College Football 2010 Rankings: No. 103 Louisiana

[bigearl]

_ Is this official? _

Sorry - is it official that Gauthier will be back?

[cajunfan32]

_ Sorry - is it official that Gauthier will be back? _

I havent heard an official annoucement or anything but it is very likely he will be back. could be suspended for some games or something but i'm pretty sure that he's not getting kicked off the team. But all of that is just my educated guess.

[cajun4life]

_ Sorry - is it official that Gauthier will be back? _

That is who should be our #1 QB! I am a big time B Mac guy but the upside to Blaine Gautier is much higher than anyone we have had since Jake. He has the arm strength and mobility plus he is not a run first QB from what I have seen of him. I know the game was out of reach against Troy but he picked them apart aside from the INTs in the endzone at the end of the game. He needs to be given the reigns.

[zephyr]

_ That is who should be our #1 QB! I am a big time B Mac guy but the upside to Blaine Gautier is much higher than anyone we have had since Jake. He has the arm strength and mobility plus he is not a run first QB from what I have seen of him. I know the game was out of reach against Troy but he picked them apart aside from the INTs in the endzone at the end of the game. He needs to be given the reigns. _

You are correct. Mcguire is a great leader, as is Masson and I'd love to see Mac on the field but I think the situation lends itself for some interesting developments, especially seeing Mac on the field at all times at the H-Back spot where he gives us some toughness, smarts and leadership and athleticism.

Gautier is the best fit in this offense. He's the best dual threat guy we have and that is what this offense is predicated on. If you ran a more traditional style like FAU, Masson would probably be a better choice.

Yes, its unofficial but unless something crazy happens Gautier, Lewis-Buchanon and the other players will likely be back soon.

[zephyr]

_ J1M, I don't necessarily disagree with any of what you say except for this: Forget what the coaches see in practice: The TEAM does not respect Masson and will not follow him. I don't know why that is, it just obviously IS. Our best chance to win THIS YEAR is with Brad. If our coaches can't watch what goes on in games and on the sidelines and see that Masson does not have the respect of the team, they need to be run off, anyway. We don't have enough talent to win 7-8 games with our schedule behind a QB that is not THE leader of his team. _

What is so apparent to you that Masson does not have the team's respect? Just curious because I doubt any of us truly know the inner workings of the team as we all hear things second hand.

[zephyr]

_ I'm with you on this. Everyone says these polls are meaningless. It is meaningless because we are rated so low. I suspect if we were rated #50, it would be a very big deal, at least to me it would. It would certainly say a lot about our program. Unfortunately, #103 also says a lot about our program, particularly the overall perception of our program. We are still rated among the worse programs in the country and one of the worse programs within the worse conference in the country. This has got to be a make it or break it year for us and certainly for this coaching staff, although Bustle just got a 2 year extension. The magazine rankings that appear to mean the most, however, are Phil Steele and Athlon College Football, so I'm curious as to where they will rank us. Phil Steel's magazine comes out on June 8. However, that said, if we are ranked in the middle of the pack of the worse conference in the country, where else can we be ranked but in the bottom 100. I think Troy and MT, given their recent success and bowl appearances, will likely make it into the 70s, which is where we need to strive for. _

There are two sides to the theory. You are right, if we were ranked much higher, you'd be getting a very positive reaction to the story if I'm not mistaken. However, the information that the writer uses to base his rankings makes no sense. He refers to Masson as the QB and while that is obviously assumable, we all know that he will face stiff competition in the preseason due to his struggles in the spring and Gautier's emergence at the end of last year. He doesn't know who we have coming in at RB as our talent level will be lightyears ahead of what we had last year. He also uses Hall Davis as great loss to our defense likely due to his drafting but he obviously doesn't know that Hall had a whopping 6.5 sacks his entire career. Not that impressive for such a force that we will miss greatly on defense and struggle to replace is it? Again, at the level of these rankings, there is likely very little that separates teams 100+ from many of the teams ranked in the 80's and even 70's and the small things that do separate those teams are likely unknown to a writer who has no inside information or working knowledge of those teams such as our upcoming RB situation.

