(12-03-2012 10:32 AM)theATLDawg Wrote:  Just enjoy your bowl ULm. You deserved it. The bright said is with six bowl tie ins Louisiana Tech will never have to rely on the I bowl again

With 31 Seniors, and the recruiting gaffe of the ages, you won't have to worry about ANY bowl for a while.

(12-03-2012 10:32 AM)theATLDawg Wrote:  Just enjoy your bowl ULm. You deserved it. The bright said is with six bowl tie ins Louisiana Tech will never have to rely on the I bowl again

A quibble: The new CUSA is likely to have only four automatic bowl tie ins going forward based on the formula of how many bowl eligible teams each conference has had in previous years.

The I Bowl couldn't rely on you so...

(12-03-2012 10:32 AM)theATLDawg Wrote:  Just enjoy your bowl ULm. You deserved it. The bright said is with six bowl tie ins Louisiana Tech will never have to rely on the I bowl again

Nope...you can always go to the NO Bowl....and then be FORCED to play ULM

(12-03-2012 11:08 AM)WarhawkReport Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 10:32 AM)theATLDawg Wrote:  Just enjoy your bowl ULm. You deserved it. The bright said is with six bowl tie ins Louisiana Tech will never have to rely on the I bowl again

Nope...you can always go to the NO Bowl....and then be FORCED to play ULM

Report, Tech may not get enough wins to get bowl eligible for the next 5-6 years. They won't be able to recruit any players to Ruston because of their throwing players under the bus.

(12-03-2012 10:19 AM)theATLDawg Wrote:  Sorry but Tech did the right thing. They were in line for a good bowl. The Indy bowl pushed them to make a decision. Barring the rare UNI bcs bid which no one saw coming Techs gamble would have paid off. I don't blame Tech one bit. The I bowl should have waited.

Tech had all the time in the world. The Independence Bowl came back to them a second time and offered a spot to play ULM. Tech did not want any part of that and was still holding out for another option. Meanwhile, Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

"Before we made another deal we called them back. We said, 'We're still willing to have you at the bowl, but need to know fairly quickly.' So we gave them a deadline and they didn't call us back until way later than that. If you don't call us back, that's a 'No.' And we made another deal so we'd have a quality bowl team."

The Independence Bowl ended up selecting Ohio University from the Mid-American Conference.
--

The Independence Bowl gave Tech more chances than most bowls would, but Tech's arrogance carried the weekend. Now they are paying for it in PR (nationally) ... and rightfully so.

Brian

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

No spots for Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl because they turned it down, Brian is dead on with his statement. And it is s major PR disaster for your athletic program nationally and for recruiting potential athletes. No way to spin other than Tech's arrogance finally came home to roost.

Listening to the Van de Velde interview on the Tim Brando show, it is now confirmed through a Louisiana Tech official that the Independence Bowl did want a Louisiana Tech vs. ULM matchup, a matchup that Tech fans are desperately claiming was not desirable by the Independence Bowl. Van de Velde clearly articulated that it came down to the Independence Bowl choosing not to wait for whatever MAC team(s) were there in the end ... and wanted an answer from Tech.

I was disappointed that Brando did not challenge Van de Velde on his assertion that Ohio would have been there in the end and that the Indy Bowl could have waited. Had the Indy Bowl not locked up Ohio on Sunday when they did, they might have been stuck with a 6-6 Central Michigan team or some other less desirable MAC team. The Independence Bowl did what they had to do.

Brian

(12-03-2012 12:01 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

No spots for Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl because they turned it down, Brian is dead on with his statement. And it is s major PR disaster for your athletic program nationally and for recruiting potential athletes. No way to spin other than Tech's arrogance finally came home to roost.

It's true we turned it down, but not because we don't like them or are too arrogant to play there or whatever... we thought we had better opportunities. It was a gamble, and we lost.

It would be like ULL having an invite from Godaddy.com but also having a 95% chance of getting the NO Bowl. Do you wait a couple of hours to see if the NO Bowl comes through or do you take the Godaddy.com?

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

Arkansas State was granted a release by the GoDaddy Bowl to pursue the Liberty, which they were. ASU was a very desirable option to the Liberty Bowl due to location (less than an hour) and the substantial number of fans they would have brought to the game. In the end, ASU lost out to a BCS conference school. Tech simply got played by the Liberty Bowl.

