Predict the Record: Ragin' Cajuns Football 2010

[CajunZ1]

By the way if you were to name 3 or 4 coaching candidates who would YOU suggest? _

My uncle, my best friend, my brother, or my dad could all do a great job...

In all seriousness I have no idea. Hopefully Bustle will get a fat contract extension after the 2010 breakout season.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Even without beating the creme of the SBC, all Bustle had to do last year was beat a 2-9 FIU team for a 7th win and bowl game and he couldn't pull that off. We don't have win the conference to go to a bowl game, but we can't even do that. MTSU didn't win the conference last year, but look what the bowl game did for them. This year is bowl game or bust. After this season, it will be 9 years under Bustle. He had better find a way to win at least 7 this year. I want to see us win and go to a bowl game, but for long term success, it might do us well to have happen what occurred in basketball and bring in someone like Joe DeForest. I'm tired of reading articles about how little respect we are getting nationally. That really excites our fan base. We are still in the bottom 10% of all 1A programs and in the middle to bottom half of the worse conference in the country. NO MORE EXCUSES. _

The SBC is not the worst conference in the country when you look at our computer rankings vs the MAC. In fact it is similar in some ways to CUSA. Now if you want to say it is the worst "perceived" conference in the country due to it being the youngest, I won't argue. It will always be the worst perceived as it will always be the youngest. That does not mean it is factually correct. It is also incorrect to say we are in the middle to bottom half as Zephy pointed out we are third overall the last few years. Having clarified that, most will agree if 7 wins do not occur this year a change will be required in order to move forward.

[cmonman]

_ If you have followed this board for any period of time, you would have seen MANY names thrown around to replace Coach Bustle. I think the timing of the question is simply suspect. Players haven't even reported to get ready for the season and you want to discuss the "next" coach. There may come a time, and it could come quickly, that we really want to get into this discussion; just don't think this is the time. Personally, I'm just ready for football season to start! _

shof, I agree it is a little early to be talking about it, but after seeing predictions and after seeing Sundays paper I just think we should have a backup plan? We should let the season get started and go from there. Nothing more would make fans happy than to see the Cajuns in a bowl game they have good players, I am just saying if history repeats itself we will probably be looking for a coach.Besides 120 days from now Bustles fate will be determined, and I think as fans we should be ahead of the game.Besides add Ed Orgeron, and Chris Scelfos combined records as head coach is almost identical to Bustles 9 years of coaching at UL. Clint Conque is also a good name to look at but an alum with 20 years of coaching experience at major schools at least would deserve a look, I like all cajun fans just want to WIN. Besides keep in mind rumor among D1 coaches is UL is a coaching graveyard not 1 head football coach has been offered a better job in at least 50 plus years that should speak for itself. With all the talent in Lousiana and the fact that Houston and Dallas are not far from Lafayette we should be WINNING dont want to see us have another turn down of 4 or 5 years of not doing good or competing at a national level.Our community and university should take it upon themselves to take a stand and deserve a better football program. Coach Robe has baseball under control, Coach Marlin should turn basketball around, I think he will. That then brings us to football time will tell?

[shof]

_ shof, I agree it is a little early to be talking about it, but after seeing predictions and after seeing Sundays paper I just think we should have a backup plan? We should let the season get started and go from there. Nothing more would make fans happy than to see the Cajuns in a bowl game they have good players, I am just saying if history repeats itself we will probably be looking for a coach.Besides 120 days from now Bustles fate will be determined, and I think as fans we should be ahead of the game.Besides add Ed Orgeron, and Chris Scelfos combined records as head coach is almost identical to Bustles 9 years of coaching at UL. Clint Conque is also a good name to look at but an alum with 20 years of coaching experience at major schools at least would deserve a look, I like all cajun fans just want to WIN. Besides keep in mind rumor among D1 coaches is UL is a coaching graveyard not 1 head football coach has been offered a better job in at least 50 plus years that should speak for itself. With all the talent in Lousiana and the fact that Houston and Dallas are not far from Lafayette we should be WINNING dont want to see us have another turn down of 4 or 5 years of not doing good or competing at a national level.Our community and university should take it upon themselves to take a stand and deserve a better football program. Coach Robe has baseball under control, Coach Marlin should turn basketball around, I think he will. That then brings us to football time will tell? _

I have seen Conque's name come up before, and a few went ga-ga over Orgeron recently as well. And this isn't the first time I have seen Deforest's name come up. I would hope the AD staff has a so-called "back-up plan", and honestly while it often seems as though they do not, the re-working of Bustle's contract after last season gives me some confidence that they do indeed have a plan if things don't go well this season (extension with reduced buyout for following year). I'm pretty sure they also have a "short list" of potential replacements should the need arise. My concern would be having sufficient funds to go out and get the right guy. Hopefully we make a small break-through this year to get to 7 wins and the elusive bowl game; keeping the back-up plan just that.

