What to look for beyond Wins and Losses this season
Positives to build on from 2003
Much improved special teams play.
We went from being the most penalized team in the Sun Belt to the least penalized in one year.
WR Fred Stamps returns following a 1000 yard season.
Average home attendence rose from 13,323 to 15,056 despite bad weather for every home game.
Negatives to improve on from 2003
RUSHING YARDAGE............... 734
Average Per Game.............. 61.2
Average Per Rush.............. 1.9
TDs Rushing................... 9
We were outscored in the first quarter 26-113.
Defense gave up an average of 29.6 points per game in SBC games and 29.0 points in OOC games.
Offense scored an avg 19.5 points per ame in SBC games and 14.5 in OOC games.
Fox Sports: 2003 Overall Preview
<blockquote><p align=justify>In the second year in the Rickey Bustle era, the hope will be for the offense to be more exciting and for the defense to tighten up. In the Sun Belt, Louisiana has to start making a move in league play coming off a competitive season. A loss is a loss is a loss, but the Ragin' Cajuns were able to come within a touchdown of MTSU and three points of New Mexico State while beating Idaho and Arkansas State. With a massive influx of junior college transfers, the overall depth of the program has improved and hopefully there will be enough of a talent upgrade to make some more noise in the Sun Belt.
This is still a young team that should give Bustle time to figure out all of the ins and outs of his talent. The key will be getting the offense moving after averaging a mere 16.9 points and 61 rushing yards per game. Bustle is known for being a top cultivator of quarterbacks and was fine at getting the Virginia Tech offense moving, so now he has to instill some life into the Ragin' Cajun attack. With receivers like Frederick Stamps and a slew of decent quarterback prospects, this season can't help but be more exciting.
<b>The Schedule:</b> Life won't ever be easy out of conference to ULL, but the team might have a shot at beating Houston in a home battle. Most likely, the Ragin' Cajuns will be 0-6 before trying to get revenge on UM Monroe. Traveling to North Texas and MTSU won't make the Sun Belt season an easy one.
<b>Best Offensive Player:</b> Senior WR Frederick Stamps. The best receiver in the Sun Belt, Stamps averaged 18.6 yards per catch and should be one of the top offensive weapons in the league.
<b>Best Defensive Player:</b> Senior SS Jamal Smith. As much of a linebacker as a defensive back, Smith is a great tackler and is decent against the pass. He'll be one of the team leaders in tackles again.
<b>Key player to a successful season:</b> The running game averaged 1.9 yards per carry last season, so new starters Dwight Lindon and Josh Harrison have to add more punch to the attack.
The season will be a success if… the Ragin' Cajuns win four games. It won't be easy, with a tough conference schedule and several harsh non-conference games. If ULL can play the best it can possibly play and the non-Sun Belt teams are looking ahead to other games, ULL could win four to five games. The team is at least a year away from thinking about challenging for the conference title.
<b>Key game:</b> Oct. 11 vs. UL Monroe. The Ragin' Cajuns can't lose two year in a row to its archrival. A loss could mean a total downturn for the program.
<b>2002 Fun Stats: </b>
- First quarter scoring: Opponents 113 - ULL 26
- Penalties: Opponents 96 for 725 yards - ULL 70 for 570
- Rushing yards per game: Opponents 182.2 - ULL 61.2
<center><p><a href="http://www.collegefootballnews.com/sun_belt/2003_Previews/UL_Lafayette_Preview.htm">The source of the story</a>
Defense WILL be better this year
Linemen
I feel much better about this group than last years. I look for 2 or 3 of these JC tranfers to suprise us.
Travis Bass 6-1 240 DE, Jr.
George Benson 6-3, 290 DT, Jr.
Darryl Blappert 6-7 275 DT, Jr.
Antonio Floyd 6-1 240 DE, Sr.
Ken Haynes 6-4 285 DT, Jr.
Anthony Hills 6-4 235 DE, RS-Fr.
Derace James 6-3 255 DE, Sr.
Eugene Kwarteng 6-4 235 DE, So.
Gary Rudiek 6-1 226 DE, Jr.
Daniel Taylor 6-1 281 DT, Sr.
Justin Taylor 6-2 260 DT, Jr.
Justin Venable 6-0 235 DE, So.
Shawn Williams 6-1 313 DT, Sr.
incoming freshman
Chris Cutler 6-3 270 DT
Paul Eli 6-3 230 DE
Travis Ferguson 6-2 285 DT
Jason Guidry 6-3 220 DE
Brupbacher and Smith should rule the inside with Norman and Fair seeing alot of playing time.
Linebackers
Ross Brupbacher 6-1 231, Sr.
Ricky Calais 5-10 219, Sr.
Mack Fair 6-1 225, RS-Fr.
Tyler Norman 6-2 205, So.
Jamaal Sanders 5-9 205, Sr.
Stanley Smith 6-1 240, Jr.
incoming freshman
Tre' Green 6-0 215
Mark Risher 6-2 225
Here is where the questions begin. Smith is the only returning starter. Felders and Lamy saw playing time last year and Brown and Prater are reported to be good players. Beyond Smith I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Safties
Patrick Lamy 5-10 195, Whip, Sr.
Wes Simon 6-0 200, Whip, RS-Fr.
Jamal Smith 5-10 190, Rover, Sr.
C.C. Brown 6-2 205, Rover, Jr.
David Prater 5-11 205, Free, Jr.
Wendall Williams 6-2 215, Free, Jr.
Johnny Felders 6-1 185, Free, So.
incoming freshman
Lamar Morgan 6-3 185, Free Saftey
Carter (before he broke his ankle) and Fenton both saw valuable playing time last year but it will be tough for them to hold off Thomas and Spann this year. All 4 will be hard pressed to replace Taylor and Tillman.
