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The day the band "loses" a football game for us, we are in sorry shape. A team needs to be able to deal with crowd noise. I am sure the noise of the band was no louder than a huge crowd at Minnesota or any of the other big schools this team has played. End of story for me.
I personally feel this is the first game in quite some time that the band played enough. It was one of the highlights of the game for me!
I agree with CajunKate. In fact that question was posed to Coach Bustle and he said he didn't even hear the band! It was not a derogatory remark, just and indication that he was so absorbed in the game mechanics that he had blocked out any and all noise.
<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Senior Eric Rekieta has sparked Cajun aerial game. </b>
LOUISIANA La. — No one is expecting Louisiana to break into “Air Bustle” any time soon, but it’s hard to argue with results.
Senior quarterback Eric Rekieta, forced to play catch-up in last Saturday’s 45-42 homecoming loss to UL Monroe, set a new school record with 472 yards passing and touchdowns of 28 and 64 yards to Fred Stamps, 21 yards to Bill Sampy and 3 yards to Josh Joerg.
He hit 33-of-54 passes as the Cajuns rallied from 7-28 to 28-28 and from 28-42 to 42 apiece.
Rekieta also had 475 yards in total offense, one yard short of Brian Mitchell’s single game record set against Colorado State in 1987.
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Bruce Brown
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After missing spring practice with arm surgery and starting fall drills as the backup to redshirt freshman Jerry Babb, Rekieta has hit 92-of-151 passes (60.9 percent) for 1,032 yards and seven scores.
“I didn’t play in the first three games, and I was kind of down because this is my last year,” Rekieta said. “I’ve started the last three games and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Named the starter after throwing for a pair of touchdowns in relief in a loss at Minnesota, Rekieta has thrown for 192, 225 and 474 yards leading the UL attack.
Big numbers are nothing new for the Lubbock, Texas, native.
He threw for 4,850 yards and 41 touchdowns, and ran for 293 yards and 12 TD’s, in two years at Navarro Junior College. In his final season alone, he had 3,067 yards and 26 scores through the air.
Last year with the Cajuns, Rekieta threw for 652 yards behind Jon Van Cleave as the team posted a 3-9 record in Rickey Bustle’s first season at the helm.
The Cajuns are 0-7 heading into Thursday’s televised home game against New Mexico State, but if they are going to win games it will likely be with Rekieta throwing the ball.
Last Saturday, the Cajuns had 383 of their 524 total yards after falling behind 28-7 and going by necessity to a hurry-up passing attack. Prior to that in their conventional game plan, Bustle’s team had possessions of 31, 12, 7, 0 (first-play interception) and 8 yards aside from a lone 73-yard TD march.
UL coaches might be tempted to jump into the hurry-up before falling so far behind, although they’re low key about that idea. NMSU’s yield of 616 yards on 53 opponents’ aerial attempts in its last two losses add to that temptation.
“It’s the same offense, just (at) a faster tempo,” Rekieta said. “In our regular offense, the defenders are moving around and bringing pressure from different areas. When we went to the two-minute, they had to drop back into zone and I just had to find the open man.”
Stamps jump-started that attack, catching eight passes for 198 yards, the second-highest yardage total in school history. And, in addition to his two scores, he had two other catches that set the Cajuns up in point-blank range.
But the Indians caught on and began concentrating on Stamps, so Bill Sampy, Kemmie Lewis and Eric Bartel had to make plays. Eventually, Rekieta hit 10 different receivers on his record day.
“They had been rolling their coverage to Fred, to try to keep him out of the passing game,” Rekieta said. “That started to open it up for different receivers like Kemmie and Bill. Their linebackers started to drop off, and you’ve got to take advantage of that.
“Because of their drops, you’d hit a 5-yarder, and then turn around and get 8. It’s not like we had to jump into the two-minute offense (late), because we were already in it. We were able to set the tempo, instead of easing up to the line.”
Even after the 42-point breakout, though, Rekieta was looking for better results.
“We’ve watched film, and there were a few plays we messed up on,” he said. “There were a lot of missed assignments, and I tried to force a pass into coverage that got intercepted and led to a score. That’s one I wish I could do over.”
As it is, Rekieta and his talented receivers have provided the blueprint for scoring as the Cajuns try to salvage something in their last five games of the season.
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This is a non-issue.
