2018 non conference

[cajunhawk]

Hawk, why is it an either/or proposition?

Why can't we dominate the conference AND schedule P5 games?

It's not all about wins either. We just went through 36 wins in 4 years including 4 Bowl wins, and our brand still sucks. One losing season, and it vanished. The fact is you guys go on and on about perception until y'all are blue in the face, but when it comes to trying to actually change the perception of the football program on the field y'all go all wobbly.

Following your logic of not scheduling more than 1 P5 game because we haven't dominated the SBC yet, then you have to turn down any offers from CUSA or the AAC because, OMG, we haven't won 20 SBC games in a row.

We shouldn't have did the end zone seating because we didn't sell out the previous for 2 seasons in a row?

If the Big-12 shocked the world and extended an invite to Dr. Savoie, we should turn it down, right? That's at least a couple of levels above the SBC, and Lord knows we can't even dominate that.

Cart before the horse. And those 36 wins in 4 years were far from dominating. Bowl wins are bowl wins. But in the grand scheme of things they don't do much for perception unless you are winning one of the major bowls. 4 Liberty bowl wins, and now you have something. 4 Nola Bowls...that isn't going to move the meter...especially when it comes on the heels of no conference title or a shared conference title.

Why would we turn down an offer to better the conference we would play in? That's our peers. It's the only constant we have in scheduling. And those people we play CONSTANTLY are going to be the measuring stick for our program, not one off games that mean little in the long run. You are putting way too much emphasis on non-conference scheduling. If scheduling harder games outside of conference play was the way you became a bigger program, the entire G5 would be well on it's way to becoming P5. But they aren't. Because those games are close to pointless. You play the hand you are dealt.

If we get into a better conference, our main motivation should not be to schedule beatable P5's...it should be to dominate the conference we are in, and position ourselves as the most impressive team in said conference for conference realignment. That will outweigh any goofy, pointless, wins against supposedly better competition. People can read between the lines. By your estimation...La Tech's GARGANTUAN wins against middling P5 teams (at the time) should have them zooming up the conference ladder faster than you can say "Ole Miss as a team has quit on Houston Nutt." But...they ain't. They are not in any discussion. They are not on anyone's radar. They are slightly better off than we are.

Big dick posturing in scheduling sounds like a good idea in theory. But all it will accomplish is saddling us with a bunch of loses that won't really accomplish anything, and a few fluke wins that also won't really accomplish anything.

[Turbine]

Bowl Wins ALWAYS move the meter because they are ALWAYS referred to as "Bowl Wins"

[cajun4life]

Simple question. Would you rather go 7-5 with a bowl win on top of that making your final record 8-5 while playing 3 P5 programs.

Or would you rather see a 10-2 record with 1 P5 game and a chance at 11-2 after the bowl win. Because I can promise you we ain't going 11-2 with even just 2 P5 games.

[CajunNation]

Cart before the horse. And those 36 wins in 4 years were far from dominating. Bowl wins are bowl wins. But in the grand scheme of things they don't do much for perception unless you are winning one of the major bowls. 4 Liberty bowl wins, and now you have something. 4 Nola Bowls...that isn't going to move the meter...especially when it comes on the heels of no conference title or a shared conference title.

Why would we turn down an offer to better the conference we would play in? That's our peers. It's the only constant we have in scheduling. And those people we play CONSTANTLY are going to be the measuring stick for our program, not one off games that mean little in the long run. You are putting way too much emphasis on non-conference scheduling. If scheduling harder games outside of conference play was the way you became a bigger program, the entire G5 would be well on it's way to becoming P5. But they aren't. Because those games are close to pointless. You play the hand you are dealt.

If we get into a better conference, our main motivation should not be to schedule beatable P5's...it should be to dominate the conference we are in, and position ourselves as the most impressive team in said conference for conference realignment. That will outweigh any goofy, pointless, wins against supposedly better competition. People can read between the lines. By your estimation...La Tech's GARGANTUAN wins against middling P5 teams (at the time) should have them zooming up the conference ladder faster than you can say "Ole Miss as a team has quit on Houston Nutt." But...they ain't. They are not in any discussion. They are not on anyone's radar. They are slightly better off than we are.

Big dick posturing in scheduling sounds like a good idea in theory. But all it will accomplish is saddling us with a bunch of loses that won't really accomplish anything, and a few fluke wins that also won't really accomplish anything.

Couldn't disagree more.

One school got invited to CUSA on perception alone. Louisiana Tech. They, in no way, dominated the WAC, but they got in.

Did FIU or FAU dominate the SBC?

Has Houston dominated the AAC?

Did West Virginia dominate the Big East?

Conference realignment is not predictable. To tie everything to some mythical conference ladder is pointless.

We can only control ourselves. We can change the perception of our school. To doubt the ability of P5 wins in doing that is absurd.

Scheduling 3 P5 games a year gives you more chances to improve your brand, more chances to host P5 games and more revenue. All we would have to do is finish above 0.500 in conference and we go Bowling.

Tell me again how this is so bad.

[CajunNation]

Simple question. Would you rather go 7-5 with a bowl win on top of that making your final record 8-5 while playing 3 P5 programs.

Or would you rather see a 10-2 record with 1 P5 game and a chance at 11-2 after the bowl win. Because I can promise you we ain't going 11-2 with even just 2 P5 games.

Don't forget, the 8-5 scenario might include a home P5 game at Cajun Field and/or the Super Dome as well as a P5 win.

The other scenario gets you Akron.

