The Book: 2002-03 Louisiana Football season

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If Ross Brupbacher cannot play again this year, he is not eligible for a Medical Redshirt.

He may (don't know) be eligible for a Medical Hardship Waiver.

If he cannot get significant playing time this year, (as a Senior) this will severly hamper his ability to follow in his fathers footsteps and play in the NFL.

"Get well soon Ross", if not, I hope you can get a Medical Hardship Waiver.

Medical Redshirt: As the term suggests, a "medical redshirt" occurs when the student-athlete does not compete due to an injury or illness. If a student-athlete actually competes during a given year and is then injured, he/she must apply for a medical hardship waiver so that he/she will not be charged with a season of eligibility.

Medical Hardship Waiver: This waiver allows a student-athlete to be granted an additional season of competition when he/she has participated in competition during a given year but subsequently suffers a season-ending injury. A student-athlete may qualify for this waiver when he/she has participated in 20% or less of his/her team's competitive events for the season (e.g., 3 games of an 11 game football schedule), his/her participation occurred only during the first half of the season and he/she suffered a season ending injury. These waivers may not be officially requested and granted until the completion of the season in which the student-athlete was injured. Such waivers are granted through the BIG EAST Conference office.

[NewsCopy]

ADVERTISER-Dan McDonald / Staff Writer

HOUSTON - A slow start by the UL Lafayette offense here Saturday gave Houston's Cougars some easy early scoring chances.

The Cougars scored on three of their first four possessions on the way to the 36-17victory at Robertson Stadium, getting a touchdown and two field goals, and had to march only 69 total yards combined to get those three scores.

Houston had only 91 first-quarter yards despite the 12-0 lead. The Cajuns, meanwhile, got almost that many yards on only one drive, going 65 yards on 14 plays in the second period but running out of downs at the UH 14.

A later 44-yard march was capped by Sean Comiskey's 38-yard field goal for UL Lafayette's only first-half points.

HURTING: The Cajuns lost three players to injuries early in Saturday's game. Defensive end Justin Venable suffered a sprained right knee in the first period and was in street clothes after halftime, and backup linebacker Shawn Henderson had a bruised shoulder and also missed the rest of the game. Venable will be reevaluated on Monday.

Linebacker Ross Brupbacher, in the process of recovering a fumble that began the Cajuns' only scoring drive of the first half, picked up a high ankle sprain 4:31 before halftime and missed the rest of the game. He was later diagnosed with a fractured right ankle.

The rest of the Story

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SUN BELT STRUGGLES: The Sun Belt Conference teams struggled once again on Saturday, with all five teams in action suffering losses.

Arkansas State and Idaho combined to give up 117 points, with Illinois popping the Indians 59-7 and Idaho falling 58-21 at Oregon. North Texas lost at Alabama 33-7, but the most damaging loss to the league's reputation came in Monroe where UL Monroe fell to in-state rival and Division I-AA member McNeese State 24-19.

The league is now a combined 2-18 against outside competition this season. If there's a silver lining, it's the Sun Belt's overall 8-10 record against the official betting line.

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FAMILY AFFAIR: Cajun assistant head coach Gary Bartel was noticing players on both teams' offensive units Saturday night, and not just because of his coaching duties. Stepson Jonathan Pritchett plays tight end for the Cougars, setting up a dueling brother affair with Cajun wide receiver Eric Bartel.

Pritchett played in all 11 games for UH in both 1998 and 1999, but missed all of the last two seasons with a broken leg (2000) and a knee injury (2001). He's now started each of Houston's three games this year.

He did have one embarrassing moment Saturday, though. A wide-open Pritchett caught a pass well behind the Cajun secondary in the first minute of the second half and was headed for a touchdown, but tripped with no defender within 10 yards on what turned out to be a 30-yard gain.

Bartel coached on the Cougar staff for five seasons from 1994-98 and was defensive coordinator his final two years before joining Jerry Baldwin's first Cajun staff in 1999.

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ROBERTSON REDUX: Houston's first-ever intercollegiate football game came at Robertson Stadium and came against the Ragin' Cajuns. The Cougars faced then-Southwestern Louisiana on Sept. 21, 1946, with the Cajuns winning 13-7 in front of 11,000 fans.

Robertson Stadium - built during World War II as part of president Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and WPA program - was UH's home for the first four years of the program's existence. The Cougars played one year at a municipal stadium, 14 years at Rice Stadium and in the Astrodome until 1999 when they moved back to a renovated Robertson. The stadium underwent a massive facelift in 1999 and now seats 32,000.

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LAGNIAPPE: The Cajuns are now 1-2 in coin tosses this season, with Houston winning the toss and deferring ...

Temperature at kickoff was 90 degrees with 48% humidity ...

The Cougar offensive line that started Saturday night averaged 313 pounds per man, ranking tied for fourth nationally with Florida State in front-line size. New Mexico State (319) of the Sun Belt is third, one pound behind national leaders Fresno State and Toledo (320 each). Houston SID Chris Burkhalter - a former member of the UL Lafayette SID staff - compiled the national list ...

The announced 19,569 attendance was the smallest to see the Cajuns play this year, after 75,087 attended the Texas A&M opener and UL Lafayette drew 20,512 in its home opener last week ...

