News -> News TUE, DEC 16 6:00PM by Nathan Stubbs

Who's to blame for UL's bowl snub?

After its best season in years and finishing a close second behind Sun Belt Conference champion Troy, this was supposed to be the year the Ragin’ Cajuns snapped their 38-year bowl spell. But on bowl selection day, the Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t get an invite, a snub that has sparked outrage and bewilderment across all UL sports fan outlets from the Raginpagin blog to Jay Walker’s radio show. The Motor City Bowl passed over UL for the Sun Belt’s fourth place finisher, Florida Atlantic. Even more puzzling was the Shreveport Independence Bowl reaching all the way to the Mid-American Conference’s fifth place team, Northern Illinois, to play against Louisiana Tech rather than selecting UL. With the Sun Belt having contracts in place that should have guaranteed its runner-up a bowl spot, politics clearly came into play.

The Ragin’ Cajuns have taken the high road and rightly shouldered the blame. Coach Rickey Bustle says that had the Cajuns won one more game they wouldn’t be in this situation. Still it’s always much more fun to cast aspersions than point the finger at yourself. So who’s to blame? We break down the leading suspects:


1. The Sun Belt Conference/Wright Waters – The obvious culprit. Last year, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Wright Waters secured deals with the PapaJohns.com bowl and the Independence Bowl that were supposed to guarantee Sun Belt teams priority. UL Coach Rickey Bustle says every coach in the conference was under the impression that the magic number of wins was six. But apparently, the fine print gave the bowls an out unless a Sun Belt team had seven wins. For more on Wright Waters, see Bob Heist’s indictment, titled “Agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on,” in The Daily Advertiser.


2. Glen Krupica – Deputy athletic director for external affairs at Northern Illinois, Krupica played a lead role in selling the school to the Independence Bowl. Just so happens he also served as the Independence Bowl’s executive director from 1994-2005. Krupica pleads his innocence in The Daily Advertiser, telling the paper that his connections to Shreveport “might have been a small benefit but nothing significant. We worked like every other team.” Sure you did.


3. Frank Brogan – Florida Atlantic University certainly scored a coup by finishing fourth in the Sun Belt and still managing to leapfrog UL into the Motor City Bowl. It’s probably just a coincidence that FAU President Frank Brogan serves as president of the Sun Belt’s executive committee and is on the NCAA’s 17-member board of directors.


4. ESPN – Who are we kidding? College football and the bowl selection process is driven entirely by TV ratings and controlled by corporate fat cats at places like ESPN (read: Disney) and NBC (General Electric). They pick the teams they feel deliver the biggest TV audience. It’s the only logical explanation for why the Shreveport Independence Bowl taps a fifth-place Mid-American Conference team in Chicago over UL.


5. LSU – There’s no way LSU could be behind this, right? Don’t be so sure. For a certain segment of Ragin’ Cajun Nation, anything and everything that goes wrong is due to in-state arch-nemesis LSU. There’s a lot of pent-up animosity here from conspiracy theory yore about how LSU does everything in its power to keep UL down, from foiling its name change to stealing its money in the state Legislature. You’ve got to reach pretty far to pin the bowl snub on LSU, but Independent Weekly reader John Mikell called in with what could be the missing link: Independence Bowl Executive Director Missy Setters is not only an LSU alum but also worked in the LSU Sports Information office for three years.


6. La. Tech – Tech had high hopes that it might end up playing in a more prestigious game than the Independence Bowl, but its season-ending loss to Nevada sealed its fate. Still, Tech being only slightly less antagonistic toward UL Lafayette than LSU, as well as a recruiting rival, the thought that it might have to play UL — and likely getting beat — in its own backyard bowl was unbearable. Tech lobbied hard to keep UL out of the Independence Bowl. According to some sources, Tech even threatened to opt into the Texas Bowl in Houston if UL ended up coming to Shreveport. What do you expect from a school whose most famous alum is Terry “I may be dumb but I’m not stupid” Bradshaw.


7. The BCS – Those damn computers. Everyone knows college football needs a playoff.


8. Ray Authement – Even in retirement, the former math professor and university president of 38 years still pulls all the strings and continues to sabotage all hope of any sport other than girls softball (his favorite) ever becoming a success. Rumor has it he secretly agreed to give the Independence Bowl a portion of the university’s horse farm property in exchange for passing over the Ragin’ Cajuns.


9. Jerry Baldwin – He won his lawsuit, but he still isn’t satisfied. Baldwin threatened to sue any bowl that invited UL as accomplices to a racist conspiracy to keep him from continuing to coach at UL while never having to actually win a game.


10. McNeese – The team UL can’t beat. McNeese gives credibility to anyone arguing UL was rightfully shut out of a bowl. All it has to do is point out that the Cajuns couldn’t even beat that Division II-A Lake Charles university last year. 


