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The key to reversing course, UL coach Mark Hudspeth recently told his 1-3 team, is "quite simple."
Future success, he suggested, is all about going back to the past.
For a Ragin' Cajun club preparing to open Sun Belt Conference play Saturday night at home against Georgia State, Hudspeth said, that means doing "what we've been doing for the last three years – scoring about 35 points a game, and playing awfully hard, creating turnovers."
Through four outings so far in 2014, however, the Cajuns are averaging only 22.2 points per game.
They've lacked, by Hudspeth's own admission, "passion."
And they sure haven't been prompting turnovers.
With just one this year, in fact – a Sean Thomas interception – UL ranks dead last in takeaways, 125th overall, among all FBS teams in the nation.
And with three lost fumbles and seven Terrance Broadway interceptions, the Cajuns are minus-nine this season in turnover ratio. That's tied for 123rd-worst in the country, with only Michigan worse at minus-12.
"Last year at this same time we were like plus-five or plus-six," said Hudspeth, whose club works regularly on strip drills. "And after eight games we were like sixth in the nation in plus-minus.
"So, we're practicing the same way – but maybe the passion part of it, or playing harder, with relentless effort to get more people to the ball, might could be the difference.
"So," Hudspeth added during his weekly media gathering Monday, "you're gonna see an amped up football team, a team that's gonna play much harder."
Cajun players seem to have gotten the message as to what's been lacking most in losses to Louisiana Tech, at Ole Miss and, mostly recently, at Boise State.
"Playing with passion – you know, that's something we kind of faded away from," outside linebacker Tyren Alexander said Monday. "We haven't been really playing Ragin' Cajun football. But that is the goal for this week: to just come out, and just play with passion, and play like how we've been playing (in past years)."
"The last couple of games I think we've been missing (passion)," slot receiver Al Riles. "But I feel like we're turning things around, and we need to focus on that a lot more."
Where, oh where, did it go?
"I would say with all the hype, things going on, a lot more distractions at the beginning of the season, and expectations, I think it's been messing with some of the players' focus," Riles said. "But now I think everything is starting to set in. We're finally starting to realize what we need to do."
Hudspeth concurs.
His Cajuns were Sun Belt co-champs with Arkansas State last year and were the unanimous pick of conference coaches to win the league this year.
"I think it had a lot to do with a lot of expectations. … Their expectations preceded getting the work done one day at a time," Hudspeth said. "Maybe some of that had to do with it. (We) thought that maybe we've 'arrived,' for some odd reason, and they didn't have to play with type of effort and passion.
"That effort and passion we played with was the reason we were 9-4 three straight seasons. Not because necessarily we were the best team," he added. "I felt like it was because we played harder than a lot of people. We played smarter. Took care of the football."
Took it away too.
Greater effort, Hudspeth believes, could go a long way toward righting UL's ship – a requisite step before course reversal.
"Playing harder covers up mistakes," he said. "Playing harder creates things. … Playing with passion, playing hard – that's a talent. That's something you can teach, believe it or not."
"It all has to do with flying around," Alexander added. "You go back and look, we had forced fumbles (in games earlier this season); we just (weren't) in the right places. Players weren't really running to the ball to be there to recover those fumbles and things like that."
It's true.
In a season-opening win, UL was unable to recover Southern's lone fumble.
Against Louisiana Tech, Bulldogs quarterback Cody Sokol recovered both of his fumbles.
At Ole Miss, UL linebacker Boris Anyama had a wicked strip – and the ball flew high into the air before coming down straight into the hands of Rebels lineman Justin Bell, seven yards behind the play.
But at Boise State, which is coming off a loss last Saturday at Air Force in it was intercepted five times and fumbled twice, the Cajuns forced no Bronco fumbles whatsoever.
"If we had caused seven up in Boise," Hudspeth said, "we might have had a shot at that football game. But we didn't cause any."
Some of it for UL, then, boils down to playing more aggressively.
But some may be a mere matter of lousy luck.
"You've got to get some breaks," Hudspeth said. "You can rip out 30 balls, but if the other team recovers all 30 then you have no turnovers.
"We've ripped out balls, and had balls on the ground. (They) just not have bounced our way and we hadn't gotten on them. That's a little bit to do with it.
"But also: playing harder, creating more turnovers, maybe more pressure," he added. "Whatever we can do to create turnovers."
UL offers kid promotion Saturday: The UL Athletic Department is encouraging fans to "Take a Kid to the Game," for Saturday's 6 p.m. Sun Belt game against Georgia State at Cajun Field.
All children, ages 11 and under, will receive a free general admission ticket to the game and must be accompanied by an adult. Fans can take advantage of this offer by printing the coupon provided on RaginCajuns.com and redeeming at the Cajundome Box Office between 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and beginning at 10:30 a.m. on game day (Gates C and D) at Cajun Field.
For more information, contact the Cajundome Box Office at 265-2100.
Georgia State at UL
Game: 6 p.m., Saturday, Cajun Field.
TV: None.
Online: ESPN3.
Radio: 107.9 FM/1420 AM.
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