What does back to back 6-6 years mean for Tulane ? What about for a 3rd year ?

[Bicoastalwave]

Everyone feels a little bummed out after starting 5-1 and only ending at 6 wins. We wanted to atleast continue the slow and steady annual 1 game improvement We have grown accustomed to. However let’s take a quick look at what back to back ( and maybe to back) 6 win seasons does for Tulane.

Nationally more respect. The conference and teams keep improving. We see this in national rankings but also from the computers. Our average opponent ranking was ~ 50 this year. Last year it was ~70. We’re better and we have been getting more national pub. Next year we have an equally if not more difficult schedule. Going 6-6 would probably mean a win over Miss State or Northwestern. I’d take that season.

Bringing in fans and changing the narrative. We have lost two generations of fans with our futility. Going 6-6 in a solid conference slowly brings them back. Breaking the records of futility and disrupting the usual talking points (no back to back bowls in decades, can’t win at Tulane etc) changes the narrative. Locals are now almost exclusively LSU fans, but winning changes the narrative and will start converting them back. The students at Tulane now think we’re pretty good. They still leave for the boot at half time, but now they watch the game at the boot and check the final scores. They were taught to leave by upperclassmen Who only experienced losing. Let’s keep winning and more locals, more students and more alumni will come back. We need to rebuild

Facilities & recruiting:

If we’re being honest we still have sub standard facilities. Furthermore the recruiting has been poor outside of the last few years. It takes time to build relationships depth and infrastructure. Also it’s taken time to change the narrative of local coaches and students. We were always just TuLame the loser. Only now this year have we seen a real shift in getting reasonable local recruits. Continuing to finish 6-6 or with a winning record will lead to us taking more and more of the Ull and Louisiana techs recruits snowballing is into better teams and better recruits. Standing still and beating ULL & LaTech in some bowls only furthers this. Memphis, Cinci, UCf & Houston have been recruiting at another level than us for years. It takes time to shrink that delta. In the annual anonymous interviews with coaches they says that Tulane is dangerous but we are still short on talent. I think we proved that this year.

Also a revitalized & slowly growing fan Base coming back will lead to further fundraising and slowly growing attendance at the stadium. Maybe we can get a new operations center or Yulman expansion after several more 6+ win seasons.

TLDR: just win. 6-6 ain’t bad and while 6-6 next year would be a little disappointing I think our average opponent ranking would be quite a bit higher than this year and we would still be an improved team (No UCONN).

[DfromCT]

I think we desperately need to win the bowl game. Otherwise we're 6-7 with a long losing streak. We need to do some different things out of our formations on offense because now I can call the play based upon the formation and motion. If I can you know our opponents can. We also need to play a clean game.

6-6 again next year might be tough with the schedule, but I don't think it builds the fan base. To maintain the momentum of respect we're getting, again, I think we MUST win the bowl game. I don't care who we play. No excuses. Just win baby.

[RobertM320]

I think we desperately need to win the bowl game. Otherwise we're 6-7 with a long losing streak. We need to do some different things out of our formations on offense because now I can call the play based upon the formation and motion. If I can you know our opponents can. We also need to play a clean game.

6-6 again next year might be tough with the schedule, but I don't think it builds the fan base. To maintain the momentum of respect we're getting, again, I think we MUST win the bowl game. I don't care who we play. No excuses. Just win baby.

I do agree we need to win the bowl game. The one good thing is, we probably won't be playing anyone that's as good as the teams we lost to this season.

[NOLABigSteve]

We need to win the bowl game. Hands down. Going 7-6 last year did not build the fan base for this year.

[winwave]

No doubt we need to win the Bowl game. Otherwise we had a losing season. If that's not motivation I don't what is.