As it turns out, Spencer Ortego wasn’t done delivering in the clutch for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns after all.

After four years of being the team’s starting punter, including two All-Sun Belt campaigns, Ortego has been very much in the background as a student assistant for the Cajuns throughout this memorable season.

That was until there was 2:05 left in regulation of Saturday’s Sun Belt contest nail-biter with UL Monroe at Cajun Field.

When it came time for the onsides kick after Blaine Gautier’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Darryl Surgent narrowed the gap to 36-30, UL kicker extraordinaire Brett Baer didn’t have his onsides kick tee.

So Ortego and a student manager sprinted up the tunnel headed for the equipment room.

"The equipment room isn’t that big, I thought I’d be able to find it," Ortego said. "It was in the practice kicking bag that we use every day."

It’s a good thing Ortego’s still in good shape. As Baer ran onto the field with the wrong kickoff tee in hand, Ortego arrived just in time with the correct one. The two made the toss-exchange on the field and history was about to be made.

Baer converts the perfect onsides kick, batted by Brad McGuire and recovered by star tight end Ladarius Green, who ran it to the ULM 39. Six plays later, Alonzo Harris scored the game-winning touchdown on a 3-yard run for a 36-35 lead with 1:06 left to play.

"Brett deserves all the credit," Ortego said. "He did a great job on the kick. He’s really a very talented kicker."

Indeed, on the very week that he earned Lou Groza Watch List semifinal status, Baer proved heroic again.

"We always practice it on Friday," said Baer, who admitted the onsides tee makes a huge difference in getting elevation on the kick. "Ladarius did a great job. You can get the perfect kick and still not get the ball."

UL’s approach is to kick it from the right hash and have 6-foot-6 tight end Green trailing on the sideline to keep the ball inbounds, or in this case pick it up and run with it.

"I knew I had to get it," Green said. "I had no choice but to get it. Actually, I thought I did (have running room). I guess he had an angle on me. but I was just happy to get the ball."

As it turned out, you can’t advance an onsides kick, but possession proved good enough.

"After we recovered it, I knew Blaine would do an awesome job," said Baer, who now has the best field goal kicking percentage (22 of 24) of any active kicker in the nation after Saturday’s 41-yard field goal.

"None of that means as much without everything we’re doing as a team. Without those eight wins, it’s nothing. Those eight wins mean so much. Next week, we’re going to have a chance to get a conference championship and get a ring."

UL coach Mark Hudspeth is actually the special teams coach.

"Brett kicked it about 12 yards, like we want it, and it bounced off hands," said Hudspeth, who said the execution in the clutch on Saturday was better than it normally is during Friday practice sessions.

"I’ve never seen it like that in practice," said linebacker Devon Lewis-Buchanan, who is also played a role on the kickoff team. "I was running and saw the ball pop up and then saw a tallest guy next to it. I was just yelling, ‘Run, keep running.’ It put us in great position."

Hudspeth said the use of starters on special teams has been a move by necessity in recent weeks, especially with the poor job the team has done in kickoff coverage.

True freshman Carlos Alvarez finished off with Baer started, though, with his best kickoff of the day after Harris scored the game-winning touchdown.

"He (Alvarez) did a great job when we needed it on his last kick," Hudspeth said. "He kicked it right where we wanted it. He came through in the clutch."

UL kickers, past and present, did so on Saturday.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for the Tailgating Photo Gallery of Saturday’s ULM game.

Click here for the on-the-field  #1 Photo Gallery  which includes the Senior Day images.

Click here for the #2 photo gallery.

Click here for the #3 photo gallery.

Click here for the #4 photo gallery.