Brian

(12-03-2012 12:16 PM)gonegolfin Wrote:  Listening to the Van de Velde interview on the Tim Brando show, it is now confirmed through a Louisiana Tech official that the Independence Bowl did want a Louisiana Tech vs. ULM matchup, a matchup that Tech fans are desperately claiming was not desirable by the Independence Bowl. Van de Velde clearly articulated that it came down to the Independence Bowl choosing not to wait for whatever MAC team(s) were there in the end ... and wanted an answer from Tech.

I was disappointed that Brando did not challenge Van de Velde on his assertion that Ohio would have been there in the end and that the Indy Bowl could have waited. Had the Indy Bowl not locked up Ohio, they might have been stuck with a 6-6 Central Michigan team or some other less desirable MAC team. The Independence Bowl did what they had to do.

Brian

The only remaining teams for them were Ohio, CMU, Tech, and MTSU.

Couldn't pick MTSU because it would be a Sun Belt rematch. Tech was wavering on whether they wanted to come or not. Then CMU and Ohio. You would think they could have waited a couple more hours for Tech. But, I guess Ohio is a couple of games better than CMU. So they needed to jump on them before Detroit swept them up.

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

The Go-Daddy had agreed to release ASU to play in the Liberty. The Liberty took the AQ team instead. Tech was never a serious consideration for the Liberty. The only way Tech got in Memphis was if the bowl could not get an AQ AND Go-Daddy changed its mind about releasing ASU.

(12-03-2012 12:18 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:01 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

No spots for Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl because they turned it down, Brian is dead on with his statement. And it is s major PR disaster for your athletic program nationally and for recruiting potential athletes. No way to spin other than Tech's arrogance finally came home to roost.

It's true we turned it down, but not because we don't like them or are too arrogant to play there or whatever... we thought we had better opportunities. It was a gamble, and we lost.

It would be like ULL having an invite from Godaddy.com but also having a 95% chance of getting the NO Bowl. Do you wait a couple of hours to see if the NO Bowl comes through or do you take the Godaddy.com?

In either case, its mud on your face nationally. I would hope our AD was competent enough to secure some kind of assurances that we had a destination regardless of his final decision. Louisiana Tech is not LSU or any other BSC program for that matter; the fact that you and your fanbase thought the Indy-Bowl would wait on Tech because of your past relationship is arrogance.

For the record, they wanted UL over both Tech and ULM, and when the NO Bowl found out they made the move to invite the Cajuns early. It's about money, and always will be.

(12-03-2012 12:21 PM)gonegolfin Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

Arkansas State was granted a release by the GoDaddy Bowl to pursue the Liberty, which they were. ASU was a very desirable option to the Liberty Bowl due to location (less than an hour) and the substantial number of fans they would have brought to the game. In the end, ASU lost out to a BCS conference school. Tech simply got played by the Liberty Bowl.

Brian

If so, it wasn't until later in the day. Tech needed information quickly and it never came. The NIU invite was also past noon. The Liberty Bowl should have told Tech early that they were not going to invite them... but they didn't know either. Everybody was waiting to see what happened with NIU.

They need to make a new rule for the at large selections that no decisions can be made until the Monday following the final games. It created chaos when NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl.

(12-03-2012 12:25 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:18 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:01 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:37 AM)gonegolfin Wrote:  [Tech was third in line at the Liberty Bowl (behind Iowa State and Arkansas State). That bid was not coming.

If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

No spots for Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl because they turned it down, Brian is dead on with his statement. And it is s major PR disaster for your athletic program nationally and for recruiting potential athletes. No way to spin other than Tech's arrogance finally came home to roost.

It's true we turned it down, but not because we don't like them or are too arrogant to play there or whatever... we thought we had better opportunities. It was a gamble, and we lost.

It would be like ULL having an invite from Godaddy.com but also having a 95% chance of getting the NO Bowl. Do you wait a couple of hours to see if the NO Bowl comes through or do you take the Godaddy.com?