Comments (9)add
This is really pathetic.
written by Bob Barker , December 17, 2008 - 11:25 pm
USL, I pity your illusion that you are important enough for anyone to try and "foil" your bowl hopes.
Let's be real
written by Brian Comeaux , December 18, 2008 - 01:21 am
The only reason the Cajuns didn't get a bowl bid is because they didn't win enough games. Somebody else's fault? LOL
Relax guys...
written by Jimmy Justice , December 18, 2008 - 02:36 am
It appears that there is some confusion over what has Cajun fans a tad peeved. Finishing 6-6 is certainly tops, but there is an appropriate inward looking attitude regarding this sore subject, especially when considering the missed opportunities.

Then, there's the fourth-place, but equally 6-6 SBC finisher getting picked for the Motor City bowl over the second-placed Cajuns. But even that's not the main contention considering that this fourth-placed team resoundingly pounded the Cajuns on the field. Can even live with that.

What really has Cajun fans in a funk is the Independence Bowl's selection of 6-6 Northern Illinois over our local 6-6 Cajuns when the latter would have undoubtedly brought more fans, despite the fact that the Chicago TV market was in play (all 2% of them who might actually follow NIU athletics).

Nothing illusitory here Bob. It is in fact a plausible notion to suggest that bowl politics may have at least played a small part in this. After all, no one here is suggesting the Cajuns got "snubbed" from playing Florida in the BCS title. Merely the missed opportunity to play in the lowly I-Bowl against a storied rival instead of a similar 6-6 team from Illinois...
...
written by John Tiger , December 18, 2008 - 06:53 am
Stopped reading at point 5... really ULL, grow up.
...
written by John Tiger , December 18, 2008 - 07:04 am
Actually I did keep reading just to see if it got any more absured, but I was disappointed. Point 7 is great and 10 is right on the money!

Just for future reference, LSU is known as "LSU" because that is what EVERYONE calls it outside of Lafayette, Louisiana. LSUA&M@BR is only understood within the city limits of Lafayette. ESPN and CBS call us LSU, thus we are LSU. ESPN and CBS call the University of Mississippi "Ole Miss", thus they are Ole Miss. If UL-L thinks a name change will magically bring the university to become some oasis of awe, they need to contact major media outlets, not the state congress... I'm just saying.

With that being said, I am an LSU fan, but I cheer for the Cajuns when I can.
I am angry that they did not get into a bowl, but life goes on. Stuff like this makes me want to abstain my support for UL, but, since I know that very believe this about LSU, I still support this team.

I'm sorry if this post offends anyone, but, quite frankly, this article offends me.
...
written by David , December 18, 2008 - 12:16 pm
Hey John Tiger-

Just so you know, I read the article and came to a different conclusion than you did. This is obviously written "Tongue in cheek." The writer is simply poking fun at all the bowl hysteria as of late, and at the same time pointing out how absurd a certain faction of cajun fans can be. I can take a little jabbing from time to time, so I guess it's all in good fun.

But to be "quite frankly, offended" is pretty ridiculous. If anything, this guy is teasing UL, not offering up actual excuses.

Read it again.

...or were you being tongue in cheek?
Take a deep breath..
written by Jay Kimbrough , December 18, 2008 - 03:31 pm
Hey John Tiger,

Sorry you're offended. I think Mr. Stubbs was trying to be witty, but failed at his attempt. It's unfortunate that he tried to stir the LSU/UL crap when we don't have a beef with LSU over the I-Bowl. John, I did not see a reference to "LSUA&M@BR" in the article, but since YOU brought it up, that is what it says on my wife's diploma, and it IS the official name of the university, isn't it? .... I'm "just saying."
Seriously, this is NOT about LSU/UL, it's about UL having a legitimate gripe for being left out of a bowl.
Also, note to Bob Barker...I really miss you since you stopped doing "Price is Right." And yes, our pets are spayed and neutered.
...
written by Reg , December 18, 2008 - 10:34 pm
The following info is from another post but it seems to apply here, too.

Which team would you rather have?

Team A is 6-6, 2nd place in the worst conference in college football (home to zero top-25 teams). They played only one team with a winning record, losing 48-3. They were 6-5 against teams with .500 or worse records. Team A has never been to a bowl as a member of D-1A.

Team B is 6-6, 4th place in one of the top 3 non-BCS conferences (one top-15 team). They are 0-5 against teams with winning records (losing 3 of those games by a total of 10 points), but 6-1 against .500 or below. They traditionally bring a solid fan base to bowl games where they are 2-1 all time and have played in 2 bowl games in the last 5 years.

Team C is the opponent in the bowl game. They are 7-5, tied for 2nd in the 2nd best non-BCS conference (home to 1 top-10 team and sent teams to bcs bowl games the last 2 years). They are 1-4 against teams with a winning record (including 2 top-10 teams), 6-1 against teams .500 or below. They are 0-1-1 in bowl games since joining D-1A.
...
written by David , December 19, 2008 - 02:24 pm
Reg-

Or we could treat this the way most bowls treat it...

Team A will bring 15,000 people.
Team B will bring 1,500 people.

Which team do you pick?

It's all stupid anyways. I will stir this pot no more.


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