(09-27-2022 09:16 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:13 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  Louisiana is the biggest surprise to me. I knew they lost a lot, but I didn't expect them to struggle like they have.

I feel like Napier did them dirty.

Chadwell would probably do the same thing leaving Coastal. Take all the staff and players he can.

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

Agree . . I think Troy gets the nod, but South definitely could take it.

Did the huge ROAD WIN at 3 - 0 Tulane get USM over the hump? Will they now take the West by storm?

(09-27-2022 12:37 PM)DoubletapWolf Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

Agree . . I think Troy gets the nod, but South definitely could take it.

Did the huge ROAD WIN at 3 - 0 Tulane get USM over the hump? Will they now take the West by storm?

If you asked my unbiased opinion, South looks a lot better than Troy right now. The defenses are both very good, but South has a very productive offense to go along with it and is winning the turnover battle. We are not. We have a few games to get better so we'll see if we can be good enough to beat them in Mobile, but for now, South is the team to beat in the west, and would be a very strong contender in the east.

(09-27-2022 12:33 PM)TealNation Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:16 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:13 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  Louisiana is the biggest surprise to me. I knew they lost a lot, but I didn't expect them to struggle like they have.

I feel like Napier did them dirty.

Chadwell would probably do the same thing leaving Coastal. Take all the staff and players he can.

I'm always a little bit skeptical when a team promotes from within, it feels like it's a bit of a forced attempt at continuity instead of going after the strongest candidate they can. Maybe Desormeaux will work out long term, but it's not like another top G5 would've hired him away for a HC job or like UL would've hired away another G5 assistant for their HC. Aside from promoting from within, he probably would've had to go FCS to become a HC. Louisiana making an external hire would've looked for a solid P5 assistant or a very successful FCS HC.

Just seemed to me more like they should've taken advantage of their position as one of the top G5 programs of late and made the safest, most proven hire they could. Reminds me of how some JMU people wanted an alum hire like Stinespring when Houston left, but instead JMU went with the obvious proven candidate by grabbing an extremely successful HC without even going outside of our own conference. JMU basketball, on the other hand, has gone the alumni/JMU connection route three times since Lefty and look how those turned out.

That combined with just how much they lost didn't have me super confident in UL coming in to this season, whereas teams like App and Coastal may have lost a lot but I felt they'd be fine and so far they are. Obviously I hope he works out long term, or even better that short term they just had one bad game against Rice and ULM is actually just that good... But yeah I don't think Napier did them much or any worse than you'd expect. I just think UL gambled more than they needed to when replacing him.

(09-26-2022 11:00 AM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-26-2022 10:36 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  There's Troy and South, but USM is right up there, and ULM can't be counted out. Great HC and DC. TXST and ARKST don't look so hot. Not seeing the Cajuns winning the rest of their conference games, but they're probably somewhere in the middle.

I almost included USM but I'm not sold on their consistency right now. They've got Troy next on 10/08 so that should tell us a lot about them.

I completely agree. Troy and USA are the frontrunners. I hope we rise to the level to challenge them this year. If not, I'm confident we'll be there in 2023.

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

To be fair, Troy and USA struggle in games in Monroe, and seem to lose most games there for whatever reason. Since Troy joined the SBC they are 1-5 in Monroe. South Alabama is 0-4. I wouldn’t read too much into that. These games will be in Troy and Mobile this year. Now, I’ve thought since before the season started Coastal would lose in Monroe this year. They’ll see just how difficult it is to play there (again for whatever reason).

(09-26-2022 11:00 AM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-26-2022 10:36 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  There's Troy and South, but USM is right up there, and ULM can't be counted out. Great HC and DC. TXST and ARKST don't look so hot. Not seeing the Cajuns winning the rest of their conference games, but they're probably somewhere in the middle.

I almost included USM but I'm not sold on their consistency right now. They've got Troy next on 10/08 so that should tell us a lot about them.

I said that the Liberty game should tell the tale of the season. We lost our starting QB in first half and ran the Super Back / Wild Cat the entire second half. So was kind of hard to tell, plus we have a "new" starting QB since that game. As bad a breaks and calls we had that game, it still took USM 4 OTs to lose to a good Liberty team. Id say it did tell the tale.

Then I also said (or thought), the Tulane game would tell us a lot about where USM is. We won that game with our True freshman QB. Seems he will be the starter the remaining of the year so long as he stays healthy.

