PRIME: Michael Desormeaux

[HoustonCajun]

_ The game was a mirror of last year. Basically, only 1 play. A belly to the tailback and he either keeps it or Desormeaux pulls it out and runs. No passing game. The receivers never made any space between them and the DB and Desormeaux made terrible reads in throwing the ball. This offense looks terrible because we have no diversification. And our defense was non-existent. Our D line isn't too small. These guys are all 6' 4" or taller and our tackles are 290 - 300 and DE are over 250. I don't know what Gerald Broussard has been coaching them, but it ain't working. Isn't this the first time Broussard coaches the D line?

I still think this boils down to coaching and coaching philosophy. I just can't believe that we don't at least have the talent level of McNeese and look at what they did vs. North Carolina and against us last year. I want Bustle to succeed, but this is starting to border on the rediculous. To start another year with a debilitating loss like this is frustrating and demoralizing for us as fans, much less the players. If we get pummeled again in our next couple of games, we need to do something and make one of the assistants the interim head coach. I don't know how much more of this cr*p I can take. 3 years of Baldwin and now 7 years of Bustle combined with the poor final years of Stokelys and we are looking at almost 15 years of ineptitude. UL had better do something soon or no one will be attending our games and the 10,000 or so season ticket holders will feel like they were duped again. We are making too much progress in other areas to let the main driver of UL athletics take us down, AGAIN. _

And another thing I wanted to state. Where is Fourquier in all of this? He is our Defensive Coordinator who is supposed to turn things around. He said we had better athletes with experience who understood his system and he expected great things this year. We gave up 650 freaking yards to USM, to a team still learning a new system with a lot of question marks. Fourquier said something at the QB Club meeting about a lot our football coaches being UL alums and that was because no one wanted them, or something to that effect. Well, maybe there is a reason no one wants them. That was evidenced Saturday night. Now we have to go to the Big 10 and play Illinois. It is time for our coaches to be more accountable.

[zephyr]

_ And another thing I wanted to state. Where is Fourquier in all of this? He is our Defensive Coordinator who is supposed to turn things around. He said we had better athletes with experience who understood his system and he expected great things this year. We gave up 650 freaking yards to USM, to a team still learning a new system with a lot of question marks. Fourquier said something at the QB Club meeting about a lot our football coaches being UL alums and that was because no one wanted them, or something to that effect. Well, maybe there is a reason no one wants them. That was evidenced Saturday night. Now we have to go to the Big 10 and play Illinois. It is time for our coaches to be more accountable. _

Agreed. How many times after losses have you seen Bustle say we played terrible and I'm embarassed for what the fans had to witness out there. He always says, "well, we're going to have to clean some things up and work on some things for next week...blah blah"

[zephyr]

_ The game was a mirror of last year. Basically, only 1 play. A belly to the tailback and he either keeps it or Desormeaux pulls it out and runs. No passing game. The receivers never made any space between them and the DB and Desormeaux made terrible reads in throwing the ball. This offense looks terrible because we have no diversification. And our defense was non-existent. Our D line isn't too small. These guys are all 6' 4" or taller and our tackles are 290 - 300 and DE are over 250. I don't know what Gerald Broussard has been coaching them, but it ain't working. Isn't this the first time Broussard coaches the D line?

I still think this boils down to coaching and coaching philosophy. I just can't believe that we don't at least have the talent level of McNeese and look at what they did vs. North Carolina and against us last year. I want Bustle to succeed, but this is starting to border on the rediculous. To start another year with a debilitating loss like this is frustrating and demoralizing for us as fans, much less the players. If we get pummeled again in our next couple of games, we need to do something and make one of the assistants the interim head coach. I don't know how much more of this cr*p I can take. 3 years of Baldwin and now 7 years of Bustle combined with the poor final years of Stokelys and we are looking at almost 15 years of ineptitude. UL had better do something soon or no one will be attending our games and the 10,000 or so season ticket holders will feel like they were duped again. We are making too much progress in other areas to let the main driver of UL athletics take us down, AGAIN. _

We do have more talent than McNeese but we aren't utilizing it like they do. Last year's game was evidence on how much better coached they are. They put pressure on us, stopped the run and made big plays. McNeese was the only team last year to hold us under 4 yards per rush! That includes teams like Tennessee and South Carolina. They schemed for us well and made good adjustments at half. Remember, we were tied going into half with them and they drilled us in the second half. Remember Ohio, we were up 11 or 13 at half and didn't score again. It's because we don't make good adjustments.

