The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns need a break, and they'll get one this week with an open date after losing road games at LSU 45-3 and Texas A&M 51-7 to start the 2006 season.

"It comes at a perfect time for us," coach Rickey Bustle said on Monday. "When things don't go the way you want, we all go back to the fundamentals. It's the nature of the beast.

"We're not going to let A&M and LSU rip our hearts out. With the next 10 opponents, we're on a more level playing field. If you view the season as a game, that was the first quarter and the first quarter is over."

While it's a good time to step back and examine the team's progress, with practices set for today, Wednesday and Thursday, it's not yet time to re-invent anything.

"We've got to think through the whole process," Bustle said. "We're going to let the players make more decisions on the field in practice, so that they're able to do that in games. We're going to work hard this week to correct things."

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com