There were several major points of emphasis for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns in the offseason.
One was to avoid the emotional roller coaster during the course of the season, where an encouraging win is followed by a disappointing setback.
Another one was doing a better job of defending the run.
In coach Michael Desormeaux’s mind, the 6 p.m. Saturday road opener against Kennesaw State is a great opportunity to address two birds with one focused stone.
“This is a big week for us,” Desormeaux said. “There are a couple of things that make it really important for us. It is an opportunity for us to show how much we’ve grown up and matured from last year.”
When asked whether the burden for ensuring a focused team lays heavier on the team leaders or the coaching staff, Desormeaux wasn’t playing favorites.
“I think it’s about everything and it’s about everybody,” he said. “Until we prove otherwise, we’re a 6-7 football team. We haven’t done crap to do it otherwise. We’ve won one game this year. So if want to be looked at differently, then we have to have a different type of season.
“I tell you right now, if anyone in our building is overlooking this football team, then we’ve got some real issues.”
UL will be the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to visit Kennesaw State in Georgia. The Owls trailed Texas-San Antonio only 21-16 in the fourth quarter last Saturday before falling 28-16 in their FBS debut. They are a member of Conference USA.
“We’ve played UTSA,” Desormeaux said. “We’ve seen what it looks like. We know the type of football they play, and it was one-possession game with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and they had a turnover.
“This is a good football team. They’ve got a lot of guys back. They look like a really good Group of Five football team. They’ve got guys who run around and strike and play physical. Overlooking anyone is not going to happen.”
While UTSA limited the Owls’ rushing attack to 51 yards, Kennesaw’s rushing plan will test the UL defense.
“They’re in a lot of heavy sets,” he said. “Now they do have a lot of option elements to it, but it’s a lot of zone-read option and things like that. They’ll do some power read and stuff like that.”
Desormeaux said guard Jax Harrington’s status is unknown for Saturday’s game because of an injury, but reserve tight end Rhett Guidry is the only Cajun already out for the Week 2 matchup.
Looking back at Saturday’s 40-10 win over Grambling, Desormeaux was pleased with the new coaching staff’s communication, especially on defense with new coordinator Jim Salgado.
“I thought they communicated really effectively,” he said. “There was a calm presence on the headsets. Everybody was doing their jobs. The guys that were supposed to be speaking about whatever we were looking at were doing a good job. We were communicating clearly and everybody was on the same page.
“Our defensive staff did a good job of keeping their composure and keeping our kids locked in on what we were going to do to get results, instead of just what had happened.”
As for UL’s up-and-down rushing attack, Desormeaux said the Grambling defense had a lot to do with the Cajuns rushing for 36 yards on 12 carries in the first half.
“We threw it a lot in the first half because they were loading the box,” Desormeaux said. “We have good players on the perimeter. We’re not going to run into bad boxes. I’m not living in that world anymore. We’ve done that for too long.
“That’s a lot of what we’ve done this year: ‘All right, we’re not doing this anymore. We’ve got good players, we’ve got experience, so we’re going to let our seventh-year quarterback make good decisions and get the ball where it needs to go.’ ”