2011 New Orleans Bowl: LOUISIANA (32) SDSU (30)

[beavis11]

I don't know what stories like this are telling you guys, but they are painting a very clear picture for me. I have heard & read people on this site make fun of Wright Waters in the past & I have joined in myself. However, UL's previous disappointments have served to gain the SBC something that it is now in a position to take advantage of. Being the conference nobody wanted with the pretty much little brothers of the big powerhouse schools in the same states & having bowl agreements in locations close to our stomping grounds has given the SBC something many other conferences in college football wish for, but will never have. It gives the SBC stability.

Stability is a fertile breeding ground for young fan bases seeking to grow. What this conference needs is a leader. I have always maintained when others argued that the SBC wasn't "good enough" that UL had to be outright champions at least once to make that claim. Now UL can & in point of fact needs to start to take its rightful role as SBC leaders & show the rest of the country that a pretty mean brand of football can be played in Lafayette as well as anywhere in this country. If you can't have the SEC, & not everyone can, then why not go with the next best thing (SBC) SEC light? This sould give UL a major leg up on outside schools from other conferences trying to take players from our area ( which should rightfully stretch from East Texas across to the Florida panhandle) with a big emphasis on the Acadiana, River parishes, bayou country, & New Orleans. Let's face it. If you get the players with character & talent to go along with great coaching,organization, & dedication then you're gonna win. There is no magic formula. It just takes somebody with enough guts to say WE can do it & it CAN BE DONE HERE. This is what HUD has done. Not only can it be done, but it should be expected annually.

Almost 43,000 people with a school from 1400 miles away. Think about that people. The New Orleans bowl could be the 6th most attended bowl game this year & will almost certainly be in the top 12 of the bowl season. I don't know what this tells you, but it tells me & anyone else with eyes to see, that this could be the start of something very very BIG.

RACK HIM !!!
Might be your best post yet Kyle !

[Bandwagon King]

Kyle... one thing Cajun T spoke about last week was that even though this was a great win for our program... we are kinda tied up in recruiting. He mentioned that all coaches got calls from players they didn't think we could get... being that we didn't think we could get them.. we took commits from other players they liked.

I have no doubt it'll work out... keep in mind we started 5 frosh this year....

This is one of those perks that has a bittersweet side to it. Sometimes you get to go back & get kids you didn't think you would have a chance at & some times a kid you may not think you'd have a chance at could see your team play, get fired up because your S & C coach is a maniac that gets his head busted butting heads & refuses to wipe the side effects off to motivate players. These things work together for the exact effect you want for your program, but the down side is you may have to let a lower level guy go that had all the good character traits you would like, but may not be nearly as good of an athlete. You have to trust the coaches choices in these cases. This is what eventually defines the long term direction & success of your program.

[zephyr]

Schedule is much tougher next year. I would be very pleased with 7 regular season wins

I don't necessarily agree with this. I actually view next year's schedule to be similar to this years. First, we still have 2 OOC games that will be considered money games against teams that we are not expected to beat in Florida and OSU. I think it will be interesting against OSU as they lose a lot of guys from this year's team. Florida is somewhat rebuilding but will certainly still have major talent advantages over us and playing at home. However, we get an FCS team to open up our home schedule and Tulane is going to be similar to the Kent State game except at home. That will be the crucial turn game that can help decide how good our year is. I still think we can go 6-2 or 7-1 in conference next year with the offense we have returning and that is 8 or possibly 9 wins. I think we get to 7 wins minimum and I think this schedule can set up for success given we get a couple of bye weeks in the middle of the season rather than before the very last week like this year.

[RaginWaldo]

I don't necessarily agree with this. I actually view next year's schedule to be similar to this years. First, we still have 2 OOC games that will be considered money games against teams that we are not expected to beat in Florida and OSU. I think it will be interesting against OSU as they lose a lot of guys from this year's team. Florida is somewhat rebuilding but will certainly still have major talent advantages over us and playing at home. However, we get an FCS team to open up our home schedule and Tulane is going to be similar to the Kent State game except at home. That will be the crucial turn game that can help decide how good our year is. I still think we can go 6-2 or 7-1 in conference next year with the offense we have returning and that is 8 or possibly 9 wins. I think we get to 7 wins minimum and I think this schedule can set up for success given we get a couple of bye weeks in the middle of the season rather than before the very last week like this year.

We will beat Tulane by atleast 2 TDs.
We will upset, or come close to upsetting Florida or OK St.
We will win the Sunbelt conference.

[sportsfanatic21]

9 regular season wins. Sun Belt champs.

Ark St loses a ton of people and their coach. FIU loses their QB and TY Hilton, WKU loses Rainey, FAU and ULM suck, and NT loses Dunbar (and they suck). Troy is on a downswing, as is MT.

7-1 in the conference, beat FCS and Tulane, compete hard with OSU and Florida. Win the New Orelans bowl again, and celebrate our first 10 win season.

That's what next!

[IHateLaState]

9 regular season wins. Sun Belt champs.

Ark St loses a ton of people and their coach. FIU loses their QB and TY Hilton, WKU loses Rainey, FAU and ULM suck, and NT loses Dunbar (and they suck). Troy is on a downswing, as is MT.

7-1 in the conference, beat FCS and Tulane, compete hard with OSU and Florida. Win the New Orelans bowl again, and celebrate our first 10 win season.

That's what next!

What he said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Boomer]

Well we are still listed as the biggest crowd---Shreveport gets 41,700----and remember we brought about 40K or more!!!!

[NewsCopy]

Attendance was announced at 41,728 tickets sold, but there might have been only about 5,000 fans in the stands.

The rest of the story

[LFTCajun]

Watched on TV, I can concur.

Lifeless...

[Boomer]

How can we stop this falsification of the actual attendance????? Damn, I can tell a recruit just about anything, and it isn't substantiated by seat butts-----Arial photography may be the only way with a true fan guesstimate!!!!

[BabbForHeisman]

How can we stop this falsification of the actual attendance????? Damn, I can tell a recruit just about anything, and it isn't substantiated by seat butts-----Arial photography may be the only way with a true fan guesstimate!!!!

If we're going by actual attendance, I doubt the New Orleans Bowl had more than 30K. Still a significant advantage over other bowls, but not quite as impressive as 43K.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I do not think that the actual seat butts in NOB were not about right. I was shocked to learn that a family who I never would have believed to attend the NOB goes every year on their dollar. In addition, I have been to the MLSD many times for many decades and the look of that bowl the fans in the seats to my eyes suggest yest 40 plus.