That's just silly talk. USM is an upper echelon non-BSC program that plays multiple games on national television every year, competes for a league title, and goes to bowl games. ULL is barely floating above I-AA status.

[GoGold]

_ You come to our board and post rediculous opinions about how great CUSA is and how spectacular USM is but the fact of the matter is that your CUSA mates have passed you guys up. Tulsa, UCF, Houston, Memphis, and ECU all have more name recognition and pespect than USM. Face it you guys are a respectable mid major, you are not world beater or anything close. Southern Mississippi must have some good mushrooms. Are we at the level of USM, no. But we are a lot closer than any of your fans are willing to admit. _

You can not point to one post in any thread where I said CUSA is great and USM is spectacular....not one post. You can not even point out where I have even sugggested that USM will win the game, on this board or ANY board. I have simply posted the numbers, if you have a problem with those numbers, I am not the one to take it up with. I would suggest your AD.....I have never suggested we were world beaters, or anything close. That donkey dung is coming out or your mouth. Are we a level above you guys...yes. The numbers clearly show that. We have a average finish over the past 10 years at #55, UofLA #136. Over the last five years we averaged #66, UofLA #127. Now that may be close to you, but to me its far from it.

Now does any of that mean we win the game Sat? Nothing of the sort. But that would be me trying to change the subject wouldn't it. Sorta like you do when you get you hand called.

And yes, not only do we have good mushrooms here, we have a ample supply.

One more thing, of course some programs have passed us (although I don't agree all you listed have). In case you haven't noticed the landscape of college football is ever changing. No program stays on top.

[GoGold]

_ It's pretty funny to see how chippy things are getting now that we are getting close to game time. Come Friday we'll all hate each other!

Southern Miss has much greater football tradition than UL. I think everyone knows that. I feel like this Saturday may be a good game. Vegas agrees, as the line has moved from +14 to +10.5 last I saw. (I know, I know, they move the line in response to action, not according to what the teams will do, but still!)

Let's just see who wins.

THEN we can start ripping into each other again how the other team is "classless" or something. Bad calls, biased refs, etc... next week will be even funner!

I'm just hoping Gustav decides to leave us all alone! _

Yep, things getting heated. I love it myself. Besides you can always talk smack and do it in a respectful way. Few can do it, but you guys are probably the best I've seen.

Biased refs? Don't worry, if its CUSA refs, they are too bad to be biased. Couple of hints....its only offensive holding if a lineman gets caught with a piece of cloth from the defensive linemans jersey in his hand. And when kicking, a block in the back only happens when the blocked player knocks over a ref.

[HoustonCajun]

_ So you guys have 15 winning seasons in a row, and have been to 10 bowl games the past 11 years? Didn't think so. Get a grip, dude. That's just silly talk. USM is an upper echelon non-BSC program that plays multiple games on national television every year, competes for a league title, and goes to bowl games. ULL is barely floating above I-AA status. _

I'm sorry this turned into a ____ing match. It is fun to post some banter going into a game and get fired up about winning. USM has more football tradition and a winning record and UL has not played well for the past 10 years or so, with a couple of exceptions. C-USA is a better conference than the SBC overall. A few wins last year by SBC teams does not a better conference make. If we go by past records vs. each other, you are correct that USM should win this game, perhaps easily. Our optimism this year is the highest it has been for several years, so you can understand that we will not concede defeat. There are a number of things coming together for both USM and UL that give us hope that we can win. Let's both stick out our chests and proudly proclaim our team is the best and we'll see Saturday night. The joy of going on another board and having pre-game fun is getting lost with all of the crap that is starting to take place. I have followed this thread from its beginning and I have not found your comments offensive (merely accurate historically but not necessarily indicative of the future), although apparently a few people over here have. Let's not ruin the mutual respect both schools had for each other by letting this get out of hand. And I say that to both UL and USM. Good luck to USM Saturday and Geaux Cajuns!

