Football: Cajun Field’s 40th season starts today

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • September 11, 2010

The 40th season of football at Cajun Field officially kicks off today as UL opens Sun Belt Conference play against Arkansas State.

On the eve of this momentous occasion, the impossible has happened: Cajun Field opens up and speaks for the first time. And he has plenty to say.

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Hard to imagine I’m going into my 40th season of football.

Seems like my first game — a 21-0 win for the Cajuns over Santa Clara on Sept. 25, 1971 — was only yesterday. In fact, it was only one year after the football program’s most recent bowl game.

For 17 years, I was simply called Cajun Field. In the summer of 1988, then-strength and conditioning coach Mickey Faulkinberry suggested that I be referred to as "The Swamp." Made sense since I’m set two feet below sea level in a state known for its bayous and wetlands.

I was natural grass until getting a field turf transplant on my 38th birthday prior to the 2008 season. Ends up that was a good thing as the Cajuns ate up yardage all season and finished seventh nationally in rushing, 13th in total offense and 24th in scoring.

Some great players have run through the tunnel and onto me over the years. Brian Mitchell. Damon Mason. Orlando Thomas. Brandon Stokley. Jake Delhomme. Tyrell Fenroy.

Those players provided some special moments, both for me and especially for the Cajun fans. The home team has won here 55 percent of the time (113-94-2). Wish that mark were better, but the 8-3 showing here over the past two years makes me optimistic.

My life has been filled with ups and downs.

A winless 1973 season in my third year was a disaster. Coach Augie Tammariello led the team to nine wins in 1976 and an undefeated season here. Coach Nelson Stokley had some special teams, including the program’s second undefeated home season here in 1987 and a 16-4 mark here from 1993-96.

Current coach Rickey Bustle earned a share of the 2005 Sun Belt title and has won six games four of the past five years, but I want a bowl berth even if I can’t make the trip. (That 38-17 loss here to McNeese State in 2007 still stings.) Perhaps this is the year that bowl drought ends.

At my age, I like to reflect on the good old days. How better to reminisce than to look at some of the top 40 moments as selected by panel of long-time, local media in chronological order:

 

n 9/25/71 — Opening night for me. The Cajuns deliver with a 21-0 win over Santa Clara.

n 10/5/74 — Rafael Septien shows a big leg by setting a school record with a 57-yard field goal and also makes a 52-yarder in a 38-13 loss to Lamar.

n 10/26/74 — Harold Porter turns a short pass from Randy Fontenot into a 95-yard touchdown in a 21-20 win over Chattanooga.

n 11/18/78 — Frank Bartley flew all over the field and finished with a school-record 30 tackles in a 10-9 loss to Southern Illinois.

n 9/6/80 — Coach Sam Robertson’s first game is memorable as the Cajuns edge New Mexico State, 14-12.

n 11/6/82 — After trailing 26-0 at halftime, the Cajuns rallied by scoring 40 points in the final 18 minutes for a 40-26 win over ULM. Most of the homecoming crowd missed the comeback, leaving at halftime.

n 9/6/86 — Oklahoma State spoils coach Nelson Stokley’s first game after the Cajuns fall, 21-20, on Hart Lee Dykes’s touchdown catch.

n 11/21/87 — Brian Mitchell racks up a school-record 476 yards of total offense in a 35-28 win over Colorado State. It was only the third time in NCAA history that a player had at least 200 yards rushing and passing in the same game.

n 11/19/88 — Small yet talented, Joe Redding returned four kickoffs for 89 yards in a 38-21 loss to Arkansas State. He finished with 114 kickoff returns for 2,642 yards — both NCAA career records that lasted for eight years.

n 11/11/89 — Brian Mitchell did it again, rushing for five TDs in a 42-33 win over Lamar.

n 11/18/89 — In his final collegiate game, Brian Mitchell accounted for four TDs and the game-winning conversion — twice — in a 29-28 win over Arkansas State.

n 10/6/90 — Saw Alabama coach Gene Stallings sweat as the Crimson Tide escaped with a 25-6 win. Alabama is the only SEC school to ever play on me.

n 11/3/90 — Weather kills the scoreboard, and Brett Favre throws a late TD to lead Southern Miss to a 14-13 win.

n 11/21/92 — A tornado ends a 20-7 loss to Arkansas State early and wraps up a disappointing 2-9 season.

 

n 11/27/93 — A 21-17 win over Louisiana Tech gives the Cajuns the Big West title, the program’s first conference championship since 1970.

n 11/5/94 — In another nail-biter, the Cajuns slip past UNLV, 28-27, to secure a second straight Big West crown.

n 11/18/95 — Brandon Stokley has 130 receiving yards in a 35-32 loss to Southern Miss to finish with 1,121 yards, an NCAA record by a freshman — despite not starting a game.

n 9/14/96 — My turf still stands up when thinking about a 29-22 win over No. 25 Texas A&M in front of a then-record crowd of 38,783. Students tore down one of the goal posts and carried it up the hill and out of the stadium.

n 11/9/96 — Jake Delhomme finishes with five TD passes in his final home game, a 45-31 win over Northern Illinois.

n 10/24/98 — Future NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper throws for 438 yards — the most ever by a visiting player here — in Central Florida’s 42-10 win.

n 11/21/98 — In Nelson  Stokley’s final game as head coach, the Cajuns beat Western Kentucky, 38-24, behind Brandon Stokley’s 110 receiving yards. He becomes the first player in NCAA history to average 100 receiving yards per game over a career.

n 8/22/03 — My favorite NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, hold their Black and Gold Scrimmage here in front of a capacity crowd.

n 12/20/05 — After Hurricane Katrina blasted New Orleans, the New Orleans Bowl is plaplayed here as Southern Miss knocks off Arkansas State, 31-19. The Cajuns missed out on the bowl bid after losing the three-way tiebreaker with Arkansas State and ULM.

n 9/20/08 — In the first game on my new field turf, quarterback Michael Desormeaux accounts for 403 yards of total offense in a 44-27 win over Kent State.

n 10/18/08 — With Michael Desormeaux hurt, backup quarterback Brad McGuire engineers a fourth-quarter rally in a 28-23 win over Arkansas State.

n 11/1/08 — Tailback Tyrell Fenroy becomes the seventh player in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his four years in a 49-20 win over Florida International. It’s also the 1,000th game in program history in front of Sun Belt-record crowd of 29,031.

n 12/03/08 — Tyrell Fenroy’s jersey is retired during a pre-game ceremony prior to a 42-28 win over Middle Tennessee. Michael Desormeaux tops the 1,000-yard rushing mark to become the eighth quarterback in NCAA history with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

n 9/05/09 — A record crowd of 41,357 fans pack into the stadium as the Cajuns roll past Southern, 42-19.

n 9/12/09 — Tyler Albrecht drills his first collegiate field goal attempt from 48 yards with 32 seconds left to lift the Cajuns to a 17-15 upset of Big 12 member Kansas State.

Those were some of my greatest moments, although there were some losses I had hoped to forget. Here’s hoping the 2010 season provides even more memories.