[zephyr]

_ When I saw the thread title I made a mental bet that there would already be a "These things mean nothing" post..... Well maybe not... Maybe we will be #95 or maybe # 105.... but the point is after 7 years this program remains bottom of the barrel..... Now before you trash me... and you will... i will for the 34th straight year (and 4 before that paid through my student fees) have season tickets and will be at every game... Just mark me as a guy who is frustrated at where this program is this deep into Coach Bustle's reign _

You are entitled to that opinion. I think he has done a better than fair job in his tenure getting us to where we can actually argue about this. I understand the frustration at being .500 seemingly every year and I am just as frustrated as most. However, he fights the uphill battle of yearly budget cuts and minimal financing along with having to play money games each year just to sustain an athletic budget that is one of the worst in the country. For that, I tend to have a level of understanding and choose to focus on the winnable games and conference records for my judgment. He's won as consistently or moreso than almost every coach the past 5 years or so and last year's FIU game and the McNeese debacle stand out in my mind as those that really drive a nail through what we are trying to accomplish.

I will be standing with you if the time comes to require a change. In my mind, that change will be warranted with either, a year that does not meet expectations or there is a viable candidate out there that we can sign and improve the status of our program. I was very excited about the possibility of hire Orgeron last year because it symbolized progression and higher expectations for our program and that is even with Bustle going .500 and having a shot at conference midway through even though the expectations of that team were not very high. If there is a better candidate, I'm all about getting him in here even if Bustle wins 7-8 games.

[Hammer58]

_ What is so apparent to you that Masson does not have the team's respect? Just curious because I doubt any of us truly know the inner workings of the team as we all hear things second hand. _

I won't speak for VO but for me maybe respect isn't the right word so much as confidence. I think in games last season and in the spring game this year when Mason faltered early, and unfortunately what seemed often, to move the offense downfield or turned the ball over the other players' body language and the way they reacted to Chris and failed to interact with him on the sidelines seemed to indicate to me (admittedly from afar) that they just did not have confidence in him.

I hope I'm wrong and Chris has a great year and leads UL to a winning regular season and a bowl victory.

[Turbine]

_ I won't speak for VO but for me maybe respect isn't the right word so much as confidence. I think in games last season and in the spring game this year when Mason faltered early, and unfortunately what seemed often, to move the offense downfield or turned the ball over the other players' body language and the way they reacted to Chris and failed to interact with him on the sidelines seemed to indicate to me (admittedly from afar) that they just did not have confidence in him.

I hope I'm wrong and Chris has a great year and leads UL to a winning regular season and a bowl victory. _

My only question last year centered on how the general consensus was McGuire was ahead in the Spring and Fall then for no announced reason (it may have had something to do with McGuire throwing a 'single' int) Bustle holds a rare closed Wednesday ‘preseason’ practice and wallah Masson is named starter.

I don’t have the right but it would have been nice to see what he saw.

[zephyr]

_ My only question last year centered on how the general consensus was McGuire was ahead in the Spring and Fall then for no announced reason (it may have had something to do with McGuire throwing a 'single' int) Bustle holds a rare closed Wednesday ‘preseason’ practice and wallah Masson is named starter.

I don’t have the right but it would have been nice to see what he saw. _

Turbine, it was not one instance of Macguire having a strong spring and fall to lose his job in a heartbeat. He had the surgery in spring which gave Masson a lot more time with the first team in spring and he did very well. Into the fall, Mcguire was ahead of Masson but weekly reports had Masson outplaying Mcguire in every facet. As the preseason rolled on, reports were that Mcguire was having more trouble in the passing game and Masson was making proper reads and hitting with more accuracy. I think the coaching staff gave McGuire every opportunity to keep that starting spot and he was unable to do it and Masson played really well. They named McGuire the starter before spring even began and didn't make the move until late in the fall camp. What else are they to do?

Lets not forget that Masson had a really good year passing, especially for a sophomore with little playing experience and while he struggled a bit running the ball, he was a very solid starter IMO.