Lousiana Monroe 2012 Preview

Harry · May 7, 2012

U.L.M. has an image problem. It’s not about L.S.U., because L.S.U. is L.S.U., and that’s fine. Louisiana-Monroe doesn’t compete with the Tigers, and wouldn’t dare try, of course. U.L.M. competes with Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech and Tulane for in-state eyeballs, and as the Warhawks head into the summer, they’re losing the battle for public attention. The Ragin’ Cajuns are riding a wave of good vibes after earning their first bowl berth on the F.B.S. level, beating U.L.M. to the punch. In addition to hitting its groove under Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech is now back in the news thanks to this week’s jump into Conference USA. Even Tulane, despite suffering a setback to its hopes for an on-campus stadium, has moved back into the regional conversation since hiring Curtis Johnson in December. In a state with five F.B.S. programs, U.L.M.’s Q rating comes in last. Perhaps being last isn’t new for the Warhawks; being a distant last, however, is a recent development.

Read more: http://www.presnapread.com/no-107-louisiana-monroe/

UNT90 · May 7, 2012

FCS is really the best place for that program.

GrayEagle · May 7, 2012

I agree. They were a big help in getting Sun Belt football established in the FBS and I appreciate that but the time has come to return to the FCS. They have the smallest revenue in the FBS by several million dollars. They might be the big dog among Northwestern State, McNeese State, Nichols State, et al.

NT03 · May 7, 2012

Still can't believe they are hosting Baylor

island eagle · May 7, 2012

It's because Baylor definitely does not want to come back to Denton....too many bad memories for them!

Still can't believe they are hosting Baylor

PlummMeanGreen · May 7, 2012

It's because Baylor definitely does not want to come back to Denton....too many bad memories for them!

And what North Texas must do is get our program up to former conference-mate Boise State standards so the Baylors, TCU's, TAMU's, etc, will see it an opportunity to raise their rankings if they could beat us...........but at Apogee Stadium

For about 2 plus decades of the Mean Joe Greene and Hayden Fry eras TCU would never schedule North Texas. We had to go down a division and be sub-Joe&Hayden eras for them to want to schedule us, but that is the way of Texas college football and pecking-order scheduling.

TSU-SM will find much of the same frustrations North Texas had during those times, too. If I were a betting man, though, I'd bet TSU-SM behind closed doors is begging the MWC to let them be their Texas entry. Any takers on that bet?

GMG!

Edited May 7, 2012 by PlummMeanGreen

untjim1995 · May 8, 2012

And what North Texas must do is get our program up to former conference-mate Boise State standards so the Baylors, TCU's, TAMU's, etc, will see it an opportunity to raise their rankings if they could beat us...........but at Apogee Stadium

For about 2 plus decades of the Mean Joe Greene and Hayden Fry eras TCU would never schedule North Texas. We had to go down a division and be sub-Joe&Hayden eras for them to want to schedule us, but that is the way of Texas college football and pecking-order scheduling.

TSU-SM will find much of the same frustrations North Texas had during those times, too. If I were a betting man, though, I'd bet TSU-SM behind closed doors is begging the MWC to let them be their Texas entry. Any takers on that bet?

GMG!

What Boise had, among many, as an advantage as bieng the only big-time school in their state is that they really didn't have to deal with the in-state politics that North Texas has had to deal with. When Boise State started winning, the Pac-10 schools and the MWC schools realized that playing them was good for everyone: strength of schedule, fairly close proximity to their own school, and usually a national television audience. Being out west, there really aren't a ton of options for good OOC scheduling, especially now that Utah is in the Pac-12. You always had Utah, BYU, and Fresno State as good OOC games for the Pac-10 schools back then, but that was about it. Then, Boise became great and a new opportunity presetned itself out west. And for those Pac schools, especially, losing to Boise really wasn't going to hurt in recruiting because of Boise's location, academics, and conference affilaition. Oregon and Washington were never recruiting against Boise State, so a possible loss wasn't enough to scare the big Pac teams away.

Here in Texas, sure, the UTs and A&Ms haven't recruited against North Texas at all, and the other Texas schools have been able to make great in-roads in Metroplex recruiting because we have been an after-thought for a long time. For Baylor and Tech, having Big 12 membership helped both of them surpass even TCUs success in recruiting, but I think that will end fast if TCU does well in the Big 12. But the other Texas schools have always known that it was only in their best interest to play North Texas when we have sucked. SMU has us down for a big series in the future, but who here doesn't think that their cash could easily get put to use to avoid playing us for the entirety of that series if we are good? Besides they have their annual game against TCU to enjoy for a game against Texas competition in OOC. I doubt UH, with its annual game against Rice, will jump up and down to schedule us either after this next game, if we do start winning, just because they can probably see playing a home and home versus Tulane or a TX State in a 2 for 1 being a better deal for them--its basically what Tech has done. Baylor is playing at ULM, who poses no threat to them at all on any level. Even if you lose (somehow) to ULM, they aren't going to suddenly come into Texas and start getting your recruits. To some degree, its the same thing for A&M playing at SMU. Even if the Aggies lose (possible), the kids they recruit are much further up the food chain than SMUs recruits, just on conference affiliation alone.

I do believe that North texas' way to becoming the next big non-AQ team out there is to obviously do well against your conference opponents, but it will involve better scheduling of OOC games. You have got to get home-and-home series with some of those MWC schools and lower-level AQ teams. Mix in a FCS game now that you are in CUSA, then play a big name opponent, but not one from the South. TCU made its name by beating teams out west--they never played a SEC team. Boise played Georgia a couple of times down there, but they pretty much beat Pac-12 schools. North Texas gets Iowa up there for a couple of games in a few years--that's the kind of "opportunity" OOC opponent that you might have a chance against on the field. Playing SEC schools and Texas or Oklahoma right now isn't the way to build things up. TCU beat OU in Norman in 2005 once they got their program really established in the right direction. They didn't play Oklahoma in 2000 when Fran was building things up from the ground. Its the blueprint to follow--games against Big Ten, Pac 12, northern Big 12 teams, or northern ACC teams as your $$$ games.