The Book: 2002-03 Louisiana Football season

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Roster

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Game 1 Texas A&M

Picking up the game at halftime.

Halftime Report

Louisiana's defense in the first half:
A true success story of the first half. Incredible describes the play of the defense as they only gave up 3 points. I have not hear the time of posession numbers but the defense had to be out there all night.

Louisiana's offense:
6 Turnovers in the first half.
After initial 1st quarter success against the Texas A&M wrecking Crew that culminated in two turnovers inside the Aggie 10, the offense led by Jon VanCleave looked a bit rattled. Several fo the turnovers were NOT wrecking crew induced.

Going into half-time the offense has at least two incentives to regroup.

• First they should have the pride not to rely on a defense that must be a bit tired after having to make trip after trip back on the field without rest after 6 turnovers.
• Second they have the luxure of knowing that they did everthing wrng and are only down by 3. Consistent quality play and they must know that they have a chance to bring home a victory.
  

  End of the first half
  Texas A&M 3 Louisiana 0

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  After a 7th offensive turnover on the first play of the second half. The Aggies punch the ball in after just 2 plays
  Texas A&M 10
  Louisiana 0

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  8 turnovers
  
  Texas A&M 17
  Louisiana 0

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  9 Turnovers
  
  The most turnovers in UL history was on October 31st 1970 vs ULM was 11
  7 interception 4 fumbles

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  Texas A&M scores off of Van Cleaves gift parade and goes up 24-0

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  Gifts Galore Jon Van Cleave offers up another platter with the 10th turnover of the game.

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  I hope that Jon Van Cleave is simply forcing the ball, and not displaying the quitters attidude that he displayed in academics at the end of the 2001 season.

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  10 turnovers and 6 interceptions result in another Aggie TD.
  
  Texas A&M 31
  Louisiana 0

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  In a somewhat belated move Navarro Junior College transfer Eric Rekieta is inserted at the helm of QB.
  
  In two years at Navarro, Eric Rekieta passed for 4,850 yards and 41 touchdowns and ran for 293 yards and 12 touchdowns.
  
  Early on the first drive he showed his skills at running the ball. A few batted balls and a bit of positive yardage.

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Rekeita throws a 32-yard strike to Stamps!! 31-7.

Penalty against A&M. Aggies miss second try. Game ends Aggies 31, Cajuns 7.

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"LOUISIANA"

@ College Station

TEXAS A&M

7 31 10 turnovers spoil a great defensive effort.

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"LOUISIANA"

@ Lafayette

MINNESOTA

11 35 Turnovers again spoiled a great defensive & Special Teams effort.

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"LOUISIANA"

@ Houston

HOUSTON

17 36 Offense gets untracked but the defense stays home. Injuries to key positions

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"LOUISIANA"

@ Lafayette

Alabama Birmingham

34 0 Offense, Defense, Speacial Teams...ALL CLICK ... the swamp made an appearance

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"LOUISIANA"

@ Baton Rouge

LSU

0 48 100th Anniversary Game

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"LOUISIANA"

@ Lafayette

New Mexico State

28 31 SunBelt Conference season opens with a repeat of last year NM State wins on last play of game.

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)- Brian Gamble recovered two fumbles and had an interception as No. 23 Texas A&M set a Big 12 record by forcing 10 turnovers in a 31-7 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday night.

The Aggies' "Wrecking Crew" defense was completely dominant, holding the Ragin' Cajuns to just 205 yards. A&M had six interceptions, another Big 12 record, and Byron Jones returned one of them 36 yards for a touchdown.

The offensive struggles continued for the Aggies, however, a year after they had the second-worst offense in the conference. Mark Farris, the 26-year-old senior, was benched for part of the game while three other quarterbacks played, including highly regarded freshman Reggie McNeal.

It was the season opener for both teams, and the head coaching debut for Lafayette's Rickey Bustle, an assistant coach at Virginia Tech for 13 of the last 14 seasons. The Aggies are 14-0 in home openers under coach R.C. Slocum.

The Aggies finished with 423 total yards but led just 3-0 at halftime, when the Ragin' Cajuns already had six turnovers.

On the opening play of the second half, Gamble recovered a fumble by Jerome Coleman at the Lafayette 17. Four plays later, Joe Weber scored on a 2-yard run.

Later in the third quarter, after Gamble put heavy pressure on quarterback Jon Van Cleave, Jones stepped in front of the receiver and raced down the sideline untouched for a 17-0 lead.

The Aggies built a 31-0 lead, on fourth-quarter TD runs by Dwain Goynes (4 yards) and Derek Farmer (3 yards), before the Ragin' Cajuns scored on backup quarterback Eric Rekieta's 31-yard pass to Fred Stamps with 5:36 left.

Stamps had seven catches for 115 yards.

After punting on its opening drive of the game, Lafayette lost fumbles on three straight possessions, the first two after driving inside the Aggies' 10.

Van Cleave, who threw for 2,499 yards last season and had just 10 interceptions in 407 attempts, was 13-of-34 for 143 yards and six interceptions.

Since upsetting Texas A&M 29-22 in the second game of the 1996 season, when the school was still known as Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette is 13-52. That includes a 66-0 loss at Kyle Field in 1997, the last time the teams played.

Farris was benched midway through the second quarter, and coach R.C. Slocum said that was his decision and not because of elbow soreness that had affected the senior quarterback throughout the preseason.

Farris returned in the second half before being replaced by McNeal, but he was 13-of-32 passing for 171 yards. His primary backup, Dustin Long, was 3-of-12 with two interceptions in the second quarter.

Story from The Associated Press
Saturday, August 31, 2002

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HEAD COACH RICKEY BUSTLE:
"I pulled Jon (Van Cleave) out and told him "if I don't pull you out now you might set a record""

DEFENSIVE BACK CHARLES TILLMAN:
(On A&M's Offense) "I give the A&M offense a lot of respect, they came out and wanted it more." (On your offense) "I still have faith in our offense." (On defensive play) "You can only go so long (on defense). We got tired out there."

QUARTERBACK JON VAN CLEAVE:
"It was a bad day. Every bounce went their way. We have to eliminate that. Their front seven is unbelievable. We need to capitalize (in the red zone), we didn't, and you saw the result. I thought we had the turnovers out of our system (at halftime), then we come out and immediately give it to them. I didn't get it done. I have to roll with the punches and move on."

WIDE RECEIVER FRED STAMPS:
"Tonight was a weird game with all the pics Van Cleave threw. Our offense has relied on our defense for a long time. It is time for our offense to step up."

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               Box Score (Final)

   Louisiana vs #23 Texas A&M 

   (Aug 31, 2002 at College Station, TX)



Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

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Louisiana             0  0  0  7  -  7    Record: (0-1)

Texas A&M...........  0  3 14 14  - 31    Record: (1-0)