The Book: 2002-03 Louisiana Football season

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Advertisers-Bruce Brown

LAFAYETTE - Trey Randall couldn't believe it.

The transfer from Kilgore Junior College was in his first day of spring drills, hoping to impress Rickey Bustle and the UL Lafayette coaching staff and trying to find a home at linebacker in the aggressive new defensive scheme.

Then it happened. A torn Achilles tendon ended his spring and put the talented Los Angeles native on the shelf until early fall.

Now, he's ready to make up for lost time.

"At first," Randall said, "it didn't hurt. It was more of a shock. I knew what I had done when it happened."

It was a terrible first step for Randall, who liked what he saw in defensive coordinator Brent Pry's scheme and wanted to be a part of it.

"It's a more in-your-face type of defense," Randall said. "It's a 4-4, instead of a 4-3, and we like to get in the quarterback's face. I like it a lot. It's a lot of fun. You get to run around and wreak havoc out there."

Obviously, though, Randall wasn't running anywhere until his Achilles healed.

"I got so much confidence from my teammates," Randall said. "They all pushed me to come back.

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From the Advertiser

CAJUN CLIPPINGS - Senior cornerback Charles Tillman leads the Cajuns in tackles with 54 and is within six of Damon Mason (243) for third all-time in career tackles among defensive backs at the school ... the Cajuns have 11 sacks by eight different players this season ... UL has lost 14 consecutive games when trailing at half.

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Louisiana and Western Kentucky picked to win SBC Divisions

New Orleans- Basketball is in the air, as Louisiana was picked to win the West division and Western Kentucky was picked to win the East division announced today at the Sun Belt Conference media days. Chris Marcus was also picked as SBC preseason player of the year. WKU is coming off a 28-4 season and a NCAA tournament bid. Louisiana is coming off a 20-11 season and earned a NIT bid. Sophomore Center Michael Southall also earned first team SBC honors.

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[1stTake]

Nice stuff but I hate 4 popups at once. Looks like UL and the SunBelt will get noticed on February 26.

[EVCajun12]

I know, the pop up ads stink. I know the editor was working on doing something about that. The conference as a whole should be well noticed this year in basketball. I am sure we will be one of them.

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Advertisers-Bruce Brown

LAFAYETTE - Until someone proves differently, North Texas is the Sun Belt Conference football champion.

The Mean Green cleared an unexpected hurdle last week with a 13-10 victory at surprising Arkansas State in its league opener, so there's no reason to think coach Darrell Dickey's team doesn't have the strength to repeat as the host team in the New Orleans Bowl.

North Texas is 2-5 on the year entering Saturday's 4 p.m. game with UL at Cajun Field, but that's largely due to a rugged early-season schedule. The Mean Green was 5-6 heading into the bowl in 2001, so records can be deceiving.

What is known is that North Texas remains a solid defensive team, ranking 14th in the nation in total defense at 295.3 yards per game allowed and a lofty seventh in passing yards per game (151.1) by UNT opposition.

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Bruce Brown
Posted on October 26, 2002
LAFAYETTE - Remember these people?

UL hasn't played at home since a 34-0 rout of Alabama-Birmingham on Sept. 21, so fans may need to get reacquainted with the Ragin' Cajuns before today's 4 p.m. Sun Belt Conference game with North Texas at Cajun Field.

Today's contest will be the first of three in a row at home for coach Rickey Bustle's team, which is 1-6 on the season after last Saturday's 48-35 loss at Middle Tennessee.

"This has been a long five weeks that we haven't played at home," Bustle said. "We really feel like road warriors.

"Our players are excited to be back at home and I believe that our fans will stick with us because they are in it with us, too. I expect to have a good crowd for this game. We look forward to it."

Since their last home game, the Cajuns were hammered 48-0 by LSU and lost close Sun Belt games at New Mexico State (31-28) and Middle Tennessee to fall out of title contention in the conference race.

The 63 points the last two weeks has been fueled by the Cajuns' passing game, led by junior quarterback Jon Van Cleave (118-215-11, 1,424 yards, 6 touchdowns) and wide receivers Fred Stamps (31-576-5) and Andre' George (24-281-1).

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[Turbine]

Well while watching the game I was struck with how this is the wettest season I can ever remember and the conditions out there today are the conditiions the Cajuns have had to practice in all year.

Not condusive to winning. . . more later.

[Turbine]

I think these kids have become accustomed to losing over the past few years.

While Bustle's efforts to get them ready to bust down the doors prior to a game seemed to be successful, one or two bad plays into the game, and some only go through the motions.

5 dropped passes by Coleman? No completions.

Bustle can only work on one thing at a time, this off season it will be attitude.

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Advertisers-Bruce Brown

LAFAYETTE - Will the real Ragin' Cajuns please stand up?

UL took another swoop on a season-long roller coaster Saturday, falling 27-0 to the North Texas Mean Green before 8,413 soggy fans at Cajun Field.

The shutout was the second of the season for the Cajuns, who had scored 63 points in two games since their last blanking in a pair of Sun Belt Conference road losses at New Mexico State and Middle Tennessee.

This time, the offense was no match for a solid UNT defensive unit, totalling just 241 yards and 12 first downs including 110 yards in the fourth quarter after the outcome was decided.

"We've played the three best (Sun Belt) teams in a row, and we were not able to match up with them," said coach Rickey Bustle, whose team fell to 1-7 on the season.

"I appreciate the players' emotion before the game. I told them there weren't going to be many people here, and that they would have to find that emotion within themselves.

"And, I thought we played pretty well defensively in the first half. Offensively, we didn't give them any help. I don't know which part of the team will show up from one week to the next."

The North Texas team played like a defending Sun Belt champion, pounding the weary Cajun defense for 213 yards rushing and controlling the clock for 35:33 to improve to 3-5 and a spotless 2-0 in SBC play.

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