The Book: 2003 Football

[NewsCopy]

Sun Belt honors Comiskey

LOUISIANA La. — Try a 48-yard field goal, into the wind, on the road against your defending conference champion?

No problem, if you’re University of Louisiana place kicker Sean Comiskey.

“During the week, we take a lot of time out of practice to work on long field goals,” Comiskey said. “We try a lot of them every Monday through Wednesday.

“Coach (Rickey) Bustle knew I could make it. When we got to the (North Texas) 31-yard line, he said, ‘field goal.’ ”

Comiskey made three field goals in the 44-23 Ragin’ Cajun loss to the Mean Green, starting with the season-best 48-yarder and including shots of 23 and 30 yards. The last hit got the Cajuns within 30-23.

That tied a Sun Belt Conference single-game record and earned Comiskey the SBC special teams Player of the Week honor.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA la. — When you’ve been treading water for five weeks, the last thing you want to see is a dorsal fin among the waves ... especially if you’re not in an area known for dolphins.

Louisiana is 0-5 and faces the unenviable prospect of playing the potent Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road this Saturday.

“Oklahoma State has a heck of a football team,” Ragin’ Cajun coach Rickey Bustle said on Monday. “When I looked at the schedule earlier in the year, I hoped we’d have a win or two by now, so this game wouldn’t seem so bad.”

As it is, the 3-1 Cowboys are loaded with talented players like quarterback Josh Fields, receiver Rashaun Woods and running back Tatum Bell.

“Their special teams are probably, overall, the best I’ve seen this year,” Bustle said. “Their offense and defense are solid, too.”

Fields has hit 61-of-111 passes for 750 yards and nine touchdowns, focusing on Woods (30-502-9), who set an NCAA record against SMU two weeks ago with seven TD grabs.

Bell is ninth in the nation in rushing (123.8) with 495 yards on 81 attempts.

“I’m not sure you think all of a sudden of a great plan to stop those guys,” Bustle said. “If they can run the ball any time they want, then those receivers are going to get loose. We’re going to double-team him (Woods) some, but you have to pick and choose when you do it.”

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[CajunCharlie]

Sean is as nice a young man you can find. My youngest son, who is student trainer, introduced him to me one Sunday at church. No pretensions, no ego, just a down to earth young adult. This is the type of athlete we need to recruit.

[Purecajun]

My dad and I know Sean personally. My dad likes to tell him, "If you can swim in 10 feet of water, you can swim in 10,000 feet of water."

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — One of these days, all the teaching and positive reinforcement and work and pain will be worth it for Louisiana's Ragin’ Cajuns.

One of these days, they’re going to win a football game.

They’re off to an 0-5 start and are heavy underdogs this week at Oklahoma State, but they cling to the notion that they’ll triumph before long.

“A win would definitely boost our morale,” senior tight end Josh Joerg said. “We’re down right now, and we haven’t seen the fruits of our labor.

“If we could get a win, and feel it, we would want it more and more.”

The latest Cajun setback was a 44-23 road loss at North Texas, a frustrating one since coach Rickey Bustle’s team climbed back to within 30-23 entering the fourth quarter before falling short.

“There was a real up mood on the sidelines (at 30-23),” Joerg said. “We just didn’t finish it off.”

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[Ryno]

I found this site on CollegeSprotsInfo, but I wanted to invite you over to our OSU board: www.o-state.com

I liked this site over there to help bring some game talk over.

Please check out the site! www.o-state.com

ADMIN: Please email me when you get the chance, ryno@o-state.com Thanks!

[Ryno]

Next Week

The Cajuns will play at Oklahoma State on Oct. 4 at 6pm. The Sooners do not play this Saturday. Tickets for all Ragin’ Cajuns athletics events are on sale at the Cajundome Box Office (open Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m), all Ticketmaster outlets and charge-by-phone (337) 262-8686.


It's the Cowboys, not the Sooners!

[NewsCopy]

STILLWATER, Okla. — Les Miles doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to see the future for his Oklahoma State football club.

After this week, when the Cowboys host the University of Louisiana, the next five weekends will pit OSU against Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas. OU is ranked No. 1 in the country, two of those are in the top 15 and the other two are receiving votes in the national polls.

But Miles insists his club won’t be looking past the 0-5 Ragin’ Cajuns.

“All our guys need to do is look at the film and see the ability of some of the kids that Lafayette has,” Miles said Monday, “and they’ll understand that we have to be ready to play. It’s not like we’ll ever go by anybody ... we understand who we play this week and we’re very much pointing toward that game.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Turbine]

According to the Sunbelt office, (as of 9-27) Louisiana has had the 24th toughest schedule in the country.

Of quarterbacks with at least 60 passes, Eric Rekeita ranks 3rd in the Sunbelt with a quarterback rating of 109.8

Travis Smothers is 11th in rushing yards per game.

Jerry Babb has the highest yard per carry average on the team with 4.5

Fred Stamps s 5th in the Sunbelt with 268 total receiving yards.

Fred Stamps is also 4th in receptions with 19, Eric Bartel is 14th with 12

Josh Jeorg's 35 yard reception is the longest on the team and 14th longest in the Sunbelt this year.

Bill Sampy's 126 kickoff return yards are 8th most in the league.

Jerrell Carter's 78 punt return yards are 3 most in the Sunbelt. His 27 yard return is 4th best in the league this year.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — Antwain Spann listened for a moment to coach Clay Jennings, then dropped down to give Jennings some push-ups for dropping a potential interception.

It was only practice, but Jennings wants his UL cornerbacks thinking about big plays on every snap.

“When the ball is in the air, it’s your ball,” Spann said, repeating the mantra received from Jennings.

“You’ve got to go up for it and make a big play. Coach tells us to turn into a receiver. I’m not the best at that, but I’m getting better.”

Spann and the other Ragin’ Cajun cornerbacks figure to have their hands full on Saturday at Oklahoma State, going against Rashaun Woods.

Woods is the Cowboys’ 6-2 senior wide receiver who puts up numbers that look like a misprint.

Two weeks ago against SMU, he established a new NCAA record by catching seven — that’s 7 — touchdowns covering 2, 10, 34, 32, 25, 5 and 11 yards in the first three quarters of a 52-6 road victory.

He totalled 13 catches for a career-high 232 yards on the day.

And just to erase the notion that Woods only picks on outmanned opponents, his second-most productive day in college came last year when he chalked up 12 catches for 226 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over hated in-state rival Oklahoma — a school which knows a thing or two about defense.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[Turbine]

Well I was incouraged with the passing game. I hope it is a sign of things to come as I think it will open the running game.

I am totally confounded with the big plays given up tonight, I hope it was a fluke. OSU sure looked rested.

I'm putting all the BCS games behind me, and looking forward to the second half of the season, while hoping for 3 losses by North Texas.

I predict a big win against ULM I just hope the team doesn't take them lightly.

[EVCajun12]

After taking ASU to the limit, I do not think we need to worry about that