The Book: 2004 FOOTBALL

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns on the road again

MOSCOW, Idaho — Time flies when you’re having fun.

UL Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t have a whole lot of fun on Friday, even though they were flying ... eventually.

Eager to put a disappointing loss to New Mexico State behind them, the Cajuns thought they had an 8 a.m. flight out of Lafayette to head west for today’s Sun Belt Conference game with Idaho.

But that early wake-up call turned into a long wait for the charter plane to arrive from Orlando.

The Cajuns already knew that they would not be able to fly to Lewiston, Idaho, or even to nearby Pullman, Wash., for that matter. The destination instead had been changed to Spokane, Wash., some two hours from the hotel.

That’s just what coach Rickey Bustle and his squad needed — travel problems on the last leg of a three-week, 8,800-mile road swing.

Is it any wonder why Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters is moving to a more geographically friendly membership?

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[c-man]

bad loss tonight

[RaginCajunEQM]

yea this one meant a lot

[Cajun1997]

We have not played a good game since the last home game. We are lucky to have won 1 out of the 3 on the road trip the way the defense has played. Idaho had 2 players go over 100 yards rushing (Bird 134 yards on 16 carries, and Lumbala added 125 yards on 22 attempts) are you freaking kidding me? This is IDAHO, last week it was NMSU, those teams are not any good. What does that say about us? Same problem all season, same problem the last few years DEFENSE.

We need a spark...something, anything to get back going. ASU, UNT, TU and ULM remain on the schedule - if we play them like we have played the last 2 weeks, we will not win another game this season. SOMEBODY on this team needs to step up and lead, I don't care if it's a senior or a freshman. If we do not win at least 2 more games this season it will have been a failure and a step backward, just my opinion.

[c-man]

your right because the FIU game was a real struggle for the cajuns i don't know what the defense needs to do but they need to do something real quick

[Cajun1997]

Originally posted by c-man
bad loss tonight

not trying to be funny but c-man, any loss is a bad one.

[NewsCopy]

MOSCOW, Idaho - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns football team spotted Idaho a 21-point lead it could not dig itself out of in a 38-25 loss here Saturday afternoon at the Kibbie Dome.

Idaho had a 21-0 lead just five seconds into the second quarter. The Cajuns defense, which surrendered 122 yards and seven first downs in the first quarter, made stop after stop from that point on as the team attempted to make a comeback.

The offense, which only had 30 yards in the opening frame, began churning up yardage as Louisiana-Lafayette slowly crept back in the game closing to 24-19 on a 39-yard pass from Jerry Babb to Kemmie Lewis with 12:34 remaining in the game.

Idaho then went to the ground game to grind out the victory. A 34-yard rushing touchdown by Rolly Lumbala and a 51-yard gallop by Jayson Bird pushed the margin to 38-19.

The Vandals gained just 40 yards on the ground in the first half, but piled up 210 yards in the second stanza. Included in those yards was 132 during the fourth quarter.

Luke Sniewski, subbing in for starting quarterback Jerry Babb, engineered a 3-play drive that distanced 91 yards in 43 seconds to close the gap to 38-25.

UL Lafayette recovered the onsides kick, but was stopped on downs.

With the loss the Cajuns drop to 3-4, and 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The loss was the Cajuns second straight as the team wrapped up its three-game road swing with a 1-2 mark.

The Vandals got off to a quick start as Antwaun Sherman returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a quick 7-0 lead just 14 seconds into the contest.

The Cajuns offense got off to a slow start for the second straight weekend. UL Lafayette went scoreless on its first four drives and turned the ball over twice. The Cajuns had just 30 yards of offense through the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Idaho built a 14-0 lead.

The second turnover - a fumble by Dwight Lindon at the UI 48-yard line - set up the Vandals third score of the afternoon and put Louisiana-Lafayette in an early hole it eventually could not find a way out of.

Michael Harrington found Willie Sipoloa for a 38-yard pickup to end the first quarter. Harrington began the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown strike to Luke Anderson-Smith to make it 21-0.

The Cajuns got on the board on the ensuing drive using a six-play, 50 yard drive to cut the deficit to 21-7. The drive was set up by an unsportsmanlike conduct call against Idaho for celebration after the touchdown. Michael Adams fielded the kickoff at the UL 20 and returned it to midfield.

Babb converted a third-and-long situation with an 18 yard run to the UI 34. Back-to-back rushes by Josh Harrison for a total of 10 yards and gave the Cajun another first down.

Travis Cones finished off the drive when he went around the left end and scampered 24 yards to paydirt.

