LOL!! With a Crown chaser!Quote:
Originally Posted by RCAJUN90
Z
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LOL!! With a Crown chaser!Quote:
Originally Posted by RCAJUN90
Z
I think Bustle does deserve the lions share of the credit for increased fan support. As you pointed out, pre-Bustle, the "crowds" were almost non-existent. He has most definitely built (NOT re-built) this program into a competitive one. It amazes me to hear a number of Cajun fans who are seriously talking about changing coaches at this point in the season. I agree with you that wins=fans. What were the number of wins in the 5 years before Bustle? What are the number of wins since he arrived? I think there has been a marked improvement in that area. Does there need to be another marked improvement? Hell, yes! We need to start winning some of these games now, not just being competitive. But first you have to walk before you can run. Is Bustle the guy who can take us to that next level? I don't know. But I think he might be. I am not opposed to criticizing game strategies, play-calling, playmakers (or lack thereof), recruiting, etc. But I think talk about replacing a coach 2 games into the new season is ludicrous. Especially after the 2 losses were to quality teams (these were NOT lower-tier teams!). And especially after this coach has done so much to raise the standards of this program since he has been here, and done so in a quality way.Quote:
Originally Posted by manizzle
That's a great point, VO! All the talk about what a lousy job Bustle is doing obviously ignores all of the improvement that he has made in the program. Now we are disappointed by close losses to South Carolina (a rising SEC team) and Ohio (a last year's MAC divisional champion). Seems like just a few years ago the few lonesome souls in Cajun Field were praying just to field a competitive team. Now that Bustle has done that, the larger crowds that now attend games are upset that we aren't winning these games. And that's a GOOD thing! It means the bar of expectations has been raised! Congratulations and condolences, Coach Bustle!Quote:
Originally Posted by VObserver
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Listen up, boys and girls.
This week will be an education.
The teachers will be those of you out there of a certain age. The ones that remember "Go to Hell" chants and bumper stickers. The ones that remember sitting on the hill at Cowboy Stadium back when they thought it seated 20,000, thus contributing to crowds of 27,000.
The teachers this week will be those of you who are in your 40s or older and remember the intensity of the McNeese State-USL (nay, UL-Lafayette) football rivalry.
It died after the 1986 season with the Cajuns figuring that if they were going to be a Division I-A program and McNeese was going to be I-AA, it probably made sense that they not play each other any more.
So here we are, 21 years later, a lifetime for a lot of current college football players, and McNeese and the Cajuns haven't played since.
That is, until this Saturday.
You'll be hearing all about it, so pay attention.
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You're going to hear about how McNeese once had a rival that really mattered, a feud that was so uniquely intense because it was rooted in the very soul of the city and the region and not just between football teams.
USL, as it was called then, was not like Northwestern State now. With the Demons, McNeese's closest annual rival, the Cowboys have a perennially competitive opponent that contends for the same conference title and state bragging rights.
But if you think that makes for a real rivalry, that tells me you don't remember the USL series.
This was a rivalry about cities, one (Lafayette) that thought itself bigger, more cosmopolitan and more forward-thinking than the other. It carried over to the universities, one (USL) which thought itself bigger, more forward-thinking and generally superior to the other.
So much better did USL think itself, it would go out and get players from places McNeese couldn't even afford to recruit. USL was a program that thought itself bigger than just its little corner of the state. It left players from its home base unrecruited for McNeese to pick up.
It was big enough to do that, it thought.
And so, it was with great frustration that USL struggled so mightily on the football field against what they perceived to be the annoying little brother to the west. At one point toward the end of the series, McNeese went 10 years without losing (twice there were ties).
If McNeese was so inferior and Lake Charles so much more backwards than the city with the Oil Center and all the affluence it afforded, how come the Cajuns football team couldn't just overwhelm the Cowboys football team?
And if USL was so much better, how come all those Acadiana-area players they passed on — guys like Rusty Guilbeau, Mark Barousse, Buford Jordan and others — kept coming back to beat them?
None of this was lost on McNeese fans or the people of Southwest Louisiana in general. Cowboys fans loved every minute of their annual chance to show that Lafayette wasn't all that it thought it was and USL wasn't that much different from McNeese as a university and in at least one very visible, public way, clearly inferior.
So Lake Charles/McNeese fans chanted "Go to Hell, USL!" with gleeful defiance and suggested culinary options you wouldn't find at Prejean's. They were thumbing their noses at the snobs. They were putting the bully in its place.
McNeese fans may have shopped in Lafayette because it had stores Lake Charles did not. They may have gone out to eat in Lafayette, which offered choices Lake Charles did not.
But they weren't going to listen to those people tell them that they were inferior.
And that is why the USL rivalry mattered. There was not that same dynamic between Lake Charles and any other city or McNeese and any other university.