Cornerback
Jerrell Carter 5-8 185, Jr.
Terryl Fenton 6-1 200, So.
Antoine Spann 6-0 185, Jr.
Ricky Thomas 6-0 197, Jr.
incoming freshman
Jarrett Jones 6-0 185
Torres Kingsby 5-10 180
Overall, I think our depth and talent are better than last years, especially on the front line where the battle is won or lost. Alot will depend on how quickly the new faces grasp the defense and they all learn to play as a unit. The defense will not allow 29 points per game this season.
Wright Waters and the BCS
<center><table border=1><td><img src="http://www.nola.com/images/news/tplogo198x34.gif"></td></table></center><blockquote><p align=justify>With all due respect to Scott Cowen, Sun Belt Conference commissioner Wright Waters wishes the Tulane president would do a little less tilting at windmills and aim instead for some realistic objectives.
"There's good and bad in everything," Waters said of Cowen's declaration of war on the BCS by forming the Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform last week. "The good is that he's put the issue on the table and all of the parties are willing to discuss it.
"But I'd like to see us put our efforts toward working on common goals that are attainable. Our focus should not be on tearing the BCS down, but on bringing the bottom up."
Waters is saying this not because his New Orleans-based league is considered 11th of the 11 Division I-A football conferences, and thus has no chance of being invited into college football's power structure. It's because he thinks the 54 non-BCS Division I-A schools can maximize their potential by cooperating instead of focusing on self-interest, either at the school or conference level.
"People always come to the table with different views," said Waters, who in one of his past jobs was an assistant athletic director at Tulane. "But we've got to be strong enough to find that consensus and keep the focus on the bigger football picture."
That would start with conference realignment, a matter on Waters' mind long before this spring's ACC/Big East tug-of-war.
While two of the non-BCS leagues, the Mountain West and Mid-American, are confined to their natural regions (with the exception of Central Florida in the MAC), the Sun Belt, Conference USA and WAC are spread out across multiple time zones.
"We're leaving money with airlines that we ought to be spending on competitive issues," he said. "But you've got to get past the egos.
"How can SMU justify not playing North Texas when it's flying to Hawaii for games? Don't (complain to) me about the money you haven't got unless you are willing to help yourself."
<center><p><a href="http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-3/1059285512321790.xml">The rest of the story</a>
Ted Lewis<!--
To be sure, some of Waters' conference alignment ideas would rub egos the wrong way -- like Tulane being in the same league with Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech, and Memphis aligned with Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee.
That's why he would like to see the five non-BCS conferences turn realignment over to a panel of wise men, such as former Big 8 commissioner Chuck Neinas, former CBS Sports president Neil Pilson and former Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt, who would draw up leagues that make geographic and competitive sense with the overriding principal that no school get left out.
"Everybody has to be at the table," Waters said. "If we cannibalize this thing, some programs are going to go out of business."
Once realignment is achieved, the next goal would be cooperation in scheduling and bowl arrangements.
And that could lead to Waters' best idea -- giving the non-BCS schools a bigger piece of the money pie without forcing the BCS schools to give up their spots in the big four bowls.
In Waters' world, the two best non-BCS teams would meet in the Liberty Bowl. Last year, according to CollegeBCS.com (using the BCS formula), that would have been Boise State and South Florida. In 1998, Tulane would have played Air Force instead of BYU.
The payout would be comparable to what the BCS at-large teams receive now, about $9.1 million, and would be spread among all of the schools. That doesn't come to much, but it's more than the schools are getting now.
"I don't know what you'd call it," Waters said. "But it would give us something to play for."
To Waters, a full-fledged playoff is all but out of the question,
"Some people just don't understand the uniqueness of college football," he said. "Every playoff model you see is based on basketball, and it just doesn't work in football, not even in I-AA.
"If there were a model that all could agree on, you would see the BCS schools jump on it. But there are elements like protecting the regular season and the bowls, plus avoiding over-commercialization, that make it very difficult to find one that works."
As for new I-A standards, another Cowen target, Waters has mixed feelings. While acknowledging that elements such as requiring schools to field teams in 16 sports and fund a minimum of 200 scholarships forces financially strapped programs to spend even more, he holds there should be high standards.
"You've got to be careful what you wish for," Waters said. "We've all got financial problems, but there's a line out there when you start watering down the overall product you don't want to cross.
"You can get to a point where you overemphasize football and leave out of lot of good kids who are doing things. If you cut the enterprise too far, you are denying opportunities, and you don't want to do that."
Waters said he doesn't want to speculate on what the future holds. The Sept. 8 meeting between BCS and non-BCS representatives should get the dialogue rolling, and the late-September meeting of the conference commissioners could see the matter thrown in their laps.
But it is time for thinking outside the box, something at which Waters is good. For example, instead of requiring everyone in the Sun Belt to play a full league schedule this season and next, causing cancellations of contracts that would cost the teams millions, there will be designated conference games this season and next.
"We're dealing with a lot of smart people here," Waters said. "But an athletic director in the WAC once told me that as long as our eyes in the back of our heads looking to what used to be, instead of to the front toward what can be, we're never going to advance the enterprise."
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Rv Parking For Saints Scrimmage To Be In Cajundome Parking Lot
<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. - The University of Louisiana athletics department announced Monday that fans interested in attending the New Orleans Saints Black and Gold Scrimmage and are planning on driving an RV/motorhome will have to park these vehicles in the Cajundome parking lot across the street from Cajun Field.
Parking at the Cajundome for RVs will be on a first-come first-serve basis. Attendees will be directed as to where to park upon arrival at the Cajundome.
No RVs will be allowed to park in the Cajun Field parking lots. The Cajun Field parking lots will be open to all other vehicles.</blockquote><b>LOUISIANA SI
