Red Towel Roundtable: Sun Belt Foe’s

Dec 21, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns players celebrate with the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl trophy after they defeated the Tulane Green Wave, 24-21, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

Marcus: From all of the teams in the Sun Belt Conference, my least favorite would have to be none other than Louisiana-Lafayette – simply because they, much like the Tops, are just plain good at everything they do. For starters, my first signs of hatred towards them would come from the Tuesday night football game this past season that aired on ESPN2. It was the national stage, and WKU could get a victory under the main spotlight. After starting out decent, the Hilltoppers would lose momentum and the Ragin Cajuns kept getting hotter as the game went on. The final score would feature a Western Kentucky loss with a deficit of 17 points. Not that impressive of a showing for the Hilltoppers on the big stage. Next, my hatred towards the Cajuns became more solidified when the Tops traveled down to Lafayette for the first basketball game between the two schools on the year. WKU was able to pull out the victory in a huge grudge match verses 2014 NBA draft prospect Elfrid Payton and company, yet once the Tops returned from the trip they talked of how rude the fans were. Now I realize if you are a visiting team that yes, you will receive unwanted comments and slander against your team. However, the men’s squad said that they received out of the norm comments from yelling fans. To me, if fans are truly rowdy in a behavior that isn’t out of school spirit, but rowdy in a sense of humiliation directed towards an opposing squad, then I believe that the fans are degrading their own program. When teams walk into any of Western Kentucky’s sports complexes, you bet I want the Tops to win with all of my heart, and you bet I am going to get frustrated with the officials if a call is wrong, but I will not, and hope never to see fans degrading another team in a humiliating fashion, and for that to happen to a certain extent to the Hilltoppers while in Lafayette you bet I have hatred building towards that program. Another Reason I hate ULL is, once again, basketball related – they knocked WKU out of the SBC tournament, and shut the door to an NCAA Tournament or NIT bid. I realize that the Hilltoppers mainly lost to their own accord, and ULL just played a heck of a game, but the fact that they had to be the team to put WKU makes me just hate them that much more. One last reason I have hatred towards the Ragin Cajuns is they were ranked numero uno in baseball earlier this season. Yes the Hilltoppers were able to beat them one game while ULL held that rank, but the fact they held that rank at all, after what all has happened this season, just adds to my hatred. I must say though, yes I hate ULL, but I do love playing them for competition because they always provide a huge challenge for the Tops that makes for an entertaining matchup. From all of the SBC teams, I hate ULL the most, but I will also miss them the most when WKU makes the jump to C-USA next season. (Ed. note – this was written before ULL won the Sun Belt in both baseball and softball, made the Women’s College World Series and were selected as a baseball regional site. Just more ways and reason to hate them, I guess).