Football: Crowd eclipses 25,000 mark – Decoster, Green Out, Rolle Hurt, 2nd Q Outburst, more

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • October 9, 2010

For the second time this week, ESPN2 featured Sun Belt Conference football in a week-night game.

Middle Tennessee lost to Troy, 42-13, Tuesday night on ESPN2 in front of 28,010 – the second-largest crowd in Floyd Stadium history.

On Friday night, the announced attendance at Cajun Field was 25,881 — the 11th-largest in program history.

It was a substantial improvement over the attendance for UL in its first two home games of the season against Arkansas State (15,103) and Middle Tennessee (17,249).

"I think our environment is a very unique one," said UL athletic director David Walker. "Every chance we get to showcase it is an opportunity that we want to take advantage of. It should be a very good night."

Walker added that of the 1,500 seats in the Oklahoma State section, there were fewer than 300 seats left 20 minutes prior to kickoff.

Sun Belt Conference commissioner Wright Waters attended the game and was impressed with what he saw.

"We had the two teams picked at the top of the Sun Belt play on ESPN2 on Tuesday night in Middle Tennessee and Troy and then we had this atmosphere," Waters said. "It’s been a great week for us."

UL senior associate athletic director Scott Farmer credited the improved turnout to a number of factors.

"It’s what we had hoped for," Farmer said. "We had a beautiful day, and it looks like it will be a nice night. The walk-up has been good all day. We expect a lively crowd. The partnership with Festival Acadiens has really helped our attendance, as well as our ‘Take a Kid to the Game’ promotion.

"The tailgating, Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie and the excitement surrounding ESPN2 have all made for a great time."

Decoster, Green out

UL’s starting right tackle Jonathan Decoster did not dress out due to a knee injury. That ended a streak of 35 consecutive starts for the senior.

Sophomore Jaron Odom slid over from right guard to replace Decoster. Junior Kyle Plouhar started at right guard in place of Odom.

Ladarius Green, UL’s star tight end, dressed out but did not play due to a nagging high-ankle sprain. Redshirt freshman Jacob Maxwell started in his place.

Junior defensive end Bernard Smith also dressed out. Smith was not expected to play due to a thumb injury.

Rolle hurt

UL’s starting free safety Maurice Rolle Jr. hurt his left leg/ankle in the second quarter and was taken in for X-rays. The senior did not return.

Second-quarter

outburst

The Cajuns scored 21 points in the second quarter. That’s as many points as they scored combined in their losses this season to Georgia, 55-7, and Middle Tennessee, 34-14.

Welcome home

Friday’s game was a homecoming for a number of Oklahoma State coaches and players.

Oklahoma State associate head coach/special teams coordinator/safeties coach Joe DeForest played football for the Cajuns from 1983-86 and was a two-year lettermen in baseball.

DeForest had one tackle in a 21-20 loss to Oklahoma State at Cajun Field on Sept. 6, 1986. The Cowboys won the game on Ronnie Williams’ 11-yard TD pass to Hart Lee Dykes with eight seconds left.

Junior defensive end/tight end Wilson Youman is from St. Martinville, while sophomore defensive back Brodrick Brown was born in Shreveport. OSU director of football operations Mack Butler had the same job at LSU.

Extra points

UL linebacker Grant Fleming, center Ian Burks, defensive end Terrell Richardson and fullback Matt Desormeaux served as team captains. Oklahoma State was represented by linebacker Tolu Moala, defensive tackle Chris Donaldson and receiver Bo Bowling "» Oklahoma State won the pre-game coin toss and deferred to the second half "» Waters presented Walker and UL president Dr. E. Joseph Savoie with a plaque between the first and second quarters for being a member of the Sun Belt for the past 10 years … UL’s Cooper Gerami, a reserve redshirt freshman safety, left the game briefly in the first quarter after cutting open his left knee but did return "» UL’s Brett Baer made his first collegiate extra-point attempt early in the second quarter. The sophomore replaced senior Tyler Albrecht, who had made all 11 extra-point attempts this season but was only 1-of-6 on field goals "» UL freshman receiver James Butler made his first collegiate receptions on back-to-back-to-back plays in the second quarter.