The Cajuns defense settled in kept the Vandals in check by forcing punts on the next two drives.

UL Lafayette had a chance to pull within seven points after the first punt, but Babb was stopped on fourth down at the UI 18.

After the defense forced a second straight Idaho punt, Sean Comiskey converted a 43-yard field goal to pull the Cajuns within 21-10 at the break.

Louisiana-Lafayette continued to chip away at the lead on the initial drive of the third quarter. The Cajuns marched 65 yards in 14 plays and got a 22-yard field goal from Comiskey to cut the Idaho lead to 21-13.

The Cajuns defense forced another Idaho punt and a 24-yard punt return by Jerrell Carter had the Cajuns set up on the UL 40-yard line.

Babb started the drive with a 36-yard strike to Lawrence Johnson down to te Idaho 24-yard line. However, back-to-back incomplete passes put the Cajuns in a fourth-down situation once more.

UL Lafayette set up for an apparent Comiskey 39-yard field goal, but opted for the fake. Matt Lane's pass was intercepted and the Vandals dodged another potential Cajuns score.

Idaho went three-and-out on the possession after the takeover and the Cajuns had the Vandals pinned within the 5-yard line. The punt was fielded near midfield and set up the Cajuns with excellent field position at the Idaho 46-yard line.

Louisiana-Lafayette squandered an excellent chance to pull even as the Vandals forced a stop. Babb scrambled on third-and-13, but could only get 10 yards and the Cajuns were forced to punt.

Idaho took over at its own 19-yard line. Behind three straight carries from Jayson Bird that totaled 50 yards, the Vandals were in field goal range.

The Vandals cashed in with a 37-yard field goal from Mike Barrow to push the lead into double-digits.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

Ugly trip north
Idaho lowers the boom on road-weary Cajuns

MOSCOW, Idaho _ You’re only a better team if you show it that day.

UL Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns were bested 38-25 by the Idaho Vandals here on Saturday before 10,397 fans in the Kibbie Dome, effectively ending UL’s quest to win the Sun Belt Conference championship.

“Idaho really played well,’’ said UL coach Rickey Bustle, whose team dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt action. “They were well-coached. I said that over the last two weeks they were an improving football team, and I thought they played pretty much mistake-free tonight.’’

It was the first Idaho victory in four tries against the Cajuns, as the Vandals joined New Mexico State as the second team in two weeks to beat the Cajuns before leaving the Sun Belt for the Western Athletic Conference.

“You have to give credit to Idaho,’’ Bustle said. “They made the plays they needed to win the game.”

The most damaging stretch for the Cajuns came in the second half, after they had closed to within 24-19 on Jerry Babb’s 39-yard pass to Kemmie Lewis.

Babb scrambled away from an Idaho blitz and fired over the middle to Lewis, who reversed his field and outraced the Idaho secondary to score.

It appeared the visitors were finally ready to take control of Idaho (2-5, 1-2), but the Vandals responded as if they were the team in search of a title.

Idaho first put together a 72-yard, 8-play march to mount a 31-19 lead on a 34-yard touchdown run by Rolly Lumbala with 8:43 to play.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Sun Belt hopes dimmed, UL must refocus its goals

MOSCOW, Idaho — His Ragin’ Cajuns are out of the Sun Belt Conference race.

Now UL coach Rickey Bustle wants to see how his team will finish the 2004 season.

“The impact? I don’t know,” Bustle said after the Idaho Vandals plundered his team 38-25 here on Saturday. “We’ve come to our fork in the road. Our players need to make a decision on why they play the game.

“We’ve got four big games coming up — homecoming, one on TV — and we have a chance to have a winning season. It’s in our hands.”

“I think we’ll react the same way we did last year, and we were in a deeper hole then than we are now,” said quarterback Jerry Babb, who threw for 228 yards and a touchdown and added a team-high 79 yards rushing in a 522-yard UL attack.

“We have to have the same mindset as we did then, when we won four of our last five games after a 0-7 start. We have a chance to have a winning season.”

Not if they don’t play any better than they did against a Vandals team that was in the Sun Belt cellar. Idaho scored a touchdown on the opening kickoff and never looked back, rolling to a 21-0 lead and controlling the tempo throughout.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[Turbine]

Originally posted by RaginCajunEQM
yea this one meant a lot

It sure did. It meant a lot to a conference championship.

The good news is just as bad as the Cajuns play on the road much less after 3 straight and the distance, they play that much better at home.

I'm looking to make it 6 straight wins at home, and a final push to a winning sesaon.