The Book: 2003 Football

<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Johnson, Stamps score lone TDs in Cajuns’ scrimmage.</b>


LAFAYETTE — Give Chester Johnson a sliver of daylight, and he knows what to do with it.

Give Fred Stamps an inch, and he’ll take a mile.

Johnson and Stamps scored the only touchdowns of the day Wednesday at Cajun Field as Louisiana staged its third full-scale scrimmage of preseason drills, a 67-play exercise that left coach Rickey Bustle still looking for a spark.

“I didn’t think the emotion was there,” Bustle said. “I know they played hard, but we were still missing that little something extra we’ve had.

“I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt; maybe we’re ready to look at South Carolina now.”

“We are tired, and I thought we came out a little slow today,” said Johnson, easily the offensive highlight of the day with 63 yards rushing on just four attempts including a 35-yard touchdown gallop.

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The score came on a third and 2 play, as Johnson broke off right tackle in a power-I play and raced in for the TD.

“It was good to see Chester break out on that short-yardage run,” Bustle said. “It was good to see us have a couple of touchdowns. We’ve had a couple of scrimmages without those.”

Stamps, who was in class and arrived midway through the scrimmage, quickly made his presence felt with a 17-yard touchdown grab on a fade route from senior Eric Rekieta.

“Don’t worry, I missed him, too,” Bustle said with a laugh when questioned about Stamps’ arrival.

Rekieta missed spring drills with elbow surgery, losing ground to redshirt freshman Jerry Babb in the battle to be the starting quarterback.

“When I got to two-a-days, I was pretty rusty,” Rekieta said. “I hadn’t been out here in not quite a year, and I was off on all my timing routes.

“I was slow on my reads, but I’ve been working on that every day and the progress has been good. My timing is getting better now.”

Rekieta hit 5-of-17 passes for 57 yards, while Babb was good on 6-of-12 for 33 yards.

It was an interception of Babb by linebacker G.W. Rudick that set up the touchdown to Stamps.

There were also fumbles and motion penalties that aggravated the Cajun staff.

One plus was the lack of green (injury) jerseys on offensive linemen, a group in need of distraction-free continuity.

“I know where we were getting too much pressure on the quarterback,” Bustle said. “But, a couple of times, the receivers weren’t open.

“We’ve had to find a couple of guys to play other positions — somebody else to play guard and tackle. I’d love to have 10 guys we can go with, but we may have a rotation of eight. Poor Corey Glover, I don’t think he’s had a snap yet.

“It was good to see us with almost our No. 1 group out there.”

“We’ve had a lot of guys (in the line) hurt,” Johnson said. “They’ve had to move guys over, and guys have been in new positions. But, they’re learning pretty well.”

The Cajuns review film of the scrimmage today, then start focusing on the Gamecocks.

“We’ll correct our mistakes and use the next two days to get them back on their feet,” Bustle said.
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<blockquote><p align=justify>Cajuns looking for emotion

LOUISIANA La. -- Louisiana'a Ragin Cajuns tried to make their scrimmage as much like a game as possible Wednesday, but a key ingredient was missing.

"I didn't think the emotion was there," coach Rickey Bustle said. "It was almost silent.

"I watched them play hard and I know they played hard, but we're still missing a little something extra."

The Cajuns notched two touchdowns on offense. The first coming via a 33-yard run by Chester Johnson. Later, Eric Rekieta connected on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Fred Stamps.

The Cajuns will practice at 3:45 p.m. today as well as Friday and Saturday.

"We need to use the next two days to get back on our feet," Bustle said. "They practiced like they were a little bit tired and maybe they are. We have five more hard work days and we need to get the maximum out of them."
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Good to see one of the backs (Johnson) have a good day. Maybe the offense is coming together. :D

It's time for some football! Don't forget to bring some good lookin' bayou babes, a crate of boudain and some ear plugs. Our boys will meet yours at the 50!

Another good forum to visit is www.allsportstalk.com.

You do have to register to view/make posts, but it takes only a few minutes. Believe me, there is much discussion about the ULL game on this forum. Most of it has to do with the unusually large Vegas line (USC by 24) in this one. I don't think that we'll win by 24 but I don't see 14-17 as being out of the question.