[Ragin4U]

I dont think anyone outside of the program remembers conference championships much. Bowl wins are the last thing anyone sees about your program until next season. I think they are much more impactful on program perception to the general public than conference titles.

[CajunNation]

I dont think anyone outside of the program remembers conference championships much. Bowl wins are the last thing anyone sees about your program until next season. I think they are much more impactful on program perception to the general public than conference titles.

Look at how much publicity App got by simply losing close to Tennessee. That story had legs for weeks.

We could still have the Bowl experience and give ourselves the most chances we can to have an App experience. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY cares about a non-conference G5 game, unless it is one of our historical rivals or one of the elites like Boise. Anything else is, in fact, pointless.

[cajun4life]

Don't forget, the 8-5 scenario might include a home P5 game at Cajun Field and/or the Super Dome as well as a P5 win.

The other scenario gets you Akron.

You think we are getting a P5 at home with this AD. Lmao

I would rather a 12 game slate against all G5 programs than a $$$ P5 game.

Rice, USM, LaTurd, Tulane, SMU, UAB, WKU, MTSU, and Tulsa are all games we should try to get multi year home and home contracts with.

[cajunhawk]

Couldn't disagree more.

One school got invited to CUSA on perception alone. Louisiana Tech. They, in no way, dominated the WAC, but they got in.

We know how they got in. They lied. Said their budget would be X. Said their enrollment would be X. Who else would they have taken that wouldn't ____ anyone off? The WAC wasn't existent anymore. La Tech did not get into CUSA on perception, because if it was...guess what...they would have gotten in a long, long time ago. They were just the last rat on a sinking ship. So that's a bunk example.

Did FIU or FAU dominate the SBC?

You must live under a rock. Everyone and their momma knows how the F_U twins got into CUSA. So that's another bunk example.

Has Houston dominated the AAC?

Technically they are currently doing that. And getting noticed by the Big 12, and if it wasn't for petty infighting, they would be in a P5 conference. That's another bunk example.

Did West Virginia dominate the Big East?

Were you in Tibet for the Rich Rodriguez era? If not for one game against a bitter rival, they would have been playing for a National Title instead of a 2 loss LSU team that didn't deserve it. So...another bunk example.

Conference realignment is not predictable. To tie everything to some mythical conference ladder is pointless.

It's the only thing we really have control over. So why the hell wouldn't we put emphasis on it?

We can only control ourselves. We can change the perception of our school. To doubt the ability of P5 wins in doing that is absurd.

It is absurd. Without a complete body of work, P5 wins mean jack ____. Nothing, nada, zip, zero. You know what it shows when you upset a P5, and then you are the drizzling ____s when it comes to perceived worse teams you play every year? It means it was a complete fluke. Your P5 wins are a lucky bounce. Nothing more. We won 4 bowl games against perceived better teams, and it got us nowhere. You cannot force people to think differently about who you are. You cannot control that. Trying to impress them with meandering big wins is a fools errand.

Scheduling 3 P5 games a year gives you more chances to improve your brand, more chances to host P5 games and more revenue. All we would have to do is finish above 0.500 in conference and we go Bowling.

Tell me again how this is so bad.

6-6 is going to get us moving up the ladder fast...right? 8-4 couldn't even move the needle. 7-5 with a win against Kansas isn't going to get us anywhere. Just ask La Tech, they ran away from the Sun Belt to the WAC, and now they are in a conference with former Sun Belt teams. People were just waiting for us to regress to the mean...and we did. Because we didn't change anything, we just dressed it up like we had this revolutionary change, and took advantage of a pitiful schedule, which we still couldn't run the table against teams we should have. It's not a coincidence that our coach is still here, and no conference is beating down our door. It's because we didn't do ____. Our administration hasn't changed, our program hasn't gone anywhere, and we are soon to be back at square one.

Scheduling P5's does very little for us at all. Money games are stigmatized as a payment for a loss. Regardless of the minimal amount of upsets, it's detrimental to schedule multiple money games. I have no problem with one, but I still think even one just means we are committed to the status quo. We should be playing our peers regionally for increased ticket sales, and to keep interest up. Money games are all away games and are brutally unfair. A home and home makes sense with a P5, but would be much more effective against regional G5 teams...you know...the ones we recruit against. Once we dominate them to a point, people will have to stand up and take notice.

Whereas, we schedule 3 P5's, and an FCS team, we get a win, and 3 losses, let's be honest. No one in the country stands up and takes notice of 7-5 teams not in the P5. No one. Your are full of ____ if you think they will. Why should we handicap ourselves just to try and prove something to someone who will not even care we exist? Anyone, anywhere? That just shows how desperate you are. There is a right way and a wrong way to grow this program...trying to jack us up on steroids will only prove how insignificant we are.

[CajunNation]

Hawk, you are completely wrong.

[cajunhawk]

Hawk, you are completely wrong.

Then name a team that has only won P5 games and climbed the ladder...

[CajunNation]

Then name a team that has only won P5 games and climbed the ladder...

What?

Go back and look at the history of realignment for G5 schools.

Perception kept us out of the original CUSA group. The comment to Doc A was, "I just can't sell SW LA to our season ticket holders".

We told the WAC no.

Realignment was happening above our level all this time between P5 leagues that killed the Big East and created the MWC and later the AAC. All of that was based on MONEY with a focus on budget.

Then CUSA reloaded and expanded. All of that was based on MONEY with a focus on TV numbers.

Show me where realignment was based on number of wins.