They did, and I tip my hat to those guys they take on anyone. I am tired of the stupid "anytime, anywhere" speech. BUT those guys take on anyone.
Wasn't it about a Thursday night game or something... isn't that why we didn't take that game? If it wasn't Fresno State then it was someone else... we didn't want to play them because ESPN needed a Thursday game and we didn't want to do that. So they picked up someone else to play them on Thursday night on ESPN.
You might be talking about '03 when Marshall backed out to play Toledo on a Thursday night game, which was more beneficial. We were stuck w/ W. Illinois, another Div. II team, that everybody was quick to point out. I'm not sure exactly what happened w/ this Fresno St./ App St. deal.
Thursdays are difficult for schools like LSU, because you'd prefer to have a bye week heading into the Thursday game. That's a big blow to your scheduling flexibility. Marshall pulled out from LSU to have the flexibility for a mid-week game later on in the season. Virginia Tech backed up their return trip to LSU for the same reason. As solid as Fresno State is, I don't think LSU should pick up a home-and-home with them. A one-off home game? Sure. If you're going to get a home-and-home with someone, look a little higher up the prestige ladder.
Could be that Fresno was already scheduled to play San Jose State on Nov. 5? Were they going to get SJS to reschedule? Or, were they prepared to play two games in one day? This "Fresno wanted to play LSU, but LSU preferred to play App State" business stinks.
Well, I think the "and home" part of the deal is what helped prevent it from happening. The reason why LSU hasn't had many "good" OOC matchups is b/c they can't afford to do OOC home and homes. LSU needs a minimum # home games a year for budgetary reasons (the soon-to-be allowed 12th game helps alleviate this, by the way), something hard to do when you have 8 mandatory conference games and a set in stone home and home conference schedule. And any decent team worth its salt wants a home and home w/ an LSU because it's a great game and will guarantee a sellout and $$ for them, too. This is why LSU hasn't played an Ohio State or a Notre Dame in recent years...and, if they were gonna do a home and home this year and next OOC, it'd be against someone bigger than Fresno State.
Only problem is the 12th game coming up is home and home with Tulane. Better than Appie State, but not exactly a strong OOC opponent.:geauxtige
Tulane doesn't have a "home" right now and is talking about dropping football. That could go by the wayside quick-like.
I'm such a Fresno fan now, after one game. The officials cost them that game. If I was the Fresno coach, I would have walked into the postgame press conference beaming from ear to ear and gushed about how big a win it was for the program until a reporter said, "but coach, you lost, USC beat you." And I'd have said, "Oh, i'm sorry, i must have closed my eyes and imagined I was watching some other game, just like the referrees apparently did." The disrespect just won't stop for that poor team. They have two losses, N.D. has two losses. N.D. is 6th in both human polls, Fresno is 16th. N.D. lost close to USC (at N.D.) Fresno lost close to USC (at USC) N.D.'s other loss was to 5-6 Michigan State (at N.D.) Fresno's other loss was to 10-1 Oregon (at Oregon) :angryfire
