Bye week comes at good time for UL´s Babb
<blockquote><p align=justify>LAFAYETTE — If Louisiana´s Ragin´ Cajuns had to play this week, sophomore quarterback Jerry Babb would have trouble looking like his usual, mobile self.
Babb aggravated an old back injury in last Saturday´s 27-24 homecoming victory over Arkansas State, and has been moving gingerly this week in practice.
Fortunately, the Cajuns have an open date this weekend and have extra time to both get healthy and to prepare to host three-time Sun Belt Conference champion North Texas next Friday night at Cajun Field.
When Babb exited early in the fourth quarter of the win over ASU, junior Luke Sniewski was thrust into a tense situation protecting a slim lead. He came through with a key 42-yard pass to Bill Sampy and in general stayed calm down the stretch.
"Luke has just become more comfortable running the offense," Cajun offensive coordinator Rob Christophel said. "This is a good time to get him more experience.
"There are a couple of different ways to look at your backup quarterback situation, and when to play him. You don´t want to do it just at the end of games. It´s tough on those guys.
"That pass to Bill was big for him. He needs somebody to make a play for him, and Bill was able to go and get the ball. Jerry can make things happen on his own. Luke is a different type of quarterback, and he´s not the starter, so that was a big play."
Babb is expected back for the North Texas game, which will be shown nationally on ESPN2, but whether he or Sniewski is taking snaps the Cajuns expect an aggressive defense from the Mean Green.
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"They´re a little more exotic than they´ve been in the past," Christophel said. "They´re a very well-educated defense. They have three seniors in the secondary, four in the defensive line and six of those seven seniors are three-year starters.
"I´m sure they´re well-schooled, and that allows them to expand their package."
North Texas, which hosts Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday seeking a 22nd straight Sun Belt win, relies on its defensive front to set the tone.
"Their front four is so aggressive," Christophel said. "They really get up the field and collapse the pocket. They´re not a big blitzing team. They get enough pressure up front, and that leaves more people to drop into coverage."
Aside from Babb´s maneuverability (a team-leading 376 yards rushing), the Cajuns are looking at other ways to combat that forceful defensive approach.
"There are things we can do to try to take away that aggressiveness," Christophel said. "I don´t think you change what you do offensively at this time of the year, but there are little things we´ll try to do to take that away.
"We can run screens and traps. You don´t want to just drop straight back and pass, because they´re going to get you."
Offensive line coach Mike Gibson´s unit will be on its toes for the UNT invasion, but it´s hard to imagine a tougher scenario than getting backed up on your on 2- and 4-yard lines to start drives as the Cajuns had to do against ASU.
"That was tough," Gibson said. "But we´ve got to be able to punch that ball out of there and get a few first downs. We almost had a first down one time, but one of our guys dropped his head and when you do that you´re in trouble.
"But, that was a learning experience for us. We hadn´t been backed up like that. Now in the future if we see that situation again maybe we´ll know what to do. It´s like being ahead 24-0. We hadn´t been there before.
"You just have to learn how to handle those type of situations."
That´s what the last three days of practice have been about.
"You do look inward with an open date," Christophel said. "You go back and look at how you do things fundamentally. You try to get a little jump. There are things you hope to be successful with.
"We´re concentrating most on get ourselves better."
That includes getting healthy enough for the Mean Green invasion.
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