I'd have to say that Troy beating a ranked Mizzou team is probably the biggest.

This one is nice as is every AQ OOC win, but Louisville is not a top team right now. Its like when FAU Beat Minnesotta, Yes it was a great win, but they went on to be 1-11 that year.

Not downgrading FIU's performance at all, They played well and its a hell of a win. They deserve all the credit and if they beat UCF next week they will have a shot at getting ranked.

(09-09-2011 09:37 PM)stc Wrote:  If UCF beats Boston College at home tomorrow

Not guaranteed by any means, but I think it'll happen. We'll see

Quote:then the UCF-FIU game will be a very interesting game.

FIU's program -- players, coaches, admin. -- deserves a sell-out against an in-state opponent after such a huge win. I hope they get it.

Quote:I enjoyed watching the Louisville fans suffer tonight, good game Panthers!

Yeah, that always makes my day, too.

(09-09-2011 11:39 PM)BMarkey Wrote:  Nice win, and great for the Sun Belt when it really needed it, but not even close to the caliber of wins by Troy, ULM and others.

It's all in the perception. While you are correct from an analytical standpoint, this one was national TV, which puts it with the Troy win over Mizzou.

When an SBC school can go on the road, beat a team from an AQ conference and do it on national tv, that's a huge win.

Quick question...has there ever been a Sunbelt team ranked in the Top 25?

Troy's wins over No. 17 Missouri and Oklahoma State (which, I think, was better than Mizzu) were on national TV (ESPN or ESPN2).

(09-10-2011 09:19 AM)PantherNation Wrote:  Quick question...has there ever been a Sunbelt team ranked in the Top 25?

No. MT received votes after our 2009 campaign and I think Troy received votes once as well.

Troy was in the 20s once, I think, but not in the top 25.

The deck is stacked against the Sun Belt because no matter how good our teams are, not enough media covers us to accurately rate our teams before and in the early season. Add in some "bottom feeder" bias ("they can't be that good") and our teams start the season ranked way too low to be able to climb into the top 25 (especially after two or three OOC money games).

No offense to what FIU did last night. However, I think racking up bowl victories are equally as important. Therefore, I think Troy and FIU's wins were huge last year in bowls.

Also, if any Sunbelt team can knock off a ranked SEC team that would be huge.

(09-09-2011 09:48 PM)stebo Wrote:  Check out the rest of the FIU schedule... this could be a very special year for the Panthers. They could win a lot of these games, in fact - every game is winnable in my opinion:

Sat, Sept 17 vs UCF
Sat, Sept 24 vs Louisiana
Sat, Oct 1 vs Duke
Sat, Oct 8 @ Akron
BYE
Tue, Oct 18 @ Arkansas State
Tue, Oct 25 vs Troy
Sat, Nov 5 @ Western Kentucky
Sat, Nov 12 vs Florida Atlantic
Sat, Nov 19 @ ULM
Sat, Nov 26 @ Middle Tennessee

They have Duke, UCF, and Akron OOC... Duke lost to Richmond Spiders last week, UCF beat the living crap out of some FCS school (62-0), and Akron is well, they are Akron (they got shut out/destroyed last week).

Gentlemen, we could potentially see a top 25 team this year with FIU. I will be cheering for them every week.

first let me say congrats, beating any BCS team no mater how crappy they are on the national stage is big, and TY is just spectacular so far this year.

BUT, to say top 25 rankings.... they don't play anyone to say they get ranked, The best team is UCF and they are only CUSA. If you actually go undefeated, i dunno, maybe a vote or two, but Duke, Louisville, Akron and UCF is hardly an OOC schedule. (side note: I do think it is a great schedule for a SBC team and wish FAU would do the same, but just not for top 25 attention). Plus it's still early and we all know how SBC play is.

And then there is always trying to get past your nemesis... GO OWLS!!!!

