Football: Wait is over for home win in the series with ULM

Rickey Bustle took a deep breath and exhaled in the moments after UL held on for a 21-17 win over UL Monroe on Saturday night.

For the eighth-year Ragin’ Cajuns coach, it marked the first time that he had beaten the in-state Warhawks at home.

UL had lost five of its previous seven meetings in the series under Bustle, including three in a row in Lafayette. But coupled with last season’s 44-35 win, the Cajuns have beaten ULM in the past two meetings.

"Ah, hell, we hadn’t beaten them here," Bustle said. "We had beaten them up there a couple of times. I just thought that both sides of the ball played well."

ULM still leads the all-time series, which started in 1951 and was dubbed "the Battle on the Bayou" in 2002, by a 23-22 margin.

The Cajuns are now 11-11 all-time in Lafayette and 8-7 at Cajun Field.

Tough break

ULM coach Charlie Weatherbie fell to 5-4 all-time against the Cajuns. He is 4-3 in the series with the Warhawks.

In 1993, he was the head coach at Utah State, which beat the Cajuns, 34-13, in Big West play and later won the Las Vegas Bowl. The Cajuns beat Utah State and Weatherbie the following season, 27-25.

Takeaway time

With two interceptions Saturday, the Cajuns have matched their highest single-season total of 15 in the past 15 years. Orkeys Auriene and Lance Kelley both picked off passes in the win.

The 1994 team, which featured former NFL players Orlando Thomas (Vikings) and Patrice Alexander (Redskins), nabbed 19 interceptions.

UL hadn’t gotten double-digit interceptions since picking off 12 passes in 2003. The Cajuns had nine picks in both 2008 and 2007.

Binding ties

There are plenty of connections between UL and ULM.

Bustle, linebackers coach Tim Rebowe and receivers coach Darryl Mason previously coached at ULM.

UL offensive coordinator Ron Hudson and ULM defensive coordinator Troy Reffett worked on the same coaching staff at UTEP from 2001-03.

ULM assistant Darrell Perkins and UL quarterbacks coach Jorge Munoz both worked together at Charleston Southern in 2004.

ULM players Jonathan Morvant (Acadiana High), Josh Thomas (Port Barre) and receivers Tim Taylor (Opelousas Catholic) and Shaq Belson (Beau Chene) are all from the Acadiana area.

UL deep snapper Scott Hayes is from Shreveport and attended Airline High School in Bossier City.

ULM kicker Radi Jabour and UL receiver Louis Lee were prep teammates at East St. John. UL offensive lineman Ian Burks and ULM tight end Justin Waller played together at Denham Springs.

Passing man

UL quarterback Chris Masson, who threw for 252 yards Saturday, topped the 200-yard mark for the sixth consecutive game.

The sophomore also became the first Cajun to pass for 2,000 yards in a season since Jerry Babb threw for 2,345 yards in 2004. Masson now has 2,219 passing yards with one game left in the regular season.

Odds and Ends

UL’s Chris Fisher, Brad Bustle, Antwyne Zanders and Jezreel Washington and ULM’s Scott Love, Trey Revell, James Truxillo and Josh Thomas served as team captains. ULM won the coin toss and deferred to the second half "» The Cajuns are now 6-1 this season when forcing at least two turnovers "» ULM got two sacks — one more than UL had allowed in its five previous victories this season "» Bustle improved to 18-2 when leading at halftime at home "» The Cajuns are 17-31 in the first game following a loss "» UL linebacker Jezreel Washington logged a game-high 10 tackles in his second consecutive start. Last week he had a career-high 11 stops in a 34-17 loss at Middle Tennessee "» With nine tackles Saturday, UL linebacker Antwyne Zanders now has 98 stops on the season. That’s the most in a single season for the senior, who had 93 tackles as a sophomore in 2007 "» The Cajuns scored on Brad McGuire’s 1-yard run with 12 seconds left in the first half. It was the seventh time the team had scored with less than 90 seconds in either the second or fourth quarter this season.