Thoughts on the game

[Cajun1997]

Great game by our offense, O-line played very well, huge holes for our backs to run through. Thought our backs also did a very good job of blocking and pass protection. I continue to be impressed with Derek Smith and Tyrell Fenroy (Smith leads our team in receptions with 16 for 195 yards and 2 TD's, Fenroy leads in rushing with 31 attempts 221 yards, 7.3 yards per carry and 1 TD). Babb played his usual good game. I was also very glad to see other young players contribute like Levier (14 attempts, 105 yards, 7.5 yards per carry and 2 TD's on the season) and Robbins.
Defense, well, we still need some work. The play was improved in the 2nd half but our linebacker play is a huge concern IMHO. We cannot continue to give up the kind of yardage we did last night in the running game. If NWST ran over us like that what will Cobbs and Thomas at UNT do? We need to play smarter (quit getting taken in by play fakes) and tackle better. I saw one player (no names) miss at least 2 tackles and miss his block that lead to the punt block. Not good.
That leads to special teams. Same as the defense, better in the 2nd half but needs to improve overall. Frammel appears to me to be the best punter we have had in some time.

Overall, very happy we won and very impressed with our offense and some of our young players (forgot to mention the freshman Falter on the O-line, never heard his name called which is a good thing). Glad we have the week off to heal up (especially Rubin) and look over these three games and correct some mistakes. Really looking forward to the UCF game.

GEAUX CAJUNS

Anybody else?

[Bert]

I had to work and missed the game, but between your post and the newspaper links I feel like I was there.

Thanks

[Corndog308]

I am more dissapointed in our tackling. It seems that they go for the big hit instead of wrapping up and bringing the guy down. That's what frustrated us the most. I was most impressed with Tyrell Fenroy. I couldn't believe the balance this kid has. The run he had where he fumbled the ball was an amazing balance act. If you were there, you know what I'm talking about. I am however, no where near impressed with our defense. I agree with you Swamphound. If NSU ran on us like they did, we need to get our act together for conference play ESPECIALLY North Texas.

[Clutch0364]

Derek Smith has been so impressive so far this year. No one on the team has done anything to impress me as much as him because of his consistency. Fenroy had a huge night and I looked forward to seeing it happen a few more times this year. (can we say 1000 yard rusher lol)

[RedBug58]

Derek Smith has been so impressive so far this year. No one on the team has done anything to impress me as much as him because of his consistency. Fenroy had a huge night and I looked forward to seeing it happen a few more times this year. (can we say 1000 yard rusher lol)

If we had Fenroy last year we would have been 7-4 or better. He could develop into the best running back in the history of our great university.

What's the word on Deon Wallace??

[Crawfish]

If we had Fenroy last year we would have been 7-4 or better. He could develop into the best running back in the history of our great university.

What's the word on Deon Wallace??

2 words, Red shirt.

The future of our offense looks pretty good.

[El Sidonio]

I'm in agreement, that our offense seems to be in good shape. I think our defense could shore up a little bit, and once that happens we'll be more dangerous than we already are.

God Bless

[CajunRebel]

CajunRebel's expert post-game comments:

It's nice to finally have a running game.

[studentfan]

CajunRebel's expert post-game comments:

It's nice to finally have a running game.

Having Newman back in the lineup really helped that statement come true. I think if the O-Line can stay healthy, we'll rack up some yards on the ground this season, which will help keep the defense stay off the field longer.

[CajunProud]

Offense: B+ Could have been an A, but we still made some silly turnovers. Awesome young talent.

Defense: C Got turnovers when we needed them, but the D line is horrible. Can't get pressure on the quarterback. NSU's running backs were getting 2 and 3 yards before anybody put a hand on them. Extremely poor tackling.

Special teams: C Missed extra point, field goal. Blocked punt. Return games is still suspect.

Glad we got the win, but really can't get too excited about win over 1-aa school. Next weeks game will be the real test to see if we will turn the corner this year. The NSU game was more of a pre-season game.

[shof]

Offense: B+ Could have been an A, but we still made some silly turnovers. Awesome young talent.

Defense: C Got turnovers when we needed them, but the D line is horrible. Can't get pressure on the quarterback. NSU's running backs were getting 2 and 3 yards before anybody put a hand on them. Extremely poor tackling.

Special teams: C Missed extra point, field goal. Blocked punt. Return games is still suspect.

Glad we got the win, but really can't get too excited about win over 1-aa school. Next weeks game will be the real test to see if we will turn the corner this year. The NSU game was more of a pre-season game.

What impressed me the most was the toughness Fenroy runs with. I did not see the EMU game; but from watching him run at Texas and against NSU, this kid runs HARD! Bright future for this one; and yes, I think he could approach 1000 yards this season if he stays healthy and hangs on to the ball.
The other thing that stood out for me saturday night was the offensive line vs defensive line size difference -- on both teams. NSU had a pretty big OL, including a freshman that goes something like 6-7, 380! Now, that doesn't mean he's good; but he is BIG!
Not-so-Special Teams is also a concern right now. Just on kickoffs, we were getting to around the 20 on the average while NSU was getting 10-15 yards more on average.

Trying not to be too negative. I had a great time at the game and was very impressed with our offense. Hopefully defense and special teams can pick it up.

[RaginFan2]

Glad we got the win, but really can't get too excited about win over 1-aa school. Next weeks game will be the real test to see if we will turn the corner this year. The NSU game was more of a pre-season game.

I pretty much agree with your game evaluation. But I disagree about the status of our game with NSU. While I agree that it is hard to get excited about a win over a 1-AA team, ANY win by our program at this point is worth getting excited about. (I admitted to being more relieved than excited shortly after the game.) And UCF will be a more telling game about where we are. But we needed this win badly. And I wouldn't call that game a "pre-season game" in any way. Northwestern St. has some quality FB players. They usually have a very competitive team. I think Saturday they competed very well against us. They just made more mistakes than we did. Did we force those mistakes or did they just give them away? I don't know because I wasn't able to see the game. It sounded like a little of both. Anyway, I don't view that as a "pre-season game". I'd prefer we not schedule any D1-AA teams. But what can you do? If they are on the schedule, you gotta play 'em. Good win for the Cajuns! On to the Central Florida game!