There's no time for head-hanging this week, so says Louisiana head coach Rickey Bustle.
"The preseason's over," Bustle said Sunday before his Ragin' Cajun football team held an evening practice. "It didn't go how we wanted it to go, but we can't worry about that now. Our conference games start on a short week."
The 1-3 Cajuns, still smarting from a last-second 24-21 home loss to Central Florida on Saturday at Cajun Field, open Sun Belt Conference play in a rare Thursday night battle against league newcomer Florida Atlantic (0-5).
"Our motivation will be the short week we have coming," said sophomore linebacker Mark Risher, who had seven solo tackles with two for losses, a sack and a forced fumble Saturday. "It's hard, but we'll have to put this one behind us."
Risher, a product of St. Thomas More, was part of a defense that recorded five sacks on UCF quarterback Steven Moffett in the game's last 18 minutes. Those sacks - the first of the year for the UL defense - helped limit UCF to only 39 offensive yards in the second half before the Knights' late 51-yard march that set up John Brown's winning 28-yard field goal.
"Defensively, we gave a great effort," Bustle said. "There were a lot of big plays in the game, a lot of sacks and tackles for losses."
There were also key plays offensively, many of those provided by redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Desormeaux. Junior and three-year starter Jerry Babb suffered a sprained ligament in his right shoulder on Saturday's fifth play at the end of a 15-yard scramble.
Desormeaux came on and struggled on UL's first three possessions, but over the final two and one-half quarters the former Catholic-New Iberia standout hit 10-of-17 passes for 106 yards and rushed for 66 more.
"The last thing you expect and want is for a leader like Jerry to go down," said Desormeaux, who took 69 snaps. "It took me a couple of series to get into the flow. I really think we came together as a team tonight, and hopefully we'll keep playing for each other in the future."
"I thought we got going after Mike settled down," Bustle said. "I was proud of Mike. The great thing he has now is something to correct."
Desormeaux took most of the practice snaps Sunday and natural freshman John Hundley of STM worked as the No. 2 quarterback. Bustle said Sunday's 90-minute drill was similar to his team's normal Sunday sessions even with the short week, and the squad will combine practice work in today's session that won't start until 8:30 p.m. because of late classes and labs.
"If we do the things in the conference that I hope we can do," he said, "you'll look back on this past game and not think much of it. That's hard to do right now, but I told our team that we're a better football team than we were two weeks ago."
BABB STATUS:Starting QB Babb got an X-ray on his shoulder Sunday which showed a "mild to moderate" ligament sprain. The normal recovery period from that injury is one to three weeks depending on position played - down linemen could return more quickly after spraining that particular ligament, while quarterbacks could take longer because of the range of motion needed to throw.
Babb was wearing his yellow jersey for Sunday's practice, but obviously saw no action while wearing an electrical nerve stimulator to help manage shoulder pain. He will be evaluated again by team doctors during the week.
BUSTLE WAS RIGHT: Central Florida coach George O'Leary was convinced the Cajuns had 12 players on the field just prior to his team's late field goal try, and was trying to get an official's attention when his deep snapper unexpectedly snapped the ball with 5.6 seconds left.
"I was going to the officials with two seconds left to get a time out, but then we snapped it for some reason," O'Leary said. "I thought they had 12 on the field, but we shouldn't have snapped it to begin with."
As it turned out, video of the play showed the Cajuns with their regular 11 on the field when Brown pulled his first attempt. But a time out called by the UL sideline just before the kick gave him another chance, and Brown nailed the game-winner on his second try.
"I don't know what happened," Bustle said. "I was going to call one, but the way they (UCF) were rushing out there I wanted them to kick it. Things get confusing on the sidelines and I don't know where it was coming from."
SHORT AT WILLIE: During UCF's final drive to its winning field goal, the Cajuns didn't have either of the weakside "Willie" linebackers on their depth chart available. Tyler Norman was out with heat problems and Wes Simon was suffering the effects of a concussion. Both were in black jerseys (no practice) Sunday.
"Wes wanted to go back in and was arguing with the trainers," said defensive coordinator Brent Pry, "but he wasn't in any condition to get back out there."
That left junior Derek Morel to fill that role. Morel, a product of New Orleans-Jesuit, played the "Willie" last year but moved to the middle linebacker slot this season.
UCF ran running back Kevin Smith nine straight plays - eight official carries and a UL offside penalty - for 46 yards and the penalty five to set up Brown's field goal.
