Louisiana gets bowl eligible in win over ULM

2009 Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns ... Head Coach: Rickey Bustle

2009 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 4-8
2009 Record: 6-5

9/5 Southern W 42-19
9/12 Kansas St W 17-15
9/19 at LSU L 31-3
9/26 at Nebraska L 55-0
10/3 OPEN DATE
10/10 North Texas W 38-34
10/17 at WKU W 30-22
10/24 Florida Atlantic L 51-29
10/31 at FIU L 20-17 OT
11/7 at Arkansas St W 21-18
11/14 at MTSU L 34-17
11/21 ULM W 21-17
11/28 Troy

2008 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 4-8
2008 Record: 6-6

8/30 at So. Miss L 51-21
9/6 OPEN DATE
9/13 at Illinois L 20-17
9/20 Kent State W 44-27
9/27 at Kansas State L 45-27
10/4 at UL Monroe W 44-35
10/11 at North Texas W 59-30
10/18 Arkansas State W 28-23
10/25 OPEN DATE
11/1 FIU W 49-20
11/8 UTEP L 37-24
11/15 at Fla Atlantic L 40-29
11/22 at Troy L 48-3
11/29 OPEN DATE
12/3 Middle Tenn W 42-28

Louisiana-Lafayette

Ragin' Cajuns

Nov. 21
at Louisiana-Lafayette 21 … ULM 17
ULL became bowl eligible as backup QB Brad McGuire ran for two one-yard scores and Yobes Walker ran for a one-yard touchdown in the first. ULM got a four-yard touchdown run and a 11-yard scoring pass from Trey Revell, but the offense couldn’t answer late after losing its lead. With the loss, ULM is out of the Sun Belt title hunt.
Player of the Game: ULL LB Jezreel Washington made ten tackles, and sack with a tackle for loss
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 16-27, 252 yds
Rushing: Marlin Miller, 11-33, Receiving: Ladarius Green, 7-131
ULM: Passing: Trey Revell, 8-12, 91 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Frank Goodin, 22-108, Receiving: Darrell McNeal, 4-51
What It All Means: There aren’t going to be any open spots for three Sun Belt teams (Troy and Middle Tennessee will likely go bowling), but for Louisiana to get bowl eligible with a shot at being 7-5 is an impressive season in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Chris Masson and Brad McGuire combined to get the job done against ULM, but the offense continues to struggle to score and the defensive front isn’t doing enough to get into the backfield. With no pass rush, keeping up with Troy is going to be a problem. 

Nov. 14
at Middle Tennessee 34 … Louisiana-Lafayette 17
Dwight Dasher threw touchdown passes from 18 yards out to Patrick Honeycutt in the first quarter and from 19-yard away to Garrett Andrews in the third on the way to a strong win for the Blue Raiders. ULL gave up a 20-yard Jamari Lattimore interception return for a score, but Chris Masson was able to run for a three-yard score and hit Vernon Wolfe for a seven-yard touchdown on the way to a 17-14 halftime lead. And then it was all MTSU with 20 unanswered points starting with the Andrews score and helped by a seven-yard Desmond Gee touchdown run. MTSU outgained ULL 506 yards to 293.
Player of the Game: Middle Tennessee QB Dwight Dasher completed 16-of-25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran 17 times for 89 yards.
ULL: Passing: Chris Masson, 25-43, 220 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Yobes Walker, 10-22, Receiving: Richie Falgout, 6-76
Middle Tennessee: Passing: Dwight Dasher, 16-25, 219 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: D.D. Kyles, 20-177, Receiving: Garrett Andrews, 4-80, 1 TD 
What It All Means: After such a great year at keeping the quarterback clean, ULL had problems with the Middle Tennessee pass rush and the offense sputtered. The defense had been spotty all season long, and it couldn’t handle the running of the Blue Raiders. While this was a tough loss that might have killed a shot at a bowl, the last two games are at home against ULM and Troy with a chance to make a big statement against two of the league’s top teams. However, after losing three of their last four games, the Ragin’ Cajuns would likely be happy just to get a split.

