Conference Championships vs. Bowl Victories

[03cajunalum]

Since "The Announcement", I've been hearing a lot about how important bowl victories are and how they should be our main focus. IMO, I believe for recruiting and fan base purposes conference championships go a lot further than winning a meaningless bowl game, expecially now that the Sun Belt has more than one tie-in. To say that we are the best out of our conference should be enough to carry us into the subsequent bowl game that will follow. Any opinions?

[SlappyCajun]

_ Since "The Announcement", I've been hearing a lot about how important bowl victories are and how they should be our main focus. IMO, I believe for recruiting and fan base purposes conference championships go a lot further than winning a meaningless bowl game, expecially now that the Sun Belt has more than one tie-in. To say that we are the best out of our conference should be enough to carry us into the subsequent bowl game that will follow. Any opinions? _

Agreed. We might as well do both.

[CajunT]

_ Since "The Announcement", I've been hearing a lot about how important bowl victories are and how they should be our main focus. IMO, I believe for recruiting and fan base purposes conference championships go a lot further than winning a meaningless bowl game, expecially now that the Sun Belt has more than one tie-in. To say that we are the best out of our conference should be enough to carry us into the subsequent bowl game that will follow. Any opinions? _

If you are going to bowls, then you are competing for conference championships. Your goal should be to win a conference championship every year. But if you can get the first bowl under your belt, then the players will come to build a championship team. A bowl might be the first step, because you can qualify with a 6-6 record.

[03cajunalum]

A bowl might be the first step, because you can qualify with a 6-6 record. _

We were at that first step a few times in the last 9 years, but we've decided to move forward and achieve more. Our first meaningful step will be to win the Sunbelt and not share it. Then we can take our destiny out of the bowl committee's hands and put it in ours. Either way, it's a win-win situation and a far cry from where we were before Bustle.

[CajunT]

_ We were at that first step a few times in the last 9 years, but we've decided to move forward and achieve more. Our first meaningful step will be to win the Sunbelt and not share it. Then we can take our destiny out of the bowl committee's hands and put it in ours. Either way, it's a win-win situation and a far cry from where we were before Bustle. _

You can go 7-5 , make it to a bowl and still not be conference champion. That in my book is improvement. When you have never been to a bowl in 40 years or in the modern football era, I will take it even if it's not winning the championship.

[Geaux]

Championships! "If you are not first, then your last." UNT may not have been good recently, but we all remember them winning four straight SBC Championships.......OUTRIGHT! Troy, back to back champs......OUTRIGHT! It matters. It's a guarenteed trophy in the case and ring on the finger when you win conference. Look at the SEC, that championship game usually determines our national championship. Bob Stoops and Oklahoma may not win many National Championships, but they have seven Big XII Championships to show off. As for bowl victories, if it's not the BCS National Championship, it does not really matter these days.

[TuffGuy84]

_ Championships! "If you are not first, then your last." UNT may not have been good recently, but we all remember them winning four straight SBC Championships.......OUTRIGHT! Troy, back to back champs......OUTRIGHT! It matters. It's a guarenteed trophy in the case and ring on the finger when you win conference. Look at the SEC, that championship game usually determines our national championship. Bob Stoops and Oklahoma may not win many National Championships, but they have seven Big XII Championships to show off. As for bowl victories, if it's not the BCS National Championship, it does not really matter these days. _

I have to disagree, we won a share of a conference title in 2005, 1994, and 1993, yet when people think of the program NO ONE talks about that, people want to know when was the last time we made a bowl and unfortunately for us, its been 40 years. If things are done right, we should get the best of both worlds and have a conference title to go along with a bowl game for the holidays.

[zephyr]

_ Championships! "If you are not first, then your last." UNT may not have been good recently, but we all remember them winning four straight SBC Championships.......OUTRIGHT! Troy, back to back champs......OUTRIGHT! It matters. It's a guarenteed trophy in the case and ring on the finger when you win conference. Look at the SEC, that championship game usually determines our national championship. Bob Stoops and Oklahoma may not win many National Championships, but they have seven Big XII Championships to show off. As for bowl victories, if it's not the BCS National Championship, it does not really matter these days. _

That's crazy. You don't have to play for a BCS championship as the lone requisite to have a solid program or year. Bowls across the board are good for exposure, especially for programs like ours. They allow others to see you on a grand stage and promote your program. Sure, for a Notre Dame who has passed up certain bowl appearances a few times, they want more prestigous bowls to play in but right now, at this time, the Cajuns would benefit far more by a bowl appearance and 7 win season and bowl appearance. Having said that, if we were to win the conference championship outright, we'd likely have that win total or more so it would all come as a package deal. I think that the 7 win season and bowl birth are likely to happen first but make no mistake, this team we have coming back has enough players and talent to win a championship soon if things come together.

[cajun4life]

Bowl victories, no doubt! You start off with bowl victories and that will increase the exposure for your program at a national level. You work your way up to winning the conference IMO.

I would gladly take 5 straight bowl appearances with 4 or 5 wins vs 5 straight Belt titles and winning 2 or 3 bowl games. The Bowl wins carry much more weight than a Belt title IMO.

[03cajunalum]

I suppose the first logical step would be to eek it out and get bowl eligible like 2 of the 3 bowl teams from the Sunbelt. I would prefer to dominate our conference schedule and have the national television announcers calling the bowl game referring to us as the Sunbelt Champs. Troy's built their national reputation by doing it the last few years and I believe the 'belt is ready for a Cajun takeover!

No matter how I look at it, I believe we'll have more than 3 wins next season.

[BayouTeche]

Conference Championships mean way more. More tha half the teams last year lost money going to bowl games Last year, from the costs of travel, lodging, meals and tickets. Twelve schools had deficits of more than $100,000. For three, the shortfall exceeded $300,000.
I don't believe losing money is positive unless you can afford to lose money and don't really care. FIU will lose money going to Detroit and I am sure Tulsa will as well. Troy will be ok but not make huge profits. Vandy sits back and makes more than 75% of the bowl teams watching it at home.

[RaginFan2]

_ Conference Championships mean way more. More tha half the teams last year lost money going to bowl games Last year, from the costs of travel, lodging, meals and tickets. Twelve schools had deficits of more than $100,000. For three, the shortfall exceeded $300,000.
I don't believe losing money is positive unless you can afford to lose money and don't really care. FIU will lose money going to Detroit and I am sure Tulsa will as well. Troy will be ok but not make huge profits. Vandy sits back and makes more than 75% of the bowl teams watching it at home. _

Yeah, but watching it at home isn't really where it's at!