[Purple Haize]

About as much Chance as me turning down County Smoak wings at The Bill

[ballcoach15]

Our 3 bowl game opponents haven't been attractive teams that would boost attendance. I think when we play a Power 5 team in a bowl, the attendance will improve, especially if it's a "southern" team, in a bowl down south.

[Purple Haize]

Our 3 bowl game opponents haven't been attractive teams that would boost attendance. I think when we play a Power 5 team in a bowl, the attendance will improve, especially if it's a "southern" team, in a bowl down south.

Who LU plays is irrelevant. You go to a Bowl game because YOUR team went to a Bowl game. Don’t try to blame others

[LUOrange]

I think Freeze's statement that we were probably "forced to join CUSA" speaks for itself. I think most of us preferred the Indy scheduling, but the current climate changed all of that. As I've said before, my only issue with CUSA has been our OOC scheduling philosophy which has included dropping all of our P5 games, including drivable ones from Lynchburg. It was also unsettling to hear Freeze say that he didn't want to play BYU again cause he doesn't want to fly to Provo. That's the stuff that really hurts fanbase growth and motivating our scattered Alumni.

As far as the Bowl games are concerned, I think not having adequate time to plan on travelling to these locations are a huge problem for us and all G5's. That was my biggest issue with all of the Bowls and especially last years. Also, I hope that CUSA gets rid of the Bahamas Bowl or at least that we never agree to play in it. That's a guaranteed way to play in an empty stadium.

But we've joined CUSA. we're a member and will be for the foreseeable future. Let's make the most of it.


I

Freeze also said we didn't want to drop all the P5 games. The P5's didn't see us becoming this good when they booked us. They wanted out. He said he sees a path to the playoffs from CUSA. And he sounded like he wants to stay here and see it happen.

I love Freeze and hope and believe that he stays with us for a long time/til he retires. I just disagree with him some on scheduling and his choice in uniform colors and helmets.

[JK37]

I knew a Gonzaga reference was coming. Now we just need someone to say Gonzaga of the East to complete my AD Bingo.

Boise State, TCU, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati…teams that rose high from a conference. Nobody rises to prominence from Independence. ND did it 100 years ago when half the country was independent. Penn State before the Big Ten? Miami before the Big East? But those days are gone. If you’re not in a conference and the P5’s won’t play you, you’re going to have a lot of 5-game seasons!

[Purple Haize]

I knew a Gonzaga reference was coming. Now we just need someone to say Gonzaga of the East to complete my AD Bingo.

Boise State, TCU, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati…teams that rose high from a conference. Nobody rises to prominence from Independence. ND did it 100 years ago when half the country was independent. Penn State before the Big Ten? Miami before the Big East? But those days are gone. If you’re not in a conference and the P5’s won’t play you, you’re going to have a lot of 5-game seasons!

But if LU SAYS they are gonna play them and the other team doesn’t show it’s still a win, right?

[tyndal23]

It is G5 - name the teams that travel well that aren’t going P5 in 23...we just “sold out” our very first home game. Once again, we are a nationally scattered fan base just getting our National alumni to tune in even on streaming tv, most have another P5 team they root for. Without playing and winning 4 or more P5 teams over a 5 plus year period, we aren’t building a “travel fan base”. Hugh said we were pretty much “forced to join CUSA” due to shifting climate. That may be true ( or not) but don’t kid yourself by thinking CUSA leapfrogs us anywhere in to a National Brand vs a P5 heavy Independent schedule would have. Name 1 scheduled home game you are excited to “fly” or drive 4 hours plus in next 5years. Suppose we do “dominate CUSA” and make a 12 team playoff in next 5 years with lowest SOS of all conferences. What next tier G5 Conference “invites” us to come dominate them? No recent conference realignment decision has been made based on “ performance”. Maybe our new president decides to double campus capacity and our student body gets us to 40k stadium ( minimum for Big 12 ) and our natural/evangelical national following tunes in for the Streaming TV numbers for our Boise St type records ( vs CUSA ). All that takes 10 years minimum. Hopefully I am dead wrong and everything “ just grows” , But not one on this board has laid out how G5 “anything” supercedes the growth potential we have/had as an Independent other than “ our hoops and baseball” will be in tougher conferences.