Nov. 7
at Louisiana-Lafayette 21 … Arkansas State 18
Lance Kelly picked off a Ryan Aplin pass late in the fourth to seal a win for the Ragin’ Cajuns and stop an ASU rally. ULL got two short touchdown runs from QB Chris Masson on the way to a 21-3 lead after three quarters, but ASU rallied with Reggie Arnold touchdown runs from two and five yards out. ASU finished 0-for-10 on third down conversion attempts and cranked out a mere 239 yards of total offense.
Player of the Game: Louisiana-Lafayette QB Chris Masson completed 28-of-40 passes for 229 yards and ran seven times for 30 yards and two scores.
Arkansas State: Passing: Ryan Aplin, 8-14, 147 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Reggie Arnold, 10-38, 2 TD, Receiving: Taylor Clements, 4-55
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 28-40, 229 yds
Rushing: Yobes Miller, 12-51, Receiving: Marlin Miller, 8-36 
What It All Means: ASU isn’t playing well, and ULL took advantage. Chris Masson led an offense that has struggled to consistently move the ball, while the defense was fantastic holding the Red Wolves to 0-of-10 on third down conversion attempts. There still isn’t any pass rush and there still isn’t any major pop to the offense, but for all the problems, the team is still 5-4 with the three big Sun Belt guns up next. It’ll be too tough to win the conference title with two losses, but the Ragin’ Cajuns can prove they deserve at-large bowl consideration if they can beat Middle Tennessee, ULM, and Troy.

Oct. 31
at FIU 20 … Louisiana-Lafayette 17 OT
FIU got a 24-yard Dustin Rivest field goal in overtime and blocked ULL’s 29-yard field goal attempt for the win. The Golden Panthers overcame four turnovers to rally late with Paul McCall connecting with Greg Ellingson for a three-yard score with ten seconds to play to force overtime. ULL was up early with a one-yard Yobes Walker touchdown run and a 40-yard Louis Lee 40-yard touchdown pass, but only managed a field goal after the first half.
Player of the Game: FIU LB Aaron Davis made nine tackles and two tackles for loss.
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 22-36, 254 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Yobes Walker, 18-40, 1 TD, Receiving: Luke Aubrey, 4-55
FIU: Passing: Paul McCall, 22-41, 250 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Daunte Owens, 13-58, Receiving: Wayne Times, 5-60 
What It All Means: Unable to take full advantage of finishing +3 in turnover margin, ULL had a hard time keeping the chains moving with a bad day on third downs, and failed to execute in overtime. Worse yet, all the defense had to do was come up with a stop late, but FIU ended up forcing overtime with a last-second score. Now the Sun Belt title dreams are gone and the Ragin’ Cajuns are on a two-game losing streak. The offensive line has been fine, and the punting game continues to be excellent, but there isn’t any one other thing the team does really well.

Oct. 24
Florida Atlantic 51 … at Louisiana-Lafayette 29
FAU cranked out a school-record 624 yards, but it took a fight to put the Ragin’ Cajuns away. Rusty Smith threw four touchdown passes including a 70-yarder and a 64-yarder to Chris Bonner. Alfred Morris finally put the game away with a 47-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter, and he also gave the Owls a second quarter lead on a 17-yard run. ULL managed to stay in the game helped by three Brad McGuire touchdown runs and a 14-yard Marlin Miller catch, but couldn’t keep up in the fourth quarter as the Owls scored 17 unanswered points.
Player of the Game: Florida Atlantic QB Rusty Smith completed 18-of-28 passes for 359 yards and four scores.
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 19-30, 209 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Yobes Walker, 21-105, Receiving: Marlin Miller, 7-115, 1 TD
Florida Atlantic: Passing: Rusty Smith, 18-28, 359 yds, 4 TD
Rushing: Alfred Morris, 24-181, 2 TD Receiving: Lester Jean, 4-62, 1 TD 
What It All Means: Just when it seemed like the Ragin’ Cajuns were about to have a shot to be a player in the Sun Belt race, the pass defense couldn’t handle Rusty Smith and the Owl air attack and the run defense wasn’t much better. With three straight road games ahead, the defense will have to come up with a new wrinkle or three to get into the backfield and to pull off a few upsets to get back into the title hunt with the leaders, ULM and Troy, finishing up the regular season.

