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Football: Interesting FinishTim Buckley, The Advertiser, November 4, 2012 MONROE — If last season’s comeback from 11 points down with just more than two minutes to go wasn’t enough to intensify an already testy rivalry between UL and UL Monroe, the final four seconds of the Ragin’ Cajuns 40-24 win over the Warhawks on Saturday night could be. Up by 10 with 1:45 remaining, the Cajuns ran walk-on redshirt freshman Torrey Pierce — essentially their No. 4 running back — three times as they tried to run out the clock. Pierce picked up no yards, 1 yard and 3 yards, leaving UL with fourth-and-6 from its own 19-yard line with those four seconds to go. The Cajuns’ final play: an 81-yard touchdown pass from starting quarterback Terrance Broadway to fill-in starting wideout Jamal Robinson. Robinson was wide open when Broadway’s pass arrived, as the Warhawks left no one in deep coverage. "We didn’t want to punt, and have a chance (for ULM) to block a punt," coach Mark Hudspeth, whose Cajuns now lead the all-time series 25-23, said afterward. "Really, we were gonna throw the ball up, and if it was incomplete, great; it would have ran the clock out. "So they came with an all-person blitz, and, really, we didn’t expect to even score," Hudspeth added. "We just expected to overthrow (Robinson), and (for) the game to be over, and they just didn’t cover him." A reporter from Monroe first questioned Hudspeth on the field, asking "Shouldn’t you have told your guy to take a knee there?" after the Cajun coach offered his initial response. UL strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt — an ex-United States Army Senior Special Forces Communications Sergeant who served tours of duty in Iraq — took exception to the follow-up, angrily shouting "Aw, c’mon man. Quit digging. "» Quit digging." As Whitt continued to yell and swear at the reporter, Hudspeth raised his voice so it could be heard over Whitt’s. "No, not with four seconds," he said. "No. No, absolutely not. It’s not our job to stop ourselves." Moments later, another UL staff member shouted, "This is our house" and got chest-to-chest with someone on the field wearing a Warhawks hat. Yet another UL staff member told someone else from Monroe the heated actions stemmed from the Cajuns being called "ULL" all night. UL Monroe referred to itself as "Warhawks" on its stadium scoreboard, and — in accordance with its practice of using letter abbreviations for opponents — went with "ULL" for the Cajuns. UL would have preferred "Cajuns" over "ULL," as it abhors that second "L." When Hudspeth met reporters again, he was about the play again by a different reporter from Monroe. "We couldn’t kneel "» because they would get the ball right there, because four seconds wouldn’t (run off)," he said. "We talked about maybe taking a safety; didn’t know if that would happen. "So what we really did was we called a play to just throw it down the field — probably incomplete, but a long pass would run off four seconds. But they didn’t even send anybody back there to cover it. "So, I mean, I can’t control that," Hudspeth added. "They just rushed all 11 people. You’ve got to cover the guy." This time, Hudspeth was asked by way of follow-up, "Are you concerned with the amount of class? It kind of looked like it had a little bit of lack of class there after you had the game wrapped (up)." Hudspeth, who said it was UL’s responsibility to make a stop when asked about a late-game Arkansas State touchdown in an Oct. 23 blowout loss ASU, seemingly grew hotter and hotter as he spoke. "I don’t care how it ‘looked,’ " he said. "I could (not) care less about how it looked. "The way we called the play was to run the clock out. Could (not) care less about how it looked. We didn’t do it intentionally to run up the score. We did it to run the clock out for four seconds. So, you can take it or leave it." Hudspeth and UL Monroe coach Todd Berry didn’t immediately speak after the game, perhaps in part because a Sun Belt Network television reporter grabbed the Cajun coach quickly for an interview. But Berry, based on his postgame comments, clearly wasn’t pleased with the play. "I think everybody has the play in the book where you throw the ball away, and I’m sure that’s what they were probably trying to do," Berry said, according to a quote sheet distributed by ULM. "We have a play where you bring everybody. That’s kind of the deal and you throw the ball out of bounds. "I don’t like the last play because I’m sure that it was not necessarily driven by the call." Hudspeth was later asked by a Lafayette reporter if, given the same situation, he’d do the same thing again. "I really expected them to drop back in coverage and (Broadway) was going to overthrow (Robinson)," he said, "but when they just ran everybody up he just sort of dumped it to him. "We take enough heat for things we do bad," Hudspeth said. "We’re not taking any for things we do good."
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