The Book: 2004 FOOTBALL

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LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana had been on the road for two weeks, dropping competitive games at Louisiana Tech and Kansas State.

The last time Ragin’ Cajun fans saw their team in person, coach Rickey Bustle’s squad was holding on for a 14-7 season-opening victory over Division 1-AA Northwestern State before 22,117 fans.

On Saturday, the Cajuns opened Sun Belt Conference play at Cajun Field against Middle Tennessee, and they got a boost to make sure they got the job done.

A crowd of 25,083 showed up, the No. 12 crowd in stadium history and the largest audience at home since 1996.

What they saw was a dramatic 24-17 Cajun victory, saved in the final minute of play by a goal line interception by Antwain Spann — just the kind of game that might bring crowds back when UL returns for homecoming on Oct. 23 against Arkansas State.

“The crowd was awesome,” said running back Dwight Lindon, a Comeaux High product who rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown. “It’s time we got things back at UL right.”

“It was a great, great crowd,” Bustle said. “It’s been a long time since that many people have seen the Cajuns play.”

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Game-saving interception wraps up clutch effort by Cajuns’ defensive unit

LOUISIANA La. — Antwain Spann was waiting for that one play, the one that would spell victory or defeat for him and his Universtiy of Louisiana teammates.

After nearly four quarters of watching Middle Tennessee dump and dink passes in the flats, he somehow knew that, on this play, the Blue Raiders were taking a shot downfield.

“When number one (MT wide receiver Kerry Wright) came running out, he was looking right at me,” Spann said. “I figured this was the time that they were going to go for it.”

The Blue Raiders had the ball at the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 30 with under a minute to play, trailing 24-17 with a second-and-13, and Raider quarterback Clint Marks faded back and was looking for Wright all the way.

Spann stepped in front of the pass right at the goal line, coming up with the game-clinching interception that gave the Cajuns their second straight home win and gave them their first conference-opener victory since 1994.

“That was a bad read on my part,” said Marks of the last-ditch pass. “They had done a good job of stopping Kerry, especially on the deep ball. We came out in the second half and didn’t do what we needed to do.”

“You can’t fault Clint for that,” said Raider coach Andy McCollum. “We were taking a shot, and he was trying to throw to our best player.”

“We’ve got some playmakers back there now,” said Cajun defensive coordinator Brent Pry. “C.C. (Brown) made some big hits over the middle and Antwain had a big interception for us. Those guys are making plays, and they’re also making the younger kids get better and now they’re starting to make plays.”

The Raiders had the nation’s third-most productive passing offense entering the game, and still managed to complete 35-of-46 passes behind Marks’ strong left arm. But those completions accounted for only 242 yards, more than 100 under MT’s season average. Wright had eight catches but was limited to 76 yards.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Spann’s interception halts late Blue Raider scoring chance


LOUISIANA La. — The best play in football is “victory,” when the quarterback takes the snap and takes a knee to run out the final seconds of a win.

University of Louisiana quarterback Jerry Babb had the pleasure of doing that before 25,083 fans at Cajun Field on Saturday night, putting the finishing touches on the Cajuns’ 24-17 triumph over Middle Tennessee.

The victory, which opened Sun Belt Conference play on a high note for UL, was made possible by Antwain Spann’s goal line interception of MT’s Clint Marks with 39 seconds to play.

Until then, it looked like the two rivals might stage another classic like the Cajuns’ 57-51 quadruple overtime win at MT that ended the 2003 season.

“When that ball went up there ... I’m just happy it didn’t get to that,” said safety C.C. Brown, who teamed with Spann to make sure Middle Tennessee star receiver Kerry Wright didn’t hurt the Cajuns — especially on the final drive.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[Hammer58]

Nice to start conference play with a win and to be at .500 at this point in the season rather than .000 like past years with the front load of body bag games.

[CajunCharlie]

No apology needed,Turbine. I knew that one beer was not enough Strange how the food taste better after a win, and CajunKate's desserts just keep getting better.

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LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns know what it means to get a spark of momentum just before halftime.

Three weeks ago at Louisiana Tech, a Cajun touchdown at the end of the first half sparked a 20-point run that reversed a 17-0 deficit. A similar UL rally ending the game fell just short in a 24-20 loss.

Two weeks ago at Kansas State, the Cajuns came within an incompletion of a score that would have drawn them within 20-14 of the Wildcats at half.

As it was, KSU opened the second half with a TD of its own and UL was in a hole on the way to a 40-20 defeat.

Then in last Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference opener at Cajun Field against Middle Tennessee, sophomore quarterback Jerry Babb engineered a 10-play, 79-yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass to B.J. Crist that produced a 14-14 halftime deadlock.

The Cajuns went on to a 24-17 victory to springboard their Sun Belt title dreams.

“It does help to score just before half,” said Bustle. “When you do that, you can go into the locker room and talk about winning the second half. Those first two quarters don’t count.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — It's possible the Middle Tennessee State defense had barely recovered from last year's meeting with Louisiana quarterback Jerry Babb before facing him again last night.

All Babb did last year was riddle the Blue Raiders for 435 passing yards and four touchdowns en route to a 57-51 four-overtime win in Murfreesboro.

