UL @ UTA - G3

[DieHard1280]

Scoring only 4 runs against Sunday pitching is not normally going to be enough.

No doubt. I got the impression (rightly or wrongly) that the Cajuns thought they could coast through this weekend at the plate and did just enough to win the first two games late. I never felt comfortable at any point this weekend. I didn't expect a 9th inning collapse in the bullpen but I thought they should have scored 10+ runs today.

[Bandwagon King]

So Milhorn gave up the four in the ninth? Sounds like he had a rough outing. Did he look tired? Is he the guy is the question I think Robe would be asking himself if he were thinking out loud.

[DieHard1280]

So Milhorn gave up the four in the ninth? Sounds like he had a rough outing. Did he look tired? Is he the guy is the question I think Robe would be asking himself if he were thinking out loud.

I don't know if Millhorn gave up four by himself but Bazar didn't help him any, either (did he even record an out?)Neither of them pitched well at all. That was a gift win if I've ever seen one.

[Dad04]

So Milhorn gave up the four in the ninth? Sounds like he had a rough outing. Did he look tired? Is he the guy is the question I think Robe would be asking himself if he were thinking out loud.

It was 100% a team loss. We average nearly 9 runs a game and teams simply give up before the last out. Not today.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Boomer we may not be a national seed, but unless the bottom falls out we probably host a regional, and then let's worry.

[Cajunjeb]

Yes. I have watched Rice schedule in recent years and Wayne Graham does a good job. I heard an interview with him a couple of years ago (re: the RPI) and I came away thinking that he probably knows how to attack the RPI system (scheduling).

This season, Rice has the #10 SOS (RPI), despite playing in CUSA. This allows them to have 13 losses, yet still have a #8 RPI ranking. Next weekend, Rice travels to Southern Mississippi with 1st place in CUSA on the line.

That said, I think Rice probably falls a bit short of a national seed ... mostly due to their record against the RPI Top 25.

Brian

So the moral of the story for the Cajuns to be a national seed:
1. Every non-conference weekend series needs to be against historically Top 10 RPI.
2. Schedule mid-week games with LSU, Rice and Houston. Only schedule in-states with the highest RPI, historically.
3. Cross your fingers and hope your fellow conference members beat their non-conference opponents.
4. Don't lose a mid-week game.
5. Don't lose weekend games to conference or non-conference opponents who have a weaker RPI.
6. Polls don't matter.
7. As long as you have a winning record, you are ok.

[GoneGolfin]

How much would a potential Southern Miss series victory over Rice help us?

As far as the Cajuns' RPI is concerned ... a little bit more than if Southern Mississippi swept Tulane ... but not much more. It would very much help USM's RPI and vault them into the RPI Top 50. It would also damage Rice's RPI.

That said, USM has not won a weekend series vs. Rice since 2008.

Brian

[ulforlife]

Not only did we lose today but we are no longer undefeated on the road. Forgot about that stat

[GoneGolfin]

So the moral of the story for the Cajuns to be a national seed:
1. Every non-conference weekend series needs to be against historically Top 10 RPI.
2. Schedule mid-week games with LSU, Rice and Houston. Only schedule in-states with the highest RPI, historically.

No. It is not about scheduling highly ranked RPI teams. It is about scheduling teams that benefit your SOS (with an emphasis on OWP) ... some of these may in fact be Top XX teams, but it is not a requirement.

And also scheduling to achieve the max risk/reward of the above.

If you schedule according to RPI rank ... thinking that scheduling the higher ranked RPI teams necessarily equates to a stronger SOS, you will be making a mistake. Especially if you schedule a middle of the pack SEC, ACC, Big XII, or Pac-12 team.

Brian

[raginsaints]

I asked Billy to ask Bab about that the other day. I wanted to figure out why we would even schedule UNO. I understand scheduling Southern because they're usually RPI beneficial but they're having a down year, that's hard to predict but everyone and their mother knew UNO would be an RPI drain, so why even schedule that game?