University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns On TV Five Times
8/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Cajuns
On TV Five Times
First
Practice Monday, Aug. 9 at 2:30pm
Saturday,
August 7, 2004
LAFAYETTE - The start time for the Cajuns final home football game on Saturday, Nov. 13 has been changed to 2:30 p.m. in order to facilitate ESPN Regional Television. The TV game marks the fifth for the Cajuns, including three of five home games to hit the airways.
All Cajuns games carried on ESPN Regional will air live in Acadiana on Cox Sports Television (Cox Cable Ch. 27).
The Cajuns road game at Louisiana Tech on Sept. 11 will be broadcast live at 6 p.m. on ESPN GamePlan as well as on Cox Sports Television. Louisiana's second home game, a 6 p.m. match-up vs. Sun Belt Conference rival Middle Tennessee on Sept. 25 will be televised as part of the Sun Belt's ESPN Regional package.
The Sunshine Network will air the Oct. 2 game between the Cajuns and Florida International in Miami, Fla. The tape-delayed contest will air five hours after the 5 p.m. (CT) kick-off. The Sunshine Network is available on most satellite television providers. The game could potentially be broadcast in Lafayette, but no announcements have been made as of yet.
Cajun Field will hit the national spotlight on Friday, Nov. 5 when ESPN2 airs the Cajuns game versus three-time SBC champion North Texas. ESPN2 is broadcast to approximately 86 million homes in the U.S. The 9 p.m. game serves as the second game of ESPN2's Friday night college football doubleheader (Marshall at Akron precedes the Cajuns game).
The 2004 football season begins on Sunday, Aug. 8 for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns. A full roster of 105 players report Sunday morning and make their way to the newly renovated Athletics Complex for a 2 p.m. team meeting. Team physicals follow Sunday afternoon.
The Cajuns first practice is set for 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 9.
“We're all very excited to get started,” said head coach Rickey Bustle. “I'm excited because of the way that we finished strong last season and then had a good spring. I'm hoping there's a carryover and our new players feed off our energy and excitement.”
Last season, the Cajuns finished with four wins in their last five contests to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Sun
Belt's second highest scoring offense (32.1 ppg, 28 TD in
SBC play) returns sophomore QB Jerry Babb (146-259, 56.4%*,
6TD, 68-232 rush, 5TD, *school record). Babb was second in
the conference with 193.3 passing yards, 62.1 completion
percentage and 227.8 total yards per game in conference
games.
Very mobile and athletic, Babb is a dual threat, both on the ground and through the air. He learned steadily during his freshman season, culminating in a 57-51 4OT win at Middle Tennessee in the season finale. Babb accounted for 474 yards of total offense and 5 TD's in that game.
All-Sun Belt strong safety C.C. Brown leads a Cajuns defense that lost seven starters, including six starters in the Cajuns eight-man front. A switch in defensive schemes to a multiple 4-3 leaves Bustle looking for new starters on the entire defense line and two new faces at linebacker.
Brown was the Cajuns top defensive player in 2003, leading the team in tackles per game (6.1). He became the first Cajun to win SBC Defensive Player of the Week, while also being named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team.
Stanley Smith is back as the only returning starter among the front seven and will be counted on to provide leadership and make plays.
The most competitive fall position battles include tailback, wide receiver, defensive line and secondary.
“We really have position battles everywhere,” stated Bustle. “We're looking for a big-play wide receiver and trying to find the right mix in our secondary. There are so many new faces on our defensive line that I expect good competition.”
-Ragin' Cajuns-