Based on Liberty and Tulane games (even Miami), Id say its pretty clear where USM stands and that's at the top of the West. Not saying we will win it all, but I think we have seen enough to not have to wait for Troy to tell us where we are. This is not a knock on Troy. Troy is tough. Maybe or maybe not as tough as Liberty or Tulane. Should be a tough game in two weeks but Ive seen enough to say that USM is in the equation as being the best team in the West.

(09-27-2022 05:24 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

To be fair, Troy and USA struggle in games in Monroe, and seem to lose most games there for whatever reason. Since Troy joined the SBC they are 1-5 in Monroe. South Alabama is 0-4. I wouldn’t read too much into that. These games will be in Troy and Mobile this year. Now, I’ve thought since before the season started Coastal would lose in Monroe this year. They’ll see just how difficult it is to play there (again for whatever reason).

ULM is one of the toughest road games in the SBC. Malone Stadium sucks the life out of anyone who rolls in there. It causes a lot of teams to play down to our level. I am not hating on my university, nor bragging on them. Malone is just a different kind of place. Almost like going to prison, lol. I kinda like our ole gem of a turd though.

(09-27-2022 05:24 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

To be fair, Troy and USA struggle in games in Monroe, and seem to lose most games there for whatever reason. Since Troy joined the SBC they are 1-5 in Monroe. South Alabama is 0-4. I wouldn’t read too much into that. These games will be in Troy and Mobile this year. Now, I’ve thought since before the season started Coastal would lose in Monroe this year. They’ll see just how difficult it is to play there (again for whatever reason).

But it's not like we haven't had success on the road against either team.

(09-27-2022 05:34 PM)HawkFangKarate Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:24 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

To be fair, Troy and USA struggle in games in Monroe, and seem to lose most games there for whatever reason. Since Troy joined the SBC they are 1-5 in Monroe. South Alabama is 0-4. I wouldn’t read too much into that. These games will be in Troy and Mobile this year. Now, I’ve thought since before the season started Coastal would lose in Monroe this year. They’ll see just how difficult it is to play there (again for whatever reason).

ULM is one of the toughest road games in the SBC. Malone Stadium sucks the life out of anyone who rolls in there. It causes a lot of teams to play down to our level. I am not hating on my university, nor bragging on them. Malone is just a different kind of place. Almost like going to prison, lol. I kinda like our ole gem of a turd though.

Including our own fans sometimes.

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

Your similes are on point today.

(09-27-2022 04:21 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 12:33 PM)TealNation Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:16 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:13 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  Louisiana is the biggest surprise to me. I knew they lost a lot, but I didn't expect them to struggle like they have.

I feel like Napier did them dirty.

Chadwell would probably do the same thing leaving Coastal. Take all the staff and players he can.

I'm always a little bit skeptical when a team promotes from within, it feels like it's a bit of a forced attempt at continuity instead of going after the strongest candidate they can. Maybe Desormeaux will work out long term, but it's not like another top G5 would've hired him away for a HC job or like UL would've hired away another G5 assistant for their HC. Aside from promoting from within, he probably would've had to go FCS to become a HC. Louisiana making an external hire would've looked for a solid P5 assistant or a very successful FCS HC.

Just seemed to me more like they should've taken advantage of their position as one of the top G5 programs of late and made the safest, most proven hire they could. Reminds me of how some JMU people wanted an alum hire like Stinespring when Houston left, but instead JMU went with the obvious proven candidate by grabbing an extremely successful HC without even going outside of our own conference. JMU basketball, on the other hand, has gone the alumni/JMU connection route three times since Lefty and look how those turned out.

That combined with just how much they lost didn't have me super confident in UL coming in to this season, whereas teams like App and Coastal may have lost a lot but I felt they'd be fine and so far they are. Obviously I hope he works out long term, or even better that short term they just had one bad game against Rice and ULM is actually just that good... But yeah I don't think Napier did them much or any worse than you'd expect. I just think UL gambled more than they needed to when replacing him.

This is really well thought out and put together nicely. There are a tone of Cajun fans thinking this way and I too am questioning the hire. I hate the 2 QB system he is running! Just pic a damn QB and ride!

We’re four games into the season and some people are calling for Dez’s head, I am not one. I’m willing to play this out and give him a couple years. I fully expected to be 4-0 at this point, but instead we are 2-2….a couple plays from 4-0 but that’s the breaks.

Fact is, Louisiana is a sloppy football team with a horrible run game/OL. The team can pass protect fine but can’t push a yard when it matters. It’s so uncharacteristic of Louisiana football, even when we were awful we could run! Some of my boys and I have a joke that the OL needs to get an NIL deal from Sonic as the “Cajun Car Hops” because they are always on roller skates. Do we have the talent to win the SBC? Without question…we look the part. Do we have the coaching staff to put the pieces together? That is yet to be determined. Too small of a sample size.

