The Book: 2003 Football

Hey Turbine, I'm in the band and get what you're saying, but have to defend the band a little.

We're doing a job, same as the football team, cheerleaders, and the Ragin Jazz. If we don't play in those last minutes, people start to call us dispondent and say that we're not doing what we're supposed to do. The band director gets an earful which is passed to us even though we had nothing to do with playing/not playing and we eventually start to lose our already non-existent funding because University higher-ups are displeased with us. It's happened before and I think we'd like to prevent it from happening again.

I know that seems a little extreme for playing in the last 3 or 4 minutes in a big game, but we played the same in those last minutes as we did for the rest of the game and that's what we're there to do. When they make a 1st, we play the Fight Song. Time-out or quarter change, we play a longer song to entertain the crowd.

Like I said earlier, though, I understand what you're saying and can't really disagree with it. Thanks for the kind remarks and criticisms. I'll make sure that it's passed on to someone that can fix the problem and find the balance between playing too much and not enough in critical moments!

Quote:

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Originally posted by CajunKate
Amen! I must say I was completely shocked at the end of the first half, ____ed off, and ready to leave, but barring a life threatening emergency, I never leave a game early. I thought we were losing because of the level of talent we were playing on our schedule up to this point, but after tonight I wonder if some of those losses would have been a lot closer if we'd had more talent on the field. I thought the team was also outcoached at some points. I'm proud of the team for not giving up, but did anyone see those poor guys after the game? I have never in my life seen a more dejected looking group of young men. I fear an 0-12 season. Say it ain't so!

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I dont fear an 0-12 season, though I do fear a 1-11 season. If we cant beat FIU, then we should not be playing at this level. Regardless, after such a hopeful start, we may end up with 1 or 2 wins because if you look at the rest of the schedule, this is what Im seeing. A NMSU team who has caught alot of bad breaks, they run all over you and just cough up the ball and shoot themselves in the foot, any game they could hold onto it a little better and get a win. An Idaho team who finnally started Brian Lindgren and came back to beat NMSU, and nearly pulled off an upset of UNT. A good Southern Miss team, and a MTSU team thats finnally found itself when they trounced NMSU, and thats besides the FIU game. The chances of even having a 3 win season arent even looking good to me.

Tuffguy

What an exciting game.

We lost we didn't get beat.

Thanks for such an exciting comeback.

Hey,
Look at the bottom of the screen on the last play from the video clip 3 WIDE OPEN RECIEVERS!!!!!!!!!!!

OH YEA the band might have a job to play but they also have the job of knowing not when to play!!!!
:hot: :hot: ::x::

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sanchez
Did you record from the upper deck? It was probably much louder down on the field.

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I had the camera rolling from up in the press box.

My belief is it has to do with the NCAA requirments and the university not giving away freebies to pad their attendence.

Quote:

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Originally posted by brockmeaux
..Like I said earlier, though, I understand what you're saying and can't really disagree with it. Thanks for the kind remarks and criticisms. I'll make sure that it's passed on to someone that can fix the problem and find the balance between playing too much and not enough in critical moments!

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I don't know how you walk the tight rope in a game with no huddle.

I doubt we have ever had full no huddle half like that before at UL. Certainly never a half where the offense brought us all the way back single handedly.

<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Two-minute offense runs out of time, downs in thriller.</b>

LOUISIANA La. — If they didn’t have bad luck,

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns might not have any luck at all.

Coach Rickey Bustle’s squad suffered its seventh loss of the season on Saturday, this one the most frustrating yet, as UL Monroe held off two furious Cajun rallies to escape Cajun Field with a 45-42 win.

It was a game that wasted a record-setting day for senior quarterback Eric Rekieta and a dazzling show by senior Fred Stamps, a game in which the Cajuns piled up 524 yards but couldn’t grasp that elusive first triumph.

Hitting 10 different receivers, Rekieta completed 33-of-54 passes for a school-record 474 yards and four touchdowns against the visiting Indians.

“I’m sure Eric would trade that record for a win,” Bustle said. “He played a tremendous football game. I don’t know of but one ill throw, an interception in the first half that eventually led to a Monroe touchdown.

“He really competed. He’s a good leader out there and the players have a lot of confidence in him.”

Stamps finished with 198 yards and a pair of scores on eight catches, the second-most yardage in a game in Cajun history, while Carencro’s Bill Sampy had six catches, 102 yards and a leaping 21-yard touchdown that tied the game at 42-42 with 5:23 to play.

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“We kind of came out of our shell a little bit offensively,” Bustle said. “We had a lot of different guys making plays. Our tight end (Josh Joerg) make a heck of a catch for a touchdown. It’s something we’ve got to continue to do. It gave us a chance to win the game.”