Louisiana Tech? Good team, but where's the beef with Ruston? Lamar? Bad football, no problems with the people (well, at least the non-basketball fans) of Beaumont, Texas.
There was real loathing with USL, something that will never be recreated in any rivalry McNeese can possibly get involved in.
Fast-forward 21 years later.
Lafayette is still bigger. It still has stores Lake Charles doesn't. It still has the Oil Center. It still has an athletic program that thinks itself bigger and better than the one an hour to the west. And the former USL, as a university, now doesn't just think itself bigger and better than McNeese, but as a flagship national university, deserving to be at a par with LSU ("We are 'Louisiana,' not UL-Lafayette!," they scream).
Meanwhile, here's McNeese, still winning at its level, still taking players from Acadiana, still thumbing its nose at all things "USL" (the name change be damned) and any notion of a Sun Belt Conference.
So pay attention. The old-timers will tell you about the rivalry.
And you'll learn it never ended, even though the football games did.
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LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns head football coach Rickey Bustle addressed the media Monday about his team's upcoming game with the McNeese State Cowboys during his weekly press luncheon at the Cox Communications Athletic Center.
Prior to the start of the press conference, the Sun Belt Conference announced Jarrett Jones (New Orleans, La.) was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week. Jones had an interception inside the Cajuns' red zone for the second straight week. Leading 13-10 over Ohio, Jones picked Bobcats quarterback Brad Bower at the UL 19-yard line to stop the Bobcats' scoring drive. Jones also led the team in tackles for the second straight week, making seven stops (including six solo tackles).
Last weekend, Louisiana (0-2) lost for just the second time at home under Bustle when leading at halftime. The Cajuns opened the second half with 20-10 lead, but Ohio made it a three-point game late in the third quarter. After Ohio's Kalvin McRae rushed for his 29th career touchdown to cut the UL lead to three points, he later added his 30th career rushing score, giving the Bobcats a 24-23 lead. Ohio would hold on to eventually defeat the Cajuns, 31-23.
During Saturday's tough loss, Tyrell Fenroy (LaPlace, La.) passed Darren Brister to become the Cajuns' career leader in rushing yards by a running back. His 2,474 rushing yards trail only former quarterback Brian Mitchell's school-record 3,335 yards. Against the Bobcats, Fenroy rushed for a season-high 136 yards - his 12th 100-yard rushing game of his career.
McNeese State (1-0), which is ranked sixth in the nation in the FCS Top 25 Coaches Poll, is making its first trip to Lafayette since Nov. 16, 1985. Saturday's game will be the first between the schools since 1986, when the Cajuns won 33-13 in Lake Charles. The Cowboys lead the all-time series 29-15-2, while boasting a 10-7-1 record on UL's home field.
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Each week Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns football coaching staff honors its outstanding performers from the previous weeks’s game by designating them as Players of the Game. There were no Offensive or Defensive Player of the Week awards for the Ohio game.
The Special Forces Player of the Game honors went to Kyle Ward.
Ward was commended by the coaches for outstanding play on punt coverage and kickoff return coverage.
The Offensive Scout Team Player of the Week was Johnathan Thomas. The Defensive Scout Team Player of the Week was Richard Brooks.
The Cajuns honored Kevin Belton with the Thumper Award for the biggest hit on offense, and the Hammer Award for biggest defensive hit went to Orkeys Auriene. The Kuhuna Award for special teams biggest hit was awarded to Jezreel Washington.
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For UL's football team, it's not about what happened at South Carolina or what happened Saturday against Ohio. It's not even about what's going on in Lake Charles.
It's about what's happening a few feet from Reinhardt Drive.
"At this point, I just want to see us play four quarters of football," UL coach Rickey Bustle said Monday. "Right now, a victory would be big for us, period. It doesn't matter who we're playing."
The Cajuns have had opportunities for wins in each of their first two games, with Saturday's 31-23 loss to Ohio's Bobcats the most recent example of things turning from sweet to sour. UL watched a 20-10 halftime lead vanish at Cajun Field Saturday in a second-half swoon.
Now, an 0-2 team will face its most emotionally-charged opponent of the season when the Cajuns face McNeese State at 6 p.m. Saturday at Cajun Field. The nearby schools haven't played since 1986, and Saturday's game has been one of the most-anticipated since the Cajuns announced their 2007 schedule almost a year ago.
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Dan McDonald
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Right now, the Cajuns have more problems than worrying about a fired up opponent. As Bustle said Monday, his team is thinking more about itself right now.
UL's defense has to prove that it can make stops at key times, and the offense has to find ways to finish off drives, or rivalries and conference games won't matter. Ohio scored touchdowns on its final three possessions, not including a kneel-down in the last 40 seconds, to rally from the halftime deficit, and UL now has three fourth-quarter drives inside opposing five-yard lines that have produced no points.