Our attendance in the lending tree bowl game was the smallest in that bowls 22 year history not including the covid season. It had half the attendance as the previous all time low attendance and that bowl has been all G5 schools throughout its history to include 20 appearances from MAC schools.

Our 2019 cure bowl game was the lowest attended cure bowl in its 5 year history up to that point. Again that bowl is exclusively G5s. We are wanting better bowl games but keep setting records at bowl games for lowest attendance. Not a good look for a school with our aspirations. I hope it doesn't become a long term pattern.

You keep saying we can't build a national brand in C-USA like BYU didn't become a national brand in the WAC and MWC. They were already a national brand before they became independent. Boise state also became a household name in the WAC before later moving onto MWC. Other programs have shown we absolutely can significantly grow the brand in C-USA.

Also basketball might not be a huge factor in conference realignment but if we are talking about scheduling tough and building a national brand why are you content playing against bellarmine and North Florida if we can be playing solid competition that will fill the arena like NMSU? Gonzaga is proof that we absolutely can build a national brand through basketball but history says we should at least be in a mid major conference if we want a shot at any kind of sustained success in the ncaa tourney. At this time and place its time to move on from the P5 equivalent independence dream at least until circumstances change again.

Bowls exist to lose as little money as possible. As of now LU travels horribly. If LU traveled well a lot of thing would be overlooked bu Bowls and other teams etc. But they don’t and here we are. LU can’t Name It and Claim It with scheduling 5-6 P5’s a year. Let alone beat them. With all the Conference Realignment the days of being Independent are numbered. Trying to get a schedule after say 25 would be nearly impossible…..unless you want to play to FCS a year.
I don’t think any school outside of ND has risen to prominence as an Independent and even now they are for all intents and purposes an ACC school

You are right, I am an idiot- no team in history has ever gone from Independent to a Major Conference - everyone started at CUSA level and built their way from there, regardless of $ and support of administration. Playing P5’s absolutely does not enhance your brand, increase home attendance, tv eyeballs and bowl travel attendance.

[JK37]

Your premise is irrelevant. P5’s don’t want to play LU.

[AATL]

Your premise is irrelevant. P5’s don’t want to play LU.

Freeze alluded to as much in his ESPN interview this week - it doesn't sound like the P5 games that were removed from the '23-'26 schedules had much to do with us or are an indication of our scheduling philosophy for the future.

It's the same issue that HC Ritchie McKay bemoans in regards to MBB scheduling, albeit less severe. P5s who are trying to crack the upper rankings want the metaphorical Quad 1 games to pad their resumés and Quad 4 games to pad their efficiency metrics and fancystats. The risk/reward doesn't balance out favorably for LU as long as LU is somewhere between those two.

Personally, I'm glad LU gets the chance to compete with several P5s this season and would love to see them get one more shot in a bowl. Not too far to go before we'll know!

[Sly Fox]

You Southerners have been blessed with the bowl appearances for too long. Bring on a matchup over my way!

[Purple Haize]

Your premise is irrelevant. P5’s don’t want to play LU.

I’m also curious if LU’s ‘Asking Price’ for P5 games is too high. I’ve heard rumors but that’s been a few years ago.

[flamehunter]

Your premise is irrelevant. P5’s don’t want to play LU.

I’m also curious if LU’s ‘Asking Price’ for P5 games is too high. I’ve heard rumors but that’s been a few years ago.

It's only too high for a loss apparently.

[Sly Fox]

Since we stepped up we primarily have signed 2-for-1 deals. The guarantee games haven't been quite as common. We could ask more when we first came up because we considered a sure W. At this stage, paying $1.5M or so to come to a P5's house is MUCH riskier.

[tyndal23]

Since we stepped up we primarily have signed 2-for-1 deals. The guarantee games haven't been quite as common. We could ask more when we first came up because we considered a sure W. At this stage, paying $1.5M or so to come to a P5's house is MUCH riskier.

