Written by Dan McDonald
| Monday, 09 November 2009 20:26
|
College Football News
It’s been well documented, but it bears repeating every time Southeastern Louisiana’s Lions win a football game.
SLU was picked to finish ninth – a nice way of saying last – in the Southland Conference preseason coaches poll, and head coach Mike Lucas was visibly peeved with that ranking.
“I knew we had a good football team then,” Lucas said last Saturday. “Now everybody else knows.”
The Lions had closed out their first shutout since rekindling the football program in 2003 a few minutes earlier, beating Northwestern State 27-0 to improve to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the Southland. SLU is two home wins away – a Saturday game against 7-2 Stephen F. Austin and a backyard battle with 1-8 Nicholls State the following Thursday – from tying for the SLC title and a likely first-ever berth in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.
If any of the Lions were looking ahead to Saturday’s SFA game – one that will match two of the four teams tied atop the Southland with one loss – they didn’t show it against the Demons … especially on defense.
“We knew we couldn’t overlook them,” said linebacker Mark Newbill, SLU’s leading tackler this season. “We can’t afford to overlook anybody. But now we can look at SFA.”
The only blemish on SLU’s league slate is a last-minute 36-35 loss to McNeese State in Lake Charles. If they win out, the Lions would hold the league-title tiebreaker over everyone except the Cowboys, and McNeese still has a couple of challenges in Texas State (the other matchup of one-loss teams) and a solid Central Arkansas team.
Even if SLU doesn’t get the Southland’s automatic bid, they’re in solid shape for an at-large berth if they win their last two.
CAJUN COMEBACK: Reports of the death of UL Lafayette’s football season were apparently exaggerated.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, given up for dead by most after back-to-back losses to Florida Atlantic and Florida International in Sun Belt Conference play, surprised many – most notably Arkansas State – in a 21-18 upset over the Red Wolves in Jonesboro, Ark., last weekend.
The Cajuns led 21-3 through three quarters but needed an interception by Lance Kelley – making his first start in the UL Lafayette secondary – in the final three minutes to lock up the win.
Prior to ASU’s late rally, the only surprise through three quarters was that the Cajuns weren’t ahead by more, after rolling to a 302-101 yardage edge through three periods. Two fumbles deep in ASU territory kept the margin from being larger.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” said UL coach Rickey Bustle. “People haven’t given them credit for the hearts that they have.”
The Cajuns are 5-4 overall and 3-2 in league play, with the final three games coming against the three teams they trail in the league standings – Troy (6-0), Middle Tennessee and UL Monroe (both 4-1). It’s a tough stretch, but it also means the Cajun squad holds most of its own destiny down the stretch.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: Northwestern State’s Demons are mired in a miserable season, with last weekend’s 27-0 shutout loss to SLU dropping them to 0-9 heading into Saturday’s game at Nicholls State. But despite last weekend’s loss, one Demon player stood out.
Senior Darius Duffy had 12 receptions for 147 yards against the Lions, the third-highest catch total in NSU history and one short of the record 13 set by Jerry Wheeler against then-Northeast Louisiana in 1982 and tied by Nathan Black against Montana in a 2001 NCAA playoff game.
“I had a feeling I’d have a good day,” Duffy said after what was far and away the best game of his two-school career. “I just wish it would have led to more points on the board.”
A native of Lafayette, Duffy began his career at UL Lafayette and was a three-year member of the Ragin’ Cajuns. He transferred to NSU for the 2008 season and ranked third on the team with 19 catches and 287 yards last year.
This year, he’s at 44 catches and counting with two games to go, moving all the way to second on the Demons’ single-season list and trailing only Bernard Green’s 47 catches in 2001.
“I snuck a peek at the media guide before the year started and saw the receiving records,” he said. “That was one of my goals and I thought I could get there. I’d already be almost there except I had two drops today (last Saturday).”
Duffy would no doubt trade a lot of those catches for a few more wins. NSU’s best hope may come against the 1-8 Colonels Saturday in Thibodaux. The Demons close out the season the next weekend at home against Stephen F. Austin.
“We have to keep coming out and playing together in all three phases,” Duffy said. “We have to get on the same page. One game our defense is great, one game our offense is great. We’ve got to make our own breaks and not just wait for something to happen.”
BIG NUMBERS: Grambling’s offense has been in high gear over the last two weeks and rolled up 42 points last Saturday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff – but lost 49-42.
Maybe the Tigers should have done what McNeese State did, and kept on scoring.
The Cowboys had at least two touchdowns in every quarter in a 63-42 home win over Sam Houston State, rolling up 608 total offense yards in the highest scoring game (two-team) in school history.
That outburst has put McNeese in an odd position, leading the nation (FCS division) in scoring with a 39.6 average per game. That’s a first for a program that led Division I-AA in total defense (1993), rushing defense (1995), passing defense (1997) and scoring defense (1995 and 1997) in its past.
Tailback Todd Pendland, still recovering from a groin injury, had four rushing touchdowns and 171 yards, and quarterback Derrick Fourroux had 308 offensive yards to pull within 61 of Kerry Joseph’s school-record 9,676 offensive total.
“Everyone keeps bringing it up, but the only thing I’m concerned about is winning,” Fourroux told the Lake Charles American-Press. “If we can win without me setting the record, then so be it.”
MORE HURTS: La. Tech’s beaten-up Bulldogs lost another key player for the stretch drive Monday.
Senior free safety Antonio Baker fractured his tibia early in Friday’s 45-35 home loss to Boise State, and the extent of the injury was confirmed by Tech coach Derek Dooley Monday.
“It’s a little bit sad that he couldn’t finish up his career the right way,” Dooley said.
Baker was a first-team All-WAC pick in both his sophomore and junior seasons and was a preseason all-league pick this year. He had 51 tackles, two picks and three forced fumbles entering Friday’s game.
The ‘Dogs are 3-6 and play at LSU Saturday, and even with a monumental upset there and season-ending league wins over Fresno State and San Jose State (they’ll be a big underdog at Fresno, too) Tech won’t be matching its bowl trip of last season thanks to late losses in its last three games.
And make no mistake, Dooley was kidding when he told the Monroe News-Star that LSU won’t be as much of a test as Boise.
“I guess we’ve got a little easier challenge next week because they’re not number five in the country (where Boise was ranked), “ he jokingly said. “They’re only number six or number seven (actually ninth). But it is on the road, so maybe that balances it out.”
How long before a misguided Tiger fan posts that quote on a chat room somewhere, not knowing it was said in jest?
TOP ‘TOPPER TOSSED: UL Monroe is still in the Sun Belt Conference title chase and is a heavy favorite to beat Western Kentucky at home this Saturday. But the underdog Hilltoppers may have a rallying cry.
WKU fired seven-year head coach David Elson Sunday and announced the firing on Monday after WKU lost a hard-fought 40-20 decision to Sun Belt leader (and national-poll vote-getter) Troy last Saturday. This is Western’s first full Division I-A season and first to play football in the Sun Belt.
Elson, who will coach the season’s final three games, was defensive coordinator for WKU’s I-AA national champion in 2002 and took over as head coach the following year when the ‘Toppers made the first of two more I-AA playoff appearances. He had winning seasons in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the numbers tell a story – 2-28 against I-A teams and 37-13 against everyone else, mostly I-AA, in his career.
Sometimes it’s less about the coaching and more about having the tools and the time to start competing at a higher level. But WKU apparently couldn’t wait, with season tickets down 17 percent and walk-up ticket buys down 45 percent since 2007, and exercised a $500,000 buyout.
