Cajuns Making Adjustments
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
The fix is in for the Louisiana football program.
Beginning this week Cajuns’ head football coach Michael Desormeaux will be looking more closely at the anatomy of the Louisiana offense.
There were apparently enough problems Desormaux witnessed Saturday night that merits whatever adjustments are needed as the Cajuns approach the start of Sun Belt Conference competition in two weeks.
Desormeaux appeared happy — somewhat — with the 21-14 Louisiana victory over Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday night at Our Lady Of Lourdes Stadium.
Despite the win there was still some concern by Desormeaux for his offense which scored all the Cajuns’ points during the first half as Louisiana relied on the defense to withstand a UBA challenge during the final 30 minutes.
The Louisiana offense, which lost two of three fumbles, allowed one of those lost possessions to be returned 13 yards by the Blazers’ Chris Barge for a second quarter touchdown.
Inability of the Cajuns to sustain drives during the final half enabled UAB to control the game clock and set up a potential last minute comeback stopped only after Blazers’ quarterback Ryder Burton was tackled out of bounds as he was stripped of the ball by Collin Jacob on a fourth and two with 1:54 left.
“Offensively we weren’t clicking in the second half. We have got to get better and play better to be a championship team. We are going to have to fix some things and fix them quickly. There are a lot of things to go back and look at,” said Desormeaux after the Cajuns improved to 2-1.
“We were not in sync in the second half and that’s up front. That’s where it starts,” Desormeaux added.
Desormeaux explained that it was a number of second half issues that affected the Cajuns, who still finished with 335 total yards and 225 rushing.
“We’d get a turnover and something else would keep us behind the sticks. I felt good about what we were doing at halftime. Then we didn’t execute,” Desormeaux said.
What had Desormeaux encouraged however was the Cajuns’ defense, which limited the UAB running game to 74 yards on 31 attempts and kept the Blazers to only two third down conversions on 12 attempts.
“The defense played unbelievable and with resolve. I couldn’t be more proud,” said Desormeaux.
Cajuns’ linebacker Conor McPherson finished with 11 tackles — four assisted – said the defensive performance was a matter of doing what is necessary.
“We just come out and we play our game. Defensively we want to get to the ball. We played our game and we did that all together. The offense and defense, we’re all one. We see the ball and we think about making a tackle,” McPherson said.
Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield finished the game with 91 rushing yards and another 110 passing after completing 15-of-20.
Winfield had compliments for the defense, but said the offense needs attention.
“Our offense, we have to get back to work. We had turnovers, false starts, missed assignments in the second half. We’ve got to do better and protect the ball,” Winfield said.
