BlogPoll4

The lastest BlogPoll is being hosted by the kind folks at:

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com

As this fine Notre Dame blog writes, the Blogpoll is a collection of fifty college football blogs that have banded together to do a poll and rankings throughout the season. It is my honor to represent Tulane, and be the lone C-USA rep, in the poll. This week deals with rivalries- the questions are in italics- and the link to the poll is at the bottom:


Someday....

Who are your rival(s)?

Tulane has clear rival in LSU- which obviously leads the series (62-23-7). It used to be one of the most intense in the country- but Tulane choose to de-emphasize athletics in the 1960’s- and the football program never recovered- except for an unbelievable meteoric season in 1998 (12-0, #7 AP).

It isn’t an intense rivalry- one side clearly dominates and they currently don’t play every year. Like a lot of football factories, LSU began demanding multiple home games in return for each visit to New Orleans. Frankly, Tulane wasn’t all that sad to lose a repeated bad beating year after year. There were plenty of other SEC teams willing to schedule the trip to New Orleans- and bring the same big traveling crowds with them. Auburn plays a home-and-home shortly. Mississippi just finished one. And MSU comes to New Orleans this year.

But the Tigers have seen the light- and have agreed to a ten year home-and-home starting shortly. LSU just doesn’t travel much out of league; they need the home games to pay for their bloated program. With the expanded schedule, the Tigers were looking at three/four out of conference home games against utterly unattractive patsies year after year. Tulane is going through a bit of resurgence. The Wave ain’t good- but they simply aren’t awful anymore and play an entertaining style. With a little competitiveness restored, adding Tulane to the Death Valley schedule is more attractive than, say, Louisiana-Monroe. So the Tigers took the five visits to New Orleans.

But this rivalry isn’t frankly a good one- and really won't be until Tulane can get a win. Then, I think it’ll get some luster. It has the key ingredient for success- the two schools don’t like each other one bit.


- If you could start up a new rivalry with another team, who would it be? Is there a team out there that you think would make a perfect rival for your team?

Tulane and USM have played some entertaining games with mid-major conference significance- and the Wave can beat them more than occassionally. USM is the class of our league: they win, graduate players, and have classy program that can play the big boys.

Tulane doesn’t exactly aspire to their academics- but it would love to have that program on the football field: win 8-9 consistently, draw 35,000 and play good games every year against elite teams. They are the best measuring stick for the Wave, bring a good crowd with them to New Orleans, and the Tulane community has a lot of respect for their product. When Tulane beats them, it feels like we are making progress.

- Overall, what do you think the best rivalry in college football is?

Army-Navy for sure. Wouldn’t miss it. Nothing comes close.

- Lastly, game trophies. What are the best and worst rivalry trophies out there?

Just a fun note. Tulane and LSU used to play for a “trophy” called “The Rag”. But recently a Tulane alum (me!) came into the possession of the skull of Mike IV- the figurative “grandfather” of the existing LSU mascot: a tiger. I have offered to donate it as a replacement for “The Rag”- which has been lost- and it might be the new “trophy” when the series resumes.

You can read the whole BlogPoll here:

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_bluegraysky_
archive.html#112247662303105595