Is It Apathy?

[ULGrad-Hou]

@HoustonCouillon

They day I realized where the program truly was in the eyes of not only college football, but in the Lafayette area, was the SBC Championship game in 2021.

Top 25 ranking, 11-1, hosting the title game against the premier program of the conference. You could not have asked for better weather. Not a cloud in the sky. No LSU game to compete with. And we couldn’t even come close to a sellout.

I remember sitting in my seat and looking around at the empty seats and thinking “Wow. I really thought we were on the way up.” We had what, about 33k that day? Which is cool. But there’s no reason to not have 40k that day. I’m not going to sit here and blame LSU for our lack of support. But our entire state is so ingrained in LSU athletics that everything else is an afterthought. I really believe UL could go undefeated and earn a spot in the playoffs and we would still struggle for support because we are not LSU. We are not a P4.

We are not the only ones who struggle with this. Just watch what happens to Tulane over the next couple years. They are killing it right now, but the luster will wear off just like ours did. They will lose momentum and go back to where they were just a few years ago. It is hard for programs like ours to sustain that type of success and supports when most people really don’t care about what goes on in the G6 ranks. Its fun for a while, but at the end of the day there is a P4 program in Baton Rouge that has their eyes set on a national title every year. We can sit here and blame the administration (who rightfully deserves all the criticism they get) for mishandling the program. That is a whole other thread of complaints. But at the end of the day, the general public simply does not care.

I cannot understand why it’s not universally understood. The years 2020 and 2021 can be thrown away as far as attendance goes. IT DOESN”T MATTER! Why do people keep banging their drum on this knowing we were in the middle of a worldwide pandemic with people not going anywhere much less games. It’s unfortunate that our best years were during this time, but saying we couldn’t generate interest during this time is idiotic.

[ULofR1]

@ULGrad-Hou

It’s unfortunate that our best years were during this time, but saying we couldn’t generate interest during this time is idiotic

LSU went 5-5 and 6-7 during that same stretch, but every person on this board probably had an interaction like this:

“Hey friends and family, since LSU lost at 11am this morning, you guys wanna watch the UL game tonight?”

Them: “nobody cares about ULL playing Georgia State Tech"

“Theyre actually a top 25 team..”

Them: “wow they went undefeated against teams that suck”

They actually beat ranked Iowa State

Them: “Iowa state sucks”

Theyre in the Big 12 championship..

Them: “the big 12 sucks”

Outside of UL’s actual fans, you’re trying to sell tickets to people who are surrounded by peers who are fiercely loyal not only to LSU but also (inexplicably) to LSU’s most bitter rivals

The only ‘success’ we should be focused on is having people leave the stadium thinking “man, that was fun”.

[RaginScotsman]

Just from a Sun Belt standpoint, that’s by far the highest attended Championship game and second place is not close. Given our fans in the past 10 years, it is actually impressive that we sold 30k + from 0 because all tickets had to be sold from scratch. You have to give credit there.

I thought the New Orleans bowls in 2011 and 2012 (and the home games) were the start of something incredible with fan support. It was a flash in the pan, and we know the initial Hud effect story. It’s been well documented.

Still, those examples at least give me a glimpse of hope that we could have great fan support again. Unfortunately, college football is not the same now as it even was in 2021. People have been turned off across the college football landscape.

[Mxpxfr690]

Bottom line Mike ain’t going no where this year.

[RaginCajun77]

He’s not going anywhere for years with the financial hole the university is in.