Tech's Intervention

[HOUCajun]

As for Tech trying to screw the Cajuns, if the situation was reversed you guys would have tried to protect your interests just like every other school would. There is no denying that. We just happened to have the upper hand this time. _

The idea of using your position of power to keep others down is a tried and true method of achieving short term success and long term failure (see 1000+ examples on LA alone). You may be right in that our admin would have taken the same route. If that happened, I would be much more dissapointed in our pathetic existence than I am now over losing out on a bowl bid.

[rabiddawg]

_ The idea of using your position of power to keep others down is a tried and true method of achieving short term success and long term failure (see 1000+ examples on LA alone). You may be right in that our admin would have taken the same route. If that happened, I would be much more dissapointed in our pathetic existence than I am now over losing out on a bowl bid. _

HOUCajun, if it ever comes to light that my schools administration went any further than saying "if possible, we would rather not play a sunbelt school". I will join you in being dissapointed in our pathetic existence.

I have no problem with making your desires known, but to say "we will go else where if you pick a sbc team" is not acceptable imo.

[ULtimateCajun]

_ I don't think Tech had any influence over the I-Bowl. History backs my opinion up. I think the Glen Krupica-theory is a slam dunk. _

I agree with you that that was the deciding factor. I have also been on your message board and have read countless post by your fans commending Dooley/I-bowl for keeping the Sun belt out. Look I wasn't in the room when the talks were going on. But I have no doubt that the Tech admin. made it clear that they would back out if a sunbelt team was chosen. I think it was a combination of many things but the NIU Athletic head being a former I-Bowl official was probably the deciding factor.

Look i know when looking for someone to blame we need only find a mirror. just look at how much better 7-5 looks than 6-6. We didn't do our job on the field. It is what it is. There is nothing sexy about a 6-6 sunbelt team. So now we are here and Tech is trying to put as much lipstick on that pig named I-Bowl as possible. All we can do now is make sure that we win 7 or more next year and make sure that our conference will go to bat for us. If they aren't, then we'll find some place else to play.

[DestinCajun]

One other thing to consider was espn's hand in this decision. NIU is located in a much larger media market than Lafayette, therefore I think they had a hand in deciding which would garner more exposure for their advertisers.

LMAO! I attended the 1993 UL - NIU game in DeKalb. The place is in the middle of miles of cornfields. No offense intended to the NIU folks but the place smelled like a barnyard.

"Market" ? Sure, for corn and pigs.

[DestinCajun]

_ This statement is quickly becoming a cliche on this board. And btw, NONE of those three games you mentioned were close. We got beat handily in 3 of the final 4 games. Realizing this helps me cope with the fact that we didn't get in. Somehow it makes sense that we didn't deserve it.

"7 wins and we don't have this conversation" gets added to the sports cliche pile effective immediately.

I just think NIU and FAU "wanted it more" _

I can't say we would have won but with a reasonably healthy team we would have competed against UTEP and FAU. Of that, I have no doubt.

[CajunZ1]

_ LMAO! I attended the 1993 UL - NIU game in DeKalb. The place is in the middle of miles of cornfields. No offense intended to the NIU folks but the place smelled like a barnyard.

"Market" ? Sure, for corn and pigs. _

An hour from Chicago's city center. Very close to the Chicago footprint.

I guess that's enough. There's really no arguing with the "market." It's obvious NIU has the advantage there. The argument lies in ticket sales, which UL would have bought orders of magnitude more than the Huskies.

[CajunZ1]

_ I can't say we would have won but with a reasonably healthy team we would have competed against UTEP and FAU. Of that, I have no doubt. _

That's flawed thinking IMO. We were outclassed badly in all three games both athletically and in coaching. I could understand if we lost by only a touchdown or something.

I understand the injury argument. To me, it holds enough water to give our coach another chance (that's significant). But it does not allow us to start saying, "we could have won one of those games." We were never in them.

[ljr3721]

_ HOUCajun, if it ever comes to light that my schools administration went any further than saying "if possible, we would rather not play a sunbelt school". I will join you in being dissapointed in our pathetic existence.

I've been a Cajun fan for a long time, but the day my school pulls a stunt like what LA Tech is alleged to have done (I don't know for sure whether they did or not) is the day I give up on this team and school. We are above that, and I honestly do not believe that we would have had any problem playing Tech if the situation was reversed.

If they want to be "elite" and "above" the sun belt, fine--play us, kick our butts, and then you have a case. Using back-room politics to avoid getting embarassed is not helping anything.

[RaginFan2]

_ That's flawed thinking IMO. We were outclassed badly in all three games both athletically and in coaching. I could understand if we lost by only a touchdown or something.

I understand the injury argument. To me, it holds enough water to give our coach another chance (that's significant). But it does not allow us to start saying, "we could have won one of those games." We were never in them. _

I disagree that we were never in the UTEP game. We had the early lead and were still in it going into the second half. However, I can agree that we did not play well on either side of the ball for the better part of the game.

[DestinCajun]

An hour from Chicago's city center. Very close to the Chicago footprint.

I guess that's enough. There's really no arguing with the "market." It's obvious NIU has the advantage there. The argument lies in ticket sales, which UL would have bought orders of magnitude more than the Huskies. _

Oh yeah, NIU totally dominates the Chicago sports scene. They may as well be a light year from Chicago.

[CajunZ1]

_ I disagree that we were never in the UTEP game. We had the early lead and were still in it going into the second half. However, I can agree that we did not play well on either side of the ball for the better part of the game. _

OK, I'll elaborate on what I meant by "never in the game."

You know how certain games give you a "feeling"? Like the MT game, even though it was close in the 4th quarter, it never "felt" like we were going to lose. I know that's wildly intangible, but bear with me here.

The UTEP game, while it was close in the first half, had the exact opposite "feeling." They were much better at throwing the ball than we were at running the ball that night. That is a recipe for failure in Cajun football.

[CajunZ1]

_ Oh yeah, NIU totally dominates the Chicago sports scene. They may as well be a light year from Chicago. _

I'll agree with you there.

But that's not the issue. The issue is comparing the two potential markets.

Lafayette/Lake Chuck/Baton Rouge vs. Chicago.

Thanks for playing, Chicago wins.