<table bgcolor=#818181> <td> <Font color=#ffffff> <p align=justify> It will have absolutely no bearing on the Sun Belt Conference football race and won't help the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns make it to the likely relocated New Orleans Bowl.
Saturday's contest at Eastern Michigan, though, may wind up being one of the most important the Cajuns will play all season.
UL is 0-1, exactly as expected after opening the season against the nation's second-ranked football team. And it wouldn't surprise many if that Texas team popped Ohio State on Saturday and made a legitimate run at the national championship.
This weekend's different. Saturday's game is one that, if the Cajuns plan on turning the corner after years of ineptitude, needs to go in the win column.
UL hasn't had a winning football season in 10 years, since the three in a row in 1993-95 that included two Big West Conference shared titles. Since then, the schedule has been filled with nationally known programs - Florida, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Washington State, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona State, South Carolina, Kansas State and LSU.
But the reason the Cajuns didn't have winning seasons in those years has little to do with those powers, the 1996 win over A&M notwithstanding.
The reason UL hasn't posted a .500 season since 1995 is they couldn't beat the likes of North Alabama, Northern Illinois, Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State. Last year, losses to New Mexico State, Idaho and UL-Monroe turned a bridge to respectability into a 4-7 disappointment.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050909/SPORTS/509090337/1006">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
Second Wind <!--
Before the Cajuns can contend for the Sun Belt title, they need a statement victory. They need to prove - to themselves most of all - they can win those games in which the outcome isn't already known before kickoff.
They didn't have that chance last Saturday. They do this week.
They also have lots of chances over the next month. After Saturday's game against EMU - a program that has had one winning season since 1990 - Rickey Bustle's squad plays three in a row at home beginning with next weekend's home opener against Northwestern State.
Northwestern's no pushover, since the Demons rallied from a 23-0 deficit to humble UL Monroe last weekend, but if UL gets a win Saturday they'll go into next week as a favorite.
After that, it's two weeks to prepare for an Oct. 1 home meeting with Central Florida, which hasn't won a football game since October of 2003. Then, it's a Thursday night conference opener against a Florida Atlantic team that's only been playing football for five years and is only one year removed from the I-AA ranks.
What all that means is the Cajuns have every opportunity to put themselves in a rare position. UL was 3-2 before losing six of seven last year, and before that the Cajuns hadn't had a winning record as late as October in a decade.
To accomplish that small step, this weekend's trip is as close to a "must" win as a September non-conference game can be. If they pull this one off, they'll set the stage and pump up their victory-starved fan base.
If they don't, it could be the first sad verse to the same old song.
(Dan McDonald is a sports writer for The Daily Advertiser.)
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