Quote:
<!--
NEW ORLEANS — It’s been two weeks since the 8-4 Ragin’ Cajuns ended their 2013 regular season with a 30-8 loss at South Alabama, one that left them down in the dumps.
With an eight-game win streak bookended by back-to-back losses, it wasn’t the way UL wanted to roll into bowl season.
The Cajuns wanted to go into Saturday’s New Orleans Bowl against 7-5 Tulane as Sun Belt Conference champs, not officially co-champs with Arkansas State because of late losses to UL Monroe and South Alabama.
During those two weeks, however, coach Mark Hudspeth’s club has tried to bury the past and look only ahead at a Green Wave team that presents some challenges on both sides of the ball.
“We actually shook that off, and left it all behind in Alabama,” running back Alonzo Harris said.
“Since we left there, it’s was all focusing onto preparation for Tulane,” Harris added. “All of the misery, all of the moping around – we left it all in South Alabama.”
Now they’re in the Big Easy, trying to figure out how to best tame Tulane.
“They’re playing great defense and they’re taking care of the football, which, to me,” Hudspeth said, “are the two biggest keys for success.”
The Green Wave’s defense is ranked second in Conference USA and 16th nationally against the run, allowing just 120.0 yards per game on the ground.
Tulane also is ranked 26th in the country in total defense, permitting just 354.3 yards per game.
“They’ve got an outstanding defense,” Hudspeth said.
It’s one much better than that which the Cajuns saw when UL beat a two-win Tulane team 41-13 last season at Cajun Field.
“They’re a little more multiple, maybe, than what we saw (last) year,” Hudspeth said.
“They have a lot of three-man, four-man front, bring pressure, a lot of man pressure, and the thing about it (is) I think their corners and safeties (including starter Sam Scofield, a St. Thomas More product) are very talented.
“They lock you down, play very good man coverage, and they keep you guessing,” the Cajun coach added. “You don’t know what’s coming next. You have to be prepared for a lot of different looks with their front.”
On offense, Hudspeth points to the fact Tulane has lost just eight fumbles this season and thrown just 13 interceptions.
That combined with 17 interceptions and 16 fumble recoveries by the Green Wave has Tulane with a plus-12 turnover margin – an average of plus-1.0 per game that is tied for ninth in the nation.
The key to combatting that offense starts with setting the edge, UL starting cornerback Trevence Patt suggested.
“They try to space you out, or condense everything to get outside of you. Or they try to widen you out to run inside,” Patt said. “So set the edge, and contain.”
Complicating matters for the Cajun defense, though, is that UL may be playing without injured starting quarterback Terrance Broadway (arm surgery), meaning one of two redshirt freshmen – Jalen Nixon or Brooks Haack – may start.
That puts extra burden on UL to keep Tulane scoring to a minimum.
“Like I told our defense, ‘I’m not expecting this freshman quarterback to win the game,’ ” Hudspeth said.
“If we have to win the game 2-0 – defense gets a safety – that’s what I expect from the defense, because they’ll have to play their best game of the year against a very talented team that does not turn the ball over.”
Tulane, meanwhile, will face a 3-4 base Cajun defense that is multiple as well.
“We’ve just go to make sure we identify what we’re seeing, especially in the passing game,” Green Wave quarterback Nick Montana said, “because they’ll mix some things up and try to confuse you.”
The Green Wave defense will face a Cajun offense that features two 800-plus-yard rushers in junior Alonzo Harris and true freshman Elijah McGuire.
UL is ranked first in the Sun Belt Conference and 26th nationally in rushing offense with an average of 207.6 yards per game, and the Cajuns likely will rely heavily on their ground tonight.
“They have a great running game,” Tulane coach Curtis Johnson said. “We’ve got to stop the run. That’s the first, and most-important thing.
“You know, this is a good opponent,” Johnson added. “This (UL) is a good football team.”
-->
