ULM: Too legit to quit

The University of Louisiana Monroe has a messageboard. It is rather confident about Saturday's game at Kinnick Stadium.

It's WarhawkNation.com. It predicts victory for the team Iowa (2-1) is paying $1.05 million. ULM (1-2) is just 1-for-36 lifetime against BCS conference schools. Messageboards come with some groupthink and unaltered negativity or positivity.

It's Monday, so WarhawkNation.com is bubbling with optimism, including a prediction of a 31-21 ULM victory.

"This is the best shot we've had at beating a BCS school at their place since I don't remember when," writes Vandolay on the site. "Don't forget our basketball team went up to Iowa a few years ago and won its tournament -- even though we weren't very good at all. Perhaps Iowa is our punching bag and they don't know it."

Every ULM fan could reasonably argue that Iowa might be the third-best team the Warhawks have faced this season. ULM opened the season at No. 11 Florida State, which pushed No. 1 Oklahoma last weekend, and lost 34-0. Then, ULM booked over to Grambling State, a rivalry school it shares recruiting grounds with. Last week, the Warhawks traveled to No. 20 TCU. They led after the first quarter before falling 38-17.

"It was a very physical game, played very fast on a very hot day," ULM coach Todd Berry said Monday. "I think both teams spent it by the end."

At the very least, when the Warhawks walk into Kinnick 11 a.m. on Saturday, it'll be a "been there, done that" moment. Also, the Sun Belt Conference has claimed a few BCS pelts this year. Well OK, one BCS pelt in Florida International's win over Louisville.

"I thought ULM played hard the whole football game," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "We knew that they were going to be different. When they were on defense, they caused us some issues."

ULM held the Seminoles to just 92 rushing yards, 3.3 yards a carry. On the flip side, ULM averaged just 3.1 yards on 61 offensive plays.

Louisiana Monroe, which has never beaten a Top 25 team, led TCU, 17-14, on Tavarese Maye's 37-yard touchdown catch and already had piled up 189 total yards by the end of the first quarter.

So, it traded punches with TCU. Down 21-17 at the half, TCU returned the opening kick of the second half for a TD and that was that.

Quarterback Kolton Browning completed 12-of-15 passes for 139 yards. Cody Wells led a touchdown drive on his only possession, connecting on all five pass attempts.

"This team is hurting right now, and believe me, we have total respect for TCU," Berry said. "We are at a point right now where we need to believe in ourselves, and we should.

"I heard people say that we were better on the field than we are on paper. Well you know what, we are. We are a legitimate team."

Legitimacy is a win away. ULM has one win over a ranked opponent in the highest classification of college football. NLU upset then-No. 20 Richmond, 14-8, in 1973. It was the only week the Spiders were ranked that season after upsetting West Virginia the week before.

ULM has had a couple of 6-6 seasons, 2007 and '09, but it hasn't had a winning season since 9-3 in 1993 when it was an FCS program.

Saturday, the Warhawks will find themselves playing for a paycheck in a BCS stadium for already the third time this season.

"I think we've had to play three emotional games because you had to be up for Florida State and TCU because they're nationally ranked," Berry said. "Then, you've got a rivalry game in Grambling. When you talk about having to play on an emotional high four weeks in a row, sometimes that's hard to maintain."

There's optimism on the internet and there's the other thing. Over in the comments section at the Monroe (La.) News Star, CousinGlyn is fed up.

"I am SICK of moral victories already... win some of these games or go back to I-AA."

Legitimacy is one win away.