(09-10-2011 10:57 AM)NCowl Wrote:  

(09-09-2011 09:48 PM)stebo Wrote:  Check out the rest of the FIU schedule... this could be a very special year for the Panthers. They could win a lot of these games, in fact - every game is winnable in my opinion:

Sat, Sept 17 vs UCF
Sat, Sept 24 vs Louisiana
Sat, Oct 1 vs Duke
Sat, Oct 8 @ Akron
BYE
Tue, Oct 18 @ Arkansas State
Tue, Oct 25 vs Troy
Sat, Nov 5 @ Western Kentucky
Sat, Nov 12 vs Florida Atlantic
Sat, Nov 19 @ ULM
Sat, Nov 26 @ Middle Tennessee

They have Duke, UCF, and Akron OOC... Duke lost to Richmond Spiders last week, UCF beat the living crap out of some FCS school (62-0), and Akron is well, they are Akron (they got shut out/destroyed last week).

Gentlemen, we could potentially see a top 25 team this year with FIU. I will be cheering for them every week.

first let me say congrats, beating any BCS team no mater how crappy they are on the national stage is big, and TY is just spectacular so far this year.

BUT, to say top 25 rankings.... they don't play anyone to say they get ranked, The best team is UCF and they are only CUSA. If you actually go undefeated, i dunno, maybe a vote or two, but Duke, Louisville, Akron and UCF is hardly an OOC schedule. (side note: I do think it is a great schedule for a SBC team and wish FAU would do the same, but just not for top 25 attention). Plus it's still early and we all know how SBC play is.

And then there is always trying to get past your nemesis... GO OWLS!!!!

You need to look at the MAC and WAC and CUSA teams that have been ranked over the last few years - Ball State almost got into a BCS bowl in 2008 with an easier schedule than this. They beat up a bunch of pansies in their regular season and lost in the MAC championship game - but they were ranked #12 when they lost that game.

Quality of schedule does matter - but winning and winning a lot matter even more. Especially for the non-auto bid schools.

I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky. Louisville wasn't impressive against a a FCS team and their a middle of the pack team from the worst AQ conference. I'm not hating and I give props but Louisville isn't a good team they recruit on the level of upper Sun Belt teams literally.

Its top 20 considering not many teams can even claim many ooc wins though

(09-10-2011 12:10 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that. I just their excited about their win.

Show me an FIU fan being cocky on this board.

(09-10-2011 12:10 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky. Louisville wasn't impressive against a a FCS team and their a middle of the pack team from the worst AQ conference. I'm not hating and I give props but Louisville isn't a good team they recruit on the level of upper Sun Belt teams literally.

Its top 20 considering not many teams can even claim many ooc wins though

Was it because I asked if any other Sunbelt team has been ranked in the Top 25?
I didn't insinuate that that's where we belong. Another poster brought that up. Just wanted to know.

(09-10-2011 01:00 PM)FIU Panther Fan Wrote:  Show me an FIU fan being cocky on this board.

(09-10-2011 12:10 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky. Louisville wasn't impressive against a a FCS team and their a middle of the pack team from the worst AQ conference. I'm not hating and I give props but Louisville isn't a good team they recruit on the level of upper Sun Belt teams literally.

Its top 20 considering not many teams can even claim many ooc wins though

(09-10-2011 12:10 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky. Louisville wasn't impressive against a a FCS team and their a middle of the pack team from the worst AQ conference. I'm not hating and I give props but Louisville isn't a good team they recruit on the level of upper Sun Belt teams literally.

Its top 20 considering not many teams can even claim many ooc wins though

I don't think its top 5, although wins over AQ teams are INCREDIBLY important for the credibility of the conference. I'd say the conference top 5 OOC wins are this...

5)MT over Vanderbilt @ Vanderbilt (2005) - Vandy went into the game 4-0 and everyone was so optimistic about this team lead by future first round draft pick Jay Cutler while on the other side MT went into the game 0-3 and people were calling for the head of head coach Andy McCollum. The game was a real seesaw battle going back and forth but the signature moment wouldn't come until only seconds remained on the clock. With MT clinging to a 17-15 lead, Vandy lined up to kick a walk off field goal to take the game, but MT would have other plans on this day as they blocked the kick and escaped from Nashville with their 3rd straight win over their AQ Rival.

