(08-22-2016 09:49 AM)WKUYG Wrote: other than a few of those school USM played with over the years in the METRO/CUSA built their programs while playing in the conference. Not many, including UofL came into the conference as a name. Hell during the 90s most of UofL's highest attendance games were vs 1AA Western. That's how bad they were.
Don't know how much you know about the original C-USA, but it was a basketball conference.
UL, Cinci, Depaul, Marquette, Charlotte, Memphis, Houston, etc.
USM was brought into the conference to help strengthen the football side of things.
Sports are cyclical. LSU was terrible in the 90's. Bama was terrible in the early 2000's. Auburn wasn't good in the mid 90's. But we still beat those teams and took pride in it.
Don't get it twisted. USM dominated C-USA when it first came about....As we should have.
Towards the end of the first C-USA run, you could see what some schools like UL were doing when it came to football and you could tell they had a lot more money than USM, but that didn't stop us from winning and/or being competitive against those schools.
Louisville/USM games were ALWAYS the best conference game of the year, IMO.