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They didn’t fare well at all in a season-opening loss at Arkansas.
But they started feeling a bit better about themselves one week later at Kansas State, starting tackle Mykhael Quave suggests. And by the time of 70-7 win over Nicholls State on Sept. 14 in which they gained 456 yards on the ground, Quave said they were “rolling.”
Now – coming off wins at Arkansas State and Western Kentucky, and having won five straight heading into Saturday’s visit from 1-7 New Mexico State – Quave said “confidence level is pretty high” for members of UL’s offensive line.
That, though, is not to say they’re resting on their laurels. Line coach Mitch Rodrigue, according to Quave, just won’t allow it.
“He does a pretty good job of grounding us and keeping things in perspective,” Quave said. “Like, yes, the past two games we’ve had a good game. But he asks each and every one of us, ‘Was it your best game?’ None of us could answer that, ‘Yes.’
“We hold ourselves to a standard about what we could do every week, and if we don’t reach our standard it’s … considered, ‘You can do better, so don’t pat yourself on the pat, don’t get into all the hype of, oh, you’re great, you’re this and that.’
“We still have more to prove,” Quave added. “We still can dominate more, each and every play.”
No one is perfect, and Quave knows it.
But being so is something he and his linemates strive for, nevertheless.
“We know a bad play is gonna happen,” he said, “but we want to minimize that as much as possible.
“I feel like, personally, I made a couple of errors the past game,” Quave added. “And I feel like for me to get better I have to focus on those plays instead of plays where I did good. It’s the same across the whole front.”
The unit, Quave suggests, is one that’s grown close with time.
Three of UL’s five starters – Quave, who played guard last season; tackle Octravian Anderson, whom head coach Mark Hudspeth calls the most-improved of the bunch; and guard Terry Johnson – are first-year starters at their current positions. They’re joined by two returning starters, guard Daniel Quave and center Andre Huval.
“In the spring, we were just getting a feel for each other. In the summer, that’s when we started to get a little more chemistry,” Quave said. “In (preseason) camp, that’s when we started to become friends with one another off the field.
“We started to just get that swag about ourselves. Now, you’re seeing the fruits of the labor we’ve been putting in all this time.”
ATTENTION TO DETAILS
In back-to-back ESPN2-televised Tuesday-night games during October of last season, UL lost at North Texas and to Arkansas State.
In preparing for another October stretch with back-to-back ESPN2-televised Tuesday-night games this year, Hudspeth decided he had overworked his players during that same time period in 2012.
So he altered practice schedules, and was rewarded by his 5-2 Cajuns with wins over WKU and Arkansas State.
“The thing we’ve been able to do a better job of this year … is understanding their needs as far as when to give them some time off,” Hudspeth said. “I think that’s been the biggest factor in our two Tuesday wins as compared to last year’s two Tuesday (losses).”
A little time of, he determined, actually is OK.
“But when you do have them,” Hudspeth said, “it’s really attention to details (that’s important).”
With those two wins in the books and NMSU visiting Saturday, however, Hudspeth hastens to make it clear now is not the time to dial things down.
He did work his club on the field only once in the days after beating Arkansas State on Tuesday of last week and before picking up with a regular game-week schedule last Sunday.
But he doesn’t want them easing up at anything, on the field or off.
“We want to practice hard, lift hard, meet hard,” Hudspeth said. “If you do that, a lot of times you’re hard to beat.”
RINGO STILL OUT
Usual starting defensive lineman Christian Ringo (high ankle sprain) “will not play” Saturday, Hudspeth said after practice Tuesday.
But, Hudspeth said, Ringo is healing faster than initially anticipated and it is “possible” he will return Nov. 7 against Troy.
With Ringo missing a second straight game Saturday, sophomore Marquis White is expected to make a second consecutive start.
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