Football: Haack, defense propel Cajuns to second-half comeback

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, November 1, 2015

 

UL Ragin’ Cajuns wide receiver Jamal Robinson (4) breaks away to score the eventual game-winning touchdown on a 64-yard reception during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. (Photo: Paul Kieu, The Advertiser)

 

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It rained so much Saturday, UL coach Mark Hudspeth’s fingers and toes shriveled like those of a kid who spent too much time in the swimming pool.

But after a second-half comeback from a 15-point deficit prevented the Ragin’ Cajuns from drowning, thanks largely to Brooks Haack’s late 64-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Robinson, Hudspeth didn’t care how wet he was.

He was simply happy his 3-4 Cajuns are still kicking — bowl-bid and Sun Belt Conference-title aspirations still alive — after a 30-24 Homecoming win over in-state rival UL Monroe at Cajun Field.

Almost giddy, actually.

“What can I say about these guys’ resilience, their attitudes, about their determination?” said Hudspeth, whose Cajuns have now won seven of their last eight against the Warhawks — including 4-of-5 since he’s been their coach. “Can’t say enough about these guys.

“You can always fix schemes; you can always fix technique. You can fix a lot of stuff. You can’t fix effort, and you can’t fix determination.

“And when you’ve got those two types of things,” he added, “you can win football games and you can overcome the other things.”

That is precisely what UL had to do against ULM, which won on its last visit to Cajun Field — in 2013 — but has dropped six straight this year and is now 1-7.

Down 24-9 at the break, UL opened the second half with a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown that was engineered by Haack and capped by Elijah McGuire’s 5-yard run.

Haack ran in from 13 yards out with just more than seven minutes left on a short drive initiated when Chaiziere Malbrue blocked a punt.

UL’s two-point conversion failed, leaving the Cajuns down 24-22.

With 3:10 remaining, Haack — despite a slick and heavy rain-soaked ball — hit a streaking Robinson with an in-stride pass to put the Cajuns up 28-24.

“I thought it was about the right time,” Hudspeth said of the long throw. “We needed to take a shot. … They were sitting on a lot of the short stuff.

“Jamal got behind ’em,” he added, “and somehow Brooks got that ball about 40 or 50 yards down the field.”

Haack replaced Jalen Nixon, who took the starting job from his earlier this season, leaving Hudspeth uncertain of what will happen when UL visits Georgia State this coming Saturday.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.

This, though, is certain: When Robinson called for a long pass, asking receivers coach George Munoz for the look, Haack delivered when needed.

“Jamal ran a great route,” Haack said. “He got the corners’ hips flipped, and everything all turned around. I saw it, and just prayed that it would get there — because it was very tough out there. And he made the play.”

“I was just happy I could make a play for the team. … I just told Coach (Munoz), let’s take it deep one time,” Robinson added. “They were kind of scared to go deep because the ball was wet and all that, and they finally took the shot and gave me a chance.”

McGuire ran in the 2-point conversion to make 30-24 as UL improved to 2-1 in Sun Belt play while ULM fell to 0-4.

UL’s defense, meanwhile, shut out ULM in the second half — showing once again that while the Cajuns may not start games well, they can be strong in the second half.

“Our coaches, once again, made some phenomenal halftime adjustments,” Hudspeth said.

This time, the Cajuns brought more pressure and played more zone.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what a team’s gonna do in the first half,” said UL linebacker Dominique Tovell, who had a game-high 12 tackles including two sacks. “That’s not an excuse.

“But I think our coaches do a real good job of making second-half adjustments that allow us to come out and play smarter and faster. But we still need to start faster as a defense.”

That defense also claimed two fumbles, once caused by Tracy Walker and recovered by Tovell on ULM’s first play of its initial drive and one recovered by LaDarrius Kidd off a Mario Osborne sack on ULM’s last play of its final drive.

“We are a second-half team,” Walker said. “We won’t give up against nobody. We’re not gonna tuck our tails and run from anybody. No matter what the score is — it can be 50-0 — we’re gonna try to play our best so we can come back.

“As a defense, we got it together and realized … at halftime we were fighting each other. And we can’t do that. So we got it together as a team and we played the ball we needed to play.”

UL got three field goals from true freshman Stevie Artigue — from 40 yards, a career-high 41 and 33 — during a first half in which ULM finished three scoring drives with touchdowns.

A 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by Garrett Smith’s 27-yard pass to Marcus Green helped put the Warhawks up 7-3.

Smith later hit Ajalen Holley with a 29-yard scoring pass over the top and threw a 53-yard TD pass to Watson to help the Warhawks take a 21-9 lead with just more than six minutes remaining before halftime.

A 29-yard Craig Ford field goal with 35 seconds left in the half made it 24-9, and Smith finished with 265 passing yards, yet the Cajuns overcame.

“I just can’t say enough about the resiliency of our football team and our coaching staff,” Hudspeth said. “This is what our program is about … toughness, never give up.

“We got behind, but we didn’t quit. We kept fighting, and that’s what I love about these players, I love about our program.”