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Athletics: Cajuns tied for 13th in Pentathlam – Glen Raggio added new componentKevin Foote, The Advertiser, July 9, 2016 It’s early July. For big fans of college sports, that means it’s time to start getting geared up for the start of football summer camps around the country next month. For some fans in these parts over the past 12 seasons, though, it’s actually time to reflect back on this past school season and see how the UL Ragin’ Cajuns team sports fared on the playing field compared to other programs of all shapes and sizes across the land. Longtime UL fan Glen Raggio has been compiling this information throughout that 12-year period. He calls it the Pentathlam, but he’s added a little twist to the 2016 figures that he’s recently concluded. He’s added the Septathlam to it. The concept is simple. Raggio wondered one day exactly how many times UL’s team sports win on the field relative to the rate of the power schools, the other mid-majors and even the FCS (or 1-AA) programs. In effect, Raggio was trying to gauge how many ‘happy days’ fans of each program around the country enjoy. At least that’s what I’ve called it for years when the New Orleans Saints or Houston Astros win, just on the college level. So while these percentages certainly don’t tell the entire story, they absolutely detail the amount of game-day smiles. The winning percentages in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball make up the Pentathlam. The Septathlam adds the other two pure team sports — women’s soccer and volleyball — that UL participates in to create a new seven-sport competition. In 2014, the Cajuns reached an all-time high of No. 3 overall in the Pentathlam. In 2015, UL was exceptionally high again at No. 12. This past season, the Cajuns were tied for 13th with the Ohio State Buckeyes with an overall winning percentage of 68.50. Amazingly, both the Cajuns and Buckeyes had identical combined records of 137-63 in the five sports. To put that No. 13 spot into some perspective, the only schools from non-Power Five Conference leagues to finish ahead of UL were James Madison at No. 10 and BYU at No. 12. James Madison of the Colonial Conference enjoyed winning seasons in four of the five sports, led obviously by its 50-6 showing in softball before losing to LSU in the Super Regionals. The Dukes were 9-3 in football, 21-11 in men’s basketball, 27-6 in women’s basketball and only baseball had a losing season at 24-31. BYU, on the other hand, had winning seasons in all five, just no one had the record of James Madison’s softball squad. The Cougars were 9-4 in football, 26-11 in men’s basketball, 26-7 in women’s basketball, 37-17 in baseball and 36-21 in softball. The Cajuns, meanwhile, only had a losing season in football at 4-8 and was led by their spring sports as usual with baseball going 43-21 and softball 46-9. Men’s basketball was 19-15 and women’s basketball 25-10. The other mid-majors in the Top 25 were Fresno State at No. 17 and new Sun Belt member Coastal Carolina at No. 18. While Coastal Carolina’s incredible national championship run in baseball at 55-18 led the way, its programs were also 9-3 in football, 21-12 in men’s basketball, 37-22 in softball and 12-18 in women’s basketball. In the big picture, Florida was No. 1 with a winning percentage of 75.94, followed by Louisville at 73.20. LSU took a bit of a dip this past school year down to No. 23 after being No. 2 overall in 2015 and No. 14 in 2014. Then there’s the 12-year Pentathlam totals, which illustrates consistency over an extended period of time in the five major team sports — at least from the South’s perspective. The Louisville Cardinals finished No. 1 over the past 12 years with a winning percentage of 70.84, followed closely by Florida at 70.69. LSU was No. 6 over the 12-year period at 68.72. The UL Ragin’ Cajuns, meanwhile, are one of only two non-Power Five programs to finish in the top 25 over the extended period at No. 21 with a 62.64 winning percentage. BYU is the other one at No. 17 with a 64.77 winning percentage. Those finishes are based on competing in all five sports for 12 years, which totals 156 schools. By comparison, 172 schools played all five this past school year and 161 played all seven in 2015-16. Consequently, there were six schools with higher winning percentages than UL’s 62.64 over the 12-year period. That list includes Duke (64.85 in 49 of the 60 sports), Vanderbilt (64.39, 48 sports), Miami, Fla. (63.10, 48), Chattanooga (62.69, 47), Montana (64.41, 38) and Gonzaga (68.48, 36). As for Raggio’s new Septathlam, the Cajuns dropped to No. 27 with women’s soccer being 8-10 and volleyball enduring a 6-23 campaign. James Madison rose to No. 6 in that category at 69.87 and Coastal Carolina was No. 14 after going 12-7 in soccer and 25-5 in volleyball. The only other two mid-majors ahead of UL in the Septathlam were Albany of the America East at No. 25 and Princeton of the Ivy League at No. 26. LSU dropped to No. 31 in the Septathlam with a 9-20 showing in volleyball.
2016 Pentathlam Standings (5 sports – Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Baseball, Softball)
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12-Year Pentathlam Standings (5 sports – Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Baseball, Softball)
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Septathlam Standings (7 sports – Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Women’s Soccer, Volleyball)
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