University of Louisiana Snubbed

[SportsFan]

I see the second L has been dropped in most of the previous post. Use your imagination.

[MetryCajun]

_ Yes I know. V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y FOR YOU I said change the name to THE UNIVERSITY OF LAFAYETTE. _

Even more slowly. BOTH universities would be called Lafayette by the casual fan. Can you imagine the confusion?

[Damon]

How in the world did this become a flippin name argument? Give that stuff a rest.

We didn't win 7, we're butthurt over not being selected, and we're starting to realize the national perception of both the school and conference.

It sucks for the kids and fans, but the most we can do is email the figureheads involved and try harder next year.

AGAIN, THIS AIN'T ABOUT THE STINKIN NAME!

[CajunZ1]

We didn't win 7, we're butthurt over not being selected, and we're starting to realize the national perception of both the school and conference.

This is the hardest part for me. Deep down I knew our perception sucked, but to see it thrown so obviously in our face is pretty tough.

[Cajun90]

I am not saying that Tim Brando did. What I am gathering from that is the NIU fans would need to stay longer than UL fans. You would probably have some UL fans staying one night but some NIU fans would need 2 nights. What is it from Lafayette a 3 hour at most drive to Shreveport? I bet up to half the UL fans would drive back home after the game. Granted 2 BCS teams don't promise a profit but that is the perception of the bowl committees. At least one team away means more fans in hotels. I am not saying they are correct just that is the perception. It is about money not for the bowl but for the hotels, shops, and resturants. I relative of mine works in government in New Orleans and he has told me deep down the hotels don't like it much when LSU is in the Sugar Bowl because their fans don't rent many rooms because LSU is so close by.

I just don't think the math works out to favor NIU. I have no doubt that the Cajuns bring a minimum of 15,000 to that game. NIU averaged a little over 18K per game this season and I think they will do well to bring 3K to the game. Half of that 15K (based on your idea that 1/2 drive back that night) is a lot more than all 3K from NIU.


UL -- Distance isn't a problem (200 miles and three hours in the car). Flying isn't a concern. Timing isn't as big an issue for most fans either because most are within driving distance to the game. To this point Lafayette and Louisiana in general have weathered the financial crisis better than most and the economy will not be at the forefront of many Cajun fans decision making.

As for the Cajun fans fleeing the game immediately after the final horn I doubt that will be true. Sure some will make the drive back home but I seriously doubt that many will want to be on the road that late. This game more than likely does not conclude until after 10:00 P.M. and realistically you aren't back to Lafayette (most of the fan base) until probably 3:00 A.M.

I'll be trying to find out in the coming weeks what the NIU ticket sells are like. My bet is that this is probably the final time we see the Independence Bowl played.

[ATXCajun]

_ Unfortunately, we are a hyphenated school in the worse conference in the country and Louisiana-Lafayette, UL Lafayette, U LA LA, LA-Lafayette, etc. etc. is not attractive outside of Lafayette. Until this university gets serious about marketing itself and serious about capturing the Louisiana and UL name, this will continue to be a problem.

LA Tech did not want us in the I Bowl. I would bet that Rice with a 9-3 record did not want to play a 6-6 team from the SBC.

Look at what the other non-BCS conferences did with bowl invites this year:

WAC - Boise State, Fresno State, LA Tech, Nevada, Hawaii
MAC - Ball State, Buffalo, W. Michigan, C. Michigan, NIU
CUSA - Rice, Houston, Memphis, E. Carolina, S. Miss, Tulsa
MWC - TCU, Brigham Young, Utah, Colorado State
SBC - Troy, FAU

I am so disappointed that UL did not get in a bowl. Even worse, an FAU team that finished 3rd in conference was picked ahead of us. UL needs to seriously rethink how it is marketing itself and needs to rethink its membership in the SBC who did nothing to help UL's bowl cause. Right now, I would rather be an independent than a member of this bush league conference. But then again, we haven't even been that competitive in the major sports in the SBC. That is a sad statement for the current state of UL athletics. Our new President needs to make a statement about where this university is going. It certainly needs leadership now. _

I have been thinking a lot lately about how C Florida, S Florida, S Miss, E Carolina, etc. don't seem to be hampered by their names. The hyphenated compromise doesn't seem to be working out. Louisiana or bust. That or go with S Louisiana. Maybe plain ol S Louisiana and N Louisiana would work better for the Cajuns and ULM. Seems to be working for USF and UCF. I would much rather see S Louisiana than UL LAF on the sports ticker.

