Wierd bowl similarities between Louisiana, TCU Tulane and LSU
None of the similarities overlap in all areas but I found the similarities interesting.
- The University of Louisiana and LSU were both shunned when sure promises of certain bowl invites were given away to other teams in an underhanded method.
- TCU and Tulane did the bowl shunning so as not to interfere with studies.
- New bowls were created for Louisiana and TCU.
University of Louisiana and LSU, Charlie McClendon's 9-1 Tigers of 1969 were shunned by Cotton Bowl officials even though they had already promised a Cotton Bowl invite to the Tigers, when the Cotton Bowl suddenly opted for newly available Notre Dame.
UL coach Louis Whitman's undefeated Bulldog's of 1943 were surprisingly shunned by Sugar Bowl officials even though they won their season finally (an indicated prerequisite) for the 1944 Sugar bowl. The sugar bowl invite went to Tulsa in the middle of Louisiana's hard fought 6-0 win over Randolph Field in the season finale.
TCU and Tulane, both declined bowl bids with academics being the reason. In 1925 Tulane's 9-0-1 team was denied by their own administration when they turned down a Rose Bowl bid because the long train trip would keep the team away from its studies.
In 2003 TCU declined the GMAC bowl because it would interfere with finals.
Louisiana and TCU, Although the majority of Louisiana's players felt slighted by the 1944 Sugar Bowl rejection, a heads up move by star player Weldon Humble prevented the season from fading into oblivion. He convinced the rest of the team and school officials that playing in the newly created (with UL in mind) Oil Bowl was the way to go. With their Oil Bowl win Louisiana became the only team in the country to defeat 3 bowl bound teams that season..
In a similar move TCU of 2003 (after doing the rejecting) accepted a bid in the newly created Fort Worth bowl. They lost.
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