There’s a lot to uncover when analyzing UL’s 41-33 loss to Tulane University on Saturday at Cajun Field.
Off the field, the game should never have been played at 11am in September, as far as I can tell, UL’s athletic department demanded a 7pm kickoff.
Either way, ESPN and the Sun Belt Conference decision makers need to show more wisdom than that, and shame on all those responsible for sacrificing fans to make that decision.
It would have been a bad decision to do that prior to the renovations, where it would have been totally unacceptable.
Now, let’s move on to soccer.
The first thing to consider in that regard is that Tulane may be the best team the Cajuns will face all season.
After playing against Grambling and Kennesaw State, UL simply wasn’t prepared for that level of football, and the Cajuns made a lot of costly mistakes, helping the Green Wave score two non-offensive touchdowns and losing by eight points.
In that sense, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to find some encouragement in it.
That being said, there are certainly issues that need to be addressed.
Had we known Tulane would only gain 83 yards passing, we might have predicted a Cajun victory. UL forced the Green Wave to be patient, allowing Tulane to rush for 272 yards. Tulane scored on 15, 13 and 13 plays.
“It was a good strategy and I felt like we had the guys all together,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “You’ve got to knock guys back with your tackles, you’ve got to attack, you’ve got to run with your feet, you’ve got to surround them and get them on their backs, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Maki Hughes was like a bull in a sauna, finishing with 166 yards on 23 carries.
“It was straight downhill most of the time,” UL defensive end Jordan Lawson said, “He ran hard. Nothing crazy, just running hard. We struggled a little bit finishing tackles and finishing plays and it hurt us later.”
We’ll see how many opponents can pull it off in the future, but stopping the run was a big emphasis in the offseason and has yet to be fixed.
The team’s leader in tackles, KC Ossai, left the game with an injury in the second quarter, so maybe he’s more valuable than we thought.
If he’s out for an extended period of time, filling that void will be a big thing.
Another big issue is the kicking game. Special teams has had two red flags in three games. That’s OK in this area.
The UL staff is adamant about covering kicks, and while it might work, they don’t have to, and listening to Desormeaux’s comments after the game, it sounds like a change is coming there.
But the other kickoff went out of bounds, which also should not have happened.
There was also the issue of game management.
Down by five with two minutes to go in the second half, going for the two-point conversion to try and score is not a smart move. It’s too early to try and score.
If the second half had been as deadlocked as the first, the decision wouldn’t have been so bad, and in any case, there was still plenty of football left to take that route.
Making things even worse were the offensive options on third and medium downs in the first half, most of which were essentially jump balls that the receivers hoped they would win — in other words, if you thought you needed a reverse to gain three yards, kick the extra point.
A less glaring blunder was wasting a timeout in the fourth quarter. UL had 12 players on the field when Tulane went for second-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Timeouts are valuable when you’re trailing in the second half. A timeout is usually more important than a 5-yard penalty, but in a running game that was already over 230 yards at that point, a timeout is certainly more valuable than a half-yard penalty.
Hopefully, there will be improved conversion play options against future opponents and Ben Wooldridge will have a more accurate passing day, but the offense still managed 22 first downs and 421 total yards.
That’s a lot to build on.
Yes, there were some positives, especially the running game.
With Drelin Washington still not at 100%, the Cajuns rushed for 183 yards on 6.8 yards per carry.
Leading the way was redshirt freshman Bill Davis, who had 103 yards on nine carries.
“I just trust my offensive line,” Davis said. “We’re a close-knit group. I trust them to block right and they trust me to make the right reads.”
“Just be confident, that’s the most important thing.”
Naturally, Davis was hoping for a 75-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the third quarter, but he was content with a 73-yard touchdown run two plays before his 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kayden Jensen.
“Coming out of halftime we knew we had to get things going,” Davis said, “Obviously, that was the start of a really good drive. Credit to Kayden Jensen, I got caught at the end … so we were able to capitalize on that drive.”
The pass defense was excellent with the exception of Tulane’s 14-yard conversion on third down, which may be the most important play many will never debate.
Going forward, being able to defend the forward pass will be extremely useful as most teams will be passing-heavy in this era.
Sure, six interceptions is out of the question, but after that disaster, tight end Terrance Carter had four catches for a career-high 79 yards and a score, and it was clear what he brings to the offense, which the staff needs to step up to immediately.
And while UL’s run defense was awful in that Heat game, they still had enough juice left to force a field goal after a turnover at the UL 26 with 4 minutes, 8 seconds left to keep UL’s hopes alive. That was good to watch, too.
“We knew that was our benchmark, but we’re not where we want to be yet,” DeSormeaux said.
