Record Crowd Witnesses Cajuns Victory

[NewsCopy]

  A record crowd of 41,357 filed into Cajun Field on Saturday to see Louisiana and Southern meet on the football field for the first time.

After trailing 12-7 in front of a sold-out, record crowd at Cajun Field, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns football team scored a string of 35 unanswered points to comeback and cruise to a 42-19 victory over Southern University on Saturday evening.

The attendance of 41,357 broke the previous attendance record of 38,783 against Texas A&M on Sept. 14, 1996.

It was the first meeting between both schools.

Louisiana quarterback Chris Masson turned in an impressive debut in his first career start. The Miami native completed 18-of-24 passes for 283 yards and tossed two touchdown passes. It was the 24th highest passing output in school history.

Undrea Sails was the leading rusher for the Ragin' Cajuns (1-0). He piled up 114 yards on 19 carries with one score.

The highlight of the evening was a 42-yard touchdown pass by wide receiver Richie Falgout - the fourth of his career on his fourth career attempt - which triggered the string of 35 straight points that carried the Cajuns to victory.

Southern quarterback Bryant Lee passed for 254 yards on 18-of-29 passing. He tossed two TD passes to Juamorris Stewart who finished with 173 yards on 10 receptions.

The Cajuns jumped out to an early 7-0 lead mid way through the first quarter. A 1-yard touchdown run by Masson capped off a 12-play, 81 yard drive. During the drive, he completed a key third-and-five pass to Marlin Miller for 18 yards to Southern's two-yard line.

The Jaguars responded on the next possession scoring on a nine-play, 73-yard drive. Lee was able to find Stewart open along the sideline for a 26-yard score. Josh Duran's extra point kick was no good.

A fumble by Marlin Miller on the Cajun's second possession led to a Southern touchdown. Lee hooked up again with Stewart for a 51-yard reception near the end of the first quarter.

UL was able to recapture the lead when Falgout was able to connect with Pierre Hill for a 42-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown throw was Falgout's fourth of his career and the second time he has thrown the Cajuns' first touchdown pass of the season. In 2007, Falgout registered UL's first touchdown pass of the season against Ohio.

UL was able to get the ball back after Hall Davis picked off Lee at the Cajuns 43-yard line. Four plays later, Sails scored on a 56-yard screen pass from Masson. After Tyler Albrecht's extra point the Cajuns held a 21-12 advantage.

The defense was able to come up again for UL on the Jaguar's next possession. Maurice Rolle, Jr. was able to intercept Southern's Kevin Matthews intended pass to Stewart in the end zone. It was the junior free safety's first-career interception.

UL wasted no time taking advantage of the turnover, scoring nine plays later. The 80-yard drive was capped off by a two-yard rush by Sails. Masson led the charge with a 44-yard pass to Louis Lee.

Heading into the half, the Ragin' Cajuns held a 28-12 advantage. Masson highlighted the first half, going 10-for-11 for 178 yards and one touchdown pass.

UL continued their offensive production in the second after Masson was able to convert a fourth-and-three with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Luke Aubrey to end an 8-play, 80-yard drive with 6:58 left in the third quarter. Masson was 4-for-5 on the drive, including a 33-yard pass to Draylon Booker and a 30-yard completion to Lee.

Southern's next drive was stymied by the Cajuns as Dwight Bentley recorded his first career interception at UL's 1-yard line. But Louisiana gave the ball right back to the Jaguars after Sails fumbled at UL's 19-yard line. The Cajuns' defense was able to hold off the Jaguars after stopping Southern on a fourth-and-goal from the five yard line.

Louisiana tacked on another score when Julian Shankle rushed from six yards out to put the game away, 42-12 with 8:38 in the fourth quarter.

The Jaguars tacked on a late score with 1:15 remaining in the game. Jeremiah McGinty scored on a 1-yard plunge to trim the final margin to 42-19.

The Ragin' Cajuns stay at home for one more week. Louisiana welcomes Kansas State to Cajun Field on Saturday, Sept. 12. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will be carried live on ESPN360.com.

UL SI

[RedBug58]

We've had several weeks now of knowing that this was going to be a game with a large crowd, but many Cajun Fans did not prepare.......and they took a hit. I talked with several friends that tried to buy a ticket about two hours before the game and there were none to be had.
Also, the practice of the students strolling in at the last minute didn't work well either. The "Red Zone" looked more like a blue and yellow zone with most of the UL students finding themselves in the south end zone.
And those leaving home, say only one hour before the game,.........are probably still stuck in traffic.
If this keeps up, a lot of us are going to have to change our (lazy) habits that have been learned through the years.

I think real "Hope & Change" may apply here.

Geaux Cajuns!

[ATXCajun]

_ We've had several weeks now of knowing that this was going to be a game with a large crowd, but many Cajun Fans did not prepare.......and they took a hit. I talked with several friends that tried to buy a ticket about two hours before the game and there were none to be had.
Also, the practice of the students strolling in at the last minute didn't work well either. The "Red Zone" looked more like a blue and yellow zone with most of the UL students finding themselves in the south end zone.
And those leaving home, say only one hour before the game,.........are probably still stuck in traffic.
If this keeps up, a lot of us are going to have to change our (lazy) habits that have been learned through the years.

I think real "Hope & Change" may apply here.

Geaux Cajuns! _

This is change I can believe in. :-)

[Hammer58]

_ We've had several weeks now of knowing that this was going to be a game with a large crowd, but many Cajun Fans did not prepare.......and they took a hit. I talked with several friends that tried to buy a ticket about two hours before the game and there were none to be had.
Also, the practice of the students strolling in at the last minute didn't work well either. The "Red Zone" looked more like a blue and yellow zone with most of the UL students finding themselves in the south end zone.
And those leaving home, say only one hour before the game,.........are probably still stuck in traffic.
If this keeps up, a lot of us are going to have to change our (lazy) habits that have been learned through the years.

I think real "Hope & Change" may apply here.

Geaux Cajuns! _

Game Day management of parking still needs improvement. I realize that this was an unusually large crowd and that traffic delays are just part of the deal with a crowd that large. But there still seems to be a Barney Fife element among our parking staff. Many of the people directing parking didn't have a clue as to where the A, B and C reserved parking areas were for those with tags. In addition, they were directing people without tags into reserved areas and then those with tags were frozen out of their designated slots. There is also a lack of communication between the people at the different areas. Gomer would direct someone to an area and then as they approached that area Barney would come running waiving his arms screaming "citizens arrest" and tell them they couldn't park there. Barney would then direct them to another area where Goober would tell them they couldn't park. The fan would just ignore Goober and park there anyway.

Small incidents in the overall picture of a great day but its just some of the small things that still need to be fixed to make the experience more enjoyable for fans.

[J-Town Cajun]

My wife and kids came to meet late in the afternoon although the traffic slowed her down by 30 min which was expected she was able to pull right into D parking lot and was able to park with no problem at 5:00. So it did pay off to be a RCAF member and have the parking pass.

[CajunDreDog]

I parked close to my tailgating spot as directed by the staff, AKA Barney from a previous post, and then later was triple parked! Thanks Barney!!!