LOL can I quote you on that?Quote:
Originally posted by CDeb
This is a non-issue.
Of course, that's my non-official opinion. LOL!Quote:
Originally posted by Turbine
LOL can I quote you on that?
Ok guys, with a football program that has had 100 years to build, it is nothing short of pathetic to be one of the worst, if not the worst team in football. I really want to be optimistic, and feel free to chew me out on being so negative, but its damn hard to find positives. If we don't win next year, we won't be in D1 anymore. Plain and simple. And you honestly can't expect this community to flock to Cajun games when they can't win a game.
But I don't think its over yet. I think that hiring Jerry Baldwin as coach was a HUGE mistake on the part of this university. His failures 2 years ago still play a big part in our failures today. You might say that he was the only one left to hire, but after the mess he left this program in im not so sure a high school coach could have done any worse. (Come to think of it, a high school coach was ahead of him on the list.)
!!!!And im not saying that becasue he's black, so don't sue me!!!!!
The future of this program rests solely on the shoulders of Ricky Bustle. If he wins, we stay in D1, if he loses, then we'll lose to McNeese in D2. Whether he can win or not is a question that Cajun fans can't honestly answer. Until we get some Bustle recruits on the field, we won't know for sure.
And one more thing, despite all this I promise you'll see me at the game cheering the Cajuns till the end.
First of all, the band is great. It wouldn't be college football without it. Now on to the issue.
I don't remember where I saw this, but I seem to remember a game where the band played continuously in a situation just like this but only used percussion. The brass is what is loud and on the same wavelength as voice. The percussion could actually provide a rhythm that is helpful to the two minute drill but not so loud that the QB can't make play calls.
We're using the grapevine for no huddle?
Center to LG: "I asked Betty out and she said 'maybe'."
LG to LT: "I knocked Betty up and she's having a baby."
:-)
"But I don't think its over yet. "
That's the attitude! What I can't believe is that $100,000,000 was raised and no one asked for any of it to go to athletics.
<blockquote><p align=justify>The Sun Belt Conference’s own version of “Separation Saturday” comes this weekend.
ABC and ESPN may have already celebrated that event, but two games scheduled for this Saturday will go a long way in clearing up the league race. Of the five teams that are either unbeaten or holding only one loss in Sun Belt play, four of them are in action in Saturday’s two league games.
Two-time champion North Texas (2-0) hosts surprising Utah State (1-0) and Middle Tennessee (1-0) heads for Idaho (1-1) in a pair of afternoon clashes.
Utah State coach Mick Dennehy knows the importance of his team’s meeting with the Mean Green.
“The road to the conference championship goes right through Denton, as it should. They’re the team to beat,” Dennehy said. “We know we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us.”
UNT remained perfect in league play and extended its conference winning streak to 13 games — the second-longest in the nation behind Miami (Fla.) — with a comeback 24-14 win on the road at Idaho.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com <!--
“Our experience in games like this paid off a lot,” said North Texas coach Darrell Dickey, whose team trailed 14-0 early. “In the past, our guys might have gone haywire and done things that we hadn’t taught, but we had a good nucleus of guys that knew what we had to do, mature guys, and we started making plays and got ourselves back in the game.”
It helped that Patrick Cobbs rushed for a conference record 249 yards and three scores, giving him the league’s second-highest season rushing number with 575 yards even though he’s played in only four games. League leader Kevin Payne of UL Monroe (721) has played in seven games.
But Dickey said it was the offensive front that was the biggest factor.
“Our entire offensive line was our offensive player of the week,” he said. “For us to win we have to be able to run the ball, and that means our guys up front have to do a good job. Anytime a guy like Patrick Cobbs has a lot of yards he’s going to get recognition, but the biggest key is how we play up front.”
Idaho boss Tom Cable didn’t argue with that.
“They had a plan and they stayed true to it,” he said, “and they knocked the snot out of us with their offensive line. We moved the ball all over the place and we only scored 14 points. It was a shame, because I really think we’re ready to step up and play at that level.”
The Vandals go home Saturday to welcome Middle Tennessee and continue a memorable series. Two years ago, Middle won a 70-58 shootout in Murfreesboro, and last year Idaho shocked the visiting Blue Raiders in a 21-18 win.
“Poise is the biggest issue for us,” Cable said. “We had some critical errors last week, some mistakes in the punting game that hadn’t happened to us before. We’ve got to stay to the test and keep focused on what’s at hand.”
