by Kevin Foote - The Daily Advertiser

"Before the 2014 college football season began, the hopes of some fans for the UL Ragin' Cajuns were extremely high.

There was talk of 12-0, or at least 10-2, and going to a more prestigious bowl.

Then came the 1-3 start and depression set in.

Fully support them or not, the Cajun coaching staff has to get some credit for holding the ship long enough to put together a six-game winning streak heading into the Senior Day matchup with Appalachian State.

"No, that season-for-the-ages campaign didn't happen, but maybe we can at least get to 10 wins for the first time ever," I'm sure plenty of Cajun fans were thinking at the time.

Then came another bitter disappointment with the surprising 35-16 home loss to Appalachian State.

Rebounding with a 42-23 road win over Troy in the finale left the Cajuns at 8-4 again – exactly where they've been in each of coach Mark Hudspeth's four seasons.

If UL can respond with another New Orleans Bowl victory on Dec. 20 against Nevada, that would make four straight 9-4 seasons.

To some, that's ho-hum, boring and not what they wanted out of this season. To others, it's not all that bad, but a sign that the Cajuns are not making progress, just sort of running in place.

Simply put, I don't buy it.

In the world of Division I mid-major football, running in place IS making progress.

If you don't buy that, let's take a survey of the field and see how everyone else has done.

There are 60 teams filling up the Group of Five conferences. If you want to throw in FBS Independents BYU, Army and Navy that makes 63 teams to ponder.

Out of those 63 teams, 16 have at least eight victories at this point. In other words, they have a chance to get to nine wins before the season is over.

If the Cajuns win the New Orleans Bowl for a fourth straight season and get to 9-4 once again, guess how many of those 63 teams would be able to make that claim?

As of now, the answer is two.

Yes, indeed. If the Cajuns win on Dec. 20, Northern Illinois and Cincinnati would be the only other mid-major programs in America to win at least nine games for four straight seasons.

Northern Illinois was the only other one which had done it until Cincinnati beat Houston on Saturday. Cincinnati has been on the same uphill climb as the Cajuns since going 4-8 season in 2010. UL was 3-9 in 2010.

The point of this isn't to over-glorify the Hudspeth era in Lafayette and it isn't to wave the Ragin' Cajun flag.

No, I fully realize the Cajuns still haven't gotten that signature win over an SEC school. I've heard it over and over from the naysayers. Some won't be satisfied until that happens. I get that.

No, they still haven't put together that one dream campaign that would earn them consideration for a New Year's Day bowl appearance. I get that as well.

Moreover, I'm not even convinced that the teams in this impressive four-year stretch are better than the Brian Mitchell or Jake Delhomme teams. That's purely my opinion, but go back and look at the schedules those teams played.

The point is simply to try to illustrate how difficult it is for mid-major teams to be consistently good in today's world of college football.

Marshall is 12-1. That's a great year, but they were 5-7 just two years ago. Colorado State's coach got the Florida job, but his Rams were only 8-6 last year and 4-8 two seasons ago.

Even the model mid-major program in Boise State was only 8-5 just last season.

I'm not saying the Cajuns are better than Boise State or as good as Northern Illinois.

I'm saying that more than 60 programs with similar conference situations, similar budget restrictions and/or similar scheduling challenges have tried to win nine or more games over the past four seasons, and only three could still accomplish that feat.

And the Cajuns could be one of them.

I'm saying that most college football fans don't realize that LSU, just for example, didn't really go 8-4 this season. The Tigers were actually 4-4 (and even that was a bit on the high side of the number of games an LSU typically plays in a season).

Very few mid-majors play fewer than 10 losable games in a season. So when a typical mid-major team win eight games, its actually winning more losable games than when an LSU or Alabama wins eight games.

It's real simple, the more losable games you play, the better chance you have of slipping up (see the Georgia State game earlier this season).

I'm saying that "different" than another "boring" 8-4 record for 90-plus percent of mid-majors isn't 10-2 or 11-1, it's 6-6, or worse.

Understand that the gap between the LSUs and Alabamas of the world and the ULs and Arkansas States is much, much greater than the gap between the ULs and Arkansas States and McNeese States and Georgia Southerns.

That's why no one should have been the least bit surprised when Georgia Southern and Appalachian State experienced immediate success at the Division I level.