Regarding the West, it’s gonna be fun! South is a must win game and I’m sure the boys will be ready. If we lose Saturday and fall to 2-3 (0-2) you can stick a fork in us as far as winning the West goes.

(09-27-2022 05:34 PM)HawkFangKarate Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:24 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 05:15 PM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 04:32 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-24-2022 09:39 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  Comes down to Troy and South at this point. Fight me.

I think so but don’t count them Eagles out just yet.

Right now my West power ranking is

USA
Troy
USM
stAte
ULM
Louisiana
TXST

I honestly would not count anyone out at this point. Even ULL and TxSt. TxSt hasn't even played a conference game yet so there no telling what will happen to them. If they beat or even play JMU close it could signal some things coming together for them. ULL definitely has the talent to bounce back. As for us, we beat Troy and USA last year. I know that both are improved but so are we so please, go ahead and count us out. LOL.[

The West is as wide open as a prostitute on Bourbon St.

To be fair, Troy and USA struggle in games in Monroe, and seem to lose most games there for whatever reason. Since Troy joined the SBC they are 1-5 in Monroe. South Alabama is 0-4. I wouldn’t read too much into that. These games will be in Troy and Mobile this year. Now, I’ve thought since before the season started Coastal would lose in Monroe this year. They’ll see just how difficult it is to play there (again for whatever reason).

ULM is one of the toughest road games in the SBC. Malone Stadium sucks the life out of anyone who rolls in there. It causes a lot of teams to play down to our level. I am not hating on my university, nor bragging on them. Malone is just a different kind of place. Almost like going to prison, lol. I kinda like our ole gem of a turd though.

As someone who marched there with the Troy "Sound of the South" back in the early 2000's, I would say this is a very accurate description of how I felt there that day lol. And we lost that game which was a surprise to all of us.

(09-27-2022 10:06 AM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:16 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  

(09-27-2022 09:13 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  Louisiana is the biggest surprise to me. I knew they lost a lot, but I didn't expect them to struggle like they have.

I feel like Napier did them dirty.

How so?

Just with how much he took from players and staff. The fans thought it he as all about UL (the cULture and all), even when he would eventually leave he would leave the program better than he found it. But he ended up getting UL to build up a huge support staff, bigger than many P5 programs, just so he could take them with him. He wasn't building up UL, he was building up his future staff at his next gig but made UL pay for it. When he signed the contract the cULture went out the window.

(09-27-2022 12:33 PM)TealNation Wrote:  Chadwell would probably do the same thing leaving Coastal. Take all the staff and players he can.

He might. And the transfer portal certainly makes it easy to do with players. But I think there is a difference in that I don't know of any Coastal fans that think Chadwell is all about CCU or won't leave at a good opportunity. I do hope that Moglia has helped build a succession plan so that we'll have a smoother transition.

(09-27-2022 05:34 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  

(09-26-2022 11:00 AM)WARDAWG93 Wrote:  

(09-26-2022 10:36 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  There's Troy and South, but USM is right up there, and ULM can't be counted out. Great HC and DC. TXST and ARKST don't look so hot. Not seeing the Cajuns winning the rest of their conference games, but they're probably somewhere in the middle.

I almost included USM but I'm not sold on their consistency right now. They've got Troy next on 10/08 so that should tell us a lot about them.

I said that the Liberty game should tell the tale of the season. We lost our starting QB in first half and ran the Super Back / Wild Cat the entire second half. So was kind of hard to tell, plus we have a "new" starting QB since that game. As bad a breaks and calls we had that game, it still took USM 4 OTs to lose to a good Liberty team. Id say it did tell the tale.

Then I also said (or thought), the Tulane game would tell us a lot about where USM is. We won that game with our True freshman QB. Seems he will be the starter the remaining of the year so long as he stays healthy.

Based on Liberty and Tulane games (even Miami), Id say its pretty clear where USM stands and that's at the top of the West. Not saying we will win it all, but I think we have seen enough to not have to wait for Troy to tell us where we are. This is not a knock on Troy. Troy is tough. Maybe or maybe not as tough as Liberty or Tulane. Should be a tough game in two weeks but Ive seen enough to say that USM is in the equation as being the best team in the West.

LOL. We are a year or maybe two from being good. We will help decide who wins the west though, and that is a huge improvement. One step at a time.