Football: Pair of Cajuns Honored – Desormeaux & Hardaway Recognized

Rodney Hardeway had a school record four sacks on Saturday to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors

Football 11/12/2007 Courtesy RaginCajuns.com

A pair of Ragin’ Cajuns were honored on Monday for their outstanding play this past Saturday in the Cajuns 34-24 victory at Middle Tennessee.
Senior defensive end Rodney Hardeway was named both the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Defensive Player of the Week. Junior quarterback Michael Desormeaux was named LSWA Offensive Player of the Week.
Hardeway made seven tackles, all solo stops, and had a school record four sacks for -34 yards (giving him seven on the season and 15 for his career -5th all-time at UL). He had two sacks in the fourth quarter as the Cajuns defense shut down the MT offense (-12 yards in the 4Q). The first sack Hardeway posted in the fourth quarter came on the second play from scrimmage after the Cajuns had taken their first lead. His sack for an 11-yard loss forced MT to punt from deep in their own territory whereby the Cajuns scored again on the ensuing possession to take a 10-point lead.
The Cajuns defense, who had been averaging 491 yards allowed per game, allowed a season-low 256 yards – over 100 yards less than Blue Raiders offensive average entering the game.
Desormeaux ran for a career-high 175 yards, his sixth 100-yard effort on the season. In the process, Desormeaux topped the 1,000-yard rushing plateau, becoming just the 24th quarterback in NCAA history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. He has 1,105 yards on the season, the third most in school history, and the 23rd most in NCAA history by a quarterback
Desormeaux also passed for 152 yards and two scores, marking the second time this season that he rushed and passed for over 150 yards in the same game. He and Brian Mitchell are the only players in school history to ever have 150/150 games. Desormeaux passed for 137 of his 152 yards and threw both of his touchdowns in the second half as the Cajuns, who trailed after all three quarters, came back to win the game.