Bad news for Coach Andy McCollum: His defense still hasn't solved Babb. Last night, the sophomore completed 16-of-26 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns and added 68 rushing yards as the Ragin' Cajuns beat the Blue Raiders 24-17 at Cajun Field in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.

The outcome was in doubt until MTSU's Clint Marks was intercepted at the goal line with 39 seconds left by Louisiana-Lafayette cornerback Antwain Spann.

The Ragin' Cajuns (2-2, 1-0) had a chance to seal the game a few minutes earlier following another MTSU turnover. Marks hit running back Eugene Gross on a short pass over the middle, but Gross fumbled when hit at his own 24 and Louisiana's Wes Simon recovered. But the Ragin' Cajuns went nowhere on the ensuing possession, and Sean Comiskey missed a 42-yard field goal that would have made it 27-17 with about 5 minutes to play.

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Tennessean staff reports

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ANDY MCCOLLUM PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Third quarter again seemed to be a problem against Louisiana-Lafayette. Is there anything to the problems the team has had in the third quarter this season?
Whether it's the third quarter or any quarter it all comes down to executing and that's another quarter where we didn't execute. They outscored us 7-0 in the third quarter and most of the time it was our lack of execution, or penalties, just us hurting ourselves, and it wasn't just that quarter, it was throughout the game. We had 13 penalties to their five. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

Is the defense taking your deep threat option away in the passing game?
We took some shots at times but (Louisiana-Lafayette) stayed over the top and aren't going to let you have a shot at it. I thought the one Kerry got hurt on, it looked like he had possession and then when he hit the ground the ball came out. I thought he made a heckuva play on the ball. We took some shots but if they are going to play over the top then we take the other and I thought Clint (Marks) did a good job getting the ball to the others on that.

Anything you can practice to eliminate some of the penalties that are being called?
You are going to have penalties in games. In fact, they could call one either time each team snaps the ball. I think the thing you look for is being consistent on it, and that's probably the troubling thing. What we have to cut out is we had one or two stupid penalties that hurt us and it's not intentional, but they are critical plays and that's where you shoot yourself. It's not just the penalties, it's making plays plays when you are in position. We had a critical error just before the half. It was a great coverage call and we just didn't do our job. Then we had some penalties that backed us up. You just have to turn the page and snap it again. There's probably one or two (penalties) there that were stupid penalties on our part, but some of the others, well, you can't tell your kids not to play aggressive. You hope it's seen on both sides.

How big was Louisiana-Lafayette's drive just before the half to tie the score?
I thought it was one of the key drives in the game. They executed well. We made a big play where Jeff Littlejohn came through and caused a fumble and it bounces right back to them. I thought that was a key drive, no doubt about it, but I still thought our kids were fine at halftime. There was a key play, third-and-11, just hold them to a field goal right there and we don't execute. We don't do our job and that's what's critical.

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MT Media Relations

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM LOUISIANA'S RAGIN' CAJUNS FOOTBALL HEAD COACH RICKEY BUSTLE’ S PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING SATURDAY’S GAME AGAINST MIDDLE TENNESSEE

On last week’s game…

“We had the best total defensive game.”

“They hadn’t had a lot of success running the ball and they didn’t have a lot of success Saturday.”

“Our defense showed great patience and discipline.”

“We made a lot of tackles that kept them from gaining yards after the tackle. We tackled well in one-on-one situations.”

“We bent, but when we needed to, we made the plays.”

“It was just a total team win.”

“The offensive line played more physical than what I’ve seen since I’ve been here. They protected Jerry (Babb) and allowed only a few hurries. Those guys were knocking people back on our power plays and our backs were running hard.”

On Florida International…
“They are exactly the same type of team offensively and defensively. When you look at them on film, compared to last year, they have put on weight and they have gained a lot of continuity. They beat a good Youngstown state team.”

“The thing I am worried about is preparing our team.”

“They’re a little more balanced than Middle, but it is a similar type team.”

On the passing game…
“We try to get the ball down the field or out in the flats, it’s just a little bit of what we do.”

“We’re trying to throw the ball around the field and get it to our backs in the backfields.”

On quarterback Jerry Babb’s running options…
“I think Jerry running is part of our offense. When he drops back and the linebackers spread out, he can run any time he wants to.”

“He’s not the athlete that Mike Vick was, but that was the way we treated Vick. That’s just one of his options.”

“I think Jerry has a timing in his head and he knows that if things aren’t open he just needs to run with it.”

On the crowd and fan support…
“I just can’t thank that crowd enough. I definitely think that it helped with a couple of their penalties.

“I think there are more people believing. You see more and more people at the quarterback club. I just see it growing, but winning puts them in there.”

“I still think there are people on the fence, but I think more people are coming over to our side.”

On conference successes…
“It’s tremendous for the conference to have teams playing well outside of the conference.”

“I think the gap between the conferences is closing.”

On preparation for the upcoming road swing…
“Today’s a Monday, and we do the same on the road as we do at home. The only thing different about these games is that we will have to fly.”

LOUISIANA SI

[Cajun1997]

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We have several predictions already including some from FIU fans.