UL's chances to fail over the last four seasons have been greater than most think. So even if you think Hudspeth and his staff are overrated, I still maintain they've done a better job than many skeptics believe.

Life as a mid-major in today's college football world is just a tough proposition.

For all those mid-majors who haven't won nine games over the past four years, I'm sure the problem for some has been injuries. For others, I'm sure it was transition years after coaching departures. For others, I'm sure it simply bad breaks ranging from unfortunate officials calls to the football doing funny things.

Whatever the reasons, 60 or more mid-major problems were tripped up by a hurdle of one kind or another at least one of those four seasons.

The Cajuns certainly had their opportunities to give in this season. First, there was the 1-3 start and then a few key injuries and then movement within the coaching staff.

So my conclusion is that running in place is actually making progress if just about everyone around you is taking turns falling behind.

Throwing a no-hitter may sound impressive at first glance, but if 20 others have been thrown in the previous week, it suddenly doesn't sound as spectacular. That logic works both ways.

If only two or three teams out of 63 do it, it may be tougher than we think.

So going 9-4 for four straight seasons may sound boring to some. Winning four straight New Orleans Bowls would be a sign of no progress to others.

A little digging into the recent history of mid-major programs seems to indicate otherwise."

(12-09-2014 01:54 PM)SlickRick12 Wrote:  by Kevin Foote - The Daily Advertiser

"Before the 2014 college football season began, the hopes of some fans for the UL Ragin' Cajuns were extremely high.

There was talk of 12-0, or at least 10-2, and going to a more prestigious bowl.

Then came the 1-3 start and depression set in.

Fully support them or not, the Cajun coaching staff has to get some credit for holding the ship long enough to put together a six-game winning streak heading into the Senior Day matchup with Appalachian State.

"No, that season-for-the-ages campaign didn't happen, but maybe we can at least get to 10 wins for the first time ever," I'm sure plenty of Cajun fans were thinking at the time.

Then came another bitter disappointment with the surprising 35-16 home loss to Appalachian State.

Rebounding with a 42-23 road win over Troy in the finale left the Cajuns at 8-4 again – exactly where they've been in each of coach Mark Hudspeth's four seasons.

If UL can respond with another New Orleans Bowl victory on Dec. 20 against Nevada, that would make four straight 9-4 seasons.

To some, that's ho-hum, boring and not what they wanted out of this season. To others, it's not all that bad, but a sign that the Cajuns are not making progress, just sort of running in place.

Simply put, I don't buy it.

In the world of Division I mid-major football, running in place IS making progress.

If you don't buy that, let's take a survey of the field and see how everyone else has done.

There are 60 teams filling up the Group of Five conferences. If you want to throw in FBS Independents BYU, Army and Navy that makes 63 teams to ponder.

Out of those 63 teams, 16 have at least eight victories at this point. In other words, they have a chance to get to nine wins before the season is over.

If the Cajuns win the New Orleans Bowl for a fourth straight season and get to 9-4 once again, guess how many of those 63 teams would be able to make that claim?

As of now, the answer is two.

Yes, indeed. If the Cajuns win on Dec. 20, Northern Illinois and Cincinnati would be the only other mid-major programs in America to win at least nine games for four straight seasons.

Northern Illinois was the only other one which had done it until Cincinnati beat Houston on Saturday. Cincinnati has been on the same uphill climb as the Cajuns since going 4-8 season in 2010. UL was 3-9 in 2010.

The point of this isn't to over-glorify the Hudspeth era in Lafayette and it isn't to wave the Ragin' Cajun flag.

No, I fully realize the Cajuns still haven't gotten that signature win over an SEC school. I've heard it over and over from the naysayers. Some won't be satisfied until that happens. I get that.

No, they still haven't put together that one dream campaign that would earn them consideration for a New Year's Day bowl appearance. I get that as well.

Moreover, I'm not even convinced that the teams in this impressive four-year stretch are better than the Brian Mitchell or Jake Delhomme teams. That's purely my opinion, but go back and look at the schedules those teams played.

The point is simply to try to illustrate how difficult it is for mid-major teams to be consistently good in today's world of college football.

