UL to make defensive changes

[NewsCopy]

University of Louisiana football coach Rickey Bustle and his defensive staff will make some changes in their preparations for the remainder of the Sun Belt Conference season. "We're not a very good tackling team," Bustle said Sunday prior to his team's 90-minute evening workout at Cajun Field. "We're going to change some of our drills we're doing Tuesday and Wednesday, try to do something, try to get better there." The Cajun defense struggled in the second half in Thursday's 39-36 loss at Arkansas State, one which gave UL a damaging second loss in league play. ASU had 458 yards offensively and drove for three touchdowns and a field goal in the final quarter. UL had a 554-yard offensive game - 457 on the ground - go for naught with three turnovers, two of which figured in ASU scores. "The offense had a big game, but two turnovers too many," Bustle said. "We've got to have some individuals get better, and if we get better individually the team gets better. "When we watched the film today, we told them if we're asking them to do things they can't do, to speak up. They see that if things were executed better, we'd win games." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[RaginCajun77]

"We're not a very good tackling team," Bustle said Sunday

I surely hope it didn't take half the season to realize this. We've needed to make defensive changes for a while now. While we're at it let's make some changes on special teams as well. We're in the home stretch now. We need to get some wins as we head into the recruiting season.

[CajunNation]

Am I missing something here?

Does saying we need to tackle better constitute defensive changes?

[RaginCajun77]

Am I missing something here?

Does saying we need to tackle better constitute defensive changes?

Asking your team to tackle better constitutes changing the way they do things now and since this is the defense we are speaking of it would be a change in the way we do things defensively.

I'm just frustrated right now. This coaching staff has recruited well for the offense, yet defensively we have to recruit better. We need to bring in some JUCO guys to give this defense a jump start. We have to tackle better, we can't make mental errors on defense. Those things can be corrected. We must learn to stop the run. One more thing then my rant is off, we have to improve our conditioning. In the 4th Quarter our defense ran out of gas.

[studentfan]

We have to bring in the juco's this offeseason or we'll remain a team with an offense ranked in the top 2-3 in the Sun Belt and a defense ranked last in the Sun Belt. I hope Bustle can bring in some help on the D-Line.

Asking your team to tackle better constitutes changing the way they do things now and since this is the defense we are speaking of it would be a change in the way we do things defensively.

I'm just frustrated right now. This coaching staff has recruited well for the offense, yet defensively we have to recruit better. We need to bring in some JUCO guys to give this defense a jump start. We have to tackle better, we can't make mental errors on defense. Those things can be corrected. We must learn to stop the run. One more thing then my rant is off, we have to improve our conditioning. In the 4th Quarter our defense ran out of gas.

[Turbine]

we have to improve our conditioning. In the 4th Quarter our defense ran out of gas.

I totally agree, however I think the coaches have been calling a good game their failure -it seems to me- is they just don't have the players in 4th quarter shape.

The last 3 games really illustrate the stamina point, UL was winning each game, but running out of gas in the 4th has been the MO (modus operandi)

The Defense is allowing 10.5 points a game in the 4th and that is way too much. But it's not just the defense that seems to be running out of gas in the 4th the Offense is only averaging 2.3 points in the 4th.

But where I think the games have been won and lost is turnovers, tired teams make mistakes.

[RaginCajun77]

I totally agree, however I think the coaches have been calling a good game their failure -it seems to me- is they just don't have the players in 4th quarter shape.

The last 3 games really illustrate the stamina point, UL was winning each game, but running out of gas in the 4th has been the MO (modus operandi)

The Defense is allowing 10.5 points a game in the 4th and that is way too much. But it's not just the defense that seems to be running out of gas in the 4th the Offense is only averaging 2.3 points in the 4th.

But where I think the games have been won and lost is turnovers, tired teams make mistakes.

Turnovers have killed us, we have to hang onto the football. The Cajuns offense was on the field for 35:44 compared to ASU's 24:16, the defense should not have been as winded as it was in the 4th quarter. We have to be able to score in the 4th quarter.