[GoEagles]

You come to our board and post rediculous opinions about how great CUSA is and how spectacular USM is but the fact of the matter is that your CUSA mates have passed you guys up. Tulsa, UCF, Houston, Memphis, and ECU all have more name recognition and pespect than USM. Face it you guys are a respectable mid major, you are not world beater or anything close. Southern Mississippi must have some good mushrooms. Are we at the level of USM, no. But we are a lot closer than any of your fans are willing to admit.

You've got to be kidding me. Nobody in CUSA football has more national recognition and respect than USM. You're right. We haven't been word beaters. We haven't even owned our conference lately. That's why the change was made. Will it put us back on top? That remains to be seen. I like our chances under Fedora than I did under Bower.

With all of that said, if you think that your 3 win program is anywhere near our level it's YOU that's downing shrooms.

[HoustonCajun]

_ Don't be so hard on Bustle.

When you see the ultoday.com article Friday, you'll get some insight into his comments...

...and I think you'll LIKE it. _

I am all for Coach Bustle succeeding and our having a winning program for many years under him, similar to VA Tech's situation. I know he wants to win and is concerned about our situation. This is a big year for him and for UL football. I would just like to see a little more said to excite the fans about the coming year. I look forward to reading the article. Keep up the great work!

[GoEagles]

I'm sorry this turned into a ____ing match. It is fun to post some banter going into a game and get fired up about winning. USM has more football tradition and a winning record and UL has not played well for the past 10 years or so, with a couple of exceptions. C-USA is a better conference than the SBC overall. A few wins last year by SBC teams does not a better conference make. If we go by past records vs. each other, you are correct that USM should win this game, perhaps easily. Our optimism this year is the highest it has been for several years, so you can understand that we will not concede defeat. There are a number of things coming together for both USM and UL that give us hope that we can win. Let's both stick out our chests and proudly proclaim our team is the best and we'll see Saturday night. The joy of going on another board and having pre-game fun is getting lost with all of the crap that is starting to take place. I have followed this thread from its beginning and I have not found your comments offensive (merely accurate historically but not necessarily indicative of the future), although apparently a few people over here have. Let's not ruin the mutual respect both schools had for each other by letting this get out of hand. And I say that to both UL and USM. Good luck to USM Saturday and Geaux Cajuns!

Top notch post. Bravo, and back at ya!

[PR_Eagle]

_ You take those orally? _

Thankfully.

[good2geaux]

I wish Bustle was a little more positive and inspiring.

I wish you were a bit more on these boards as well...

[cajunlove]

_ It's interesting that you guys are dodging the question that I posed earlier, so I'll ask it again. If some good CUSA teams beat some bad SEC teams, would you proclaim CUSA to be better than the SEC? So you slipped up and beat Houston? It happens. UL-Monroe slipped up and beat Bama. Are you guys claiming superiority to the SEC? _

I don't think that I ever claimed superiority. But, to answer your question, it would be arguable if we had a winning record against them for two years straight, as we have against your conference.

Under your logic and the facts, our conference slips up a lot. I guess we're just accident prone. Right?

[Sonsissymia]

_ You come to our board and post rediculous opinions about how great CUSA is and how spectacular USM is but the fact of the matter is that your CUSA mates have passed you guys up. Tulsa, UCF, Houston, Memphis, and ECU all have more name recognition and pespect than USM. Face it you guys are a respectable mid major, you are not world beater or anything close. Southern Mississippi must have some good mushrooms. Are we at the level of USM, no. But we are a lot closer than any of your fans are willing to admit. _

i've stayed out of this pizzing contest 'til now. i have nothing for so miss, and am a semi-fan of ul thanks to my daughter.

BUT, the fact is so miss goes to a bowl game about every year it seems to me. remember: of the list of teams that were "charter members" of 1-a when it was created over 20 years ago, ONLY ONE has never been to a 1-a bowl game---the cajuns. you just can't say a team still trying to do something for the first time is "close" to a team that does it almost all the time. vast gulf between the two football programs to someone pretty objective about it.