This week, UL wants to maintain the kind of determination that produced a 33-6 win over Troy for one more week at Southern Miss because there’s the reward of an open date on the other side.
No team wants to go into a bye week coming off of a loss.
“For us, it’s been a long stretch,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “This will be eight in a row without a bye. We’ve got to go finish this four-game stretch in the middle right here really well. We’ve got to go find a way to get a win on the road.
If the Cajuns can win in Hattiesburg for just the third time in 27 tries, UL would enter its open date 6-2 and 3-1 in the Sun Belt.
To prepare, Desormeaux hinted at changing some practice routines.
“We’re going to change some things,” he said. “We’ll get into it this week to keep our guys healthy and fresh. I think if we can show up every weekend as healthy as can be — fresh and ready to go — I think we have a chance to win every week.
“The last bus trip we took, you know, we came up a little short,” he said about losing to Louisiana Tech in Ruston. “So, we get to get on the bus and go over there and go try do it a little bit better.”
Finished better
When the Cajuns got to halftime with a 19-0 lead over Troy on Saturday, there had to be some trepidation after watching a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter disappear the week before in Ruston.
“So what I told them at halftime this week was, I said, ‘We’re going to find out a lot about our team in the second half of this game,’ ” Desormeaux said. “How much have we grown up? How much have we learned? They were all saying the right things, but talking and doing is different.”
Initially, things didn’t go well.
Troy opened the third quarter with its best possession of the night, driving 75 yards on eight plays in 4:12 to trim the Cajuns’ lead to 19-6 with 10:48 left in the third quarter.
Instead of wilting, UL responded with arguably the drive of the season so far, marching 91 yards on 16 plays in 8:22 to deliver a resounding message the Cajuns were finishing on this day.
“I was incredibly pleased with the way we played,” Desormeaux said. “The 91-yard drive with 16 plays for eight and a half minutes to go back to 26-6 was huge. Then you get three fourth-down stops in the game.
“That’s the way you want to finish.”
More DL praise
Jake St. Andre on Saturday led UL in tackles with eight, followed by star Maurion Eleam, cornerback Brent Gordon and linebacker Micah Johnson with five apiece.
And yet, the UL defensive line was getting a lot of postgame attention.
“Our D-line played their tails off all night,” St. Andre said. “A lot of our success comes from those guys, winning the line of scrimmage at the point of attack and them knocking it back. Even when they don’t make the tackle, the linebacker may make the tackle, because they’re knocking it back and we’re fitting for them.”
Fitzgerald West recorded four tackles, including a tackle for loss. The former Lafayette Christian standout credited strength coach Mark Hocke for reminding the defense about the goal of putting up zero points.
“Our goal was to go for the shutout to make it really easy on the offense in the second half,” West said. “We try to harp on getting back to our goose egg stuff. Coach Hocke, he was harping on it a lot. I think him putting that in a lot of people’s minds and us really going out there and attacking them … I think everybody saw where what he was saying was coming from and it worked.”
#coach #focus #big #win #Troy #Ragin #Cajuns
Source link
