I'm one of the Southern Miss fans that thinks its a shame that the wacky CUSA scheduling split our series up. Since you guys are going to the Big East, what do you guys think about and OOC series between our schools? We would probably be able to vie for a weekday ESPN slot(preferably Thursday), given the fact that our two teams are the ones that appear on National T.V. the most in CUSA.

So watcha think?

yeah, me 2 I,ve always enjoyed the southern miss game, it was of the games on the schdule I could'nt wait to see! Mabe they will continue a ooc game with the eagles, I can only hope! and I can see it being a thursday night game easily.

yeah, me 2 I,ve always enjoyed the southern miss game, it was of the games on the schdule I could'nt wait to see! Mabe they will continue a ooc game with the eagles, I can only hope! and I can see it being a thursday night game easily.

I don't like the idea of tying up an out of conference game playing USM every season. I'm sorry but the Eagles just don't have the national appeal for this. I would prefer to play a team from one of the other BCS conferences or at least play BYU or CSU. Both of these MWC teams travel well, unlike the Eagles.
CJ

Nothing against Southern Miss. I respect their program, but if UofL was to keep a OOC game with a CUSA team regularly I would pick Memphis because I feel it is a better rivalry for us, its closer, and their fans seem to travel better. I would like to see UL play OOC game with USM in future just not every year. USM is still the best of CUSA until proved otherwise and nobody could accuse UofL of padding the scdedule with a team like USM, so my second pick for a OOC from CUSA would be USM or Marshall.

I agree with MadDad and CardinalJim, UL and the rest of the Big East need to schedule some high profile opponents in our OOC games. UL would be better served trying to get a series with PSU, Maryland and Marshall. This would get them exposure in the East and is against BCS level competition.

By the way nothing against USM, you guys have a very solid program and will make alot of noise in C-USA but UL and the rest of the BE need to grow up real fast.

true,
maddad, and, rumojo the big east needs to schdule high profile teams and they need to win against those teams to gain respect which I think we already have. But just to shut the na- say people up!

Win some bowl games is what we need to do starting in 04. UofL has no problem getting to one its winning one that seems to elude us. Go Cards!, Go Big East!

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but this ran in the Clarion-Ledger.

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Clarion Ledger
August 1, 2004
Door remains open for renewing series with departing schools

By Tim Doherty
tdoherty@clarionledger.com


Thanks to a quirk in the Conference USA schedule, Southern Miss and Louisville have not played each other in football since the 2002 season.

And the Golden Eagles and Cardinals will not meet again before each goes their respective way after the upcoming season. Louisville is one of three football schools leaving C-USA for the Big East Conference, while USM will remain in a reconfigured C-USA.

Still, what has become an entertaining rivalry may not be over.

USM athletic director Richard Giannini and his counterpart at Louisville, Tom Jurich, said they would be very interested in keeping the long-running series going.

"Tom and I have talked, and we'd both like to continue to play," Giannini said. "Maybe not every year, (nor) every other year, but yes, that's something I think we both want to look at."

Jurich said Louisville fans have enjoyed long-standing rivalries with the likes of USM, Tulane and Memphis, which date back in basketball and other sports to the 1980s and the Metro Conference.

"Our relationship with Conference USA has been a good one, and a lot of our fans, I know, would like to continue our relationships with a number of teams," Jurich said. "Our fans like playing against Southern Miss, like going to Tulane.

"We hope (those) will continue."

The splintering of the current C-USA lineup lends itself to such speculation. Of the 11 football teams that will compete this fall for the conference championship, five will be playing under the C-USA banner for the final time.

Cincinnati and South Florida will join Louisville in moving to the Big East. TCU leaves for the Mountain West Conference and Army bids adieu to return to its former status as a Division I-A independent football program.

C-USA also is losing four non-football playing schools: Marquette and DePaul to the Big East; Charlotte and Saint Louis to the Atlantic 10 Conference.

USM, Memphis, Tulane, East Carolina, UAB and Houston will provide the anchor for a revamped C-USA. Six teams — Tulsa, Rice, SMU and Texas-El Paso of the Western Athletic Conference; Marshall and Central Florida of the Mid-American Conference — will help rebuild the league in 2005.

Some series likely will not linger. For example: When USM hosts Cincinnati on Nov. 6, that probably will bring the curtain down on any sort of regular football relationship between the two. In all likelihood, not many fans from either team will be lamenting the end of that particular road.

"There's some teams that your players and your fans probably are more excited about playing than maybe some others," USM football coach Jeff Bower said. "Every game is important, and every conference game is (worth) the same, but some games seem to have more about them."

TCU football coach Gary Patterson agreed.

"I know we're going to miss the rivalry with Southern Miss and Louisville, UAB and Tulane, even though we've played two or three times," Patterson said. "Those became good games for us and our fans in a real short time."

While C-USA has not asked its departing members to consider scheduling its former partners, the relationships that have been developed through conference affiliation have administrators and coaches doing just that.

"We've not taken an active role in that, but I do think that coaches across all the sports are trying to keep relationships going" C-USA deputy commissioner Brenda Weare said. "I think you'll see more of that happen than you might think."

I think that story hits on exactly what I was saying. I would like to keep playing USM they are no slouch, just not every year. We need to schedule some higher profile teams and play them tough to help the new Big East. Losing to USM right out of the gate would hurt the Big East and us and beating USM would not be viewed as a "big win" nationally. Is that fair to USM, well heck no. USM and UofL are better programs than most outsiders want to give them credit for, but the fact and perception remain. Thats why I dont want to play them every year. In the future if UofL and USM continue their uphill climb I would certainly be for a regular match up with them.