UL’s First Home Game: Fans gear up for UL’s first home game with tailgating at Cajunfield adnlots of food and fun. By Kris Wartelle

Philip and Rachelle Hebert describe themselves as University of Louisiana at Lafayette super fans. Their daughter was a softball player at UL, and they both love the school. When they heard there was a group of Nicholls State fans also dressed in red, claiming to be the best, they had something to say about it.

“I don’t think so,” said Rachelle Hebert.

UL fans Michelle Domingue, left, her husband Douglas, right, and Brian Cobb cook veggie kabobs while tailgating outside Cajun Field

“Cajun fans are better than any other fans in the state,” said Philip Hebert. “You want me to predict the outcome of today’s game? I say 42 to 13. Nicholls doesn’t have a chance.”

The Heberts, like other UL fans who gathered to tailgate at Cajun Field, were more than ready for UL’s first home game on Saturday. Drinks in hand, they were walking the grounds looking for food and the company of friends.

Despite the 90-plus-degree heat, almost everywhere one looked, fans could be seen cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and other kinds of tailgating fare.

UL fans Blake Chachere, from left, Matthew Wiltz and Brandon Quebedeaux ride through the tailgating area outside Cajun Field on their lawnmower Saturday. / Leslie Westbrook, The Advertiser

Former UL football player Mike Hoffman probably had the best place to tailgate out of anybody. He and Barbara Luquette were relaxing under the shade of a massive oak tree. They let others do the cooking while they enjoyed the sights and sounds around them.

“There is so much excitement since the last time I came here,” Hoffman said. “Its wonderful — just the fans and how everybody gets together.”

Hoffman said it has been 31 years since he played football at UL. He said he couldn’t quite remember it being as big a deal as it is now, but he still thought playing ball was a little more fun than watching from the sidelines. Luquette agreed but said her favorite part was the food grilling on the barbeque pit just a few feet away. Hoffman said it didn’t matter to him what was being cooked up.

“Oh, I’ll eat anything that don’t eat me first,” he said with a laugh.

A group of friendly Nicholls fans were also ready for the game. The students seemed to have all they needed as they marched down Reinhardt Drive.

“We got our ice chest decked down full of ice,” said Matt Gregory, a Nicholls State fan. “And of course, girls, a lot of girls!”

It might have been confusing to some because Nicholls fans were dressed in red. But the real UL fans made themselves known with “Go Cajuns” signs everywhere in a sea of red shirts, and red and white tents.

“It’s hot. I should have worn shorts,” Sheena Long, a UL graduate, said before the game. “But it’s still a lot of fun just seeing all your old friends, all the people you graduated with. I’m hoping they bring home a victory for us.”