Football: ‘You can never erase’ memory of UL bowl win

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 16, 2015

 

UL Ragin’ Cajuns quarterback Blaine Gautier (17) and teammate Brett Baer talk about their reaction to the NCAA decision to vacate UL’s 2011 season.(Photo: Advertiser file photo)

 

Its 2011 New Orleans Bowl victory over San Diego State will be accompanied by an asterisk in the record books, if not stricken altogether.

Its trophy for winning will be removed from public display.

Those are among anticipated consequences of wrongdoing by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette football program that was uncovered during a lengthy NCAA investigation.

UL has acknowledged a former assistant coach committed ACT-related recruiting rules violations, and among its self-imposed penalties is the vacating of its entire 2011 season — including a dramatic 32-30 bowl win over SDSU at the Superdome.

But don’t tell quarterback Blaine Gautier he didn’t throw for 470 yards and three touchdowns that fateful Dec. 17 Saturday night four years ago. And don’t make Brett Baer pretend he didn’t nail a 50-yard field goal on the game’s final play, giving the Ragin’ Cajuns their first bowl victory since 1970.

“I’ve heard some stories about they’re taking away wins, and talking about ‘the season that never happened,’ ” said Gautier, now an LSU quality control offensive assistant. “But of course, in my eyes, it was the year that started everything.

“Fortunately we got a chance to play in that first New Orleans Bowl that gave the fans their first bowl in 40-some-odd years. It was just a great feeling being a part of that. It’s just memories that will last forever. Nobody can take that away from us.

“No matter what the outcome of it is,” Gautier added, “it was just a blast playing in that game and just continuing to see that tradition go on … and to know that in 2011 it started right there.”

UL finished this season 4-8.

But the Cajuns beat East Carolina in the 2012 New Orleans Bowl, Tulane in the 2013 New Orleans Bowl and Nevada in the 2014 New Orleans Bowl.

“I think that for anybody that was a part of that season — fan-wise, or for players or coaches — that would be hard to just vacate, personally,” said Baer, now married and pursuing a doctoral degree in physical therapy at the University of St. Augustine in Austin, Texas.

“They can vacate the wins and stuff — but, inside your heart and everything, I think that’s a hard one to just kind of forget about, just because of how special it was, not just for the players and the coaches, but the whole fan base. That was just a really magical season.”

The NCAA investigated UL for about a year-and-a-half.

Earlier this year it alleged ex-assistant coach David Saunders orchestrated an “elaborate” scheme to send six UL football recruits to the same rural Mississippi ACT testing center, where exam answers were altered and/or provided to help them meet academic eligibility requirements.

The NCAA also alleges Saunders paid one ex-Cajun approximately $6,500 with help from an unidentified booster, including $5,000 before he played at UL.

The Cajuns refute that, and take issue with the notion Saunders orchestrated the ACT scheme.

But UL has conceded the general premise that ACT-related improprieties occurred, along with allegations suggesting Saunders provided “false or misleading information” and later refused to furnish information to NCAA enforcement and UL staff.

Head coach Mark Hudspeth, athletic director Scott Farmer and others representing UL appeared at a hearing before an NCAA Committee on Infractions last month in Indianapolis. The school is awaiting a ruling — it may come next month — that could result in sanctions beyond those already self-imposed, which also includes a reduction in football scholarships by 11 over a three-year period.

When Baer and Gautier initially heard the allegations and that the Cajuns had voluntarily vacated its nine 2011 wins, they were taken aback.

“I definitely reached out to a few players,” Gautier said, “just trying to find out the extent of it and just to see if it was actually true — because I was down in the dumps about it, didn’t know exactly what was going on.”

Neither did Baer.

“My first selfish thought is, ‘Any season but that one.’ You know what I mean?” he said. “Take away 2012, ’13 — any season but that first one, just because I think that was the spark that kind of started that whole fire.

“But, looking back at it, I think (of) the memories we made that season, and for anybody that was at that game, they’ll never really forget what happened that night.”

A then-record crowd of 42,841 — mostly Cajuns fans — watched as UL rallied in the final 35 seconds of a back-and-forth thriller.

The game produced five Cajuns who’ve played regular-season NFL games: linebacker Justin Anderson, running back Alonzo Harris, cornerback Melvin White, current Detroit Lions cornerback Bill Bentley and current San Diego Chargers tight end Ladarius Green.

For seniors who couldn’t get to a bowl under coach Rickey Bustle, the win was sweet satisfaction in their first year playing for Hudspeth.

Baer and Gautier also played in UL’s 2012 New Orleans Bowl win, but that was first one was like no other.

“It’s kind of burned into everybody’s brain,” Baer said.

That’s certainly the case for Gautier, the 2011 New Orleans Bowl’s MVP.

“We’ll never forget it. We’ll cherish it,” he said. “It’s something that we just know we worked hard for, and 2011 will always be remembered no matter if we take the banners down.

“You can (vacate the wins),” Gautier added, “but they’ll always be there in my eyes and in the other players’ eyes.”

Neither Gautier nor Baer takes issue with the Cajuns’ decision to vacate, though neither seemed certain why it was made.

“I think it’s better I don’t know,” Baer said, “and I just kind of remember it for what it was.”

UL chose to self-impose partly because it acknowledges an unidentified ineligible player participated in the 2011 bowl win, and partly because it hopes to mitigate potential additional penalties.

Whatever the reasons and reasoning, no matter what happened or did not, all Gautier knows is he’ll forever fight for remembrance.

“Everyone I’ve talked to that spent that moment with us, the guys that were there,” he said, “they all say the same thing … that the season was a dream season and is something that will continue to last forever, no matter what the allegations are or what is being said. That season belonged to us, and we’ll never let anyone take that away from us.

“So when that came out, I was like, ‘It still happened.’ It will never become a reality thing that they’re gonna vacate all those wins and take away the bowl game, because no matter how you put it, that game that year – that belonged to the players, the fans, the coaches, everyone in Lafayette. That community, it changed.”

Gautier really does consider it a transformational win.

“The memory, you can never erase,” he said.

So even if record-book references disappear and the trophy is removed from the lobby of the program’s new performance center – the Cajuns are waiting for the NCAA’s final ruling before taking such steps – reality remains etched for those most-vested.

“It’s enough that I played in it. … That was a game for the ages,” Gautier said. “I mean, it was one we fought hard to get to, and then we … did some great things that night that solidified the game for us.

“It definitely was a catapult to the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons and winning those respective bowl games, so I think the memories definitely are stored in. They won’t go anywhere years from now. Grandkids or whatever down the line, we’ll have a story to tell.”