The Book: 2003 Football

[Turbine]

Thanks I need these numbers for predict the yardage.

[CajunCharlie]

You stated it much more eloquently than I did. This fast food age we live in doesn't allow for any patience. I agree with what you said, thank you.

[CajunCharlie]

I believe we will have better than 15,000. The naysayers are an irritant, but the true fans that support our University will be there, because we want Bustle and the team to succeed.

[TuffGuy84]

Originally posted by SwampFox
I am sure there will be some dropoff but I have seen people posting (on Delphi and here) concerned about us meeting the attendence requirement now, WTF :confused: All this negative BS is ____ing me off. We all knew this was a young team with a lot of new players before the season started and now all of a sudden after ONE (I repeat ONE) bad game the sky is falling, WTF :confused: We had one hell of a week and a great turnout for this game. For people who have never seen what a "real" college game day atmosphere is this (yesterday's tailgating) was just a small taste of the fun that can be had, the money the community can make, etc...The team laid an egg and did not have a good showing, so now people will just quit coming. I worked for Ole Miss for three years, win or lose they had people in "the Grove" tailgating like crazy EVERY game. Now either these people are diehard Rebel fans or they just like to party. I guess my point is that, yes I am ____ed off that we not only lost (to a team that is our oldest rival) and lost badly but that we have so many what I thought were true Cajun fans already jumping ship. Out of that 24,211 do you think at least 13,158 will show up for the next 5 home games? That is exactly how many we have to average to meet the 15,000 (which by the way does not count this year anyway). Make that 13,157 because my _____ will be at every home game. The team and university need our continued support if they are going to get we we all want them to be.

Pshh, cmon swamp, you know as well as I do that the people on these forums, no matter how much we say we'll never go back...we'll be there next week...and the week after that, and after that. Its mostly emotion of being aggrivated after last nights game, and face it, if you werent aggrivated, you werent at the game. I personally have no problem with getting beaten, but the problem to me was, getting run out of our own stadium. All the incentive was there for them to play up and beyond their average level of play. 24,000 and change show up, its an in-state rival and a designated league game to boot. With that, I didnt expect to win, just to be slightly more competitive. With that being said, if we play like we did against La Tech...we are gonna get smoked against Houston. This houston team is much better than people give em credit for and could be as good or better as La Tech.

Tuffguy

[CajunRebel]

Ok, here come my humble opinions of the game this week.

THE GOOD
-Cajun field looked great. This field 10 times better it did two years ago. The pepper over the tunnel really impressed me. Also the gates looked great. Thanks to all that slaved in the heat to get those up there. The university owes you guys some deodorant.

-Wow, the crowd was awesome. It’s been awhile since that many people have been to Cajun Field. People are starting to realize that there is D1 football in Lafayette. I think the little things (the banners hanging on light posts around the city, the "it’s good for business" campaign to name a few) have gone a long way to make people notice.

-The tailgating situation was great. I was opposed to the gravel in Cajun field but I have changed my opinion. It was great to see tons of people there too. We were in the very corner at Bertrand and Congress so we would be alone, but by the end of the afternoon we had neighbors.

-Seeing "www.raginpagin.com" scrolling across the marquee was great. How did you get that to happen?Next game you should put something like "where Cajun fans meet on the web" under it so people will know its purpose.


THE BAD
-Where was that killer D that showed up in SC last week? I understand the offense didn't do its part and the refs got a kick out of throwing their "yellow wavy thingies" up in the air, but that doesn't excuse Tech putting 40 pts on the board.

-The offense hasn't scored a TD in two games. My finger is on the panic button.Im not a genius, but if we can't score we can't win. And we won't block a field goal every game.

-People are talking about "Lafayette" in the end zone and not about how pathetic we played. Who cares about the name? The name doesn’t mean jack if we can’t win a game.


If you haven’t noticed, the community (finally) did its part. UL had more support there tonight than they deserved, and they blew it. I don't know what to think really. Im sure you left this game in utter disbelief like I did. This team baffles me. I’m not saying we had to win, but we should have been able to compete. If we don't improve, we won't stay in D1. If we don't improve with Bustle, we won't stay in D1. This is our last chance. Failure is not an option.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — Years ago, when John McKay was trying to get the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers off the ground, he was asked about the execution of his team’s offense.

