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UL sent its Sun Belt Conference welcome note to Texas State via airmail Saturday night, making quite a declaration as it did.
The Ragin’ Cajuns opened league play with a 48-24 win over SBC-newcomer Texas State in front of 23,108 at Cajun Field, getting four touchdown throws from quarterback Terrance Broadway and 360 of its 572 yards in total offense from the pass game.
UL improved to 3-2 by beating a now 3-2 Texas State team that opened with wins over Southern Mississippi, Prairie View A&M and Wyoming.
“I’m hoping that it makes a statement we’ve got a good football team,” said head coach Mark Hudspeth, now 12-1 all-time at Cajun Field.
“We’re trying to win a Sun Belt Conference championship,” added defensive lineman Justin Hamilton, who had a sack and a fumble recovery, “and to get the first W, and to be at home, and for it to be a big win like it was tonight, it was something incredible.”
UL, which led 28-3 at halftime, got 335 yards on 18-of-23 passing from Broadway, who broke out of a tie with Blaine Gautier and ex-NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme to become UL’s leader in 300-yard passing games with six.
The junior from Baton Rouge threw touchdown passes of 34 and 4 yards to Jamal Robinson, who had four catches for 114 yards and now has at least one TD reception in four straight games; one TD pass of 44 yards to Darryl Surgent; and one of 20 yards to James Butler.
UL also had a 4-yard run from Alonzo Harris, who rushed 16 times for 78 yards; a 4-yard TD run from true freshman Elijah McGuire; and field goals of 32 and 25 yards from Stephen Brauchle, who was also 6-of-6 on PATs.
“Terrance, I thought, was on fire,” Hudspeth said. “I thought he played very sharp. Threw the ball extremely well. Managed the game well.
“And I just thought defensively we tackled physical. … We didn’t give up many big plays, so I thought that was a plus.”
A key two-minute drill scoring drive at the end of the first half and a 99-yard TD drive in the third quarter summed up how well things went for UL, which also got solid ground production – 212 yards – against a team ranked third nationally against the run coming in.
“We were able to run effective enough to be really open up some play action,” Hudspeth said. “We were able to get some big plays.
“I have to give our offensive line credit for what I talked about all week – about deciphering the code, because they bring a lot of different looks, a lot of pressure, and I thought we picked it up, for the most part, really well, and was able to get the ball to our playmakers.”
UL’s second-drive first touchdown, the Harris run, was set up by a 53-yard pass from Broadway to Robinson.
The Cajuns made it 14-0 on Broadway’s TD pass to a wide-open Surgent, which was set up by a 37-yard pass to Butler on the drive’s first play.
“We just wanted to attack their secondary,” said Broadway, now sixth on UL’s all-time TD pass list with 27.
“We knew they were gonna try to move eight into the box and give us an eight-man front, and we just had to keep showing teams that we’re capable of passing the ball just as well as we’re capable of running it.
“We were well-prepared,” he added. “When you’re well-prepared, it is as easy as it looks. So we knew they (were) gonna do, and we thought we had some matchups with Surg (Surgent) on the safety and we took advantage of it.”
The Cajuns made it 21-0 in the second quarter when Broadway threw 34-yards to the back shoulder of Robinson for his touchdown, answered only by a 33-yard Jason Dann field goal for the Bobcats.
“Us as receivers, we felt we could beat all their DBs (defensive backs) 1-on-1 and get open,” Robinson said. Before the half was done, UL started a drive with 2:33 left and used only 2:04 before hit Robinson on his 4-yarder – a score aided by Broadway’s 23-yard pass to Devin Figaro.
Hudspeth called the TD “sort of a dagger shot.”
“That’s big for us,” Broadway said of UL’s two-minute drill. “We work on two-minute every Sunday night, and we have been very effective with it since Coach Hud has been here.
“I think our two-minute offense is one of the best in the country.”
UL’s ended the first half with Hamilton’s sack, and opened the second with Al Riles causing and recovering a fumble on the kickoff.
Two plays later, Broadway found Butler and Brauchle’s PAT made it 35-3.
UL extended its advantage to 45-3 with Brauchle’s 32-yarder and McGuire’s run, which capped the 99-yard drive.
“It’s always big to have a 99-yard drive,” Broadway said, “because … it takes a lot out of the defense.”
Brauchle’s first field goal capped a drive that started when linebacker Justin Anderson forced Texas State freshman QB Tyler to fumble, and Hamilton made the recovery.
He squeezed his 25-yarder between two kickoffs returns for touchdowns by Brandon Smith late in the third quarter and midway through the fourth – one for 92 yards, one for 100.
The Bobcats tacked on a late 2-yard Duke DeLancellotti TD run.
“Offense doing good was just making us hyped,” said linebacker Chris Hill, UL’s top tackler for a second straight game. “It made us want to go out and play at the same intensity as our offense – get three-and-outs so they can get on the field and they can score a touchdown.”
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