USC fans are as ready for this game as any first game in our history, if for no other reason than to put the 5-game slide from the end of last season behind us.

"good lookin' bayou babes"

Reminds of the menus here in Texas: "Cajun Jambalaya"
Is there a Jambalaya that's not Cajun? Are there bayou babes that aren't good looking? OK, maybe there are a few. :)

Thanks for the link rodicus.

RaginRoostah, that is a great name :cool:

Don't think our offense is down. It was down last year but we changed QB's for our last two games last year and it started to increase, especially the last game.

We average 6'5" 315lbs across the O-line. Our QB is a RS junior who can throw the ball on a laser 75 yards and can run as well. He goes about 6-2, 245lbs. We have what many call the fastes reciever in the SEC in Troy Williamson. He averaged over 18 yards a catch last year. We sign the #1 running back in the country last year in Demetris "Meat" Summers but probably will not start because the incumbent Kenny Irons is a real good running back.

We have more talent on this team than any other team in our 100+ years of playing football. This past recruiting class was ranked in the top 10 (The qb class was ranked #1) in the country and the one before was ranked in the top 15.

I really like your head coach but I think the talent level is going to make a difference, especially in the 2nd half because of our depth.

At worst I expect at least 35 pts from our offense.

Should be fun.

Quote:

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Originally posted by AustinCajun
interesting. i went to cockcentral awhile back and again today after reading your post. i dont think they realize that they have a game in two weeks. surely they know who we are after thumping them in the super regional.

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Going back several years on that one aren't you?;)

We have not forgotten that believe me. We want Coach Tanner to get you guys back on our schedule. We owe you.

We were in the CWS last year and the year before we lost in the National Championship game.

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Those are Great. Thank You

Those are some great pictures. I have some but they suck so bad I did not bother to post them. I think you have a better camera than I do and I know you have a better "eye." Great job :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by rwcajun
Those are Great. Thank You

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Same. Same!

<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY>When John Van Cleave suddenly left the program taking his 3 years of experience with him and when that surprise was followed by Eric Rekieta having Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm, I was real worried about the quarterback position for 2003-04. What it did though was it opened the door for RS freshman Jerry Babb to get the bulk of the snaps in spring drills. This experience enabled him to start the fall drills #1 on the depth chart.

Amazingly Eric has made it back from a surgery that some say takes two years to recover from. He did it in a mere five months just in time for the 2003-04 football season. This is good because now the Cajuns have a proven winner on the depth chart at quarterback. But with fall drills and two-a-days basically finished, the lead that Jerry achieved in the spring is his to hold.

While it wasn't an official announcement, a public statement was made on the SportsNote this morning when Louisiana’s offensive coordinator Rob Christophel stated that Jerry Babb would be the starter against South Carolina. If any of you have been to practices you have seen flashes of what we hoped Jerry could do. And even though the defense has had the upper hand all fall, his completion percentage is actually better than I thought it would be.

As a fan I feel fortunate to have Rekieta ready to go at moments notice as I find he has a nose for the endzone. You should have seen the touch he showed placing the ball in the receiver’s hands for a TD in the last scrimmage. Also I am surprised at Matt Lanes athleticism, he blocked a punt in one practice and had a few successful series at the helm sometimes doing what I had previously thought only Jerry could do.

After we get past the inexperience level, I must say for the first time in years it feels pretty good when looking at the quarterback position top to bottom, and I only mentioned half of them.

I guess what it came down to is all the practice time Babb has had that made him named the starter.

Hopefully he will live up to his nickname; <b>BaBB</b> "Best at Bustle Ball"

The ones who have visited our board and from what I have seen on their boards are some of the classiest fans I have seen from an SEC school (or any other school for that matter). Hope every Cajun fan who gets to go to Columbia encounters the same kind of people. I wish USC luck in their 2003 season after 8/30/03 :D

does anyone know, or heard anything about ticket sales? up, down, or about the same! Geaux Cajuns!

