Tulane Game Week (pregame)

[zeppelincajun]

Still gonna be at the game. Never quite understood why some people insist on having to say a shiz sandwich tastes good though. Anyone with common sense knows any “national exposure” from this game being on ESPNU is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating. It’s okay to admit something sucks.

[Cajunrunner]

Forecast....high of 88, real feel, 100 degrees. Lovely.

So lots of water and Electrolit with your morning booze.

[CajunNation]

So lots of water and Electrolit with your morning booze.

I love it when people bring up all the P5 schools that regularly play morning games like all those Big10 schools. I believe there may be a slight culture difference between your typical, dry county Indiana football booster and Cajun fans. To ignore that is to bury your head in the sand.

[ragin50]

Forecast....high of 88, real feel, 100 degrees. Lovely.

Boise State revisited but without the West side at all.

[SlickRick]

Yeah, all those "other schools" playing at 11AM, most in cooler climates and getting paid Millions and millions by ESPN. Sheesh!

[LouisianaB]

Still gonna be at the game. Never quite understood why some people insist on having to say a shiz sandwich tastes good though. Anyone with common sense knows any “national exposure” from this game being on ESPNU is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating. It’s okay to admit something sucks.

I guess I have no common sense, because there is national exposure, and it counts for something. To say it is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating is hyperbole, and I disagree.

Im not saying its great, but its what we have, and we cannot change it. Most on here were loving the ESPN deal back when it was signed. They loved the increased linear games.

The question as to whether it sucks is a matter of perspective. Its not the end of the world. Its a thing, and we have to adapt to the thing. You can sit around and complain all you want, but it doesnt change the thing.

[Esqueleto]

I guess I have no common sense, because there is national exposure, and it counts for something. To say it is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating is hyperbole, and I disagree.

Im not saying its great, but its what we have, and we cannot change it. Most on here were loving the ESPN deal back when it was signed. They loved the increased linear games.

The question as to whether it sucks is a matter of perspective. Its not the end of the world. Its a thing, and we have to adapt to the thing. You can sit around and complain all you want, but it doesnt change the thing.

I HATE it, I HATE it, I HATE it

[LouisianaB]

Most of the 11a kick schools (12 noon eastern) seem to attract full houses or nearly full houses for the early game. As a fan base, they get it, its called loyalty and priority to a school. Here, however here there is a lack of priority and loyalty. UL has managed to loose an entire generation of fans by being, well....UL. At some point UL has got to start doing what is best for UL and not ESPN (especially an 11a kick off).standing up for itself to do what's right will build fans loyalty and build the priority of going to a UL game faster than anything else.

You're completely missing the point of my listing of the games at 11am. Its to show that the window isnt saturated with a huge game like UCLA/LSU, USC/Michigan, Oklahoma/Tenn. None of the 11am games are must-watch.

Also, how does one stand up for themselves when the conference signed away the rights?

[Turbine]

My mom is from Nebraska and growing up all the Cornhusker games were at noon.

Noon made sense; the temperature got down to single digits at night and the tradition started long before many of those schools had stadium lighting.

Louisiana had all day games before 1930's also, but as SOON as they put in lights in 1931 (may have been 33) they did the smart thing.

"LOUISIANA SATURDAY NIGHTS"

[Turbine]

Have Disney (aka ESPN) and the DirecTV put their differences aside?

[R1Letterman]

Still gonna be at the game. Never quite understood why some people insist on having to say a shiz sandwich tastes good though. Anyone with common sense knows any “national exposure” from this game being on ESPNU is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating. It’s okay to admit something sucks.

And what happens to the people that pay extra for espn + but dont have espnU

[R1Letterman]

My mom is from Nebraska and growing up all the Cornhusker games were at noon.

Noon made sense; the temperature got down to single digits at night and the tradition started long before many of those schools had stadium lighting.

Louisiana had all day games before 1930's also, but as SOON as they put in lights in 1931 (may have been 33) they did the smart thing.

"LOUISIANA SATURDAY NIGHTS"

# ooops

Versions recorded in 1967 and 1977.....

See also, (yikes) “Louisiana Saturday Night” can be heard before every home Louisiana State University football and McNeese Cowboys football game, played in Tiger Stadium, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Cowboy Stadium, in Lake Charles, Louisiana respectively.

[Big Buds]

I’m ____ed…but we just need to show up! The University needs to make a huge push to the students these next couple of weeks! Tulane should bring 1,500-2,000. We can surely bring 20K!

[R1Letterman]

Man, I know it may hurt attendance, though it shouldn't if the local area actually supported the program. However, we are begging for national relevancy (or should be) in the current landscape, and we've seen thanks to success in the Hud and Napier years that the national folks will talk us up when we are winning.

What better way to get back on the radar of the national college football media than to upset what has been a recently very successful Tulane program at Cajun Field on one of the national TV stations?

The rebuttal would be, ehh if tooLame was really that successful why are they playing on the road in the sbc. They will probbaly show more picsnof lswho tailgates than ours

[zeppelincajun]

I guess I have no common sense, because there is national exposure, and it counts for something. To say it is nothing compared to what we will lose in attendance and tailgating is hyperbole, and I disagree.

Im not saying its great, but its what we have, and we cannot change it. Most on here were loving the ESPN deal back when it was signed. They loved the increased linear games.

The question as to whether it sucks is a matter of perspective. Its not the end of the world. Its a thing, and we have to adapt to the thing. You can sit around and complain all you want, but it doesnt change the thing.

So if it isn’t nothing let’s analyze what it actually is. Not the money from the TV contract but this highly lauded “national exposure.” What tangible long-term benefits is it bringing our program. To do this let’s look at our most successful season on-field in our history and the peak of our national exposure. 6 home games.

Nicholls Sat 6 PM ESPN3
Ohio Thu 7 PM ESPN
App State Tue 6:30 PM ESPN 2
Texas State (Homecoming) Sat 11 AM ESPNU
Georgia State Thu 6:30 PM ESPN
ULM Sat 3 PM ESPNU

We can quibble over differing perspectives, but I think we can agree the MAJORITY of fans would describe 4 of 6 of these games as on undesirable dates or at undesirable times. However, with this unprecedented national exposure, that’s just so valuable we can’t put a price on it, surely we saw substantial gains to our fanbase and unprecedented levels of new fans coming in to the fold in the following year…or did we see some of the worst attendance and fan engagement since the Baldwin era? The latter. Why? Because the national exposure didn’t amount to much long-term, as locally people weren’t buying what we were selling (a continuation of the cULture headed by Michael Desormeaux).

When this stadium renovation is complete, Bryan Maggard is not going to be tasked with selling this product to the entire nation. He is going to be counting on Acadiana to fill those seats. When trying to sell a product for thousands of dollars (between tickets, RCAF donations, parking passes, and tailgate spots) having up to 2/3 of your games at undesirable times/dates is not going to help. People knowing that the more success the team has the worse chances get for desired dates and time slots makes it an even tougher sell. We can stink it up in the 6PM Saturday night slots for all of eternity but the moment we succeed or have an intriguing opponent we are right back to the unwanted slots.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting we just sit around and complain. I think the vast majority of us who can still attend will. However, expecting people to not realize or acknowledge that their gameday experience continues to deteriorate while they pay more than they ever have for the privilege is just not logical. Trying to polish a turd and spin this as a net gain isn’t either. Weekday games and 11 AM time slots are bad for Louisiana football.