The Book 2008 Football

[derf]

Ok so after the game was over, some of my friends and I stood around waiting for the most important part of the post game that there is, and when it happened I was kinda shocked and disappointed.

Ladies and gentlemen...LEARN THE ALMA MATER!!!
You need help with that? Fine!
https://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArt...&ATCLID=926634

This is an important part of being a student (and fan) and it seems to be lost by the wayside. It pains me to see so few people who know the words. Please have pride in our school. Learn it, love it and stick around to sing it with the band.

p.s. If the band could manage to play this while the team is still out on the field, that would also be great. I'm sure coach Bustle would accommodate.

Thanks and Geaux Cajuns.

[HelmutVII]

On the whole, a well played game by the team. Not perfect but a very good effort by all, for four quarters.

The crowd was good considering the weather. The rain cooled things off and it was very pleasant.

The stadium looks very good. the black wall was covered and the grunge factor is reduced.

The restrooms were clean and there were plenty of trash receptacles throughout the stadium.

Props to the team, coaches and athletic department staff. If this keeps up then crowd control will be the next problem.

[derf]

I know that some here know that I'm not a huge Des fan but I will say it was nice to see him going through his progressions better last night than he usually does. But I still think if we ran more option he could be better used.

That being said, Fenroy is a monster! His second level speed is crazy. once he wit the linebackers it was over. The Golden Flashes safety looked like he wanted out.

Next up is our coverage team...WOW. Outside of that one rugby kick gone bad, these guys did one hell of a job. Absolutely blowing up fools on the field. Did anyone else laugh uncontrollably when we had a coverage guy hit a Flash and he flew into their return guy. It was like a cartoon.

Finally, our pass defense. These guys did an excellent job of containing the Flashes game to having to run. With the exception of 2 plays, the opposition's pass game was largely gone. And some of the unsung guys like Derik Keys should really get a pat on the back for playing smart and consistent.

And the coaching staff seems to have done well this week in preparations. Didn't commit a ton of penalties. Small thing in practice matter.

[zephyr]

_ I saw that Fleming was wearing a black wrap of some kind on his knee----the way he ran on the field--he is hurting----the one thing that really concerns me is our lack of perimeter defense on all plays--we give up the outside even when we have leverage--we either go for the fake inside or just go after the ball carrier--- stay wide if inside help is there and use the sideline as an extra defender!!!! _

Yeah, something is up with Fleming. He didn't play much in the first half and we saw a lot of McCoy and Washington who both played very well. I was extremely impressed with the D. The lack of containment is a mistake but this is something that can be corrected. Its extrememly important with a mobile QB and they ran a lot of bootlegs. The DE's have to be more disciplined when facing a mobile QB. Still liked the way the D flew to the ball. I still want to know what's going on with D. Smith. He played little in the first half and they didn't even look for him.

[RCAJUN90]

_ Good to see you coming around but we still have a lot of football left. I'm more concerned with the two road games beginning conference. I think they are very winnable games and would set up a HUGE game against Ark St. at home which if nobody has noticed, this team is for real. It's going to be a fun year!! _

At this point fun games is all I ask for. Win or lose. Right now they are fun to watch.

[CAJUNryan4]

Next up is our coverage team...WOW. Outside of that one rugby kick gone bad, these guys did one hell of a job. Absolutely blowing up fools on the field. Did anyone else laugh uncontrollably when we had a coverage guy hit a Flash and he flew into their return guy. It was like a cartoon. _

That also was another big hit by Derik Keys. The man plays hard every play.

[Just1More]

_ Yeah, something is up with Fleming. He didn't play much in the first half and we saw a lot of McCoy and Washington who both played very well. I was extremely impressed with the D. The lack of containment is a mistake but this is something that can be corrected. Its extrememly important with a mobile QB and they ran a lot of bootlegs. The DE's have to be more disciplined when facing a mobile QB. Still liked the way the D flew to the ball. I still want to know what's going on with D. Smith. He played little in the first half and they didn't even look for him. _

That was one slippery QB (I hope he deserved the credit). I still like the aggression our defense showed. Even though aggression risks big plays, it forces mistakes, messes with DC/QBs, and disrupts offenses... I like it. I really liked our aggression last night. It spilled over onto special teams as well. The pops from aggressive, clean hits were awesome.

I've come to expect what I saw from our offensive ground game, against a team that would play somewhere right behind the middle of the SBC... UL has gifted starting pedestrians for true... BUT, we now have an established short to mid-short passing attack that will spread SBC defenses about 30% greater than last year. I'm equally pleased that our OC is calling a much better mix of plays than last year. Offense isn't our "problem", but racking up points never hurts in the final analysis... 100 to 99 is still a "W". I'm curious about D Smith as well. I'm glad he wasn't "needed", but would sure like to see him back in the mix come SBC play.

If it weren't for a costly fumble early, giving up that fake punt, and the horribly blown coverage assignment (especially when they put a new QB in the game in an obvious effort to play catch-up with passes) on that wide open, down the middle pass for TD... this game would have been a whole lot more lopsided. We could have converted that last drive into points. We showed some class running up the middle and letting the clock run out.

Our special teams impressed me the most overall. We kicked deep for the first time in a long time and covered, punted angles and within coverage and we covered extremely well. We haven't established a punt/kick return scare, but hanging onto the ball and making good decisions is 98% of the deal IMO. I do want to see a punt block specialist arrive back on the scene like Bustle had in his early years. I used to expect a blocked punt at least once a game.

I'm now a whole lot more confident facing the SBC. Many opponents "have it" this year, and we have to answer the bell every round, big time.

I enjoyed the heck out of tailgating, despite the showers. Stadium looks fantastic. Cudos to the program.

[cajun4life]

_ Yeah, but it would have been nice to see McGuire keep it and go around the right end to walk it infor his first TD as a Cajun. I'm sure Gbbaseball would have like that. _

It would have been nice and the right thing to do IMO to let McGuire take over with 7 minutes to go when we got the ball. Allow him to execute the offense and try to score to get him some meaningful game experience.

[cajun4life]

_ That also was another big hit by Derik Keys. The man plays hard every play.

_

Actually it was Franze Accimme, but Keys did play very very well.

[Just1More]

Did anyone else laugh uncontrollably when we had a coverage guy hit a Flash and he flew into their return guy. It was like a cartoon.

I didn't laugh uncontrollably... but it was great. I hope that got caught on film. I was worried Derek wasn't getting up. He sucked it up and made it to the sidelines... that hit was brutal. The Cajuns proved to me that coming off of Illinois, they are not going to come out and play flat this year. Something has them operating in hyperdrive since the USM game.