It’s been six long years since the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns and Tulane Green Wave met on the gridiron at the 2017 Cure Bowl in Orlando.
Since then, both programs have gotten new head coaches and renovated their stadiums, but this matchup in 2024 has started to raise a question: why don’t these schools play football more often?
This Saturday will be the 28th matchup between the two Louisiana schools since 1911, but just the fifth since the turn of the century.
To fully comprehend the importance of this game and others like it, we first need to answer why it is so critical that smaller Group of Five schools play against in-state schools of the same size.
Rivalries are the foundation of college football as throughout its history, the tradition and pageantry of Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, Georgia-Florida, Texas-Texas A&M, and so forth is what makes college football so unique and so special. Sure, you have division rivals in the NFL that fans dislike and it creates animosity, but it is nothing compared to the pure hatred fans display for rivalry games in college football.
It’s fun, good for the sport, and something that should be celebrated.
“I think just in these last few weeks, the level of fan engagement and excitement around the matchup peripherally, just away from even on the field, what it would mean to these two teams, the amount of excitement and engagement that fan bases from both schools have towards this game is all the proof you need that games like these are productive for both sides,” said Dawson Eiserloh, host of the LohDown.
A prime example of why the Cajuns and the Green Wave should play is the economy. The 2013 New Orleans Bowl had an attendance number of 54,728 inside the then Mercedes-Benz Superdome as both teams were coming off successful seasons. This was the first bowl appearance for Tulane since 2002.
Not to mention that the game was a thriller as Cairo Santos missed the potential game-tying field goal with less than a minute to go as Louisiana won its third consecutive New Orleans Bowl 24-21.
When you look at ticket revenue, hotels, merch, restaurants, bars, etc, these games are huge for the local economy. This Saturday’s contest is near a sell-out in the under-construction 25,000-seat stadium and will be broadcast in a national spotlight, which is another factor that makes in-state rivalries so important.
It was 50 years ago that Augie Tammariello led his USL squad into New Orleans as they battled the Wave in his first game as a head coach. Tulane was a 55-point favorite and only won the game by two.
“Rivalries are the fundamentals and foundation of college football,” Tammariello said. “They’re the games that you talk about all year round. When I coached at USL, It was playing McNeese and Louisiana Tech that everyone looked forward to. Because the fans are close to those games, they come to the games, and it builds the incentive and the concentration to really go in and beat that opponent.”
“We’re in Lafayette and we’re playing somebody like San Jose State, there’s not that emotion, because they don’t bring their people. When we’re playing Louisiana Tech, Louisiana Tech fans are there, and our fans are there, so we’re missing that if we lose that.”
Heach Coach Michael Desormeaux is in support of playing more often but doesn’t view Tulane as a rival.
“Well, I don’t know that it’s a rivalry,” Desormeaux said in his weekly press conference. “We just don’t play that much. I think it should be. I think we should play as much as possible. To me, there’s no reason why we can’t figure this thing out where we play pretty much every year, our kids know their kids, their kids know ours, and we recruit the same kids most of the time. The proximity makes it where you cross paths so much. So, yeah, I mean, I think for the fans, it’s exciting. I know for us, it is. We’ve played them twice since I’ve been coaching here, and they got us both times. So, I mean, for us, it’s an opportunity to get to go play them again.”
In-state games should become a normal idea in college athletics, especially in football. Out of your four non-conference games, two of them should be against in-state opponents every year. So Southeastern Louisiana, Nicholls, McNeese, Northwestern State, Grambling, Southern, Louisiana Tech, and McNeese should be on the schedule regularly.
Kickoff between the Green Wave and Cajuns is set for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday in front of a national audience on ESPNU.
Matt Miguez is the host of the Miguez Mindset Podcast on ESPN Southwest Louisiana’s YouTube channel. He is also a digital contributor to ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.