Football: Wet weather can’t keep UL from new attendance record

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • September 13, 2009

Despite a dreary forecast and wet weather, a crowd of 16,431 attended UL’s 17-15 win over Kansas State on Saturday at Cajun Field.

That number combined with last week’s attendance (41,357) in a season-opening win over Southern University was 57,788 — establishing the largest two-game total for the Ragin’ Cajuns to open a season at home.

A total of 57,030 attended UL’s first two home games of the 1996 season against Texas A&M (38,783) and Houston (18,247).

The crowd from last week’s win over Southern broke UL’s single-game school record previously set in a 29-22 win over No. 25 Texas A&M in 1996. That’s the only other win the Cajuns have over a school from a BCS conference.

"I don’t know what the crowd was tonight, but they were loud," UL head coach Rickey Bustle said. "There’s no question that having a great crowd is awesome for us."

Series notes

Even with Saturday’s win by the Cajuns, K-State leads the all-time series, 3-1.

The Wildcats won the previous meetings in Manhattan in 1994 (34-6), 2004 (40-20) and 2008 (45-37).

Saturday’s game was the final non-conference game added to UL’s 2009 schedule last January. The Cajuns return the trip to Manhattan in 2011 and 2012.

It marked only the fourth time since 1997 that a school from a BCS conference played at Cajun Field. The Cajuns lost to Oklahoma State in 1997 (31-7), Texas Tech in 1999 (38-17) and Minnesota in 2002 (35-11).

Kansas connections

UL boasts three sophomores who previously spent time at Kansas junior colleges: cornerback Dwight Bentley (Dodge City Community College), defensive end Tyrell Gaddies (Coffeyville Community College) and wide receiver Andrew "Rico" Joseph (Coffeyville CC).

Last year, Gaddies got a scholarship offer from K-State, but the Wildcats moved on when he was unable to enroll in January.

Back home

K-State’s current roster features four Louisiana natives: senior center Eric Benoit (Church Point), freshman offensive lineman Cornelius Lucas (New Orleans), freshman defensive back Torell Miller (New Orleans) and senior running back Keithen Valentine (Baton Rouge).

Benoit originally planned to transfer to UL from Compton (Calif.) Community College in the fall of 2007 but signed with the Wildcats after getting a late scholarship offer. The change was so late that he was included as a newcomer in the 2007 football media guide for the Cajuns.

Odds and Ends

UL’s Geoffrey McCullough, Jezreel Washington, Scott Hayes and Louis Lee greeted K-State’s Carson Coffman, Alex Hrebec, Jeron Mastrud, Nick Stringer and Tysyn Hartman at midfield for the pre-game coin toss. The Cajuns won the toss and deferred to the Wildcats, who chose to receive the opening kick "» UL strong safety Chris Richard left the game late in the third quarter with an injury to his left ankle. The sophomore spent the final quarter on the sideline with his ankle wrapped up. Another sophomore, linebacker Devon Lewis-Buchanan, left in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. Cornerback Dwight Bentley and free safety Maurice Rolle Jr. also missed time due to injuries "» A bad snap by UL in the first quarter resulted in a safety. It was the Cajuns’ first safety since a bad snap going against North Texas during the 2006 season. K-State hadn’t logged a safety since playing Missouri in 2005 "» UL running back Undrea Sails got the start despite a clavicle injury suffered last week "» UL wide receiver Richie Falgout, who suffered a serious ankle injury last week, did not dress out "» UL improves to 17-2 under Bustle when leading at halftime … K-State dropped to 61-12 under Snyder in non-conference action and 43-4 in games played in September under the coach. The Wildcats hadn’t lost in September under Snyder since falling to Fresno State in 2004 "» The Wildcats are now 118-22 when scoring first and 16-2 when scoring on defense since the 1990 season "» The loss snapped an 11-game winning streak for K-State against the Sun Belt. The Wildcats are now 14-2 against current members of the league and 8-3 against teams from Louisiana.