As for the argument no P5 teams want to play us for fear of losing - App St was scheduled again by MI after their upset. UCF, Troy,ULM,Boise St, Fresno St, SDSU, Memphis, Cinci,SMU,Houston - ( and on and on ) kept getting P5 games after upsetting P5 teams and kept getting big checks. As for 2 for 1 - those are the only series we have won a P5 game. Our 1 off future buy games - we lost USC ( I don’t recall any other ). I imagine if Hugh told Ian to get 1 P5 game and cancel someone else for 23-26 - it is doable. I just think trying to get rid of 7-8 games over next 5 years was a major chore and simply easier to not try and hold ACC teams feet to the fire when they “volunteered” to free up our schedule. I don’t see getting 1 P5 game a year after 2027 a big deal. BUT for those wondering why we can’t fill our home stadium or travel well to a bowl playing in CUSA - I am saying you simply have unreal expectations. None of the CUSA team fans travel, especially those distances. Can we sell out a CUSA home championship game? I would certainly hope so ( if format has 1 seed home advantage - not even sure how CUSA does it ). LU will just have to hope if a G5 upsets a P5 - that same team has 2 conference losses and LU goes undefeated and gets the Playoff Spot. If we were in Sunbelt - ODU,Coastal,Marshall,JMU,APP St - all home sellouts. Hopefully - AAC, Sunbelt, MWC beat each other up every year and our SOS isn’t an issue during this stretch. Note - the Playoff Committee so far has emphasized SOS consistently when ranking teams.

[Ill flame]

I don't think SOS is going to be much of an issue after realignment. With the AAC being on equal footing with the rest of the G5 everyone's schedules in the G5 will be about as weak as the next. The few outliers that manage to play significantly tougher competition won't finish undefeated. The sunbelt likes to jerk each other off but the overwhelming majority of their schedules are ranked 100+ just like ours will be. The MWC tends to play 2 P5s a year so their best teams almost always have a loss or two by the end of the year effectively knocking them out of the discussion. There won't be much room for error but I like our chances of at least being in that conversation as long as HF is our head coach.

[ballcoach15]

Strength of schedule isn't an issue now. Big 10 proves this every season.
If Ohio State was in SEC, the Buckholes would be a middle of the pack team.
For the 4 team playoff, committee could select 4 teams from SEC this season.

[Tnobes]

Totally agree with buckeyes being middle of the road in the SEC.

[Tnobes]

Ian should be on the phone with anyone he knows who has a say in bowl game matchups and be begging for a Notre Dame bowl game matchup if it's possible. Taking down BYU and playing Notre Dame in the same year would be total vision realized

[ballcoach15]

Two things bowls love, Notre Dame and 6-6 teams from P5 conferences.

[JK37]

One thing bowls don’t love: Liberty.

[Ill flame]

We either have a lot of trolls or delusional fans on here if you think kentucky or ole miss wouldn't get destroyed by Penn state let alone Ohio state.

[cruzan_flame13]

We either have a lot of trolls or delusional fans on here if you think kentucky or ole miss wouldn't get destroyed by Penn state let alone Ohio state.

Notice you mention the middle of the pack in SEC and the upper part of the pack in the Big 10. That's all I wanted to say about the comment.

[Ill flame]

We either have a lot of trolls or delusional fans on here if you think kentucky or ole miss wouldn't get destroyed by Penn state let alone Ohio state.

Notice you mention the middle of the pack in SEC and the upper part of the pack in the Big 10. That's all I wanted to say about the comment.

The comment that I was replying to said they would be middle of the pack. I'm saying they would blow those teams out. Honestly kentucky would fit right into the big ten west

[stokesjokes]

Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown ballcoach

[TH Spangler]

Ian should be on the phone with anyone he knows who has a say in bowl game matchups and be begging for a Notre Dame bowl game matchup if it's possible. Taking down BYU and playing Notre Dame in the same year would be total vision realized

How about ND LU in the Dukes Mayo Bowl