His team has to deal with an offense that was non-existent on nine of its final 10 possessions Thursday night, and a defense that gave up three touchdowns on Florida Atlantic's last four meaningful drives.

It wasn't a pretty picture for Louisiana head football coach Rickey Bustle, whose team disappointed everybody - mostly itself - in a 28-10 loss to the underdog Owls.

"It's going to be a long road," Bustle said after his team held its normal next-day practice Friday. "The biggest challenge now is to your character and your belief in each other. But I know this team is strong."

Whether it's strong enough remains to be seen. The loss in the Sun Belt Conference opener means that the Cajuns have to win five of their last six just to record a winning season. Four of those six games are on the road including a second straight Thursday night outing this week at Arkansas State.

And even going five-of-six may not be good enough to win the conference title and its accompanying New Orleans Bowl berth. Depending on how the rest of the league shakes out, the only way UL can assure itself of being in the league and bowl hunt is to sweep all six remaining Sun Belt games.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com