Wow, bold move. He is being thrown into the fire. I hope this pays off, do you think Rekeita is just not ready yet? What do you think Turbine??

But I admit, the QB position is in good hands. You are right about that.

I have mixed feelings about Babb starting over Rekieta. I think Babb brings the ability to move around more and with the running game in question (as of now) his presence on the field is a plus. Even though he has had a year in the system, this is his first college game action. Rekieta is a senior that played in 12 games last year and started the last 3. I hate to see Babb get "thrown to the wolves" as they say but if he clearly is our best QB then he must be the one to start. I have only been to 4 or 5 practices and have seen good things from both guys. I believe Coach Bustle and staff know what is best not only for Babb but for the team. I do think we will most certainly see both of them play and hope that one will step up and take the job alone. I do not care which one wins and wish both of them success this year.

last I heard they were about 75% of last years and that was a few weeks ago. Have not heard anything else. I have read that this secretive practice about releasing ticket sales numbers is common, here anyway. :/\:

Ditto!

Not only that but I agree.

<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. - UL football coach Rickey Bustle dished up ice cream to university faculty members on Thursday, and he should have saved a scoop or two for himself.

Bustle celebrates his 50th birthday today, and he could use some ice cream to go with his birthday cake.

That, of course, would come after he puts his Ragin’ Cajuns through a 9 a.m. drill that will address dozens of unusual circumstances that can arise during a game.

“We’ll probably cover over 100 plays,” Bustle said. “We’ll go over all the crazy things that can happen.”

Bustle knows first-hand about the need to keep focused and be ready when those occasions occur.

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In last year’s 11th game at Arkansas, Charles Tillman blocked a punt and tried to pick it up and run with it. When Tillman, currently with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, reached the sidelines, Bustle reminded him of one of the rules of the punt block squad.

“I told him that if you can’t pick the ball up, bat it forward for a teammate to get it,” Bustle said. “Sure enough, he blocked another punt, and this time he knocked it ahead. Wendall Williams scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown.”

That brought the Cajuns within 24-17 of the Razorback Hogs with 2:52 remaining in the game and put the visitors in position to pull off an upset. They couldn’t do it, but at least they had a shot at it.

That’s the kind of detail that won’t escape Bustle and his second-year staff as they try to improve on last year’s 3-9 record.

The 2003 season begins one week from tonight on the road against another SEC member, South Carolina, and the Cajuns are eager to focus on hitting someone other than each other.

They’re also primed to take Sunday off before focusing on the Gamecocks.

“We’ve been talking about South Carolina for the last two days,” receivers coach Brian Crist said. “The offense has stopped worrying about what our defense does and now is focusing on what the Gamecocks do. We’ve narrowed down what we are going to do against USC.

“We made some plays (Friday). The quarterbacks made some good throws and the line really protected well. It’s more of getting the operation down rather than a live drill.

“If we concentrate, our guys will catch it and we’ll move the ball. It’s going to rotate between a lot of guys. They are all good enough to make plays.”
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<blockquote><p align=justify>Louisiana La. -- Louisiana completed its final preseason practice Friday, as Ragin' Cajun players jaunted through 12 periods in just more than two hours.

The Cajuns have a situational walk through today and will take Sunday off. The team begins game week preparations Monday for South Carolina.

"It was the last practice of the preseason, but we've been talking about South Carolina for the last two days," said Cajuns wide receivers coach Brian Crist. "The offense has stopped worrying about what our defense does and now is focusing on what the Gamecocks do. We've narrowed down what we are going to do against USC."

The Cajuns have gone over different special situations the last two practices and will finish the work today. Friday's work had the offense practicing "Hail Mary" plays, running out the clock and setting up field goals.
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Ought to be a good one. Good luck to the team. Here's to an injury-free contest. If you're coming over, have a safe trip. You'll find hospitality-a-plenty in Columbia, I promise. Y'all seem to have a good team ... young and inexperienced, but good - same as us. Again, good luck.

What are the chances that the game being sold out? I am wondering if I need to get tickets in advance. I'm thinking I should have no problem showing up and getting tickets that day.