Southern @ Louisiana Score Prediction Thread

[CrappDaddy]

Here are my factors for prediction:
-Our history in these games
-Southern's history of having athletes
-They'll bring people
-Our first game
-Weather looks dicey

And most of all, people keep saying the the talent gap is sooooo wide.. I don't necessarily believe that. Their skill guys can play, no matter what the situation. Not calling out the fan base, but folks are HAMMERED on Cajun Kool aid right now. I know we are a quality team, but we're not miles ahead. We're just not. Couple that with a team with expectations like ours having to "get up" for a swac opponent; I just don't see the blowout. And honestly, what's the difference? Maybe we win ugly and learn a lesson at the same time. Dealing with 18-22 year olds here.

And please save the "negative fan" narrative. At the end of the day, I think this team loses one game this season.

Lets get the talent hierarchy straight here. We are more talented than Northwestern state. Much more. Northwestern State demolished the SWAC champs last year. This is the one game on our schedule that we are better and deeper at pretty much every position.
It's totally different than expecting our team to blow out tech. Even I don't think that will happen, but Southern ain't Tech. Not even close.

[angeleast]

48-17 Cajuns. We got kinks to work out and this game is a fine tune. Our defense is still a ? especially the secondary. Given the good relationship we have with the jags, I don't think Hud will run up the score and try to play as many as possible

[cajun4life]

Mid 40's to mid teens. 2nd string in the 2nd half.

[Just1More]

Not calling out the fan base, but folks are HAMMERED on Cajun Kool aid right now. I know we are a quality team, but we're not miles ahead. We're just not.

I'm not the least bit hammered on the Cajun Kool-Aid. And I can guarantee you that we have a gigantic talent disparity with Southern. Many, many miles of disparity. We aren't just way better than Bustle's 2009 team that dominated Southern. We are way better than the team we've had the past 3 years under Hud. We're actually going to have a problem with throttling back and not dominating this game on every play.

Our players don't have to "get up" for any opponent. They "get up" because of being on a team with Mark Hudspeth as the coach. And they are going to play one of only 6 home games, in front of a record crowd. The opening game of the season... and you think they may not "be up"?

I always predict a blow-out as a joke. But... it will massively surprise me if this is not a blow-out of record UL proportions. We HAVE to work on every play that we need to go into the Boise State and Ole Miss contests. We cannot let up. We will not ask a single player to let up. We will put in substitutes as necessary... but our subs are vastly more talented than we've ever had prior.

And last but not least... every year someone says something about "getting the kinks out". Every team that plays in their first game of the year... like Southern... is as inexperienced as every other team. For every kink that holds us back, Southern will offer up their own kink.

Right now... we are not good enough to beat Ole Miss. We require a lot of coaching genius to do it. For Southern, we're going to struggle not to score on every possession... theirs and ours.

[zephyr]

They don't have a D linemen over 260. Harris, mcG, and another rb may all have over 100 yds. As far as their offense, I don't think they catch us off gaurd. We will stuff the run and live in the backfield were a young QB will be very unconfirtable. Don't see this as competitive as the 2009 game. JMO

I definitely don't see this as close as 2009. That year, they had a stud QB and WR and were good overall on offense and we were breaking in a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball. I also agree that on both sides of the line of scrimmage, we are way better now and should dominate it on both sides.

[zephyr]

48-17 Cajuns. We got kinks to work out and this game is a fine tune. Our defense is still a ? especially the secondary. Given the good relationship we have with the jags, I don't think Hud will run up the score and try to play as many as possible

The defense returns 3 starters in secondary and D. Jones gave us good minutes filling in at CB last year so I don't think the secondary is a question mark unless we are talking depth which we may need to see who we have behind the starters.

[Just1More]

There's no doubt we will run our power game to establish it for the season. But, to think Hud and staff aren't going to stretch the field to get TB and our WRs timing down... is crazy. We also have to give our center the full repetoire of snap and line call variations that we intend to demand of him for Boise and Ole Miss. If anyone thinks we aren't going to respect Southern by slamming them as hard as we can... you're nuts.

If this isn't a blow-out... more power to Southern. It WILL NOT be because UL took a day off... was rusty... bla bla bla. That BS you hear the dumbass fans of SEC schools choke on... is pure BS. If you line up and can't do it... you can't do it.

[zephyr]

Here are my factors for prediction:
-Our history in these games
-Southern's history of having athletes
-They'll bring people
-Our first game
-Weather looks dicey

And most of all, people keep saying the the talent gap is sooooo wide.. I don't necessarily believe that. Their skill guys can play, no matter what the situation. Not calling out the fan base, but folks are HAMMERED on Cajun Kool aid right now. I know we are a quality team, but we're not miles ahead. We're just not. Couple that with a team with expectations like ours having to "get up" for a swac opponent; I just don't see the blowout. And honestly, what's the difference? Maybe we win ugly and learn a lesson at the same time. Dealing with 18-22 year olds here.

And please save the "negative fan" narrative. At the end of the day, I think this team loses one game this season.

Well, I think we will lose more than 1 game so there's no Negative Nelly connotations included in my original question. My suggestion is based on the fact that the talent gap was not nearly as wide as it is today back in 2009 and we beat them comfortably, at least after we got our offense going and shut down that stud WR they had who ate us alive in the first half. We are worlds bigger and stronger on both sides of the LOS and we ultimately have better athletes running around the field on both sides of the ball than we did then. If I'm correct, Southern had arguably one of their most talented teams that year.

Also, I don't see any way in hell we don't get up for this game. Its the first game of the season, at home, and these guys will be fired up to play in front of their own fans in a renovated stadium regardless of who the opponent is as we don't get to start the season with 2 straight home games very often.

[ManAboutTown]

And all that might be true, but this isn't 2009. College football is a different game now. There are great equalizers that have been perfected in the last 5 years. A team with a quick decision making QB, a few skill positions with speed and a day that the better team turns it over a few times and viola... You have a closer score than anticipated. Maybe it's just the pessimist in me, but I won't forget about the homecoming game last year. Make the excuses you will, but NM was the worst team in college football. Yea we won, but the team slept walk through the first half.

Being talented and touted is great. But it changes the dynamic of the season. Everyone wants to get excited about receiving an AP vote. We were utterly and completely thrashed by a bad, rebuilding Ark team. We were lucky to win at home against the worst team in D1. When expectations were highest, we collapsed down the stretch; with essentially the same team. (Actually lost one of our best defensive players in awhile in Justin Andersen).

Again, not being negative. Being realistic. We don't have the pedigree that a lot of you people are expecting. Key word is EXPECTING.

[Frenchie35]

So it's 41 to 4 when the backups get in?

Yep, two safeties in the first three quarters.....