“I don’t think we played well in a lot of areas last week,” Middle coach Andy McCollum said after his team’s 35-18 win over New Mexico State. “But we still came out with a win. New Mexico State whipped us up front and kept us from running the football like we need to, but we found a way to create turnovers and made some big plays.”
BIG FOOT: Cecilia native Joel Stelly had another stellar punting performance in UL Monroe’s 45-42 win over UL Lafayette Saturday. He punted only three times officially (he had one blocked in the fourth quarter, but that went as a team attempt), and averaged 56.7 on first-quarter kicks of 67, 41 and 62 yards.
Stelly, this week’s special teams Player of the Week in the Sun Belt, currently ranks sixth nationally with a 45.6 average and leads the Sun Belt by over three yards. -->
<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Both teams trying to salvage subpar seasons.</b>
LOUISIANA La.— The Chicago Cubs aren’t the only team that’s been defying logic lately.
We give you the New Mexico State Aggies, UL Lafayette’s opponent for today’s 6 p.m. Sun Belt Conference game at Cajun Field.
For the last two weeks, coach Tony Samuel’s squad has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, falling to 1-5 on the year and an unexpected 0-2 in SBC play.
First there was a 35-31 home loss to Idaho, when the Aggies watched in dismay as a 28-0 lead melted steadily away.
Then there was last week’s 35-18 loss at Middle Tennessee which was even more bizarre, as MT was outgained 525-293 but outscored NMSU 21-0 on turnovers.
New Mexico State has gained 1,113 yards the last two weeks — 620 of that on the ground — but has still managed to lose both contests.
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Bruce Brown
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This is a team that challenged North Texas for Sun Belt supremacy in 2002 and was expected to do so again this season, but they have a tendency to self-destruct. Foes have an 83-21 scoring advantage off turnovers.
Now, the Aggies check into Lafayette on a short week, on a second straight long road trip, with a TV audience watching.
“In a perfect world,” Samuel said, “that may be something that we as a league can take a look at. If you know in advance, it would be nice to have a home game before.
“One good thing was that Middle Tennessee was a day game, so we were able to get back and get going right away. The players don’t get the time off, but you still take the TV over anything else.”
The matchup is a natural one, given the show the two teams have provided in the last two meetings. NMSU won both of those games, roaring back at Cajun Field two years ago for a 49-46 victory and holding off a Cajun rally in Las Cruces, 31-28, in 2002.
In both games, Aggies place kicker Dario Aguiniga sent a dagger through Cajun hearts with late, long, game-winning field goals.
Cajun fans saw that kind of show last Saturday for homecoming, right down to the late field goal, as UL Monroe topped coach Rickey Bustle’s squad 45-42 to drop the Cajuns to 0-7.
“It was a great game to watch for the fans,” Bustle said. “The players from both sides played hard. We got down (28-7) and were able to come back and tie it up, got down 14 again (42-28) and our offense was able to come back and tie it again.
“We’re excited about playing on Thursday. It’s better for us to play at home because of the short week.”
New Mexico State is outgaining foes 404-351 yards per game behind several capable leaders.
Paul Dombrowski has hit 42-of-79 passes for 583 yards and two scores and leads the Aggies in rushing (86-382-5). Buck Pierce (40-of-61, 534 yards) is a better passer, but not the runner Dombrowski is.
Redshirt freshman Tony Joseph (60-374-1) has rushed for 115 and 163 yards in the last two weeks. Also, senior Ronshay Jenkins (26-476-2) has 23 catches for 412 yards in his last three games and is 30th nationally in all-purpose yardage (128.17 per game).
The Aggies’ option offense is especially challenging with a short week of preparation for a UL defense that has given up 193 points in its last four games.
Bustle’s Cajuns, who are 116th in the nation in rushing at 81 yards per game, caught ULM last week with air power.
Eric Rekieta has hit 92-of-151 passes for 1,030 yards and seven scores, with senior Fred Stamps (32-584-3) leading the receiving corps. Stamps (8-198-2 last week) has 150 catches for 2,400 yards as a Cajun.
Bill Sampy (22-187-2), Eric Bartel (16-145-0) and Kemmie Lewis (14-135-0) are getting more involved in the offense.
Another shootout would surprise no one, but Cajun and Aggie fans have learned not to expect anything normal in 2003.
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