LOUISIANA La. -- Rickey Bustle has been asking University of Louisiana at Lafayette football fans to keep the faith.

But after Thursday's stunning 28-10 Sun Belt Conference loss to previously-winless Florida Atlantic, even Bustle knows that his plea may be falling on deaf ears.

The Cajuns, who entered the 2005 season with high expectations, suddenly find themselves 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Bustle had hoped to be 3-2, maybe even 4-1, at this point.

"Expectations are fair sometimes," Bustle said Monday at his weekly news conference. "I have expectations, too, and this team has expectations.

"Like I said the other night, there may be a lot of folks out there who have let go of the rope, but we're not going to let it go; we're going to hang in there with each other and work through it."

Bustle said the Cajuns' struggles are not because of lack of effort. Instead, he said, it may be because the team is pressing too much to turn things around.

"I think it's natural to press," he said. "It's natural athletically, when you're struggling and trying to make something happen, that sometimes you get to where you're scared to make a mistake. And when you do that, you make more."

Offensively, defensively and on special teams, it's all the same.

Fortunately, the one thing Bustle hasn't seen is a team that appears to be giving up.

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By GLENN QUEBEDEAUX
Special to The Advocate