LGT Final: Louisiana 31, USM 34

[JAB]

We are easily top 3 in RB, WR, DL, LB and S. You could argue OL as well.

Honestly we are top 3 in every single position group.

And don't forget the current QB is top 3 on the team.

[CrappDaddy]

And don't forget the current QB is top 3 on the team.

Easily a top 25 QB in conference.

[ZoomZoom]

Charlie, how did anybody honestly think he was ready for this job. More precisely, ready for this job at THAT important juncture of this university. They blindly lined up because Des is a "good guy", a "hard nosed player", a "leader of men", and he's gonna "graduate his players" Well we weren't hiring a humanitarian, a football player, a pastor, or a professor. The same people gushing for this Des hire are the same ones who wanted to hire Louie Cook. The same ones that defend and sunshine pump every assanine decision this university makes. Skipping around blowing bubbles and farting rainbows. It's people that wanna be cool with coach and have you sit on his lap. We were at the most pivotal position this university could've been in and we made the dumbest decision we could've ever made. And listen, God bless Des. Is he a great guy? Of course. But contrary to popular belief, you can love Des as a person, but hate it as your head football coach. Some people just can't separate the two. And it's part of the reason we have coaches like Marlin and Des. There's enough sycophants out there to support this crap thats killing this program. Baldwin? A political hire....a disaster. Bustle? National search....program gets better. Hud? National search.....program gets even better. Napier? National search.....team reaches its zenith. Des? No search/hometown hire......you see a pattern? But F it. People are gonna come here and blast me,make excuses, try to force a rainbow up a round hole, like they did when I and others protested at this hire. But like I said, IDGAF. They can go pound sand. This is gonna be a long road. Take yalls medicine, but I'm tired supporting mediocrity and watching this University sit there, and frankly not give a sh!+ while watching fans call you a bad fan for pointing out the obvious. Sorry Charlie, this wasn't directed at you personally brother, just everything as a whole

Though a long shot MH pulls the trigger now, wait for JBE to be gone. Blankstare gave us a political hire in Toothpick, JBE just did two political hires in charge of Tech and the ULS.

[CrappDaddy]

We are easily top 3 in RB, WR, DL, LB and S. You could argue OL as well.

Honestly we are top 3 in every single position group.

No

We had that kind of talent superiority when Napier was here. Not anymore. Without Chriss in there we are that much more deficient on offense. You saw what the run game did last night? Sure, Fields made some good throws, but he also made a bunch of bad ones. No consistency on offense. This team isn’t built to bully people like they were in years past. Need the threat of the QB run.

[jaxmc1023]

Charlie, how did anybody honestly think he was ready for this job

They didn't think he was ready for the job..

They wanted someone who (a) would be happy to be here long term and (b) might be a decent coach down the road. Hiring the local boy also gives them several years of slack so they don't have to do any coaching hires, worry about buyouts, etc.

Des going 6-6 year after year with a meaningless bowl game is just fine with MH. Same with Marlin sneaking into March Madness every 4 years, or baseball winning one or two games in a regional...

That's good enough. Not bad for little ole University of Louisiana at Small-town. They don't want big money boosters that will demand wins and improvements to athletic programs. They want donations from families whose names are on street signs all over town that don't care if we win -- "just happy to help a local school out!"

Remember we're a Tier 1 R1A+ research academia facility first and foremost!
Apparently that puts us slightly ahead of Grambling and ULM.

Sports are just rewards for some of our dumber students and fans.

[CharlieK]

Charlie, how did anybody honestly think he was ready for this job. More precisely, ready for this job at THAT important juncture of this university. They blindly lined up because Des is a "good guy", a "hard nosed player", a "leader of men", and he's gonna "graduate his players" Well we weren't hiring a humanitarian, a football player, a pastor, or a professor. The same people gushing for this Des hire are the same ones who wanted to hire Louie Cook. The same ones that defend and sunshine pump every assanine decision this university makes. Skipping around blowing bubbles and farting rainbows. It's people that wanna be cool with coach and have you sit on his lap. We were at the most pivotal position this university could've been in and we made the dumbest decision we could've ever made. And listen, God bless Des. Is he a great guy? Of course. But contrary to popular belief, you can love Des as a person, but hate it as your head football coach. Some people just can't separate the two. And it's part of the reason we have coaches like Marlin and Des. There's enough sycophants out there to support this crap thats killing this program. Baldwin? A political hire....a disaster. Bustle? National search....program gets better. Hud? National search.....program gets even better. Napier? National search.....team reaches its zenith. Des? No search/hometown hire......you see a pattern? But F it. People are gonna come here and blast me,make excuses, try to force a rainbow up a round hole, like they did when I and others protested at this hire. But like I said, IDGAF. They can go pound sand. This is gonna be a long road. Take yalls medicine, but I'm tired supporting mediocrity and watching this University sit there, and frankly not give a sh!+ while watching fans call you a bad fan for pointing out the obvious. Sorry Charlie, this wasn't directed at you personally brother, just everything as a whole

My man I didn’t think he was ready, but they didn’t ask me. Once he was hired all I could do was hope for the best and give him a chance. But it’s clear it was a mistake. Really wish it wasn’t.

[KajunKrazy]

And don't forget the current QB is top 3 on the team.

Yep. He was in the top 1 coming out of fall camp 2022.