In either case, its mud on your face nationally. I would hope our AD was competent enough to secure some kind of assurances that we had a destination regardless of his final decision. Louisiana Tech is not LSU or any other BSC program for that matter; the fact that you and your fanbase thought the Indy-Bowl would wait on Tech because of your past relationship is arrogance.

For the record, they wanted UL over both Tech and ULM, and when the NO Bowl found out they made the move to invite the Cajuns early. It's about money, and always will be.

There were no assurances. We were given a deadline of Saturday at 3:00 pm. We couldn't make an informed decision until Sunday at 3:00 pm.

The Independence Bowl should have waited on Tech in my opinion. It's not arrogance that we have bailed their butts out a couple of times, it's truth. They were acting very immature and got their feelings hurt when we preferred the other bowls over theirs and they wanted to show us up. And they broke a lot of players' hearts.

(12-03-2012 12:32 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:25 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:18 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:01 PM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 11:53 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  If that was the case, Tech would have taken the I Bowl. They were being told that the Heart of Dallas Bowl wanted them. They were going to trade Iowa St to the Liberty Bowl and Tech would have played Purdue.

But they were also being told that the Liberty Bowl was interested and if Iowa State wanted the HOD Bowl, Tech would go to the Liberty.

Arkansas State was contracted with the Godaddy.com Bowl.

When NIU qualified for the Orange Bowl, it pushed Oklahoma down to the HOD Bowl and Iowa State to the Liberty Bowl.

No spots for Tech and Independence Bowl had already invited Ohio.

No spots for Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl because they turned it down, Brian is dead on with his statement. And it is s major PR disaster for your athletic program nationally and for recruiting potential athletes. No way to spin other than Tech's arrogance finally came home to roost.

It's true we turned it down, but not because we don't like them or are too arrogant to play there or whatever... we thought we had better opportunities. It was a gamble, and we lost.

It would be like ULL having an invite from Godaddy.com but also having a 95% chance of getting the NO Bowl. Do you wait a couple of hours to see if the NO Bowl comes through or do you take the Godaddy.com?

In either case, its mud on your face nationally. I would hope our AD was competent enough to secure some kind of assurances that we had a destination regardless of his final decision. Louisiana Tech is not LSU or any other BSC program for that matter; the fact that you and your fanbase thought the Indy-Bowl would wait on Tech because of your past relationship is arrogance.

For the record, they wanted UL over both Tech and ULM, and when the NO Bowl found out they made the move to invite the Cajuns early. It's about money, and always will be.

There were no assurances. We were given a deadline of Saturday at 3:00 pm. We couldn't make an informed decision until Sunday at 3:00 pm.

The Independence Bowl should have waited on Tech in my opinion. It's not arrogance that we have bailed their butts out a couple of times, it's truth. They were acting very immature and got their feelings hurt when we preferred the other bowls over theirs and they wanted to show us up. And they broke a lot of players' hearts.

The only "they" who broke any Tech player's heart was your AD [and James Davison].

(12-03-2012 12:23 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:16 PM)gonegolfin Wrote:  Listening to the Van de Velde interview on the Tim Brando show, it is now confirmed through a Louisiana Tech official that the Independence Bowl did want a Louisiana Tech vs. ULM matchup, a matchup that Tech fans are desperately claiming was not desirable by the Independence Bowl. Van de Velde clearly articulated that it came down to the Independence Bowl choosing not to wait for whatever MAC team(s) were there in the end ... and wanted an answer from Tech.

I was disappointed that Brando did not challenge Van de Velde on his assertion that Ohio would have been there in the end and that the Indy Bowl could have waited. Had the Indy Bowl not locked up Ohio, they might have been stuck with a 6-6 Central Michigan team or some other less desirable MAC team. The Independence Bowl did what they had to do.

Brian

The only remaining teams for them were Ohio, CMU, Tech, and MTSU.

Couldn't pick MTSU because it would be a Sun Belt rematch. Tech was wavering on whether they wanted to come or not. Then CMU and Ohio. You would think they could have waited a couple more hours for Tech. But, I guess Ohio is a couple of games better than CMU. So they needed to jump on them before Detroit swept them up.

