We ALL have to get away from money games!! I know we all need the money but its killing the perception of this league.. FIU is getting little respect for losing to 4 good teams.. When they start beating up on Sunbelt teams we all lose.. UL plays Georgia, Oklahoma State, and Ole Miss.. Probably 3 loses.. We all need to play more teams from the MAC, WAC, and CUSA, and FCS schools as well.. If we all play one FCS school that is close by that will bring a large fan base and we win it, I think we would all be better off… Just by adding one more win to ALL our records, would pay dividends…
Troy would have been 10-2
MTSU would have been 10-2
ULM would have been 7-5
FAU would have been 6-6
UL would have been 7-5
ASU would have been 5-7
FIU would have been 4-8
NT would have been 3-9
WKy would have been 1-11

We may have had 3 or 4 teams in bowls last year!!

Heck LSU is doing it, they are playing McNeese this weekend… If we replace one game on our schedule that is a road game and we have very little chance of winning with a home game with a great chance of winning in think it would help this league.. At the end of the year when you are 6-6 very few people look back and say, “oh, you played LSU, Nebraska, and Kansas State, no wonder you were only 6-6.”. And if you were 7-5, they won’t look back and say, “oh they beat Southeastern Louisiana, no wonder they were 7-5.” That is exactly what La Tech did when they went to the Independence Bowl, and refused to play UL.. They went 7-5 and beat FCS Southeastern Louisiana… The only people making a big deal about it was UL fans because they wanted in the Indy Bowl to play Tech..
What is your perception of La Tech over the last 5 years???
2010 1-4 only win over Grambling
2009 4-8
2008 7-5 a win over FCS Southeastern Louisiana, final record is 8-5 with win over 6-7 northern Ill in Indy Bowl.
2007 5-7
2006 3-10
2005 7-4

Not bad, however because of Boise, Fresno and Nevada, the perception of the whole conference goes up.. We (The SunBelt Teams) just need to win baby!!!!

Why haven't we had a break out.

#1 factor in my book is expectations. As the old saying goes, "you get what you tolerate". If you believe that 7 wins is a really good year then 6-6 is good too and maybe 5-7 isn't too bad either and if there are enough excuses/reasons then 4-8 is no cause for panic. We will never achieve higher than we expect to unless we get really lucky.

#2. Failure to understand the business you are in. I would wager that MOST Sun Belt, WAC, CUSA, MAC, and maybe even a majority of MWC schools think their athletic department is in the business of playing games. You aren't. You are in the business of selling tickets and soliciting donations. Look at the size of your booster club staff and marketing staff, look at the size of their budgets. Texas spends 6% of its entire athletic budget on fundraising, marketing and promotion. North Texas spends 3%. That means UT outspends them by nearly $8 million. Alabama 5.5% of its budget on fundraising, marketing and promotion, Troy 2.5%. When you make decisions based on how they impact ticket sales and donations you are going to raise your expectations.

#3. Scheduling. If you are in the business of donations and ticket sales then why would you play two games per year that you aren't likely to win? You will need one simply because of financial reality and budget stability but if your focus is ticket sales and donations then you understand that you will do better in that business by having fewer losses.

(10-05-2010 04:10 PM)Hilltopper2248 Wrote:  Oh okay, I see what you mean. I wasn't trying to take anything away from your win, it was definitely impressive, and I wish you well in your transition period....hopefully it will shape up better than ours has, and not take nearly as long to be "sort of" competitive. I just thought the whole Boise State comparison was hilarious.

Backatchya :-)

(10-06-2010 04:53 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Why haven't we had a break out.

#1 factor in my book is expectations. As the old saying goes, "you get what you tolerate". If you believe that 7 wins is a really good year then 6-6 is good too and maybe 5-7 isn't too bad either and if there are enough excuses/reasons then 4-8 is no cause for panic. We will never achieve higher than we expect to unless we get really lucky.

#2. Failure to understand the business you are in. I would wager that MOST Sun Belt, WAC, CUSA, MAC, and maybe even a majority of MWC schools think their athletic department is in the business of playing games. You aren't. You are in the business of selling tickets and soliciting donations. Look at the size of your booster club staff and marketing staff, look at the size of their budgets. Texas spends 6% of its entire athletic budget on fundraising, marketing and promotion. North Texas spends 3%. That means UT outspends them by nearly $8 million. Alabama 5.5% of its budget on fundraising, marketing and promotion, Troy 2.5%. When you make decisions based on how they impact ticket sales and donations you are going to raise your expectations.

#3. Scheduling. If you are in the business of donations and ticket sales then why would you play two games per year that you aren't likely to win? You will need one simply because of financial reality and budget stability but if your focus is ticket sales and donations then you understand that you will do better in that business by having fewer losses.

Good points.