[CajunZ1]

I would much rather see S Louisiana than UL LAF on the sports ticker. _

I would rather see UL-L(no hyphen, had to add so it wouldn't get auto fixed) than UL LAF.

[ATXCajun]

_ The one thing out of all this is that 7-wins would have assured us a bowl berth. If the status quo remains with the NCAA and the bowls it might be wise for us to suck it up and play only one money game a year then play a AA team down in the bottom of the pool.

Do anything you have to in order to try and secure 7-wins. It looks like in most seasons this is going to get you in a bowl. _

I really think we should play McNeese every year for the atmosphere and the money. so I agree. If the NCAA and Bowls want to play it that way, schedule non-conference games against the Southland, CUSA, WAC, and MAC to improve the chances of getting to 7.

[Sonsissymia]

_ I really think we should play McNeese every year for the atmosphere and the money. so I agree. If the NCAA and Bowls want to play it that way, schedule non-conference games against the Southland, CUSA, WAC, and MAC to improve the chances of getting to 7. _

maybe it has changed, but there was a time recently that a 1a team could use a 1aa win toward bowl eligibility only once every 4 years, or some term similar to that.

[HoustonCajun]

_ We snubbed ourselves. We can be as ____ed off as we want, but we played one of the easiest schedules in the country. The teams we beat had a combined losing record of 20 something wins.

I was ready to make my reservations, but sit back and think about it. We buried ourselves by not winning 7 games. We would have been guaranteed a spot! There are four teams that did not get a bowl bid. The other 3 have to be feeling the same as us today. What I do know is that and I don't have to go into detail, but it's all about the money. Those bowls attract schools that can bring the fans and money! Our perception is a whole other topic.

We finished the season 1-3.

We weren't snubbed. We didn't finish what we started AT 5-3. _

We were snubbed because other 6-6 teams that did not finish 2nd in their conferences like we did got bowl bids instead of us, starting with our own conference and FAU. NIU was 5th in the MAC. Yeah, we should have won 7 games, but so should these other schools. They weren't snubbed, we were.

[HoustonCajun]

_ How in the world did this become a flippin name argument? Give that stuff a rest.

We didn't win 7, we're butthurt over not being selected, and we're starting to realize the national perception of both the school and conference.

It sucks for the kids and fans, but the most we can do is email the figureheads involved and try harder next year.

AGAIN, THIS AIN'T ABOUT THE STINKIN NAME! _

Its not about the name, but the name comes into play. Bowls like more marquee teams and Louisiana-Lafayette with a 6-6 record in the SBC is not marquee. The name is not the cause, it is a part of the cause. It sounds about as bush league as Southwestern Louisiana did.

[Cajunsmike]

I just don't think the math works out to favor NIU. I have no doubt that the Cajuns bring a minimum of 15,000 to that game. NIU averaged a little over 18K per game this season and I think they will do well to bring 3K to the game. Half of that 15K (based on your idea that 1/2 drive back that night) is a lot more than all 3K from NIU.


UL -- Distance isn't a problem (200 miles and three hours in the car). Flying isn't a concern. Timing isn't as big an issue for most fans either because most are within driving distance to the game. To this point Lafayette and Louisiana in general have weathered the financial crisis better than most and the economy will not be at the forefront of many Cajun fans decision making.

As for the Cajun fans fleeing the game immediately after the final horn I doubt that will be true. Sure some will make the drive back home but I seriously doubt that many will want to be on the road that late. This game more than likely does not conclude until after 10:00 P.M. and realistically you aren't back to Lafayette (most of the fan base) until probably 3:00 A.M.

I'll be trying to find out in the coming weeks what the NIU ticket sells are like. My bet is that this is probably the final time we see the Independence Bowl played.

I don't think NIU sends any more than 1000 to the game. We used to play them when we were in the Big West and they did not draw very well then. It is simply too far away and Shreveport not enough of a destination city for their fans to travel.