First of all, we were able to get to the game on time and enjoy some of the game acctually which me and my girlfriend were unable to do for the aTm game, so things looked up from the get go.
Before I go on, I want to say that I was originally scheduled to work saturday, but something told me that something magical could happen, and I ended up paying off my friend to the tune of 30 bux switch off days with me.
Back to the story, When we got seated, the first thing I noticed was that the team was very fired up. We seemed to have an extra bump in our step as we were warming up.
Then the game came, I saw us stop their first drive, and them stop our first drive, and it prepped me for a good game, then they set up a TD with the long pass on their second possession. Then we drove down and missed a field goal and gave houston the ball with good field position. On that drive they had the most BS call I've seen against the cajuns all year. we return a fumble for a TD and UH decides to challenge that it was a forward lateral...AND WINS!?!?! I dont know much, but I think that its kinda difficult to have a forward pass while you put the ball in someones chest AND are in front of them.
You could see that the defense was mentally torn down from this call, and the very next play they threw it 56 yards on the money for a TD. From us getting 7, to them getting 7...painful to watch. Then we had the next offensive possesion, and you could tell we were still down when Babb threw the ball into coverage for the INT in which Kolb capped off for the TD. Regardless of what anyone says, I attribute both of those UH TD's to the ref for deflating our team so much. Little did I know that theyd only score 7 more points the rest of the game!
In my opinion, the game changing play happened on the ensuing kickoff...there was just something about it, I saw one of the blockers talken to wallace and although I'm not a mind reader, I happened to think he said something to the effect of (We're gonna break you loose). That kick was returned 65 yards to the Cougar 15. A few plays later, we were in for 7 but still trailed 7-21
The next UL drive, we drove down with the badass fake punt and got a field goal, I still didnt feel good leaving 3 min on the clock for that offense of theirs to come back at us. That offensive pass interference call was legit, but the holding call that took away their TD was simply in my mind a makeup call for screwing us over so badly earlier. We forced them to try the field goal and we blocked it. I kinda felt like we would.
When UL came out for the second half, one thing stuck out to me. While looking at the players on the field gather in the circle...bustle got right in the middle and was getting in players faces and pumping them up like I've never seen.
So we look good to start the second half, we drive down and make a field goal to make the game 21-13, but the cougars answered right back, using their big play potential once again to put themselves up 28-13. When that happened I ws thinking "No matter how much momentum we get, we're still having trouble stopping this offense". So anyway, on the next possession, we drive down and get into what I thought was 4 down territory. 4th down comes and I couldent believe what I was seeing, drew edmiston coming out for the Field goal. I was ____ed, I was thinking that down 15 points and just over a quarter to go in the game and we're in that no-mans land of to long to kick, to short to punt, we had to go for it. Regardless, Drew nailed it, and it would have been good from 55. The buzz started growing, but we still down by 2 scores and it looked bleak.
The next drive, Houston fumbled and we recovered...THIS is when we started thinking about the win. We drove down, but still got into a 4th down situation. We went with a toss to fenroy and it looked beautiful. For a play where we needed 1 yard, we got 19 and a TD. 23-28 Houston up. The next possession, the defense looked like they were on a mission. Houston got a first down, but they had to work REAL hard to earn it, then we stiffined and force a punt. We got it on our 15 with 9 minutes left. We ran over around and through all Houston Defenders on this drive. We looked like we were on a mission. On plays where Fenroy should have lost yards, he would drag defenders for 4-5 yards. It was amazing. As we drove, the UL section got louder and louder and louder. The fans presence was known. When UL came off the field for the time out and we were on their 3 yard line, the team looked straight up into our section and wanted us to get up. Thats when the "Lets go cajuns" chant started. There was no doubt we were there. The next play, UL scored on the pass to Eric Belton and our section went absolutly crazy.
We knew we had to still hold them, but I knew we would. As the defense came out on the field, they were looken straight at us and asken us to pump it up, and of course we obliged. We allowed a short pass, then sacked kolb, then incomplete, and then ran him outta bounds and again, the section went crazy and the sideline went nuts. In my 4 years of being a cajun student/fan, I've never experianced anything like this before. I wasnt at the 96 aTm game, so, in my mind this might go down as the best win I've ever witnessed for UL.
I did feel bad for the Houston players. As we left I saw them walking out and being amongst the fans. The look of ultimate dissolution was worn on all of their face. #73 for them (An O-lineman) took his helmet and threw it down in disgust and just put his head in his hands out of frustration and agony. I wanted to tell them that they did play a good game and that theyll be able to move on, but I didnt wanna do that and seem cocky, so I refrained from it. Ultimately, after the game, I was happy to see us win one because over the past four years, I've seen the cajuns lose SO many of these games in the same manner Houston did (Houston 2003, La Tech 2004, UCF, FAU, ASU 2005).
The cap of the night was stopping at a bennagins and playing "We are the Champions" on the jukebox while enjoying a victory beer. I hope that this win gives us extra momentum going into conference play because in general, you take away the BS ref call and those 14 easy points they got because of it, the games not close. Our ability to control the clock and dictate tempo of the game was what won it for us.
Now its on to the FAU game...if the team needs any motivation, all we have to do is pull out the tape of the 4th quarter from the FAU game last year, and that should get us good and ragin for the game.
Hope someone enjoys this, I just realized how long it was,
Tuffguy
P.S.I was in section 219, a few rows in front of the guy who kept yelling at bustle "Did you watch any game tape of this team?" and a few rows behind a guy with his kid who loved when I would yell "another cajun first down" or "Suck it Ref!"...god I love our fans.