The Book: 2003 Football

[NewsCopy]

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns were shell-shocked early on Saturday afternoon in falling to Southern Mississippi by a final score of 48-3.

An early turnover snowballed into a 21-0 deficit just 9:36 into the game. The Cajuns (2-8) gave up a total of 38 points at the beginning of each half and were unable to regroup.

The Cajuns first drive saw Jerry Babb intercepted by Greg Brooks at the Cajuns 31-yard line. Southern Miss pounded the ball into the end zone on five runs by Anthony Harris. USM led 7-0 with 11:07 left to play in the first quarter.

USM (5-3) needed 1:58 to travel 40 yards into the end zone on their second possession. Almond connected on a nine-yard strike to Anthony Perine to appease the homecoming crowd with a quick 14-0 lead.

A flea-flicker on the Golden Eagles third play of their third possession hit paydirt. Almond found a wide open Marvin Young for a 51-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

Fred Stamps reception in the first quarter extended his receiving streak to 42 consecutive games with a catch.

The rest of the story

[WebWatchDog]

How many yards did Dwight Lindon have?

[1stTake]

This may sound crazy but I think we will be competitive next time we play.

[geauxboy]

10 carries, 61 yds

[CajunCharlie]

Yes, you are sounding arrogant. Luckily we met some real nice folks that treated us well. No arrogance just amicable folks that hoped we would have a good game and that both teams would suffer no major injuries. So don't worry about us. We will be okay in a couple of years.

[1stTake]

hmmmmmmmm

with 6.1 yperc I wonder why just 10 carries?

[Turbine]

Originally posted by Chuck
6.1 yperc

Is that the same as YPC?

[NewsCopy]

Just the Cajuns’ luck — FIU hits its stride

LOUISIANA La. — Just their luck.

Louisiana's Ragin’ Cajuns have had a hard enough time of things this season, falling to 2-8 on the year with last Saturday’s 48-3 thumping at Southern Mississippi.

Now comes Florida International, a Sun Belt Conference member competing in Division 1-AA in football which has caught fire just in time for next Saturday’s visit to Cajun Field.

True, the Golden Panthers are 2-7 on the campaign, but they hammered Jacksonville 55-12 last Thursday night and the Cajuns haven’t hammered anyone in a long time.

It was 41-0 at halftime before FIU pulled back on the reins, but the Panthers still finished with 391 yards rushing and 642 yards of total offense.

Both Adam Gorman (19-138-1) and Diamante Demerritt (9-121-1) rushed for over 100 yards, while Josh Padrick hit 10-of-14 passes for 232 yards and three scores to Cory McKinney (3-90-1) and Harold Leath (3-69-2).

Jacksonville had 303 total yards, but much of that came after the issue was decided.

Coach Rickey Bustle’s Cajuns, on the other hand, are anything but hot. They played the Jacksonville role for Southern Mississippi, falling behind 24-0 and generally failing to compete with the Golden Eagles.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. -- The very thing Rickey Bustle hoped would not happen Saturday did.

Bustle's University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns turned the football over on only their third offensive play of the game, giving Southern Mississippi an early scoring opportunity and igniting a 21-point first-quarter onslaught by the Golden Eagles.

Sparked by the early success, the Eagles went on to a 48-3 victory.

"The very thing we didn't want to happen happened on that first series," said Bustle, whose team (2-8) saw its two-game winning streak snapped by the lopsided loss. "We knew we couldn't give them turnovers.

"They're a very good football team and when we spotted them 21 points, we knew it was going to be a tough night."

Tough indeed.

The Cajuns, now 1-21 in games against the Eagles in Hattiesburg, were outgained 550-200 in total offense and 26-8 in first downs. In addition, the Cajuns converted only 3 of 16 on third-down attempts.

"It looked pretty darn bad Saturday out on the field and the film wasn't much different today," said Bustle. "We just left our defense out on the field too long, we allowed too many big plays and we missed a lot of tackles.

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By GLENN QUEBEDEAUX
Special to The Advocate

[Oldman]

that's what happens when you fall behind early big guy.

[Turbine]

Louisiana's 2003 Seniors

No.	Name	Pos.	Exp.	Hometown
93	Darryl Blappert	DT	1L	Slidell, LA
79	Chris Perrone	OL	1L	Covington, LA
23	Jamaal Sanders	LB	2L	Bradenton, FL
27	Patrick Lamy	WS	2L	New Orleans, LA
50	Shawn Williams	OL	2L	St. Martinville, LA
44	Wayne Stein	FB	3L	Garyville, LA
54	Dallas Charles	DE	3L	Lake Charles, LA
55	Derace James	DE	3L	Patterson, LA
2	Frederick Stamps	WR	4L	New Orleans, LA
8	Ricky Calais	LB	4L	Lafayette, LA
39	Grant Autrey	P	4L	Morgan City, LA
47	Antonio Floyd	DE	4L	St. Francisville, LA
59	Ross Brupbacher	LB	4L	Lafayette, LA
61	D'Anthony Batiste	OT	4L	Marksville, LA
63	Daniel Taylor	DT	4L	Sulphur, LA
87	Josh Joerg	TE	4L	Ruston, LA
22	Eric Bartel	WR	4L	Friendswood, TX

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — With the 2003 football season entering the final stages, the Sun Belt Conference still looks like it did in August.

North Texas remains the banner carrier for the league at 6-3, ready for a third straight title and another spot in the New Orleans Bowl.

After that, UL and the other SBC members are a combined 15-49. No team has a winning record, and five schools have two or fewer victories apiece.

“North Texas is at the pinnacle of our conference,” Ragin’ Cajun coach Rickey Bustle said on Monday. “I do believe we will continue to close that gap, and that we will be able to compete at the top level in our conference.

“Next year we’ll have eight conference games, instead of having six big ones where you get beat down. I want to play in games we have a chance to win, and then see where we stack up.”

Bustle’s Cajuns, 2-8 after last Saturday’s 48-3 loss at Southern Mississippi, earlier played South Carolina, La. Tech, Houston, Minnesota and Oklahoma State in non-league games.

They played within seven points of USC (14-7) and Houston (21-14), but lost to the others (including USM) by a combined 186-to-23.

“In the Mid-America Conference, they play one or two of those big games, and anything can happen,” Bustle said. “But when you have to do it six times, it’s tougher.”

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com