JONESBORO, Ark. - Rickey Bustle doesn't like to use the term "must win," but he's looking for one tonight.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns painted themselves into a corner with last week's stunning 28-10 home loss to previously winless Florida Atlantic, getting the Sun Belt Conference campaign off to a disastrous start and dropping the Cajuns to 1-4 on the season.

They return to action at 6:30 p.m. today against Arkansas State in an ESPN Regional game carried locally on Cox Sports (cable channel 27 in Lafayette), and the Cajuns know they can't afford another misstep.

The Cajuns can still win the Sun Belt and the host berth in the Dec. 20 New Orleans Bowl, which has been transplanted to UL's Cajun Field. If that's not incentive to get back on the right track, nothing will stir the blood.

But Bustle's team likely needs to sweep its remaining six games to turn the trick, and starting that won't be easy against an ASU team that has issues of its own.

The Indians last played on Oct. 1, dropping a 31-27 game at UL Monroe while resting star running back Antonio Warren. That dropped Arkansas State to 2-3 and 1-1 in Sun Belt play.

"It's wide open and everybody has a lot of conference games left," ASU coach Steve Roberts said. "There'll be only one undefeated team after this week, and we're still in the thick of this thing. Our kids have a lot to play for."

So do the Cajuns, but only if they improve over last week's losing effort.

"I think the players understand that when you're 0-1, we're getting ready to play all the conference teams," Bustle said. "I've never been one to say there's a 'must win.' We just talk about the next game and try to stay focused on the game you have at hand, whoever it may be.

"I kind of felt going into the season that it might be a close race. I didn't know exactly where it would come from, but the conference has gotten tighter. We've still got both of the undefeated teams (Troy and ULM, which meet on Saturday), so it's going to be a tight race."

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By Bruce Brown
La. Gannett News Service