Football: Cajuns’ confidence shows in 42-19 win

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • September 7, 2009

When things went well for UL on Saturday in its 42-19 season-opening win over Southern University, the Ragin’ Cajuns enjoyed their successes.

The players were also sure not to go overboard with their celebrations. They saved their major celebrating for after the game, away from the program’s single-game record crowd at Cajun Field.

"(We wanted) to take care of business," said UL quarterback Chris Masson. "We’re serious about that this year. That’s our goal, to win a Sun Belt title. Everybody was excited when we went back into the locker room."

Masson, who accounted for 319 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, added that the Cajuns were successful because they played with confidence. The program was picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt last season but surprised the critics with a second-place finish and narrowly missed out on a bowl bid.

After being picked sixth in the conference again this season, UL has plans to carry last season’s success into 2009.

"We expect to win, that’s one of our (team) mottos," said the sophomore from Miami. "We’ve got to expect to win every game because if you don’t, why are you even playing football? I think that’s the attitude that we have this year. We’re going to go out there and get the job done."

Bouncing back

After struggling early, UL’s defense shut down Southern quarterback Bryant Lee and wide receiver Juamorris Stewart in the last three quarters.

Lee went 9-for-12 passing for 146 yards and two scores in the first quarter to give the Jaguars a 12-7 lead, but his production slowed down after that. The senior hit on 9-of-17 passes for 108 yards and was picked off twice in the final 45 minutes.

The final line for Lee was 18-of-29 passing for 254 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Stewart was Lee’s main target. The senior hauled in seven catches for 132 yards and two scores in the opening period. He caught two passes for 30 yards in the second quarter and had one catch for nine yards in the third period before not catching any balls in the fourth quarter.

By the end of the night, Stewart grabbed 10 receptions for 173 yards and two touchdowns. His yardage was the best individual receiving performance by a UL opponent at Cajun Field since Central Florida’s Siaha Burley nabbed 10 passes for 266 yards — the most ever against the Cajuns — on Oct. 24, 1998.

Odds and ends

UL head coach Rickey Bustle is now 2-6 in season openers since taking over the program in 2002. The Cajuns opened the 2004 season with a 14-7 win over Northwestern State "» With Kansas State coming to town next week, the Cajuns are looking to open a season with back-to-back wins at Cajun Field for the first time since going 3-0 at home to start the 1988 campaign "» The 12 points allowed by UL were the fewest given up by the team since a 17-11 loss to UL Monroe in the 2007 season finale "» The Cajuns have scored at least 37 points in seven of their past 11 games dating back to last season. Six of those times they hit the 40-point mark. UL also scored 42 points in a 42-28 win over Middle Tennessee in last year’s season finale.

Daily Advertiser Photo Galleries by Brad Kemp September 5, 2009

UL vs. Southern Action 1: click here http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20090905&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=909050804&Ref=PH

UL vs. Southern Action 2: click here http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20090905&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=909050805&Ref=PH

Denny Culbert, The Advertiser

UL Tailgating and Fans: click here  http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20090905&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=909050806&Ref=PH