“I think it’s a good idea,” the sardonic legend replied.

UL is 0-2 in 2003 and the Ragin’ Cajuns of coach Rickey Bustle have yet to reach the end zone on offense.

Last Saturday’s home opener against Louisiana Tech was going to be tough enough if the Cajuns got into a scoring duel with Bulldog quarterback Luke McCown. It became impossible when they couldn’t answer at all.

“We just have to execute the offense and make plays,” said senior wide receiver Fred Stamps, who remains the team’s only consistent weapon.

“Every time we get close to the end zone, I think we get too excited and we mess up.”

Stamps caught five passes for 76 yards, including a dramatic 33-yarder that set up a Cajun field goal, extending his streak to receptions in all 34 games of his college career.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. -- Rickey Bustle knew the potential for something special existed Saturday night, as his University of Louisiana at Lafayette football ran onto Cajun Field.

Last-minute ticket booth sales were unusually brisk and spectators even flooded the grass hills to sit above the end zones, soaking up an atmosphere charged with expectations.

Louisiana Tech's synchronized passing game and ULL's own mistakes quickly diffused any chance to extend that excitement.

Tech sent many of the announced 24,211 scurrying for early exits after the Bulldogs took a 27-3 halftime lead.

After a 34-3 loss, Bustle was almost apologetic for the way the Cajuns' effort disappointed the largest home crowd in nearly eight years.

"There was a great crowd and a great atmosphere at Cajun Field tonight," he said. "We felt like this was something to build on, but it just didn't work out for us."

Against Tech, ULL hoped to sustain an effort the Cajuns received the previous Saturday night in a 14-7 loss at South Carolina.

Instead, many of the problems haunting ULL the past several years reappeared. Inconsistency offensively, missed tackles and ill-timed penalties combined to deliver ULL's five loss to Tech in as many meetings.

Tech controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, limiting ULL's rushing game to 103 yards on 23 attempts, while Bulldogs' quarterback Luke McCown was sacked only once on 33 passing attempts.

McCown and three senior wide receivers controlled the game clock for 35:11 and amassed 470 total yards, an average of 6.4 yards per play.

The rest of the story

By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate

[Oldman]

yes, i am disappointed.....but i don't have a panic button because i am a true cajun fan. i understand what you are saying, but i would hope you could understand and see that things are moving in the right direction, we have a redshirt freshman Qb who will get better and i would probably say a little nervous playing his second game in 2 years, family and friends in attendance. we are a better team then we showed saturday and we will bounce back, if you want to press your button go ahead but i say to you, a true cajun fan wouldn't do that. we had a bad game, we have 10 more with a good coach and staff. tech have guys whose been playing for 4 years togather!!!....so go ahead.

[EVCajun12]

Another positive I saw, Dwight Lindon had a solid game at running back.

[EVCajun12]

I was disappointed, but we ran into a good La. Tech team with a QB that will play Sundays, and a solid group of receivers. They hit our weak spot right now on defense, our secondary. We are young there, and it seemed we were shuffling new DB's in all night looking for a good combination. I have no doubt Bustle will have the players attention this week, and I expect a much better performance this week. I will be there, no doubt, and I know we will be ok. One home loss is not the end of the world. This team needs our support, we are a part of this team too, I hope we all keep coming out.

[Turbine]

I'm not picking on, or blaming, the WAC officials but I find it ironic that aside from penalty first downs the advantage on getting first downs was not much.

LA Tech 19, UL 14

I also find it ironic (they are related ironies) that LA Tech was penalized 1.7777 more times than Louisiana was.

LA Tech 16, UL 9

Is ironic the word I want here? Those 7 extra penalties only amounted to 10 more yards in penalties.

LA Tech 114, UL 104

Actually none of that stuff up there is ironic it's just true. The really ironic thing is that 7 of UL's 9 penalties gave LA Tech a first down and kept potential scoring drives alive.

But NOT ONE, not a single one of LA Tech's 16 penalties through the course of a 60-minute contest game gave Louisiana a 1st down. Not a singe one.

I do find that ironic.

I guess you (Those WAC-ky officials) gotta know when to call em.

[RedBug58]

:confused:

That's a nice way to put it. Anyone speaking truthfully about the WACky officials would have to be edited on this board. Some of those calls were totally unbelieveable.