Photograph: A UL-Lafayette defensive back rides down a South Alabama running back during a Homecoming game last Saturday. (Photograph by Mike Curley.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
After an auspicious two-game start and three weeks of austerity,, the Louisiana football coaches and players have an extra week to exhale and assess.
Or as Cajuns’ head football coach Mike Desormeaux said on Monday, “We get to look in the mirror and think about who we are.”
According to Desormeaux the bye week for the Cajuns won’t necessarily include deep analysis or a need to consult psychics.
Louisiana is a 2-3 football team and the team’s situation “is what it is,” Desormeaux told the media during a weekly press conference.
The timing is also beneficial for everyone associated with the program Desormeaux said, “to take a deep breath and get back to doing the things we need to do in order to play clean football.”
The Cajuns will re-examine their situation beginning Wednesday Desormeaux said, as Louisiana engages in a process resembling a mini-spring practice, focusing on drills that detail technique and execution.
What needs fixing Desormeaux thinks is achieving more offensive consistency. Desormeaux added that the offensive line play has allowed the Cajuns to improve the running game.
Defensively Desormeaux notes the Cajuns have played well in all five games and have been giving Louisiana a chance to win games, especially late.
Special teams will perhaps receive a more intense diagnosis.
The Cajuns have made only three-of-seven field goals and one of those attempts was blocked against UL-Monroe. Another try was sabotaged by a poor snap.
Who’s Running The Offense?
Offensively the Cajuns finished the South Alabama game last Saturday with Ben Wooldridge at quarterback after starter Chandler Fields was pulled due to an injury that Desormeaux has yet to disclose.
Wooldridge responded by directing a late fourth quarter 17-play,84-yard touchdown drive that was later overshadowed by a South Alabama possession that led to a game-winning 43-yard field goal with no time remaining.
For the season Wooldridge is 48-of-79 passing for 440 yards and one interception.
Fields, who has started every game, has 608 passing yards after 54 completions off 94 attempts.
Desormeaux did not discuss the starting quarterback situation.
Game Planning
The Cajuns are scheduled to play at Marshall University Oct. 12.
Louisiana, Desormeaux said won’t become too ambitious about game-planning for Marshall until the latter part of this week.
“I’ve hardly looked at anything involving Marshall up to this point,” said Desormeaux.
Desormeaux said he remembers a page from a football memoir written by Tony Dungy.
“(Dungy) said three days of opponent preparation should be enough, even when you’re playing in the Super Bowl,” Desormeaux said.
In the meantime Desormeaux said the Cajuns’ focus will be inward.
“Right now we are living in the moment. We are not where we want to be,” said Desormeaux.
Eric Garror
The Louisiana Sports Writers Association has named Eric Garror the state’s Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this year.
Garror returned a South Alabama punt 69 yards for a touchdown. The Mobile, Ala. native returned a Southeastern Louisiana punt 83 yards in the first game of the season.
