It was very nearly one for the ages here Saturday night.

A Louisiana football team given up for dead midway through the second quarter somehow rallied, clawed and fought its way back from a 21-point deficit against the University of Central Florida.

But all that momentum and all that adrenaline-charged emotion finally ran out in the fourth quarter, and UCF mounted its only consistent drive of the second half to set up backup kicker John Brown's 28-yard field goal attempt in the final 5.6 seconds.

His first try sailed wide left, but the host Cajuns had called a frantic time out from the sideline just prior to that try. Given new life, Brown hit his second attempt right down the middle, and UCF had escaped with a 24-21 victory that appeared to be over much earlier.

The Knights, winning for the second straight week after losing 17 in a row, had blown out to a 21-0 lead behind red-hot quarterback Steven Moffett's three touchdown passes in the first 21 minutes. But the Cajun defense regrouped and gave up only 143 offensive yards to UCF after the first three drives.

About the time the defense stiffened, backup quarterback Michael Desormeaux started settling into his tasks. The redshirt freshman entered the game after only five plays when three-year UL starter Jerry Babb left with a shoulder injury after a 15-yard scramble, and the Cajuns did little with their first three possessions.

After that, Desormeaux led the squad to three scores in their next five possessions, with Abdule Levier rushing for a pair of scores and Booker Jenkins getting his first career touchdown.

But that offensive surge ran out in the final period, and UCF mustered just enough to take its third straight win in the series.

"This was a great effort by our kids, and a tough loss," said Cajun coach Rickey Bustle. "After Mike got the rust off, he fought his tail off for his team and the team fought their tails off for him. It's tough to come back from 21-0, but I believed this team could come back."

Few of the 18,262 in Cajun Field shared that optimism since the Cajuns looked shell-shocked at Babb's departure. And the Knights took full advantage thanks to Moffett's hot hand.

The junior completed his first 10 passes, three of those accounting for the three scores, and most of them looked easy as UCF receivers continually found huge gaps in the UL secondary.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com