ccap05 wrote:DfromCT wrote:I've never heard of Arkansas State. BFD.
Arkansas State, Troy, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (along with 4 or five other small directional and double directional schools) make up the Sun Belt Conference. They play their games on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are sometimes broadcast on ESPN 8 ("El Gran Ocho") when they are not pre-empted by important Lacrosse games. I believe the SunBelt Conference slogan is "On any given Tuesday". I hope this explains Ark St. and the SunBelt Conference. The BFD comment is spot on.
Actually ccap05, most Belt games are played on Saturday just like everyone else though the league does get national exposure via ESPN with the Tuesday and Thursday night games. I've come to like those mid-week games as the Cajuns have done exceedingly well in that venue though home attendance usually takes a hit.
And from reading these posts, it seems that many here aren't very familiar with the SunBelt and its brand of football.....or perhaps just dismiss the league out-of-hand without any actual analysis. That's a shame because there's actually some decent football played in the Belt, at least by the top 2 or 3 teams each year, though I guess it's understandable with Tulane playing in a powerhouse football conference like the AAC that the Belt would go unnoticed here. And while there's no doubt that the AAC should be a much stronger football league year-in and year-out, I doubt the current Tulane football program could finish much higher than middle-of-the pack in the SunBelt.
For the sake of analysis, there's been some head-to-head competition between the Belt and the AAC though most recent games involved teams that were in transition from one conference to another. A couple of years ago for instance the Cajuns faced East Carolina (a directional school which is now an AAC member) in a bowl game and defeated them 43-34. And, of course, most of you probably remember last year's New Orleans Bowl where Tulane outclassed the Cajuns in every phase of the game except the final score.
This year I can think of only a single head-to-head matchup between the two leagues, that being a Texas State road win at Tulsa in OT. Tulane fans can probably relate to that scenario. Further comparisons would require a look at how the Belt did against opponents that Tulane has also faced this year. Duke, an early-season Tulane foe, defeated Troy 34-17 at Troy, while new, directional, FCS call-up Georgia Southern was defeated on a last minute, come-from-behind touchdown drive at Georgia Tech, 42-38.
While admitting that comparing scores against common opponents is not the best method possible, this limited data would seem to indicate to me that the Belt's middle-of-the pack teams have performed as well or better than Tulane in similar circumstances.
In conclusion, stop looking down your damned noses at everyone around you and, as always, I appreciate your continued interest in the Cajun athletic program.
ajcalhoun: Nobody here gives a flying fuck about UL-L and the Sunbelt Conference.
Alonzo Harris also scored 4 touchdowns.
