LSU Simply Can't Continue Playing The In-State La Schools....

But.. LSU makes more money for these series also. More than they would with an out of state, home/away series. They're not running a charity.

 

I don't know if LSU would do this, I know some big ten schools will charge more for a marque opponent, at least one team per year.

If you brought in Oklahoma or Ohio State and charge let's say ten bucks more for that game compared to others that solves your revenue problem.

I think LSU fans would have no problem paying extra for a big-time opponent once a year or once every other year.

Another thing is that LSU and LA Tech generates zero national attention. LSU and Ohio State would be national and even prime time. No one in the rest of the country cares about LSU and USL. LSU and Bowling Green would generate more national attention given the potential for a MAC upset.

 

Football is big buisness. If you want LSU to go to the next level, they have to increase the SOS. Bertman's philosophy of being nice and playing in state schools works great in baseball, but is bad buisness in football. If you look at the big picture, (getting into a BCS bowl game) LSU needs a better SOS. The payoff in a BCS bowl is about 2.5M verses 1M in a lesser bowl if you're lucky. The only way LSU is going to get respect is to play big schools rather than a bunch of patsies. Yes, playing one in state school can be beneficial to all but let's not go overboard. Even Saban has hinted that he wants to play big schools. I'm one of the one's whose going to be paying $400 a ticket soon. That's going to bring in ~10M a season. LSU (and skip) need to look at what it's going to take to win a NC. In state schools are'nt going to help us get to the next level.

 

If LSU went 12-0 and won the SCCG we would be in the NC game no matter who our non-conference opponents were.

 

Who Cares about selling Tickets????
You might sell a few more tickets but it sure hurts us in the
big picture of the BCS and the NC.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I think LSU would make more
money playing in a bcs bowl game or playing for a national
championship.

TV revenues, merchandise and such.

 

Yeah, but most years (including this one) at least one of the teams in the MNC game have a loss. LSU needs to put itself in position to be one of those teams when we are in that situation (which I hope we are at the end of the season). We need a tougher NC opponent.

Now that being said, I don't have ANY problem with Skip's approach to in-state schools. I think that we can afford to pound one in-state school a year and it won't kill our SOS. We sell more tickets, the team plays better (fewer UAB, Miami OH games). Win-win situation. BUT BUT BUT, we need to add a quality NC opponent each year. It may cause a minor monetary hit, but that hit would more than be made up for by the exposure and the possibilities. If we miss the MNC this year because of SOS, we will be missing a LOT of money. To the winner goes the spoils (Merchandising! Merchandising!). I agree with other posters, charge 10$ extra for these games. Plus we need to make the SEC change the TV rules so that a team keeps more of the TV revenue for OOC games instead of splitting it with everyone.

 

Originally posted by 65Grad
If LSU went 12-0 and won the SCCG we would be in the NC game no matter who our non-conference opponents were.


No Way!!!!!!

I dissagree, Look at the BCS system and the Saragin ratings,
a lot of that is also based on strength of schedule.

If that was the case everyone would play cupcakes for non-
conference schedules.

I would rather see a team rewarded for playing a tougher
schedule and have maybe one more loss than a team that played
no one and is Undefeated.

 

I have no problems playing Tulane or LaTech, as long as we never play them on the road.

LaTech has beaten some very good teams over the years and they are not a bottom feeder program like ULL and ULM. And I have always enjoyed the Tulane rivalry, although it's not much of a rivalry over the last 20 years.

The key is bringing in a big time opponent. LSU tied its hands by saying we gotta play 7 home game. If not for the NCAA allowing 12 games during certain years, we wouldn't have been able to schedule Arizona and VaTech.

Somehow, someway, LSU must be able to schedule one big name team ... even if this means losing a home game every other year!

 

i've read one mention of Southern being a 1-AA team, but does anyone else remember that the number 1 1-AA team (consistent top 5 for a decade) is sitting pretty in Lake Chuck?! McNeese may not hang with LSU for 60 minutes, but i think they would keep a lot closer than ULupickem. At this point, i think they would keep it closer than tech did. i heard that playing 1-AA teams doesn't even count to the win/loss column, but even if it doesn't, it would give the Tigers better competition than the other in-state schools. granted, the computers would think McNeese were say the 120th best team in the nation for being 1-AA, but the computers are %*(#@ty anyway. just my thoughts.

 

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCE should LSU play a Div 1-AA team again. We all need to understand that playing the worst team in Div 1-A serves us better in the BCS than playing the best Div 1-AA team.

We must upgrade our OOC schedule!