Football: Records still falling

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, November 26, 2012

It’s that time of year, when records falls and leader lists rearrange.

For the UL Ragin’ Cajuns, a 52-30 win over South Alabama on Saturday night offered plenty of opportunity for just that.

Two more games — a regular-season finale Saturday at Florida Atlantic, followed by a Dec. 22 New Orleans Bowl appearance against a to-be-named opponent — will present even more.

Before looking ahead, however, a look at what changed Saturday is in order.

For starters, kicker Brett Baer moved up on several UL lists after making his only field-goal attempt and going 7-of-7 on extra-point tries (one shy of the school for most made in a game) against the Jaguars.

Among them:

» Now 112-of-119, Baer passed Drew Edmiston (108-of-114 from 2006-08) and became the Cajuns’ career leader in both PATs made and attempted;

» With his 10 points, Baer moved past Sean Comiskey (229 from 2002-05) and Christian Cagle (235 from 1923-25) and into third place on UL’s all-time scoring list with 238;

» Baer is now UL’s all-time kick-scoring leader, trailing only running back Tyrell Fenroy (294) and quarterback Brian Mitchell (286) on the career list;

» The senior from Brandon, Miss., is now tied with Sean Comiskey in third place for career field goals made at 42, three shy of passing Patrick Broussard for second and — with two games remaining — five short of passing John Reveto (45) and becoming UL’s all-time leader.

» Baer now has 95 points this season, moving him past Marcus Prier, Mitchell and Cagle from seventh to fourth on UL’s single-single leaders list behind only Fenroy and Mitchell (114 each) and his own 100-point season in 2011.

A few other Cajuns also made notable moves Saturday.

Among those:

» After going 11-of-19 for 305 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Terrance Broadway jumped past Jon Van Cleave (169 in 2002) and into seventh place for pass completions in a season (172);

» Broadway went past Van Cleave (2,082 in 2002) and Jerry Babb (2,345 in 2004) into sixth place for passing yards in a season (2,358);

» Broadway moved past Van Cleave, Jake Delhomme and Roy Henry (all tied with 14) and into fifth place for TD passes in a season (15);

» With the 305 passing and another 65 rushing, Broadway leaped Michael Desormeaux, Chris Masson, Delhomme (twice) and Babb and into fourth place for total offense in a season (2,896) yards;

» With five catches for 166 yards, slot receiver Harry Peoples moved from 10th to a tie for sixth with Nick Dugas — passing Bill Sampy’s 57, his own 58 last season and David Oliver 59 — for catches in a season (60);

» With three catches for 113 yards and 1 TD, wideout Javone Lawson passed Donald Richard (124 from 1993-96) and took sixth place on UL’s career receptions list with 126; and

» Lawson moved into a tie with John Falgout (14 from 1949-52) for fifth place in all-time TD catches, trailing only Brandon Stokely (25), Ladarius Green (22), Richard (20) and Fred Stamps (19).

Deserved

 

opportunity

When reserve running back Yobes Walker ran in from 1 yard out late in the fourth quarter against South Alabama, the senior — mostly a special-teams contributor — became the 16th Cajun to score a touchdown in 2012.

It was the third career TD for Walker, who had two as a redshirt freshman while gaining 412 yards on 116 rushes.

In the last three seasons combined, however, the Texas high school product has had just 12 carries for 22 yards — one run as a reserve fullback in 2010, seven runs in 2011 and just one this year before getting three Saturday.

But Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth gave Walker the start at running back against the Jaguars as one of 18 seniors playing for the last time at home, calling him one in a group of "guys that’s been here a long time, that’s worked awfully hard, that were very deserving" of playing.

"You’ve got to give the rest of the seniors a lot of credit," Hudspeth added, "for being able to extend that lead so everybody could have some playing time and say they played well and won their last home football game at Cajun Field."

Lagniappe

With his 25-yard completion to cornerback Melvin White on a fake punt against South Alabama, senior reserve quarterback Brady Thomas improved to 3-of-3 on career passes. He also had two completions last season, an 11-yarder against Middle Tennessee and a 19-yarder on fake field goal against Arkansas State. "» Wideout Jamal Robinson’s field goal block in Saturday’s first quarter was UL’s first this year. The Cajuns’ last one came from linebacker Le’Marcus Gibson in a 2011 win over North Texas. "» Redshirt freshman running back Effrem Reed’s two scores Saturday marked his first career multi-TD game.