[HoustonCajun]

_ We do have more talent than McNeese but we aren't utilizing it like they do. Last year's game was evidence on how much better coached they are. They put pressure on us, stopped the run and made big plays. McNeese was the only team last year to hold us under 4 yards per rush! That includes teams like Tennessee and South Carolina. They schemed for us well and made good adjustments at half. Remember, we were tied going into half with them and they drilled us in the second half. Remember Ohio, we were up 11 or 13 at half and didn't score again. It's because we don't make good adjustments. _

Yep - coaching, coaching, coaching, or lack therof. That is the story of UL football. Budgets aside, McNeese is 1AA and has a smaller budget than us and ULM has about the same size budget as us, yet they win. ULM beats Alabama and dominates us over the past 4-5 years. As you pointed out, our coaching staff doesn't make adjustments and doesn't have our team well prepared. After 7 years, we should minimally be on a level with both schools and we are not. I am quite sure our talent level is at or above both schools.

We are quite possibly the worse team in the worse conference in the US or at least the worse coached team. Even Buffalo beat UTEP and Temple beat Army last weekend. If there are teams worse than us, they are in the SBC. The Houston Chronicle Sunday Sports section has a summary of each conference and had all the BCS conferences together and all the Mid-major conferences together. Except the Sun Belt. They had the SBC last behind the SWAC and the Southland conferences, despite Arkansas State beating Texas A&M.

UL is viewed as a second class school in a second class conference and we seem to always live up to that expectation. Just look at the comments by the USM people calling us U La La and putting us on a level with Jackson State. Even sports radio talk shows in Houston refer to us the same way. Those are intentional jabs at us as a hyphenated school and a pitiful football program. On top of that, we will likely move up in the ESPN Bottom 10 poll as one of the "UL U Pick'em" schools - UL L and UL M. Getting blown out by Illinois and K State will likely seal our fate as the #1 school in that poll and if we lose again to ULM, we are a lock. Who cares? I care. I am tired of being the mockery of college football ineptitude. Even Buffalo and Temple are winning now. The only teams possibly worse than us are SBC mates FIU and N. Texas. That is half the conference being the worse teams in the country.

Dr. S understands that football and athletics are UL's window to the world. It is the primary way to gain exposure for the university. The problem is, we are getting the wrong kind of exposure. And, our fans and alumni are getting the short end of the stick. We deserve better.

[zephyr]

_ Yep - coaching, coaching, coaching, or lack therof. That is the story of UL football. Budgets aside, McNeese is 1AA and has a smaller budget than us and ULM has about the same size budget as us, yet they win. ULM beats Alabama and dominates us over the past 4-5 years. As you pointed out, our coaching staff doesn't make adjustments and doesn't have our team well prepared. After 7 years, we should minimally be on a level with both schools and we are not. I am quite sure our talent level is at or above both schools.

We are quite possibly the worse team in the worse conference in the US or at least the worse coached team. Even Buffalo beat UTEP and Temple beat Army last weekend. If there are teams worse than us, they are in the SBC. The Houston Chronicle Sunday Sports section has a summary of each conference and had all the BCS conferences together and all the Mid-major conferences together. Except the Sun Belt. They had the SBC last behind the SWAC and the Southland conferences, despite Arkansas State beating Texas A&M.

UL is viewed as a second class school in a second class conference and we seem to always live up to that expectation. Just look at the comments by the USM people calling us U La La and putting us on a level with Jackson State. Even sports radio talk shows in Houston refer to us the same way. Those are intentional jabs at us as a hyphenated school and a pitiful football program. On top of that, we will likely move up in the ESPN Bottom 10 poll as one of the "UL U Pick'em" schools - UL L and UL M. Getting blown out by Illinois and K State will likely seal our fate as the #1 school in that poll and if we lose again to ULM, we are a lock. Who cares? I care. I am tired of being the mockery of college football ineptitude. Even Buffalo and Temple are winning now. The only teams possibly worse than us are SBC mates FIU and N. Texas. That is half the conference being the worse teams in the country.

