The Book: 2002-03 Louisiana Football season

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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

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

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

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

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Offense commits record 10 turnovers as Texas A&M take 31-7 win
Bruce Brown
Posted on September 1, 2002
Rickey Bustle was a prophet.

Bustle said last week that his UL Ragin' Cajuns could not beat themselves and expect to defeat the Texas A&M Aggies.

Saturday night before a crowd of 75,087 at Kyle Field, the Cajuns handed the ball to the Aggies an astounding 10 times and handed the season opener over to their hosts by a 31-7 score.

Six of the Cajun turnovers came in the first half, yet they trailed just 3-0 at the break thanks to a gritty defensive effort. It wasn't until the second half that the wheels came off.

"We might have talked about it too much," Bustle said. "That's the worst kind of nightmare you can have. I've watched those early games on television, and it will be close at half and one team will falter.

"Offensively, we didn't give ourselves a chance. We had some success on some plays. It wasn't like it just wasn't working out there.

"And it seems like every time we tipped the ball, they got it."

Quarterback Jon Van Cleave threw six interceptions before yielding to junior college transfer Eric Rekeita, who threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Frederick Stamps with 2:34 to play for the lone Cajun score.

The first half was a matter of coulda, shoulda, woulda.

The rest of the Story

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Advertiser
Bruce Brown
Posted on September 1, 2002
Ross Brupbacher wanted to play his best game Saturday night.

He did, and he had plenty of company on the defensive squad, but Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns still left Kyle Field on the short end of a 31-7 loss to Texas A&M thanks to a mind-boggling 10 turnovers.

Brupbacher's father, Ross, was a star linebacker for the Aggies in the 1960s, and that made the opportunity even greater in the 2002 season opener.

"It was special," Brupbacher said. "He was here watching the game with some of his old teammates and Aggie alumni, so I wanted to play well."

Brupbacher was credited with five tackles, one for a loss, and a quarterback sack for the overworked Cajun defense.

"The coaches did a great job with the game plan," Brupbacher said. "Everything they (the Aggies) had, we had something to counter it. I thought we executed well.

"We have enough talent so if we execute we can do what we're coached to do."

"We played championship defense," Cajun coach Rickey Bustle said. "We put them in some tough situations, and they responded."

"It's a team thing," said cornerback Charles Tillman, who had an interception, three passes broken up and nine tackles. "I'm not going to blame the offense.

"We were executing coach (Brent) Pry's game plan. He was putting us in position to make plays with all of his calls. The defensive line, linebackers and secondary executed.

"And, we were victorious until the third quarter. The defense got tired. I'm not mad, though. I've got faith in the offense."

The rest of the Story

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Scoring Summary:
2nd Quarter
12:39
Texas A&M - Pegram, Todd 21 yd field goal,
4 plays 1 yard drive 0:52,
UL 0 - TA 3

3rd Quarter
13:04
Texas A&M - Weber, Joe 2 yd run (Pegram, Todd kick),
4 plays 17 yard drive 1:47,
UL 0 - TA 10

02:37
Texas A&M - Jones, Byron 36 yd interception return (Pegram, Todd kick),
UL 0 - TA 17

4th Quarter
11:17
Texas A&M - Goynes, Dwain 4 yd run (Pegram, Todd kick),
8 plays 53 yard drive 3:20
UL 0 - TA 24

08:10
Texas A&M - Farmer, Derek 3 yd run (Pegram, Todd kick),
8 plays 26 yard drive 2:52,
UL 0 - TA 31

05:36
Louisiana - Stamps, Fred. 31 yd pass from Rekieta, Eric (Comiskey, Sean kick),
11 plays 80 yard drive 2:34
UL 7 - TA 31

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                                     UL      TA

FIRST DOWNS...................       12       22

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    23-11   47-179

PASSING YDS (NET).............      194      244

Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  42-16-6  47-18-2

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   65-205   94-423

Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      1-4

Punt Returns-Yards............     4-39      4-5

Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     2-40     2-33

Interception Returns-Yards....      2-9     6-34

Punts (Number-Avg)............   6-42.7   6-41.2

Fumbles-Lost..................      5-4      0-0

Penalties-Yards...............     5-45   16-102

Possession Time...............    24:24    35:36

Third-Down Conversions........  6 of 14  7 of 22

Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 1   2 of 3

Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-2      4-6

Sacks By: Number-Yards........      1-3     2-12
			
		

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RUSHING: 

Louisiana: 

Rekieta, Eric 2-22; 

Williams, Wen. 1-6;

Coleman, Jerome 11-5; 

Johnson, Ches. 3-4; 

Stein, Wayne 2-0; 

Van Cleave, Jon

4-minus 26. 



Texas A&M:

Carter, Jason 3-42; 

Farmer, Derek 18-39; 

Goynes, Dwain 8-34; 

Long, Dustin 1-18; 

Flemming, Osch. 7-15; 

McNeal, Reggie 2-12; 

Johnson,

Bethel 1-10; 

Taylor, Jamaar 1-8; 

Weber, Joe 2-4; 

Jones, Stacy 1-1; 

Farris,

Mark 2-minus 1; 

Joseph, Keith 1-minus 3.
			
		

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PASSING:
Louisiana:
Van Cleave, Jon 13-34-6-143;
Rekieta, Eric 3-8-0-51.

Texas A&M:
Farris, Mark 13-32-0-171;
Long, Dustin 3-12-2-45;
McNeal, Reggie 2-2-0-28;
Carter, Jason 0-1-0-0.

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RECEIVING:
Louisiana:
Stamps, Fred. 7-115;
Bartel, Eric 2-13;
George, Andre 2-7;
Stein, Wayne 2-4;
Joerg, Josh 1-33;
Sampy, Bill 1-16;
Lindon, Dwight 1-6.

Texas A&M:
Johnson, Bethel 6-96;
Porter, Greg 5-59;
Taylor, Jamaar 4-80;
Farmer, Derek 2-minus 4;
Joseph, Keith 1-13.

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INTERCEPTIONS:
Louisiana:
Tillman, Char. 1-8;
Smith, Jamal 1-1.

Texas A&M:
Gamble, Brian 1-0;
Jones, Byron 1-36;
Appel, Jaxson 1-0;
Weston, Sean 1-0;
Davis, Sammy 1-minus 2;
Kiel, Terrence 1-0.