Marshall is 12-1. That's a great year, but they were 5-7 just two years ago. Colorado State's coach got the Florida job, but his Rams were only 8-6 last year and 4-8 two seasons ago.

Even the model mid-major program in Boise State was only 8-5 just last season.

I'm not saying the Cajuns are better than Boise State or as good as Northern Illinois.

I'm saying that more than 60 programs with similar conference situations, similar budget restrictions and/or similar scheduling challenges have tried to win nine or more games over the past four seasons, and only three could still accomplish that feat.

And the Cajuns could be one of them.

I'm saying that most college football fans don't realize that LSU, just for example, didn't really go 8-4 this season. The Tigers were actually 4-4 (and even that was a bit on the high side of the number of games an LSU typically plays in a season).

Very few mid-majors play fewer than 10 losable games in a season. So when a typical mid-major team win eight games, its actually winning more losable games than when an LSU or Alabama wins eight games.

It's real simple, the more losable games you play, the better chance you have of slipping up (see the Georgia State game earlier this season).

I'm saying that "different" than another "boring" 8-4 record for 90-plus percent of mid-majors isn't 10-2 or 11-1, it's 6-6, or worse.

Understand that the gap between the LSUs and Alabamas of the world and the ULs and Arkansas States is much, much greater than the gap between the ULs and Arkansas States and McNeese States and Georgia Southerns.

That's why no one should have been the least bit surprised when Georgia Southern and Appalachian State experienced immediate success at the Division I level.

UL's chances to fail over the last four seasons have been greater than most think. So even if you think Hudspeth and his staff are overrated, I still maintain they've done a better job than many skeptics believe.

Life as a mid-major in today's college football world is just a tough proposition.

For all those mid-majors who haven't won nine games over the past four years, I'm sure the problem for some has been injuries. For others, I'm sure it was transition years after coaching departures. For others, I'm sure it simply bad breaks ranging from unfortunate officials calls to the football doing funny things.

Whatever the reasons, 60 or more mid-major problems were tripped up by a hurdle of one kind or another at least one of those four seasons.

The Cajuns certainly had their opportunities to give in this season. First, there was the 1-3 start and then a few key injuries and then movement within the coaching staff.

So my conclusion is that running in place is actually making progress if just about everyone around you is taking turns falling behind.

Throwing a no-hitter may sound impressive at first glance, but if 20 others have been thrown in the previous week, it suddenly doesn't sound as spectacular. That logic works both ways.

If only two or three teams out of 63 do it, it may be tougher than we think.

So going 9-4 for four straight seasons may sound boring to some. Winning four straight New Orleans Bowls would be a sign of no progress to others.

A little digging into the recent history of mid-major programs seems to indicate otherwise."

Nice article, sometimes you just need to hear things like this.

why did you have to quote that entire article? lol

(12-09-2014 02:31 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  why did you have to quote that entire article? lol

Sunbelt by-laws. Don't believe me? Read 'em.

To be copyright compliant, please add the link back to the article. Thanks.

(12-09-2014 03:01 PM)CatMom Wrote:  To be copyright compliant, please add the link back to the article. Thanks.

I'll do it for him.

Another Bowl Win Would Put UL In Unique Group

I did a quick review and if my work is correct, of the 63 Fbs teams mentioned in the article above, only the following have gone 8-4 during regular season play each year since 2011 when Hud took over the Cajun program:

Cincy
N. Illinois
Boise State
Cajuns

Not too shabby.

After 5 yrs finally someone listens,lol.

I think I saw somewhere that ULL fans were saying that only 2 G5 programs have won 36 games in a 4 year span? By my count, both ULL and ASU are sitting on 35 wins over a 4 year span right now so that could give the SBC 2 of 4 G5 teams to achieve the distinction if both win their bowl game.

(12-09-2014 02:31 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  why did you have to quote that entire article? lol

Fail Southern?

(12-10-2014 01:42 PM)AppMtneer08 Wrote:  

(12-09-2014 02:31 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  why did you have to quote that entire article? lol

Fail Southern?

No electrons were harmed in quoting the entire article... Back on task - to do that you basically have to go 6-2 in conference and 2-2 OOC, if guaranteed that next year most of us would jump all over that, to maintain that over 4 years and four bowl games (throw in a couple of SBC Championships), yea, that's pretty dang good.