Most of that offensive explosion came after the Cajuns fell behind 28-7 and went into a no-huddle, hurry up mode late in the first half.

“We have been throwing it quite a bit lately,” Rekieta said. “But we went to the two-minute drill at the end of the first half and had success with it. We never huddled again after that.

“Then it the second half, we popped off two quick ones (touchdowns, tying it at 28 apiece) and that was a real confidence booster.”

“That’s part of our offense,” Bustle said. “We went with it there in the first half, and then just stayed with it. I’m sure we’ll do more of that.

“We intended to bounce in and out of it, to change it up a little bit. It changes up the pace of the game, and the kids felt good in it.”

Rekieta had to adjust while running that quick-strike attack.

After Stamps caught his seventh pass, a 64-yard touchdown for a 28-28 tie, with 8:05 left in the third period he then didn’t have another reception until the Cajuns’ last offensive play of the evening.

“I said before the season that if you double me, others are going to make plays,” Stamps said. “When they started to double me, Bill, Kemmie Lewis (3-73-0) and Eric Bartel (2-28-0) started to make plays.”

“Fred is our playmaker,” Rekieta said. “We went to him to try to get us started. Then they rolled all their coverage to him, and that gave a chance for everybody else.

“They all stepped up and did a nice job.”

While the Cajuns were forced to go almost exclusively with the pass, the Indians used multiple weapons in victory.

Kevin Payne (28-143-2) paced a 238-yard rushing day. And, with Payne and Floyd Smith launching crucial flea-flicker bombs and Steven Jyles and Daniel DePrato splitting the game at quarterback, ULM threw for 299.

The Indians’ 537-yard total nipped the Cajuns’ 524. They also took first downs, 24-23, and both teams had 77 snaps.

It was that kind of battle for the two Sun Belt Conference rivals, as ULM grabbed a 20-19 edge in the all-time series between the two.

The Cajuns roared back into contention with that two-minute attack. They just didn’t get to it soon enough.
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<blockquote><p align=justify>
LOUISIANA La. — There’s no time for Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns to lick their wounds.

Just hours after Saturday’s gut-wrenching 45-42 homecoming loss to UL Monroe, coach Rickey Bustle’s staff was turning its focus to a televised Thursday night home game against New Mexico State.

The Cajuns fell to 0-7 and 0-3 in Sun Belt Conference play despite a 524-yard offensive explosion keyed by Eric Rekieta and Fred Stamps, and it might be good to jump back into action rather than dwell on their latest disappointment.

“I don’t know if its a plus,” Bustle said of the short week. “We’ve never done it before.

“Sometimes you want to get right back in the saddle and go.”

The Cajuns, accustomed to an off day on Sundays, practiced instead on Sunday as if on Monday and moved the week ahead from there.

Bustle put his team through a 3 p.m. video session, practice and evening meetings.

“It doesn’t make any difference to us if we play tomorrow,” Stamps said.

“A lot of it is mental,” Rekieta said. “Everything is stepped up. We’ve worked hard every week. We need to get the chip back on our shoulder like we had at South Carolina, like we have in practice.

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“Maybe the emotion of this loss will go into Thursday.”

Rekieta hit 33-of-54 passes for a school-record 474 yards in Saturday’s defeat, giving him 1,684 yards in his two years with the Cajun program.

Stamps scored twice and had eight catches for 198 yards, second only to Willie Culpepper’s 220 yards at McNeese State in 1986 for single-game production at the school.

He now has 150 career receptions for 2,400 yards and 15 touchdowns, catching a pass in all 39 games he’s played in college. Stamps is now No. 2 in career yards behind Brandon Stokley’s 3,702 and No. 3 in touchdowns as a Cajun.

Saturday’s game offered a matchup of the 2002 All-Sun Belt Conference receivers, as Stamps battled ULM’s Mack Vincent (8-166-2) once again.

“He and I have been competing against each other since high school,” said Stamps, who prepped at Carver while Vincent was at John Ehret.

Now Vincent is ULM’s career receiving leader and Stamps is second only to Stokley at UL.

“He’s been my friend,” Stamps said. “He lived down the street from me. I congratulated him on the win. Now it’s time to go back and work hard.”

When the Cajuns do resume action, they’ll face a NMSU team that is in a foul mood.

The Aggies blew a 28-0 lead in a 35-31 home loss to Idaho two weeks ago, then last Saturday fell 35-18 at Middle Tennessee despite outgaining the Blue Raiders 525-293, out-rushing them 318-85 and piling up a 28-9 first-down bulge.

Four turnovers, including three interceptions, spelled NMSU’s doom. One of those thefts was returned 89 yards for the clinching touchdown by Michael Woods with 4:34 to play.

