Great point about the rankings in the context of atmosphere.... unfortunately the way it is set up that "casual fan" does not "know cajuns are ranked" until later in the season as you displayed..... how many other skools are able to get increased attendance by being given undeserved higher rankings early on, they get the attendance, atmosphere, then lose.
One could argue the team should not have been ranked and maybe cajuns should have been ranked higher sooner.
Last year Tulane had everything fall its way to play USC, which had lost its last game to Utah, its second defeat to them.
If the same thing happened to Louisiana, they would still not be a major college in football. Playing a bowl game against a P5 team doesn’t make for a major college football program. Playing G5 opponents all season long, then playing a P5 for a bowl game keeps you at the G5 level. IMO.
Many of the teams in the P5 are not as good as the top teams in the G5 category. Of course they have the P5 atmosphere. In reality, there are only about 30 teams in the nation that have true big time atmospheres. One of them is 60 miles away from us and that does impact our support. Many casual observers pay zero attention to any of the hundreds of other schools in the nation as they believe if you can't regularly compete for a major bowl game, you are irrelevant. Challenge for us is to convince those casual observers they will be entertained if they come to one of our games. The unfortunate aspect to all this is so many don't realize the huge economic impact and improved quality of life the university brings to the area and much of the state. Were they to understand this, they would do more to support our efforts. That is why Ragin Dave's efforts to highlight area businesses that support the Cajuns should be applauded.
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