CSNbbs

past and present. One of the interesting quotes on the YOGWF was posted by GSx in reply to puffy:

puffy wrote:

You also seem to forget the 2002 team that went 8-5 and won the Hawaii Bowl. That team, when you compare them against the past "great" teams, stack up pretty well. That was done in, aha, Scelfo's fourth season, and they beat as many teams with winning records as any of the past good teams in the last thirty five years.

GSx answered:

come on - the 1979 team beat, just off the top of my head, Stanford, BC, LSU, Miss, G Tech;

This is a perfect example of perception vs. reality. When we take a closer look at the 1979 schedule we see;

Stanford, the finished the 1979 season at 5-5-1
RICE, they were 2-9 in 1978 and 1-10 in 1979
TCU, 2-9
SMU, 4-6-1 in 1978 and 5-6-1 in 1979
Vandy, 2-9 in 1979 and 1-10 in 1979
USM, Tulane's toughest competition in 1979 finished with 6-4-1
West Virginia, 3-8 in 1979
Georgia Tech, 4-6-1 in 1979
Boston College, 0-11 in 1979
Mississippi, 5-6 in 1978 and 4-7 in 1979
LSU, 7-5

The fact is that Tulane seldom played a softer schedule.

That's interesting. I think the response of the N.O. public that year was based as much on the perception of our schedule as its reality. At the beginning of the year, Stanford, our first opponent, was ranked in the preseason polls. Also, most of the other opponents were traditionally relatively strong, well known programs, regardless of if they were in a down year. We played what the casual N.O. fan believes to be a representative, competitive schedule.

In CUSA, the problem is and has been perception vs. reality. Regardless of their actual quality, people won't come out to see UAB, South or Central Florida, Cincinnati, and even to a degree Memphis and Louisville. Only now might the impression about Louisville be changing. These are thought of as historically lesser or even non-existant programs that no one knows much about, and (this is important) DOESN'T WANT TO LEARN.

I think that for attendance to be much improved it's critical to schedule recognizable OOC opponents. I think that, within our conference, it helps a lot believe it or not for us to have Rice and SMU coming in. Those are recognizable opponents with a long history of playing major college football, even if they are currently not strong on the field. I think Marshall will draw well, because of the NFL QBs they've produced and the extensive ESPN exposure they've received. Then there's USM. I think CUSA going forward will be a little better for us, in terms of home draw.

Actually, TCU, SMU, Vandy, West Virginia, Boston College and Rice were thougth of about the same as, if as well as, Memphis, Cincy, UAB, Houston, etc. USM, Georgia Tech and Mississippi weren't considered much better, and certainly not as good as USM today. Stanford was considered a flash-in-the-pan the year before, while LSU is usually over-rated by local fans. The current Louisville team is vastly superior to anything Tulane had on their schedule that year.