The value of going independant was real, tangible, and grabbable, but there was an aversion to work.
It "WAS" real, it is no longer an option.
The option is water under the bridge.
It didn't happen when it should have and isn't an option now.
You tell me why NMSU is, being mentioned and Louisiana isn't.
Never mind, I'll tell you its because of all the free "availability" pub they recieved the past few years. This is just residual talk by writers, nothing will come of it.
NMSU is getting pub because they did the one thing that provides immeasurable street cred. They beat a P4 Blue Blood, Auburn.
Louisiana was independent for the biggest single season turnaround in NCAA history (at the time) 1992.
Louisiana was independent for the higest quality schedule it has ever had 1996. (which should register as a winning season because Texas Tech forfeited)
It was feasable doable and if "work" wasn't a 4-letter word Louisiana would be in a super conference right now.
It takes a fool to really think Im talking about it being a viable option in 2024.
If certain things were in place now, it would still be a viable option.
- We would need a better home than the Southland to place our non-football sports.
- We would need our own Bowl Game that we control like the "Energy Bowl" from the beautiful OLOL stadium, with a P4 Tie-in as the opponent.
- Invest heavily in our own streaming production or do a deal with ESPN or Apple TV.
The only school that can possibly make Indy work at this stage is ND. They are their own brand. They can negotiate their own TV package and they have deep rivalries and playing traditions with a host of great programs. And, any other P4 conference would love to have their other sports.
And Texas does not have all this?
I believe it can't happen now because Super conference and non Super conference are going to 9-conference games. This makes scheduling untenable.
The money Louisiana has recieved and will recieve for being in a conference would have been dwarfed by playing a top notch Indi schedule not unlike the 1996 schedule.
The recruiting value of not being stuck playing the same schhools every year would be a major draw.
There would be no need for a TV package as every single opponent already has one. Cut and dried.
The value of playing Louisiana home and away would have been blatantly valuable to others SOS.
Those schools who didn't see the value of traveling would generate 3 to 4-times the current conference payout.
Louisiana gave up on this before, because Authement gutted the budget and had Stokley doing double duty as head coach and athletic director at a time when it required a manual phone call go every school in the coumtry with no natiomal database of who had openenings when?
Those days are gone and so is the option to put Louisiana on the map as the most available school out there.
It aint happening nor am I proposing it can happen... But it could have.
Oh my. Well, as you have correctly said, don’t want to do that now, so no reason to debate.
I will only say that in the event New Mexico St is invited to the hypothetical super conf some advisory group who may or may not have a compulsory reason to have placed New Mexico St in said conference, it would be like inviting a homeless person to a wealthy donor charity gala.
The problems New Mexico State have are too many to mention. A shame too…used to be one of my favorite towns to visit back in the day.
NMSU really only has one problem; the Mountain West won't invite them, regardless of their long standing good relationship with UNM and their status as the land grant university in New Mexico.
The division might not be very good, at least at first, but a Front Range division of the MWC with UTEP, NMSU, UNM, CSU, AFA and Wyoming would be a really nice setup.
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