Oct. 17
at Louisiana-Lafayette 30 … Western Kentucky 22
WKU scored first on the first of two Kawaun Jakes touchdown passes, hitting Rod Johnson from 29 yards out, and then ULL went on a 30-7 run with Chris Masson running for a six-yard touchdown and throwing for two scores. Javone Lawson caught a 19-yard touchdown pass and Matt Desormeaux made a two-yard scoring grab in the first. Tyler Albrecht added three field goals.
Player of the Game: Louisiana-Lafayette LB Grant Fleming made ten tackles
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 16-25, 204 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Yobes Walker, 24-94, Receiving: Luke Aubrey, 5-54
Western Kentucky: Passing: Kawaun Jakes, 9-17, 141 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Bobby Rainey, 19-115, 1 TD, Receiving: Anthony Sheppard, 2-42
What It All Means: The Ragin’ Cajuns held on to the ball for 37:48 and converted 12-of-19 third down chances helped by a near-perfect offensive balance with 204 yards passing and 230 on the ground. The defense struggled to put the game away, with WKU able to get back in the game and make it interesting late. The defensive line is having a ton of problems getting into the backfield, and that could be a problem with a real quarterback to face in Florida Atlantic’s Rusty Smith next week. 

Oct. 10
at Louisiana-Lafayette 38 … North Texas 34
Helped by a UNT holding penalty on fourth down, ULL drove for a game-winning touchdown in the final moments with Marlin Miller catching a four-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds to play. The Ragin’ Cajuns had to rally after holding a 24-10 lead helped by a 70-yard interception return for a score from Dwight Bentley and a 33-yard blocked punt return for a touchdown from Andrew Joseph. UNT went on a 24-point run helped by three of Lance Dunbar’s four rushing scores, but the ULL D stiffened and the offense took over in the fourth quarter.
Player of the Game: Louisiana-Lafayette RB Undre Salis ran 19 times for 93 yards and led the team with three catches for 30 yards.
North Texas: Passing: Riley Dodge, 24-38, 209 yds, 3 INT
Rushing: Lance Dunbar, 32-187, 4 TD, Receiving: Jamaal Jackson, 10-73
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 13-29, 122 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Undre Salis, 18-93, Receiving: Undre Salis, 3-30
What It All Means: The defensive line has been awful, and the run defense got ripped up by Lance Dunbar, but the offense finally put points on the board after scoring three games in the previous two weeks. However, the attack only gained 295 yards, it needed help from the defense with takeaways, and it took an interception return for a score and a blocked punt to put points on the board before a mad scramble late. If the offense can’t roll against Western Kentucky next week, then forget it; the O will never produce. The line is playing too well for the O to not do far more.

Sept. 26
at Nebraska 55 … Louisiana-Lafayette 0
In a throwback day for the Nebraska program, the Huskers rolled with ease with Roy Helu running for two, two-yard scores and Cody Green running for a 24-yard score and throwing a 24-yard touchdown pass to Rex Burkhead in the fourth. The defense forced three turnovers and scored on a Larry Asante 74-yrad interception return for a score.
Player of the Game: Nebraska QB Zac Lee completed 15-of-18 passes for 238 yards and a score.
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 13-22, 102 yds
Rushing: Undre Sails, 10-41, Receiving: Ladarius Green, 5-68
Nebraska: Passing: Zac Lee, 15-18, 238 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Roy Helu, 15-83, 2 TD, Receiving: Rex Burkhead, 4-26, 1 TD 
What It All Means: Just blow it off. Nebraska really is good and it was at home in an emotional bounceback game. However, it would’ve been nice if there was something the team did well to build on. The offensive line struggled and the running game didn’t go anywhere, while the defense struggled to do anything to throw the Husker passing attack off. With North Texas coming up next week, and after scoring just three points in the last two weeks, the Ragin’ Cajuns have to get the offense rolling again in a hurry. The machine has to turn on.

