The Florida Atlantic Owls dared the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to beat them with the passing game, and the Cajuns couldn't do it.

UL rammed the ball down FAU's throats on its first two possessions last Thursday, producing a touchdown and a field goal and a 10-7 lead, and it didn't take the visitors long to bring their safeties closer to the line to jam the ground game.

When that happens, a team has to be able to go to the air, and freshman Michael Desormeaux hit just 6-of-18 passes for 47 yards in a 28-10 Cajun loss.

"They started to bring their safeties down, and you've got to be able to throw the quick balls," coach Rickey Bustle said. "You can't just keep running the ball. We had some drops early, and Mike started pressing."

Desormeaux described it afterwards as the worst performance of his life, but there was plenty of blame to go around.

Senior Bill Sampy had two catches for 21 yards, but promising freshman Derrick Smith and junior college transfer Corey Fredrick were shut out as the young UL receiving corps struggled to adjust to the challenge.

When Jake Delhomme started as a freshman for UL in 1993, he had savvy senior Marcus Carter as his security blanket. In 2003, Jerry Babb had record-setting senior Fred Stamps.

Desormeaux needs that kind of comfort zone, at least until starter Babb returns from his shoulder injury.

"We only have one of those (senior) guys," said receivers coach Brian Crist, referring to Sampy. "The rest of these guys were playing in their fifth game, and Mike was in his second. But we've got to help him out."

"I look for us to make the plays we're supposed to make," coach Bustle said. "It's not always (catching) the ball when it's thrown to you. It could be blocking, or running somebody off the play when they're pressed up on you.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com