(11-26-2014 04:44 PM)BurlingtonApp Wrote: Those two situations are completely different and you know it.
1) The Cajuns didn't earn a sole conference championship on the field; we/GS did earn the wins for bowl eligiblity.
2) We're hurting no one by trying to get a waiver; the Cajuns would be.
3) We're looking for an exemption from a dumb rule; the Cajuns would be looking for an exemption from the appropriate ruling.
They have the best record of post-season eligible teams. But for the agreement of the league, the league bylaws state that a team must be eligible for post-season in order to win the conference. In 1994 the SWC had FIVE co-champs because TAMU was ineligible to be conference champ because they weren't eligible for post-season.
So the trophy GaSo received is only because the membership elected to waive the bylaws in football this year.
Getting a waiver would hurt no one. Being selected would hurt someone. Commissioner had already said he wasn't going advocate placing GaSo in a Sun Belt bowl but someone else out there missing a bowl because of selection of team that wasn't eligible under the rules of the season would hurt that team.
Dumb rule? Welcome to the world of intercollegiate athletics. There are pages upon pages of dumb rules.
This rule is relatively new. It was part of a package of rules that the Southern, Big Sky, Southland, and OVC took to the NCAA to "enhance" FBS football and frankly one that FBS had little heartburn adopting because back when schools were eligible immediately the free transfer rule did not exist when that happened.
Like the rule or not, you were a member of a conference that asked for that particular rope to be fashioned into a noose.