Sept. 19
at LSU 31 … Louisiana-Lafayette 3
Brandon LaFell caught touchdown passes from 16 and 20 yards out and Trindon Holliday and Charles Scott ran for short scores in the blowout win. The defense, led by Chad Jones’ two interceptions, stuffed Louisiana-Lafayette allowing just 272 yards of total offense while forcing three turnovers. ULL’s only points came on a 40-yard Tyler Albrecht field goal in the second quarter.
Player of the Game: LSU S Chad Jones made four tackles with two interceptions
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 16-36, 159 yds, 2 INT
Rushing: Undre Salis, 17-48, Receiving: Ladarius Green, 6-64
LSU: Passing: Jordan Jefferson, 16-25, 165 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Charles Scott, 12-63, Receiving: Terrance Tolliver, 6-68
What It All Means: The Ragin’ Cajun offense never had a chance against the swarming LSU defense, while the ground game never got a chance to get on track. Against Nebraska next week, Chris Masson will have to do more with the passing game and he can’t complete just 16 of 36 passes again. The running game isn’t going to do much against the Huskers, so if Masson isn’t terrific, and if the defense doesn’t come up with several takeaways, it’ll be another blowout.

Sept. 12
at Louisiana-Lafayette 17 ... Kansas State 15
Tyler Albrecht nailed a 48-yard bomb with 32 seconds to play to upset Kansas State and stop a Wildcat rally. The Ragin' Cajuns held a 14-2 lead into the fourth quarter with a 13-yard Undrea Salis run and a one-yard Luke Aubrey catch, but KSU came up with a halfback option with Daniel Thomas throwing a three-yard touchdown pass to Jeron Mastrud, before running for a three-yard score almost six minutes later.
Player of the Game: Louisiana-Lafayette LB Antwyne Zanders made 15 tackles.
Kansas State: Passing: Carson Coffman, 13-25, 178 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Daniel Thomas, 27-136, 1 TD, Receiving: Attrail Snipes, 3-78
Louisiana-Lafayette: Passing: Chris Masson, 20-36, 185 yds,  TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Undre Sails, 20-78, 1 TD, Receiving: Luke Aubrey, 6-38, 1 TD
What It All Means: With trips to LSU and Nebraska up next, the Ragin' Cajuns desperately needed the win over Kansas State. While it might not be the Kansas State of old, it was still a great win for the program to beat a name team at home. The running game might not be rolling as usual compared to the last few years, and the offense sputtered over the second half, but Chris Masson led the attack on the drive it needed to come up with to set up Tyler Albrecht for his fantastic kick. Down the road, this could be a confidence builder in Sun Belt play.

Sept. 5
at Louisiana-Lafayette 42 ... Southern 19
Down 12-7 after Southern got the second of two Juamorr Stewart touchdown catches, Louisiana scored 30 unanswered points with Undrea Sailes scoring twice, highlighted by a 56-yard pass play, and Pierre Hill made a great grab for a 42-yard score. Chris Masson threw two touchdown passes and led the Ragin' Cajuns to 533 yards of total offense.
Player of the Game: Louisiana-Lafayette QB Chris Masson completed 18-of-24 passes for 283 yards and two score and he ran one time for 21 yards.
Southern: Passing: Bryant Lee, 18-29, 254, 2 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Brian Threat, 14-52, Receiving: Juamorr Stewart, 10-173, 2 TD
Louisiana: Passing: Chris Masson, 18-24, 283, 2 TD
Rushing: Undrea Sails, 19-114, 1 TD, Receiving: Louie Lee, 4-86
What It All Means: Chris Masson might not be a runner like Michael Desormeaux was, but he threw extremely well spreading the ball around nicely and doing a good job of leading the way on long drives. The defense wasn't a rock, especially on third downs, and it couldn't figure out Southern WR Juamorr Stewart, but there weren't any points allowed over the final three quarters in a decisive, blowout win. If the team plays this well, it has a shot against a mediocre Kansas State.