Dr. S understands that football and athletics are UL's window to the world. It is the primary way to gain exposure for the university. The problem is, we are getting the wrong kind of exposure. And, our fans and alumni are getting the short end of the stick. We deserve better. _

You are correct but lets not get too carried away. Temple and ULM and Buffalo aren't exactly exactly writing new traditions at their school with the football program. Buffalo was pitiful last year. Yes, they have a good young coach and beat UTEP but maybe that is a testament to UTEP's team. They were horrible last year also. ULM has beaten us over the past several years but they haven't exactly lit up college football. Remember, we beat A&M but we didn't build on it any more than ULM will build on beating BAMA. They still have a long way to go. Temple? Come on. They win one game and they're miles ahead of us? We certainly haven't put a product out there that has been consistent but I'm going to wait until this year plays out. We played a really good team Saturday night. Quite possibly the second best team on our schedule. I will wait and watch to see how this team responds in the next month. The game against Kent St. is crucial. We need to win that game to salvage this year. Also, the first two games in conference are even more important than usual since they are going to help set the stage for how the rest of conference play goes. I do have a feeling that we are going to be looking for a new coach at the end of the year but I really think this team can turn it around.

[NewsCopy]

  Louisiana’s Mike Desormeaux (pronounced dess-uh-mo) doesn’t consider himself a quarterback, despite statistics to the contrary and comments like these from Kansas State coach Ron Prince:

“… You hear a lot about dual-threat quarterbacks, and I think about all of the ones I have seen — this one might be the best one. Legitimately an unbelievable passer, very accurate, has tremendous sense of timing on his passes… He can pass from within the pocket and on the move.

“And then, he is the leading rusher among quarterbacks in the country.”

The rest of the story

By J-Mart

[NewsCopy]

  DALLAS - Selected as the best and brightest from the college gridiron, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced the 164 semifinalists for the 2008 Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, and the candidates for the 2008 NFF National Scholar- Athlete Awards.

Louisiana quarterback Michael Desormeaux appears on the list and could be considered a front runner. The Cajuns team captain is a leader on and off the field.

"The Draddy Trophy is one of college football's most sought after and competitive awards," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton (Draddy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "It recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership, and we're incredibly proud to select the next winner from this remarkable group of semifinalists."

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, semifinalists must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. Established to honor former NFF Chairman Vincent dePaul Draddy, a Manhattan College quarterback who developed the Izod and Lacoste brands, the award comes with a 25- pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship.

Desormeaux, who boasts a 3.901 grade-point-average, is currently 18th in the nation in rushing and ranks 20th overall in total offense.

"The Draddy semifinalists represent everything good about college football," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "They are another fine example of how football builds leaders, and it is the NFF's duty to promote their accomplishments while encouraging future generations of gridiron standouts to aim high on and off the football field."

The NFF Awards Committee will select and announce up to 15 finalists on Oct. 29. Each finalist will be recognized as part of the 2008 National Scholar- Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The Draddy winner, who will receive a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship, will be announced at the NFF's Annual Awards Dinner on December 9 at the prestigious Waldorf Astoria in New York City. A total distribution of more than $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening.

RaginCajuns.com

[NewsCopy]

 
UL quarterback Mike Desormeaux received an honor on Wednesday for his skills on the field and in the classroom.

The senior from New Iberia was one of 164 semifinalists for the 2008 Draddy Trophy announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Desormeaux has posted a 3.901 grade-point average at UL. He currently ranks 18th nationally in rushing yards per game (113.25) and is 20th in total offensive yards per game (280.75).

"We're awfully proud for him, his family and our program," UL coach Rickey Bustle said. "I think it's an exciting award to be nominated for."

The rest of the story

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • October 2, 2008

[geo_cajun]

Congrats Mike! This is quite an honor. His stats (on and off the field) are impressive, I hope he is at least a finalist. Wasn't there another UL player nominated for the Draddy a couple of years ago?

[CajunProud]

A great honor for a truly upstanding and deseriving individual.

[CajunCherokee]

Geaux Dez!

[Turbine]

Wasn't there another UL player nominated for the Draddy a couple of years ago? _

Lamar Morgan . . . last year.