"The preseason's over," Bustle said Sunday before his Ragin' Cajun football team held an evening practice. "It didn't go how we wanted it to go, but we can't worry about that now. Our conference games start on a short week."
The 1-3 Cajuns, still smarting from a last-second 24-21 home loss to Central Florida on Saturday at Cajun Field, open Sun Belt Conference play in a rare Thursday night battle against league newcomer Florida Atlantic (0-5).
"Our motivation will be the short week we have coming," said sophomore linebacker Mark Risher, who had seven solo tackles with two for losses, a sack and a forced fumble Saturday. "It's hard, but we'll have to put this one behind us."
Risher, a product of St. Thomas More, was part of a defense that recorded five sacks on UCF quarterback Steven Moffett in the game's last 18 minutes. Those sacks - the first of the year for the UL defense - helped limit UCF to only 39 offensive yards in the second half before the Knights' late 51-yard march that set up John Brown's winning 28-yard field goal.
"Defensively, we gave a great effort," Bustle said. "There were a lot of big plays in the game, a lot of sacks and tackles for losses."
There were also key plays offensively, many of those provided by redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Desormeaux. Junior and three-year starter Jerry Babb suffered a sprained ligament in his right shoulder on Saturday's fifth play at the end of a 15-yard scramble.
Desormeaux came on and struggled on UL's first three possessions, but over the final two and one-half quarters the former Catholic-New Iberia standout hit 10-of-17 passes for 106 yards and rushed for 66 more.
"The last thing you expect and want is for a leader like Jerry to go down," said Desormeaux, who took 69 snaps. "It took me a couple of series to get into the flow. I really think we came together as a team tonight, and hopefully we'll keep playing for each other in the future."
"I thought we got going after Mike settled down," Bustle said. "I was proud of Mike. The great thing he has now is something to correct."
Desormeaux took most of the practice snaps Sunday and natural freshman John Hundley of STM worked as the No. 2 quarterback. Bustle said Sunday's 90-minute drill was similar to his team's normal Sunday sessions even with the short week, and the squad will combine practice work in today's session that won't start until 8:30 p.m. because of late classes and labs.
"If we do the things in the conference that I hope we can do," he said, "you'll look back on this past game and not think much of it. That's hard to do right now, but I told our team that we're a better football team than we were two weeks ago."
BABB STATUS:Starting QB Babb got an X-ray on his shoulder Sunday which showed a "mild to moderate" ligament sprain. The normal recovery period from that injury is one to three weeks depending on position played - down linemen could return more quickly after spraining that particular ligament, while quarterbacks could take longer because of the range of motion needed to throw.
Babb was wearing his yellow jersey for Sunday's practice, but obviously saw no action while wearing an electrical nerve stimulator to help manage shoulder pain. He will be evaluated again by team doctors during the week.
BUSTLE WAS RIGHT: Central Florida coach George O'Leary was convinced the Cajuns had 12 players on the field just prior to his team's late field goal try, and was trying to get an official's attention when his deep snapper unexpectedly snapped the ball with 5.6 seconds left.
"I was going to the officials with two seconds left to get a time out, but then we snapped it for some reason," O'Leary said. "I thought they had 12 on the field, but we shouldn't have snapped it to begin with."
As it turned out, video of the play showed the Cajuns with their regular 11 on the field when Brown pulled his first attempt. But a time out called by the UL sideline just before the kick gave him another chance, and Brown nailed the game-winner on his second try.
"I don't know what happened," Bustle said. "I was going to call one, but the way they (UCF) were rushing out there I wanted them to kick it. Things get confusing on the sidelines and I don't know where it was coming from."
SHORT AT WILLIE: During UCF's final drive to its winning field goal, the Cajuns didn't have either of the weakside "Willie" linebackers on their depth chart available. Tyler Norman was out with heat problems and Wes Simon was suffering the effects of a concussion. Both were in black jerseys (no practice) Sunday.
"Wes wanted to go back in and was arguing with the trainers," said defensive coordinator Brent Pry, "but he wasn't in any condition to get back out there."
That left junior Derek Morel to fill that role. Morel, a product of New Orleans-Jesuit, played the "Willie" last year but moved to the middle linebacker slot this season.
UCF ran running back Kevin Smith nine straight plays - eight official carries and a UL offside penalty - for 46 yards and the penalty five to set up Brown's field goal.