[KajunKrazy]

Charlie, how did anybody honestly think he was ready for this job. More precisely, ready for this job at THAT important juncture of this university. They blindly lined up because Des is a "good guy", a "hard nosed player", a "leader of men", and he's gonna "graduate his players" Well we weren't hiring a humanitarian, a football player, a pastor, or a professor. The same people gushing for this Des hire are the same ones who wanted to hire Louie Cook. The same ones that defend and sunshine pump every assanine decision this university makes. Skipping around blowing bubbles and farting rainbows. It's people that wanna be cool with coach and have you sit on his lap. We were at the most pivotal position this university could've been in and we made the dumbest decision we could've ever made. And listen, God bless Des. Is he a great guy? Of course. But contrary to popular belief, you can love Des as a person, but hate it as your head football coach. Some people just can't separate the two. And it's part of the reason we have coaches like Marlin and Des. There's enough sycophants out there to support this crap thats killing this program. Baldwin? A political hire....a disaster. Bustle? National search....program gets better. Hud? National search.....program gets even better. Napier? National search.....team reaches its zenith. Des? No search/hometown hire......you see a pattern? But F it. People are gonna come here and blast me,make excuses, try to force a rainbow up a round hole, like they did when I and others protested at this hire. But like I said, IDGAF. They can go pound sand. This is gonna be a long road. Take yalls medicine, but I'm tired supporting mediocrity and watching this University sit there, and frankly not give a sh!+ while watching fans call you a bad fan for pointing out the obvious. Sorry Charlie, this wasn't directed at you personally brother, just everything as a whole

Louie Cook would have been a great hire following Stokley. That would have been a home run IMO. One of the best offensive minds in football.

[cajun4life]

Yep. He was in the top 1 coming out of fall camp 2022.

USM was on a 3rd string QB too

[Jacob81]

Dez needs to fire himself as OC. Will hall did it and look at USM since. As far as Lamar Morgan…. Dez said defense needs to play ____ed off. Apparently Lamar didn’t hear that and almost never lets the Defense do so.

[Cajunrunner]

They didn't think he was ready for the job..

They wanted someone who (a) would be happy to be here long term and (b) might be a decent coach down the road. Hiring the local boy also gives them several years of slack so they don't have to do any coaching hires, worry about buyouts, etc.

Des going 6-6 year after year with a meaningless bowl game is just fine with MH. Same with Marlin sneaking into March Madness every 4 years, or baseball winning one or two games in a regional...

That's good enough. Not bad for little ole University of Louisiana at Small-town. They don't want big money boosters that will demand wins and improvements to athletic programs. They want donations from families whose names are on street signs all over town that don't care if we win -- "just happy to help a local school out!"

Remember we're a Tier 1 R1A+ research academia facility first and foremost!
Apparently that puts us slightly ahead of Grambling and ULM.

Sports are just rewards for some of our dumber students and fans.

This.

Martin Hall really didn't like the excitement around the first two years of Hud's success. Fortunately for them, he F-ed it up. Then comes Napier. Excellent hire by Maggard, who was trying to build a resume to be a P5 AD, specifically for the Mizzu job. However, he didn't get that job, and the last two Napier seasons of a Top 25 team made Martin Hall nervous. In their viewpoint, letting a major sport like football be that successful brings with it expectations that are a "distraction" to them.

They much prefer 6-6/7-5 going to some irrelevant bowl game and not having to "worry".

[Esqueleto]

Well hat's off to the Southern Mississippi band for making the trip. Don't often see the other band at CF.

Amen, that was the lone bright spot of the night.

[Big Buds]

Ticket prices are about to skyrocket for football. You would think with such financial commitment for the new stadium, add pressure would be put on MH to make changes with the coaching staff.

[Big Buds]

If he was the guy, billy would have taken him to Florida. Obviously he ain’t.

No doubt.

Last night I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make the ULM game, so I decided to walk to the very top of Cajun Field and soak everything in one more time before they tear things down. I should have reached out while walking the stadium so we could’ve had a couple beers.

[RaginScotsman]

Not sure what the "martin hall hates success" talk is about. Sure, they do some infuriating and head scratching things to alienate fans, but it's 2023 and they know athletic success lends itself directly to university success. I know winning is important to Dr. Maggard, to the teams and they have had success in several sports for some time. Maybe I'm missing something and just like I didn't want to buy into the "Dez isn't the guy" talk, I can be swayed.

Back to the game. Man, it was tough to watch. Unenjoyable. Actually, thought it was a win to get 15k, and that's sad.

Needed to stop Gore. He was all they had. Didn't do that.

Needed to score when you had the opportunity. 3 times inside the 7, counting the fumble recovery, 0 point. A good team turns that into a 21-point lead and the game is done.

Needed a couple of breaks. Got a couple of fumbles and South Miss got them back. They missed 2 straight field goals from the same distance in back to back drives.

Officiating. You knew it would be rough when "Lafayette" got a side line warning.

Fields was actually pretty good. Through a few balls behind receivers, but they should have been caught. I didn't see the throw, but he missed a receiver on the final driver with a high throw that could have put us closer to a walk off field goal. I thought we'd win when we had the ball with a minute and change to go.

Losing the center was a huge game changer. The multiple botched snaps (1 TO) and running up the middle on the goal line with a backup and not scoring made a big difference in the game. I might not be remembering this right, but did they move Gillie to Center then move to the actual backup on the depth chart and all problems were solved? If so, why wait so long to make the change?