[shof]

Turnovers have killed us, we have to hang onto the football. The Cajuns offense was on the field for 35:44 compared to ASU's 24:16, the defense should not have been as winded as it was in the 4th quarter. We have to be able to score in the 4th quarter.

Perhaps some of you saw the game. I didn't. But maybe some of our 4th quarter problems (defensively) has been a change to a "bend but don't break" defensive strategy. Could that be a problem? Just wondering what you think.:confused:

[RaginCajun77]

Perhaps some of you saw the game. I didn't. But maybe some of our 4th quarter problems (defensively) has been a change to a "bend but don't break" defensive strategy. Could that be a problem? Just wondering what you think.:confused:

I listened to the game on the radio, I think this coaching staff's philosophy has always been "bend but don't break" as I have heard that term used prior to this season. Problem with that philosophy is bending over and over will lead to breaks. If you continue to give an opponent 3rd and short situations its tough to stop them. Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult to get defensive stops without upgrading our talent. I think our offense has alot of potential and we have done a good job of recruiting talent for the offense. Our receivers are young for the most part and will continue to develop. We have a good group of running backs. Our O-Line has played well and continues to improve. On defense we need D-Linemen and LB's. We have to recruit well in those 2 areas, only answer I see is going the JUCO route. We have to recruit O-Linemen well also, as we need depth on the line. I knowwe have a new strength and conditioning coach that came on prior to the start of the season, hopefully he can try new things so we won't suffer from the
4th quarter blues.

[shof]

I listened to the game on the radio, I think this coaching staff's philosophy has always been "bend but don't break" as I have heard that term used prior to this season. Problem with that philosophy is bending over and over will lead to breaks. If you continue to give an opponent 3rd and short situations its tough to stop them. Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult to get defensive stops without upgrading our talent. I think our offense has alot of potential and we have done a good job of recruiting talent for the offense. Our receivers are young for the most part and will continue to develop. We have a good group of running backs. Our O-Line has played well and continues to improve. On defense we need D-Linemen and LB's. We have to recruit well in those 2 areas, only answer I see is going the JUCO route. We have to recruit O-Linemen well also, as we need depth on the line. I knowwe have a new strength and conditioning coach that came on prior to the start of the season, hopefully he can try new things so we won't suffer from the
4th quarter blues.

Well we seem to be in agreement. My thoughts were that if the defense was successful being aggessive (blitzes, stunts, etc), then why back off? Of course we know the answer.........you don't want to get beat with the easy/fast scores. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Oh well.

[CajunNation]

Well we seem to be in agreement. My thoughts were that if the defense was successful being aggessive (blitzes, stunts, etc), then why back off? Of course we know the answer.........you don't want to get beat with the easy/fast scores. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Oh well.

When an opposing coach looks at our offense. He says, "We've got to control the ball and keep their offense off of the field."

Why would you want to "Bend and Break" and let them do that?

Totally wrong-headed way of looking at your defense.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. - There's a change in the air at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and it has nothing to do with an approaching cold front. Instead the change -- or changes in this case -- have to do with the Ragin' Cajuns football team's current 1-5 record. More specifically, the changes have to do with a UL defense, which has proven to be the team's Achilles heel. In the Cajuns' most recent outing, the defense allowed Arkansas State 458 yards and four scores -- three touchdowns and a field goal -- in the final quarter. The result was a 39-36 Sun Belt Conference loss, their third straight, which dropped the Cajuns to 0-2 in the league. After six games, the unit ranks 112th in the country against the run (227.5 yards per game) and 108th in both total defense (448.7) and points allowed (35 points per game). "We going to make some changes in people; we're going make changes in the way we practice and we're going to make some changes in the way we do some of our drills," ULL coach Rickey Bustle said Monday at his weekly news conference. "We're going to help this defense because it's correctable. The big thing I told our team was there are some individuals who need to step up and do better. I don't use the word individuals often, at all, but in this case, if some individuals will improve, if a lot of individuals improve, this football team will improve. "There is no reason this football team can't win five football games if we take them one at a time." The rest of the story By GLENN QUEBEDEAUX Special to The Advocate