The Book: 2004 FOOTBALL

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns have run the ball well this season.

If they can do it again in Saturday’s home finale against Troy University, coach Rickey Bustle’s squad has a good shot at squaring their record at 5-5. But it won’t be easy.

The Trojans’ rushing defense is No. 5 in the nation, led by an experienced defensive line and active linebackers.

In Troy’s Oct. 23 visit to LSU, the homestanding Tigers netted just 57 yards on the ground on 36 plays. Marcus Randall saved the day in the 24-20 squeaker with 328 yards passing, but almost no one runs on the 2004 Trojans.

“I know it’s going to be real hard to rush the ball against the No. 5 defense in the country,” Cajun running back Abdule Levier said. “But, we’ve been running the ball pretty good and I think we can keep up our average with no problem.”

The Cajuns are averaging 151 yards per game on the ground. They were held to 83 yards in a 24-20 loss at Louisiana Tech, and last Friday had just 78 yards in the 27-17 home loss to North Texas. Without those two, the average would climb to 171.

Last week against North Texas, the Cajuns fell behind 14-0 midway through the first quarter. That drove a stake in UL’s plans to attack the Mean Green with a balanced attack.

“When you fall behind 14-0, you want to get those points back,” Levier said. “So you have to throw to score. You have to change your game plan up. We had to block and try to catch the ball. That’s all you can do.”

“We have to find a way to run the ball better,” Bustle said. “We’ve got to find a way to spring it open.”

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Every athlete wants to be remembered for a signature move or a singular play, a moment that will keep that athlete vividly in fans’ memories for years to come.

University of Louisiana linebacker Stanley Smith had one of those moments last week against North Texas, as he roared in to drop running back Jamario Thomas for a 5-yard loss.

At the time, the Mean Green led the Ragin’ Cajuns 17-3 and were threatening to turn the ESPN2 broadcast into a late-night yawner. But Smith’s hit woke up the Cajuns and their fans, forced a punt and helped inspire a touchdown drive before halftime that got UL within 17-10 of the visitors at the break.

North Texas won 27-17, but the breathtaking swiftness and ferocity of Smith’s hit will live on.

That kind of thing that can linger in the mind’s eye.

Former UL great Brian Mitchell was at the UNT game, and he authored countless big plays in his days here from 1986-89.

But while his yards and touchdowns remain Mitchell’s calling card, possibly his proudest moment was the time he peeled back to block on a reverse, caught an unsuspecting defensive lineman lumbering after the play and laid him out with a crunching block that sent the stunned foe sprawling.

It was a hit replayed countless times in film sessions in subsequent years.

Smith and the other Ragin’ Cajun seniors will each be looking for that kind of highlight when they take their final bow at home in Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game against Troy University.

The Trojans enter the game 5-4 and talking about earning a bowl bid.

The 4-5 Cajuns have to win this week and next Saturday at UL Monroe for the school’s first winning season since 1995.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[ATXCajun]

Originally posted by littlebittyschool
Let's see, we beat FAU, which Beat North Texas which beat... YOU! We Beat Mizzou, which beat Baylor, which beat North Texas, which beat... YOU!

Craziness! Sunbelt is crazy. Trojans are crazy. Cajuns are crazy. We all be crazy! I really wish I could make it down to the game this year. Maybe next year when you come to Troy, we can all eat some gumbo and south alabama bar b q and go tip some cows over.

Oh and take back some home town officiating from LSWho and we would have beaten them. Amazing how mystery flags on illegal procedures come after the play scores a touchdown from SEC refs!

Your stadium looked good on TV. The professor in the mask and all doing the interview with Shera "Princess of Power" was a little creepy.

Good hit that one time on Jamario. I thought you might have put him out of the game on that one. If you wouldn't have spotted UNT those 14 points off the bat, it would have been an awesome game.

Oh yeah, our offense is terrible, but we don't need no stinkin' offense! We score with defense and Leodis! My Man! He Loves Us!

Yeah, we had two weeks to prepare for TV promotion and all they came up with was chicken chasin'. I love me some Mamou Mardi Gras as much as the next guy, but is that what we need to be pimpin'?

Brother, overcoming mystery flags in Baton Rouge is not nearly as difficult as overcoming mystery legislation but we'll get it done.

[KimoSC]

Never thought I'd say that.

Anyway - Fight On Cajuns!

[NewsCopy]

Troy first of two obstacles to UL’s winning season

LOUISIANA La. — Jerry Babb joined some select company last week.

The University of Louisiana sophomore exceeded 2,000 yards passing for the season in the Cajuns’ 27-17 home loss to North Texas, moving to 2,003 for the year.

That plateau has only been reached four times in school history, and only two quarterbacks have done it.

