re: Will the "market" ever abolish cupcake games?

rumor is sEC will be going to 9 sec games so I think those cupcakes will still be around unless the big schools break away and form their own league.

The "market" that would force any BCS team to beef up their schedule is not season ticket holders. More and more colleges don't need you to support their program by buying tickets. The only two things that would force LSU to change would be 1) playoff system punishing them for a terrible ooc schedule 2) TV money somehow decreasing because of the schedule. I don't think either will happen, but that stadium could be half full at every home game and the program would make money

I don't mind cupcake games, I just wish a couple of them were against in state squads.

No the 2014 schedule was done purposely. With the start of the playoffs there is no reason to kill yourself w/ a tough regular season schedule because the objective is to be ranked high enough to be one of those teams....and if you are you will then need to defeat the 3 top rated teams in the nation.

So, having a tough regular seasona mayl be great for you as a fan but it would seriously diminish the teams chances of success. Do you really think playing this years schedule PLUS another 4 (includes the SECCG) games against the highest ranked opponents in the country would spell success for LSU?

I am more pissed about the neutral site games, but I certainly get the money side of it.

Obviously the price of season tickets will never decrease going forward, but all it will take is a few "lean" years (and it will happen eventually, it does to every power program)to see the price plateau. I was there in the early 90's where the stadium was, at best, 3/4 full for home games, and you couldn't give away a ticket.

With the way college football is structured now, the cupcake games are going to stay. However, if we see the playoffs expand to something similar to the NCAA basketball tournament(obviously something like 16 teams as opposed to 68) then we'll see more and better OOC games between the power conferences. In that scenario, one loss won't virtually end your season, and you may need that SOS boost to get into the playoffs. It's why you see games like Duke/Kansas or UNC/UK or UCLA/Indiana regularly in basketball

Yes, cupcake games and a 5 year span of declining competitiveness will drive them to better scheduling. I thought the new playoff (non-BCS) system would motivate teams to have better non-conference opponents.

Imagine how college football would be changed if the NCAA ruled that every non-conference game scheduled required a home & home agreement. LSU wants to schedule Idaho? Fine, but they MUST agree to play AT Idaho the following year. CFB would get more interesting very quickly.

After looking at the composite schedules for in state schools, here are some state schools we could have played instead...
ULL is playing at Kansas State when we host UAB ( Nichols State and SLU were also out of state that date).
ULM is at Wake Forest when we play Kent State (Grambling and Northwestern St. were also out of state on that date). Nobody in state looked available when we were scheduled to play Furman.

Not so fast!!

Yes, the cupcake games are not competitive (although Les and the boys have played down to the level of competition at times).

My brother & I gave up our very good season tickets after the 2006 season. What a mistake. I live in Florida so coming to every game was impossible and my brother was getting older and it had become less pleasurable for him to attend. However, I now wish I had those seats. I could easily donate the unwanted games to a deserving charity or military personnel. The SEC games are worth attending.

I think you may regret it.

I am a guitar collector and I really miss some of the guitars I have sold or traded. You originally buy something because it has worth. Chances are you'll discover that worth after you've lost it.