Football: Quave brothers come to end of an era

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 19, 2014

 

UL offensive lineman Daniel Quave talks to members of the media Thursday during the 2014 R�L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Media Day at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. (Photo: Leslie Westbrook/The Advertiser)

 

 

NEW ORLEANS – Sometime before leaving the Big Easy, UL senior starting guard Daniel Quave planned to have the hard talk with his younger brother, junior starting left tackle Mykhael Quave.

It may have happened by now, or it may not come until sometime after UL plays Nevada in Saturday’s New Orleans Bowl.

Either way, Daniel Quave vowed, it would happen before the two from Gautier, Mississippi, leave New Orleans — “it” being the chat, that is, about how the game will bring to a close their long time together as teammates.

Until then …

“We’ve just kind been taking the days, and just enjoying them,” Daniel Quave said.

Daniel Quave will be starting his school-record 52nd straight game today, and Mykhael Quave will be starting his 39th straight.

After Saturday, though, their run as a Ragin’ Cajun duo is done.

“That’s gonna be kind of an emotional time, because we’ve been together (most of our lives),” Daniel Quave said.

Ultimately, though, the two will always be brothers — and, thanks to the depth of their relationship, soul mates, if not always teammates or even roommates.

With that in mind, Daniel Quave suggested, a larger matter is on his mind.

“It’s not about us,” he said. “For us, just to get the W — to win — that would be the best way to go out.”

UL has won each of the last three New Orleans Bowls.

ATTENDANCE HOPES

Tickets sales Friday stood around 34,000, but bowl officials have been hopeful all week they could wind up with a crowd of around 40,000.

“You never know,” New Orleans Bowl executive director Billy Ferrante said.

“This is such a crazy, last-minute town, and I think … people that make a decision at the last minute to drive in, they know they can get a good ticket on game day. We’re expecting to see a pretty significant walk-up.”

Cajuns athletic director Scott Farmer said Friday that nearly 12,000 tickets had been sold through UL.

That’s down from 21,000 for last year’s New Orleans Bowl victory over Tulane and down from a record 23,000-plus for the Cajuns’ 2013 bowl win over East Carolina — a drop attributed by Farmer in large part to the 10 a.m. kickoff, which stems from turnaround time needed to prepare for the New Orleans Saints game Sunday at the Superdome and ESPN directives.

SALAD BOWL

UL’s first bowl win was a 24-7 win over Alabama A&M in the Oil Bowl, played Jan. 1, 1944, in Houston.

Nevada’s first bowl game? Let us not forget.

That would be the Salad Bowl, played Jan. 1, 1948, in Phoenix. Nevada beat North Texas 13-6. The bowl ceased to exist after one year.

LOOKING BACK

UL sophomore running back Elijah McGuire was moved by his first New Orleans Bowl experience, last year’s win over Tulane.

“It’s words I can’t even explain,” he said.

“Being a freshman, a true freshman, going to my first bowl appearance, I didn’t know what to expect. I heard all the guys talking about it, but I didn’t think anything of it until I actually got there and experienced it.”

LAGNIAPPE

This year’s New Orleans Bowl has RAGIN’ CAJUNS spelled out in one end zone and WOLF PACK spelled out the other — no Louisiana and Nevada. … Hudspeth plans to name a new assistant recruiting coordinator sometime bowl week to replace ex-assistant coach David Saunders, who disassociated from the program earlier this season and was replaced by ex-Texas Tech defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt. … Hudspeth tweeted this week that the Cajuns had a 2.92 grade-point average in the just-completed fall semester, and that the was “the highest (football) team GPA for a semester in school history.” … Eight Cajun football players graduated Friday and, because they couldn’t be back on campus, received their diplomas at a Fanfest celebration at the UL team hotel in New Orleans: Daniel Quave, quarterback Terrance Broadway, linebacker Boris Anyama, punter Daniel Cadona, linebacker Trae Johnson, linebacker Jake Molbert, defensive back Trevence Patt and kicker Hunter Stover.