"We didn't come out with any fire in the second half Saturday," said senior running back Abdule Levier. "We came out flat, not with the tempo we had in the first half, and it caught up with us. We have to learn to stay focused full-time, and we've got to get a win to get our morale back up and give us something to build on."
Levier had a touchdown catch out of the backfield in Saturday's first half, one that Bustle ranked as one of the best offensive halves in his six Cajun seasons.
"After having the chance to look at it (on film), we played offensively as well as we've played in a long time in the first half," Bustle said. "Things were clicking, and Mike (Desormeaux) had the best game he's had. Defensively we played better up front, but we weren't as good in pass coverage.
"In the second half, it looked like things just reversed. The defense had some stops early and we couldn't get anything going on offense. We didn't change field position, and you give good teams the ball at the 45, at midfield and they're going to score. Our defense has to step up and stop them, at least make them kick a field goal."
"Some critical mistakes killed us," said senior cornerback Jarrett Jones. "We had people not where they were supposed to be. They've got a pretty good offense, but we could've played better. We didn't execute, we got pushed off balls and we didn't stay with the game plan. We need to learn to be more aggressive and play smarter."
Bustle and the players said that UL's late struggles were not related to fatigue, even with the Cajuns operating out of a speed-up offense.
"I don't think we're tired," Jones said. "During camp we worked harder than we ever had. It's the mental part we have to work on."
"It's not a stamina problem," Bustle said. "It was a heavy night with humidity, they (Ohio) had five guys that got IV's at halftime. It was just a physical game."
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UL senior cornerback Jarrett Jones, who had his second interception of the season in the Cajuns' 31-23 home loss to Ohio on Saturday, was named the Sun Belt Conference's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
Jones had a pass theft inside the Cajun red zone for the second straight week, picking off a pass at the UL 19 on Saturday to help UL hold onto a 13-10 lead at the time. His interception also set the Cajuns up for a seven-play, 81-yard drive that led to a score 1:03 before halftime.
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For the second straight week, the New Orleans product led UL in tackles with seven stops including six solos.
He also had one tackle for minus yardage.
One week earlier, Jones had an interception in the end zone against South Carolina with UL trailing 14-0, and the Cajuns rallied to tie the game at 14 before halftime. He also had six tackles in that game.
Jones leads the Sun Belt in interceptions with two and is in the league's top 15 in total tackles.
SCHEDULE: The Cajuns used Monday as its NCAA-mandated day off, after a late-night practice on Sunday. UL will return to full-contact workouts at 3:30 p.m. today.
"We did a lot of work on some execution things last night," UL coach Rickey Bustle said Monday. "We had four or five procedure penalties so we're not doing that well enough. We have to focus better and our quarterbacks have to do a better job with the snap count.
"We worked hard on that last night. A couple of times our guys just didn't hear it."
THAT PLAY AGAIN: Bustle only made one reference to the disputed fumble from Saturday's final 40 seconds, one that cost UL the opportunity to score from the two-yard-line and go for a potential tying two-point conversion.
That ended a 12-play, 75-yard drive after Ohio had scored to take the eight-point lead.
"I think the character of our team showed a little there," Bustle said. "We had the chance to get down the field. That was a tough call, because we were going to give ourselves a chance to go for two.
"I'm not a big fan of this instant replay today."
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You can't say that Wins=fans, in the same post in which you credit the UPC for increased attendance. its one way or the other. I don't know that I give much credit for anything to the UPC. I never noticed them doing a whole lot of good things, unless you consider the pepper costumes, the ridiculous shirts they'd give away, etc. as good.Quote:
Originally Posted by manizzle
UPC??????? are you kidding me? Where was the upc when baldwin was here? that is the most rediculous thing i have ever heard. i have an idea why dont you stand at the gate and ask every pereson that walks in if they are there b/c of upc. Now, i am not taking away from upc's efforts but to say they are the reason we get the attendence we do is just insane. People go to watch FOOTBALL!
I think he was talking about losing last year to teams like North Texas, who had just fired their coach, and then getting beat down by UL Monroe in the season finale, with a winning season and possible bowl birth on the line. Those were both HOME GAMES we should have won, no questions asked.Quote:
Originally Posted by VObserver
So far we have played two quality opponents who both played in bowl games last year. So far this year, we have played better after two games than we did in out first two games last season, but we are still 0-2 no matter how you look at it. If we play up to potential the next two weeks and eliminate stupid mistakes, attendance will take care of itself.
I agree with you, except on the cheerleader fact. They annoy me, I don't like them being in my field of vision when I am trying to enjoy the game. Especially the dudes, thats just creepy.Quote:
Originally Posted by geo_cajun