Umpire Nels Strickland required a trainer's services late in the first quarter when he cut his chin in a collision with a UH player ...

Comiskey's 38-yard field goal late in the second quarter snapped a string of five straight scoreless quarters for the Cajuns against Houston. UL Lafayette was shut out in the last meeting 45-0 in 1999 ...

Charley Smith's blocked extra point attempt in the first quarter gave the Cajuns two kick blocks in two games. UL Lafayette had blocked a punt against Minnesota last Saturday ...

The Cajuns have now lost 16 straight games to Conference USA teams, with another C-USA opponent coming next Saturday when UL Lafayette hosts Alabama-Birmingham at 6 p.m. at Cajun Field.

[NewsCopy]

Over 3,000 tickets for UL Lafayette's Oct. 5 game at LSU will remain on sale through Tuesday at the Cajundome box office. After Tuesday, unsold tickets will be returned to LSU.

Those tickets are available only to Cajun season ticket holders. UL Lafayette officials said that the tickets will not be made available to non-season ticket holders, even if it means sending them back unsold. So, fans who did not purchase season tickets but who want to attend the LSU game need to find a friend who has season tickets by Tuesday, since those ticket holders can purchase an unlimited number.

Tickets are $36 each plus a service charge. The Cajundome ticket office is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.

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Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

Louisiana             0  3  7  7  - 17       Record: (0-3)

Houston.............  9 10 10  7  - 36       Record: (2-1)





Stadium: Robertson Stadium     Attendance: 19569



Kickoff time: 7 p.m.    End of Game: 10:30 pm  

Total elapsed time: 3:30



Officials:

Referee: Jerome Boger; 

Umpire: Nels Strickland;

Linesman: Britt Choate; 

Line judge: Wayne Winkler; 

Back judge: Thomas Hutson;

Field judge: Rusty Spindel; 

Side judge: Tony Lombardo; 

Scorer: Trey Bergert;



Temperature: 90        

Wind: S-6 mph   

Weather: 48% humidity



captains

U of H  - 5, 10, 23, 91, 1 



UL - 26, 74, 87, 94

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1st Quarter 

10:02 HOUSTON - BELL, Dustin 44 yd field goal, 

8-40 2:52, 

LOUISIANA 0 - HOUSTON 3 



01:28 HOUSTON - NEALY, Barrick 2 yd run 

(BELL, Dustin kick blockd), 5-28 1:41, 

LOUISIANA 0 - HOUSTON 9 



2nd Quarter 

14:54 HOUSTON - BELL, Dustin 37 yd field goal, 4-1 1:16, 

LOUISIANA 0 - HOUSTON 12 



01:20 LOUISIANA - Comiskey, Sean 38 yd field goal, 8-44 3:11, 

LOUISIANA 3 - HOUSTON 12 



00:03 HOUSTON - TYSON, John 13 yd pass from NEALY, 

Barrick (BELL, Dustin kick), 7-61 1:07, 

LOUISIANA 3 - HOUSTON 19 



3rd Quarter 

11:14 HOUSTON - BELL, Dustin 43 yd field goal, 11-46 3:32, 

LOUISIANA 3 - HOUSTON 22 



06:12 HOUSTON - MIDDLETON, B. 55 yd pass from NEALY, 

Barrick (BELL, Dustin kick), 2-70 0:53, 

LOUISIANA 3 - HOUSTON 29 



01:53 LOUISIANA - Coleman, Jerome 5 yd run 

(Comiskey, Sean kick), 9-65 4:13, 

LOUISIANA 10 - HOUSTON 29 



4th Quarter 

11:26 HOUSTON - REYNOLDS, J. 1 yd run 

(BELL, Dustin kick), 13-82 5:14, 

LOUISIANA 10 - HOUSTON 36 



03:52 LOUISIANA - Stamps, Fred 78 yd pass from Van Cleave, Jon 

(Comiskey, Sean kick), 2-86 0:48, 

LOUISIANA 17 - HOUSTON 36 

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                                     UL      HOU

FIRST DOWNS...................       18       22

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    25-78   43-199

PASSING YDS (NET).............      284      182

Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  44-23-1  27-11-0

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   69-362   70-381

Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

Punt Returns-Yards............      1-0     3-41

Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     2-33     3-77

Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0     1-24

Punts (Number-Avg)............   4-44.5   3-43.3

Fumbles-Lost..................      2-2      3-2

Penalties-Yards...............    11-89     8-81

Possession Time...............    30:26    28:10

Sacks By: Number-Yards........      1-9     4-25

[Cajun1997]

Something like this is what we do not want or need:

McNeese State at ULM 9/14/02

ATTENDANCE: 10,091

Especially on TV and on the birthday of the Swampfox

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Louisiana

Coleman, Jerome 14-59; 

Van Cleave, Jon 8-15; 

Stamps, Fred 1-4; 

Johnson, Cheste 1-0; 

Stein, Wayne 1-0.



Houston

REYNOLDS, J. 17-114; 

NEALY, Barrick 8-42; 

EVANS, Anthony 6-17;

TILLMAN, Bobby 3-14; 

EDDY, Nick 2-12; 

FEATHERS, Tim 2-7; 

TEAM 1-minus 1;

BOTTS, Torrence 3-minus 3; 

BASSLER, Blade 1-minus 3.