Champions Square

[R1Letterman]

I don't think in fighting amongst g5 over who is better who is major who isn't who deserved who didn't, is the way to go.
The bigger question is why when a p5 makes playoff their ny6 slot is usually given to an extra conf mate, but when it happened to g5, the g5 lost its slot?

[ULvictory]

I think we are getting too much into the semantics of the term "major" college football. I think what lafman is trying to convey is that we are not the 15 or so P5 schools that have an enormous athletic budget, consistently compete for NC, and play in front of 85,000+ fans on a weekly basis. And having a school 45 minutes away (that has all of that) hurts us in that regard. It stinks, but it's the truth.

Right now, what we should be doing is getting ready to promote the 12-team playoff PLUS the new stadium as a 2-for-1 marketing plan. Once that first demolition ball hits the first piece of concrete of Cajun Field, start going into the 7 parishes around the area to say "we are here, and we are ready," because that 12-team playoff then puts us in that conversation. If we have another 2021 type season, we are in those conversations. Plus, I have always said that in order to promote this area, the plan needs to be as if you are running for public office. That's why Hud was able to get the average person to a game. He would go to offices, restaurants, random places on campus, and invite people to Cajun Field.

When you are competing with free events like Rhythms on the River, a day at Moncus Park, or many festivals we have here; we need to start thinking outside the box of how we attract people to the point where whether or not "major" college football is being played is an afterthought.

[SlickRick]

This is got-dam beautiful. AMEN!

AGREE!

[CajunVic]

. . . sorry, but either generally or specifically posting that Louisiana does not play any major college sports is just ridiculous . . .

. . . if that is the case, then you could say in football that 6 or 7 games out of the year, LSU does not play major college sports . . .

. . . in college sports, are we an LSU, Georgia, Texas or Oklahoma, no, but we certainly are in the same category as Tulane, Boise St, James Madison, Coastal Carolina, Loyola Marymount . . . we all play major college sports . . . even football . . .

[R1Letterman]

According to the Carnegie Classification of colleges and universities, colleges considered "small" have fewer than 5,000 students. These are typically private.
Many colleges fall into the "medium" category, between 5,000 to 15,000 students. For example, Yale, Brown, Howard, Duke.
"Large" usually means more than 15,000 students

[cajun55]

I think UL has about 10-15k "loyal" fans that consider gameday a "can't miss" event

Then probably another 5-10k of alumni, people who grew up going with their parents, etc., who would love to attend if schedule allows it, but probably can't make more than a game or two each year

Then maybe 500? 1k students? that attend each game..

That's probably your fanbase as it currently stands..

LSU's fanbase is statewide -- same way Louisiana adopts the Saints, Pelicans, Astros, etc from across the state. UL does not, and likely will not, have that luxury of picking up casual fans in Shreveport, New Orleans, etc.

The only other group that you can pull from are the people in the Acadiana area that are present at every Festival International (300k+ over three or four days), Festival Acadiens (50k estimated - 2022), Mardi Gras (12k per mile - 2017), etc.

Now... all of these events are free, but the community has demonstrated that a free event where you can pass a good time, drink some beer, eat good food, listen to music, etc.. They'll come to that in the thousands. That's what tailgating has to be. The "thing" that's going on for 5-6 Saturdays a year where people go.

Then your challenge is to convince them that the party in the parking lot will keep rolling if they buy a ticket and come inside.

100% agree, we need to create a festival atmosphere that embraces our culture. I actually really liked some of the Cajun/Zydeco music I heard over the tv broadcast the other day. Things like the 3rd down music etc... that half the schools across the country use don't really enhance the experience. The more things the gameday staff can come up with that make us unique the better. I really hope that is part of the main focus with the stadium upgrade.

[Big Poppa]

Did they go to a decent bowl game where they played another major team? No. They played a 4 loss CUSA team in another Who Cares Bowl

The sun belt has tie ins just like every other conference out there. If you’re not in a Jan 1 bowl you go to a bowl tied to your conference. Since 2014 South Carolina, Va Tech, NC St, Vanderbilt, Fla St, Duke, Miami and BYU have all played in the bowl we played in last year. Does that make them not major college football too?

[KajunKrazy]

I think UL has about 10-15k "loyal" fans that consider gameday a "can't miss" event

Then probably another 5-10k of alumni, people who grew up going with their parents, etc., who would love to attend if schedule allows it, but probably can't make more than a game or two each year

Then maybe 500? 1k students? that attend each game..

That's probably your fanbase as it currently stands..

LSU's fanbase is statewide -- same way Louisiana adopts the Saints, Pelicans, Astros, etc from across the state. UL does not, and likely will not, have that luxury of picking up casual fans in Shreveport, New Orleans, etc.

The only other group that you can pull from are the people in the Acadiana area that are present at every Festival International (300k+ over three or four days), Festival Acadiens (50k estimated - 2022), Mardi Gras (12k per mile - 2017), etc.

Now... all of these events are free, but the community has demonstrated that a free event where you can pass a good time, drink some beer, eat good food, listen to music, etc.. They'll come to that in the thousands. That's what tailgating has to be. The "thing" that's going on for 5-6 Saturdays a year where people go.

Then your challenge is to convince them that the party in the parking lot will keep rolling if they buy a ticket and come inside.

The sad thing is UL currently has more students from North of Alexandria and east of the basin specially BR than ever than ever before. They are missing a golden opportunity to start building that state wide fan base. IMO

[lafman1]

So when we had consecutive top 25 seasons what kind of football were we playing?

Do we have to have a certain number of fans at the games for it to be Major in your opinion? Tell us what the threshold is please.

IF you want to say the gameday atmosphere is not "Major" of course I would agree with that but at the end of the day that is up to the community not the quality of play on the field. Seems to me if it's not P5, it's not Major in your opinion. So we can only be Major in football if we play in one of the top 5 conferences?

Yeah. Pretty much.
Finishing in the top 25 is not the same as consistently playing top 15 teams.
For example:

2021
Week 13. Not ranked
Week 14. Ranked 24
Week 15. Ranked 23
Final ranking. 16

[R1Letterman]

Yeah. Pretty much.
Finishing in the top 25 is not the same as consistently playing top 15 teams.
For example:

2021
Week 13. Not ranked
Week 14. Ranked 24
Week 15. Ranked 23
Final ranking. 16

Great point about the rankings in the context of atmosphere.... unfortunately the way it is set up that "casual fan" does not "know cajuns are ranked" until later in the season as you displayed..... how many other skools are able to get increased attendance by being given undeserved higher rankings early on, they get the attendance, atmosphere, then lose.
One could argue the team should not have been ranked and maybe cajuns should have been ranked higher sooner.