Also, MT redshirt freshman Clint Marks hit Kerry Wright for touchdown passes of 32, 39 and 61 yards.

It’s not often teams with a combined 1-12 record are featured on TV, but that will be the case this week as NMSU has just one win over Western New Mexico (48-3) and the Cajuns are winless.

It’s time for both teams to quickly get back to business.
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<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. -- Rickey Bustle didn't plan to use a no-huddle offense Saturday, but after watching what his University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns did in that formation in their 45-42 loss to the University of Louisiana at Monroe, he may use it on a regular basis.

"We kinda did it (at first) to bounce in and out of it a little bit, but we ended up doing it the whole night and having good success with it," said Bustle, whose team rallied back in the attack to tie the game after falling behind 28-7 and 42-28.

"I think it changes the pace of that game; that's what that no-huddle does. And I think our kids felt good in it."

Quarterback Eric Rekieta certainly felt good in the no-huddle attack, completing 33 of 54 passing attempts for a school-record 474 yards and four touchdowns. Prior to Saturday's game, the Cajuns, who had pursued a balanced offense through the first six games, were averaging only 169.5 yards a game through the air and a total offense of just 255.7 yards a game. Their total offense Saturday was 524 yards.

Rekieta was impressive, completing passes to 10 different receivers in a game that, for once, kept the ULL fans on the edge of their seats until the final minute. Wide receiver Fred Stamps was Rekieta's favorite target, catching eight passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns and Bill Sampy had six catches for 102 yards, including a leaping 21-yard touchdown grab that tied the game at 42-42 with 5:23 to play.

"We always had the capability to do that (no-huddle)," said Bustle, whose team fell to 0-7 with the loss. "We talk about it sometimes, about changing up the pace. All of a sudden, we did it at the end of the second quarter and came in at the half and said 'let's just go back and keep doing it.'

"Obviously it worked out well. We can go no-huddle at any time; we do it in practice all the time."

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Bustle, whose team now must turn around and prepare for a regionally-televised game against New Mexico State Thursday, was particularly pleased with the play of Rekieta.

The senior quarterback completed just 3 of 9 passes (41 yards) before the Cajuns shifted gears in the second quarter after finding themselves down 28-7.

"I think Eric played a tremendous football game," said Bustle. "I don't know of but one ill throw that I saw him make and that was in the first half where he could have thrown the ball away.

"But Eric has really competed and our players have a lot of confidence in him. He is a good leader out there. I'm really proud of him,"

Rekieta's 474 passing yards eclipsed the old ULL record of 407 yards set by Jon Van Cleeve in 2001 at Idaho, while's Stamps 198 yards in receptions ranks second only to Willie Culpepper's 220-yard night against McNeese State in 1986.

Records, however, were not on Rekieta's mind afterward.

"We were that close to pulling one out," he said painfully. "Coach told us that it would probably come down to one or two plays and it did.

"The record is nice and all, but it would be a lot better to remember it with a win."

Stamps, who extended his receptions streak to 29 games, said the Cajuns believed they could win even when they trailed 28-7.

"The team was never down," he said. "Coach always tells us that it isn't over until the final whistle and when we went into our no-huddle offense, it was just like practice; we started moving the ball."

Stamps, who drew double coverage the entire game, gave credit to Rekieta and others... like (Bill) Sampy, Kemmie Lewis and Eric Bartel.

"I said before the season that if you double me, others are going to make plays and when they started to double me, Bill, Kemmie (3-73-0) and Eric (2-28-0) started to make plays."
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Saturday night was a great football night! I'm enjoying this week and the buildup for Thursday's ESPN victory. I saw tons of great play by the Cajuns even with a hobbled and wounded defense.

<p align=justify>That was an incredible game against Monroe. I am so geeked with the no-huddle offense; in fact the only drawback I saw on Saturday was that it only leaves time for the band to play after touchdown, after touchdown, after touchdown, after touchdown.

Coach Bustle and staff having the Ragin’ Cajuns so ready to go no-huddle for more than a half is a testament to how well prepared the players are.

A no-huddle offense that scores is of course by design, but it can never just happen. It takes a lot of hard work. This is true even if implemented for just a single series, you not only expect to score, but you try to throw new things at the opponent that keep the defense off balance. This gets harder and harder to do.

When it works the likely hood of it working again and again is lessened because the defense starts to recognize what you are doing. Unless you have a concept of how to maintain a no-huddle offense. On Saturday the team looked completely comfortable out there in no-huddle land.

I mean it was used for an entire half and scored more points in that half than the Cajuns had scored in any 60 minute period all year, you got to believe the player and coaches know they are on to something.