You are darn right the Independence Bowl had to jump on Ohio (secured on Sunday, not Saturday) when they had the chance. The Indy Bowl could not risk the possibility of being stuck with Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky (disaster). They also did not want to get stuck with 6-6 Central Michigan. In fact, it was looking like the Indy Bowl waited too long to secure Ohio and was going to be stuck with the Chippewas.

It is the height of arrogance to suggest that the Indy Bowl wait for Tech to vet all of its bowl possibilities, while leaving the Indy Bowl exposed. The responsibility is laid at the feet of Van de Velde and the Tech administration.

Brian

(12-03-2012 12:41 PM)gonegolfin Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:23 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:16 PM)gonegolfin Wrote:  Listening to the Van de Velde interview on the Tim Brando show, it is now confirmed through a Louisiana Tech official that the Independence Bowl did want a Louisiana Tech vs. ULM matchup, a matchup that Tech fans are desperately claiming was not desirable by the Independence Bowl. Van de Velde clearly articulated that it came down to the Independence Bowl choosing not to wait for whatever MAC team(s) were there in the end ... and wanted an answer from Tech.

I was disappointed that Brando did not challenge Van de Velde on his assertion that Ohio would have been there in the end and that the Indy Bowl could have waited. Had the Indy Bowl not locked up Ohio, they might have been stuck with a 6-6 Central Michigan team or some other less desirable MAC team. The Independence Bowl did what they had to do.

Brian

The only remaining teams for them were Ohio, CMU, Tech, and MTSU.

Couldn't pick MTSU because it would be a Sun Belt rematch. Tech was wavering on whether they wanted to come or not. Then CMU and Ohio. You would think they could have waited a couple more hours for Tech. But, I guess Ohio is a couple of games better than CMU. So they needed to jump on them before Detroit swept them up.

You are darn right the Independence Bowl had to jump on Ohio (secured on Sunday, not Saturday) when they had the chance. The Indy Bowl could not risk the possibility of being stuck with Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky (disaster). They also did not want to get stuck with 6-6 Central Michigan. In fact, it was looking like the Indy Bowl waited too long to secure Ohio and was going to be stuck with the Chippewas.

It is the height of arrogance to suggest that the Indy Bowl wait for Tech to vet all of its bowl possibilities, while leaving the Indy Bowl exposed. The responsibility is laid at the feet of Van de Velde and the Tech administration.

Brian

To be honest, I was irrate when I found out we wouldn't be bowling. I thought the whole bunch of them should be fired and I wasn't going to support those arrogant bastards, and I had had it with all of college football.

But when the facts started coming out, I would have made the same decision as our AD made. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and we should have accepted the Independence Bowl invite. But given all the information, we thought we had a great chance at a better bowl and it didn't happen. If we would have taken the Independence Bowl and then found out we would have gotten one of the other bowls, we would have been just as upset.

But had the Inependence Bowl waited, everyone would have been happy.

Tim Brando and Pat Forde said it best.

Tech was acting as an independent since they were stuck between a dying WAC football conference with one bowl tie-in and getting into CUSA next year. They had to look out for their own best interest as an "independent". However, the college football bowl scene has no room for an "independent" and Tech should have taken the first offer to come along. They were in NO position to wait for a better offer ("better" being in the eyes of the beholder). The Liberty Bowl basically lied to them but it never should have come to that.

Tech screwed the pooch on this one. Their football team deserved better and their administrators didn't follow through for them.

(12-03-2012 12:51 PM)SOT1977 Wrote:  Tim Brando and Pat Forde said it best.

Tech was acting as an independent since they were stuck between a dying WAC football conference with one bowl tie-in and getting into CUSA next year. They had to look out for their own best interest as an "independent". However, the college football bowl scene has no room for an "independent" and Tech should have taken the first offer to come along. They were in NO position to wait for a better offer ("better" being in the eyes of the beholder). The Liberty Bowl basically lied to them but it never should have come to that.

Tech screwed the pooch on this one. Their football team deserved better and their administrators didn't follow through for them.

Yeah, God forbid that our AD actually believe that someone who works for a college bowl would be honest and forthcoming.

Guess we should have learned that lesson after watching Waters "memorandum of understanding" with the Indy Bowl. We all got to see how honest and upstanding they are in dealing with other parties.