[zephyr]

_ Even without beating the creme of the SBC, all Bustle had to do last year was beat a 2-9 FIU team for a 7th win and bowl game and he couldn't pull that off. We don't have win the conference to go to a bowl game, but we can't even do that. MTSU didn't win the conference last year, but look what the bowl game did for them. This year is bowl game or bust. After this season, it will be 9 years under Bustle. He had better find a way to win at least 7 this year. I want to see us win and go to a bowl game, but for long term success, it might do us well to have happen what occurred in basketball and bring in someone like Joe DeForest. I'm tired of reading articles about how little respect we are getting nationally. That really excites our fan base. We are still in the bottom 10% of all 1A programs and in the middle to bottom half of the worse conference in the country. NO MORE EXCUSES. _

I would agree with this. I believe that expectations should be higher this season than last. I think this team is more than capable of that 7 win season and subsequent bowl game. Believe it or not, one of the major problems I've had with coach Bustle's teams over the years is their inconsistent nature. We would lose 5 in a row to win the last 4. We would beat a good SBC team to lose to the cellar dweller. The FIU game last year was a very frustrating game and I can only imagine what mood I would have been in to have to watch it versus just listening to it. My main contention with firing Bustle after 6-6 years was that I was certain that if we did this, we would end up in the same spot that ULM is in now and that is hiring a guy that was not on their initial list of primary candidates because they don't have the money or resources to lure a well valued coach. I think that we are in a much better spot now to do this and I have no problems letting coach go if it doesn't get done this year.

[zephyr]

_ You're right, we need to the beat the teams we should be beating, but I have a different opinion on the teams we need to beat. We need to beat the teams below us in conference, that includes FIU, Monroe, UNT, and WKU. I can handle losing to Troy and MT as they normally have a little bit more talent on their squads (although I think we have MT's number in Murfreesboro, but they have our number down here). ASU and UL is usually a good matchup.

You beat the teams you're supposed to beat and get a win or two against teams at your level or above and you're talking about a legitimate chance for a bowl game. We went 3-1 against the teams that I believe we should beat on a consistent basis every season. Care to guess how many games we needed to win to assure us a bowl game? Yep, 1 game. And where could we have picked up that 1 game...against a team we should have beaten. _

I agree. If you read one of my previous posts, that is exactly what I said. I think that the teams we have to beat are the teams not named MTSU and Troy. If we do that and play well and surprise one of these guys, its just gravy. I don't think that's asking too much.

[Just1More]

_ I agree. If you read one of my previous posts, that is exactly what I said. I think that the teams we have to beat are the teams not named MTSU and Troy. If we do that and play well and surprise one of these guys, its just gravy. I don't think that's asking too much. _

I'm pretty sure this isn't how the program sees things, thankfully. We need to win every game, inch by inch. I am afraid you are looking at the box scores of games gone by... and that is absolutely useless. Every team is in flux year to year, and that includes MTSU and Troy. Should we have, in our first years in the SBC, decided that NT was not who we should concern ourselves with... we should just beat the rest of the teams? You cannot in any way concentrate on "beating those ranked behind us... and everything will be fine." That stupid FIU outcome was a bad outcome. Period. Retrospecting it will earn you nothing.

Thankfully, that is not the way any coach in the nation prepares. You don't prepare for any opponent at the same time you prepare for any other opponent. You don't have to concern yourself with next week's matchup... this week. We need to never... ever... think about "taking care of the weaker foes" and not beat the best on our schedule.

I'm not sure what squeezed you into that line of thought Zephyr... I would guess it is the frustration of analyzing the past and wondering what "could have been". Never... ever... do you play harder... or more prepared... or with a different mindset... against one team versus another. We are going in to prepare to play the best we can. As we prepare in the week of the game X to play team X, we prepare to beat the living c r a p out of team X.

[cajunfan32]

I have a question for those of you saying that anything less than 7-5 bustle will be gone (Which i do agree with btw). but would if we went 6-6 and still got to a bowl? I know it's hard for us to get to a bowl game with winning just 6 games but with our tougher non conference schedule you never know. so if this happens, is bustle gone?

Also might i mention that i still have a little hope for the georgia game now. I just have a good feeling about it plus they kicked their running back off the team and all the distractions with the firing of the AD could help. I know it sounds like i'm trying to find a reason why we have a chance but i just have a gut feeling we will make that interesting.

[CajunZ1]

_ I have a question for those of you saying that anything less than 7-5 bustle will be gone (Which i do agree with btw). but would if we went 6-6 and still got to a bowl? I know it's hard for us to get to a bowl game with winning just 6 games but with our tougher non conference schedule you never know. so if this happens, is bustle gone?

My opinion:
If Bustle goes 6-6 and we go to a bowl, he will be retained.

If Bustle goes 6-6 and we do not go to a bowl, he will not be retained.

I understand this seems unfair, given that w/ 6 wins a bowl selection is beyond our control and often arbitrary. 6-6 would be a "dissapointing outcome," however all of that dissapointment would be INSTANTLY wiped away if we got invited somewhere. I'm not saying it's 100% rational, but it's 100% true.

[CajunZ1]

Also remember, with our additional bowl tie-ins, 2010 represents UL's greatest chance to get into a bowl at 6-6.

That is my official prediction for this season. 7-6 after our bowl victory.