The attendance was not good; maybe 6,500 and the student side looked empty. To be fair the weather before kickoff was very bad.
The attendance was not good; maybe 6,500 and the student side looked empty. To be fair the weather before kickoff was very bad.
LOUISIANA - It was more a matter of relief than it was exultation, but at this point nobody on the UL football team is going to throw a win back.
The Cajuns' 38-29 victory over North Texas was in no way a textbook performance, and neither team is going to use Saturday's game on its defensive highlight reel. But for fans of offensive football, it was a joy to watch.
And, for once, UL's offense had enough juice to hang on and break out of the winless column.
"We put our defense in some tough situations," said Cajun coach Rickey Bustle, "but our offense kept coming right back. We call it answering the bell, and they answered it big time tonight. You could feel it on the sideline."
What you could feel was exhaustion, with the weight of an entire season resting on the shoulders of both teams. The loser was effectively out of the Sun Belt Conference race. The winner still has a huge hill to climb, but at least the Cajuns live to fight another day in a league that is still up for grabs.
I saw him @ the UNT game walking in the stands w/ a knee brace on the left knee. No crutches, he looked cool to me. Hope he can come back.
It may have looked like the "Tim Tebow jump pass" play, but UL's Michael Desormeaux didn't need to jump to see a wide open Kevin Belton in the back of the end zone.
"It's set up all around the outside zone," Belton said. "Everybody bites up, when Mike takes off running like that and I just slipped through the defense and he through it over the top."
Desormeaux faked like he was going to run from four yards out, then hit his wide open tight end. It was his second passing touchdown of the game.
The score put the Cajuns up by nine and they never looked back en route to their 38-29 Sun Belt Conference win over North Texas.
Desormeaux dominated the game for the Cajuns on offense, finishing with 150 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and throwing for two touchdowns on 114 yards.
The rest of the story
Grant Alexander
galexander@theadvertiser.com
Finally.
"Oh, Lordy," said UL coach Rickey Bustle.
"That was just emotionally exhausting," said Cajun quarterback Michael Desormeaux, the catalyst of UL's 38-29 Saturday victory over North Texas. "It was a game both teams needed to win so badly."
The Cajuns might have needed it worse, and that may have been the only difference in what turned into much more than a matchup of two of the nation's remaining winless teams.
Saturday game turned into a battle between UL's ground game and the throwing game of the Mean Green, and on this night the running game won - barely.
It didn't win until Tyrell Fenroy broke a 69-yard run in the final three minutes, one that got UL out of a deep hole and set up Drew Edmiston's clinching 22-yard field goal with 1:16 left.
Up until that point, it had been Desormeaux's show for the Cajuns (1-5, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference). The junior from New Iberia rushed for 150 yards and two scores and threw a pair of touchdown passes among his 10 completions.
The rest of the story
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
UL - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns used an outstanding performance from quarterback Michael Desormeaux to capture their first victory of the season, a 38-29 win over North Texas on Saturday evening at Cajun Field.
Desormeaux scored four times for Louisiana (1-5, 1-1 SBC), with two rushing and two passing touchdowns. He finished the night with 18 carries for 150 yards and 10-of-20 passing for 114 yards.
The Cajuns scored first and never trailed, but the two teams traded scores the entire game.
UL entered the third quarter leading by a slim 14-12 margin.
Desormeaux increased the Cajuns lead on the first play of the second half. An inside handoff to Tyrell Fenroy was a fake, as Desormeaux peeled around the left side and raced 73 yards down the field. He broke several tackles along the way and dove into the end zone for a touchdown.
The run by Desormeaux was a career long and marked the third straight season the quarterback posted a run of 50 yards or more.
North Texas (0-5, 0-2 SBC) countered with an 11-play, 74-yard drive that consumed 4:48 of the third quarter. Giovanni Vizza hit Brock Stickler with an eight-yard pass in the corner of the end zone to pull North Texas within two points, 21-19, with 7:33 remaining in the third stanza.
The Cajuns used a pair of long passes from Desormeaux to Derrick Smith to set-up another touchdown. After being stuffed in the backfield on the first play of the drive, Desormeaux hit Smith on a 35-yard strike to move the ball into Mean Green territory. Three plays later, the duo combined again for 22 yards to give the Cajuns a first-and-goal from the three-yard line. Desormeaux connected with Kevin Belton on a three-yard touchdown pass to give UL a 28-19 edge at the end of the third quarter.
For Belton, the reception was his second of the season and his second touchdown of the season.
Do we have a new announcer, or was that one game only?
I have read elsewhere that TD was out of town.
The "normal" announcer, T.D. Smith was being honored at the 2007 Louisiana Cattle Festival as their Humanitarian of the Year.
It had to do with his volunteer work the WWII Veterans in a program called Honor Guard. A program to help Vets visit the WWII War Memorial in Washington D.C.
I may have some of the details wrong but I am pretty sure he will be back for the last 2 home games.
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