The Book: 2004 FOOTBALL

[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.

---

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.

---

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)

[Chalk]

I take it you are a USC fan? Well may the best Trojan team in the country win today and may all others lose.

[KimoSC]

Originally posted by Chalk
I take it you are a USC fan? Well may the best Trojan team in the country win today and may all others lose.

Thanks, Chalk. Yeah, I'm an SC alum, but have UL in the bloodlines. Good luck and have fun!

[nujaC 1]

I don't know about others but this staff was pig headed in the first half. Going for it on fourth in the first was assanign. Forcing the rush against the number five ranked defense in the country is a sure way to keep them in the game.

[littlebittyschool]

Great game guys. Way to play with guts. Your team could have rolled over several times but you kept fighting to the end.

I look forward to many, many good games between the Cajun's and Trojans in the future... and just wait until we're in the Belt in basketball too.

Geaux Cajuns

Go Trojans

Go Sunbelt

[CajunGuru]

Congrates on the win. The Troy defense is very good, the best we've seen this year. You also have a great punter, that makes a big difference in field position. I've also seen your post on the SunBelt board about playing North Texas. I don't know if you guys really want to play them this year. You need more offense then you have to beat them. They are the best team in the SunBelt.

[Cajun1997]

Originally posted by littlebittyschool
Great game guys.
I look forward to many, many good games between the Cajun's and Trojans in the future... and just wait until we're in the Belt in basketball too.

Geaux Cajuns

Go Trojans

Go Sunbelt

Same to you