4)Louisiana over Houston @ Houston (2006)- 2006 had the cajuns playing a senior laden Houston team that while they are the only team on this list that isn't an AQ team, was as talented as any team on this list. The other thing that made this win different was that the manner in which the cajuns won this game. With Kevin Kolb behind center, the Cougars jumped out to a 21-0 lead and looked like they were well on their way to a route, but slowly the Cajuns chipped away at the lead, and by the 4th quarter, you could see that the momentum had fully swung in the Cajuns favor. With like a minute to go in the game, the cajuns tossed a TD to the TE Kevin Belton in the back of the endzone which ended up being the game winner to take the game 31-28. The talent of the team faced, and the comeback are why this game is on this list.

3)Troy over Oklahoma State @ Troy (2007) - Omar Haugabook went off for over 350 yards and just tore this OSU team apart. In the end, this would probably be the most dominating of the signature wins on this list. While the final score showed only a 18 point win, this game was NEVER in question, Troy dominated from the opening whistle and at one point was up by 31 points on this team.

2)ULM over Alabama @ Alabama (2007) - I don't think anyone saw this coming, ULM beat a Nick Saban coached Alabama team at the end of the year during Sabans first year in Tuscaloosa. The only reason this game might be considered better than the Mizzou game was simply because there were atleast a few people predicting that Troy could pull off the upset...no one outside of a few die hard ULM fans actually thought that this was even a possibility.

1)Troy over Mizzou @ Troy (2004)- If I had to say there was a signature play and game of the SBC era, I would say that the play where the lineman running the fumble back for a TD is still the signature memorable moment of the conference. Mizzou was a top 25 team and Troy broke in their new stadium in style on national TV. Biggest win thus far for the conference.

Beating TAMU carries more weight perception wise than beating Houston does - people don't remember how bad they were that year, or how good Houston was.

(09-10-2011 03:45 PM)WinstonTheWolf Wrote:  Beating TAMU carries more weight perception wise than beating Houston does - people don't remember how bad they were that year, or how good Houston was.

Perception wise, the win the Cajuns had over K-State would be held in higher regard, but in actuality that Houston team would have beaten both that K-State and TAMU team by double digits atleast, and the list isnt about the perception of the teams, its how good the teams that were beat actually were. I'm not knocking the wins, but that Houston win was one of the top wins in the 10 year SBC history.

(09-10-2011 03:58 PM)Tuffguy21 Wrote:  

(09-10-2011 03:45 PM)WinstonTheWolf Wrote:  Beating TAMU carries more weight perception wise than beating Houston does - people don't remember how bad they were that year, or how good Houston was.

Perception wise, the win the Cajuns had over K-State would be held in higher regard,

I agree. And nobody cares about the rest.

(09-10-2011 12:10 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  I personally think FIU fans are a little cocky.

Huh????

(09-10-2011 01:31 PM)Tuffguy21 Wrote:  4)Louisiana over Houston @ Houston (2006)- 2006 had the cajuns playing a senior laden Houston team that while they are the only team on this list that isn't an AQ team, was as talented as any team on this list. The other thing that made this win different was that the manner in which the cajuns won this game. With Kevin Kolb behind center, the Cougars jumped out to a 21-0 lead and looked like they were well on their way to a route, but slowly the Cajuns chipped away at the lead, and by the 4th quarter, you could see that the momentum had fully swung in the Cajuns favor. With like a minute to go in the game, the cajuns tossed a TD to the TE Kevin Belton in the back of the endzone which ended up being the game winner to take the game 31-28. The talent of the team faced, and the comeback are why this game is on this list.

I had no idea this even happened. I'm well aware of all the others mentioned though. I think that tells you what most people think of that victory. It's not that Houston wasn't talented, it's that it's Houston, and not Gay n M or Alabama.