Both Jake Delhomme and Jon Van Cleave went back-to-back with that distinction, Delhomme throwing for 2,761 yards in 1995 and 2,901 in 1996 and Van Cleave ringing up 2,499 in 2001 and 2,081 in 2002 in Rickey Bustle’s first year as coach of the UL program.

Babb has also thrown for over 300 yards three times this season, something Delhomme achieved in 1996 and Van Cleave hit in 2001.

A former St. Thomas More quarterback/ wide receiver, Babb is also the leading rusher for the 4-5 Cajuns with 415 yards after nine games and is the only player to have a 100-yard day on the ground in 2004.

The last Cajun to lead the team in both rushing and passing was Tyjuan Hayes in 1991.

Obviously, then, Bustle’s team has to keep Babb on his feet today if the Cajuns have any shot at knocking off favored Troy University at 2:30 p.m. at Cajun Field.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Troy takes bowl hopes on road

Troy can take care of all the bowl talk and put a rest to the speculation Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Trojans can end the suspense Saturday afternoon and stop any hopes of ruining any Christmas plans.

All they have to do is lose.

A four-game road losing streak just needs a small nudge to five. An offense that has been shaky enough at home needs to continue its road woes.

And a defense that has been OK needs to play matador against the Sun Belt Conference's best offense.

That's all.

Only the Trojans (5-4, 3-2 Sun Belt) don't want to cooperate.

"If we want to go to a bowl, we have to win this week," free safety Derrick Ansley said. "That should be enough motivation."

Troy, out of the Sun Belt race since losses at New Mexico State and Arkansas State, has a newfound hope for the postseason.

If enough major conferences fail to have enough teams become bowl-eligible, there could be a bowl invitation stuffed into the Trojans' holiday stocking.

Let Troy's scoreboard-watching begin -- provided it wins.

"We're going to be pulling against a lot of them," quarterback D.T. McDowell said.

Entering this week, there were only 36 teams that had reached bowl-eligible status. There are 28 bowls and only one -- the New Orleans Bowl -- has a tie-in with the Sun Belt.

The rest of the story

By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser

[NewsCopy]

Trojans looking for road win

You'll have to excuse Troy University head football coach Larry Blakeney if he doesn't seem beside himself with joy over all the talk of a possible bowl bid for the Trojans - he's suffering from a case of déjà vu.

"This game (with Louisiana-Lafayette) reminds me of Arkansas State and New Mexico State," Blakeney said. "It reminds me of two tough games that we lost by four points on the road."

It's no secret that the Trojans have had their fair share of woes on the road this season, tallying just one road win in five attempts and dropping four straight away from the friendly confines of Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium. Two of those four road losses came to Sun Belt Conference opponents and cost Troy a shot at its first Sun Belt Conference title. Those two games are fresh on the 14-year head coach's memory.

"We have got to win a conference game on the road," Blakeney said. "If that's not enough of a challenge, I don't know what is. I'll certainly be disappointed if we don't go out and give it our best. Lafayette is a good team. They have a senior quarterback that's a player and an offense that leads the league in just about every category. The challenge is there."

Blakeney's squad believes they are up for the challenge.

"I don't know if trying to win on the road really adds any extra pressure, if anything I think the challenge should excite us," freshman quarterback D.T. McDowell said. "I think we just have to stay focused. I'd say that's the biggest reason we haven't won on the road since Marshall. It's a lack of focus - focus, focus, focus."

McDowell hopes that the Trojans staying focused will result in the Troy offensive squad moving the chains and putting points on the scoreboard.

The rest of the story

By Andy Brown, The Messenger

[Turbine]

Troy is ranked 2nd in the nation in limiting run yards per attempt. 2.1 yards per carry. Yet when you look at total rushing yards given up, Troy drops to 5th overall. What does this mean?

The only way I can see Troy going from 2nd to 5th is because the offensive coordinators have been hard headed and continue to try rushing against the brick wall. The only way to increase their total is adding carries even though they are eking out 2.1 per.

I think the collective OC's have been hard headed, and for the most part it has not worked out in their favor.

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Game Look
RUSHING
Now -having said that- only South Carolina, Missouri, LSU and Ark State had a better rushing average than Louisiana does going into the game vs. Troy.

PASSING
Louisiana is the best passing offense that Troy has faced all year and the 2nd best total offense. Only LSU's 401 ypc tops Louisiana's 391.4 Yards per contest total.

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I think we need to pass, pass, pass, pass for every 1 run attempt.

[Turbine]

LOL
Did you cringe as you typed?

[KimoSC]

Originally posted by Turbine
LOL
Did you cringe as you typed?

LOL - Yeah, but I can get away with it once a year. Hopefully my buddies don't see it and get the wrong idea.

Good luck and have fun - 'cause you can't control how well the team plays, but tailgating is up to you! (It's Homecoming here today - planning a good 5 hours of pre-game festivities)