University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Carolina
Cajuns Nearly Upset Gamecocks
9/1/2007 5:00:00 AM | Football
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Cajuns were inside the SC red zone trailing by just two touchdowns.
The Gamecocks had extended their lead to 28-14 with
The Cajuns responded with a 76-yard drive to the Gamecocks four-yard line. Tyrell Fenroy scored on the next play, but a holding penalty negated the score and pushed UL back 10 yards. The Cajuns went backward on three straight plays and faced third-and-goal from the 24-yard line.
Michael Desormeaux hit Derrick Smith with a 22-yard pass on third down, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to SC.
From there, SC ran seven plays and took over five minutes off the clock, but the Gamecocks were forced to punt from their 15-yard line.
Desormeaux led the Cajuns with 116 yards rushing ? his second career 100-yard game. In five games as the starting quarterback, Desormeaux has 69 carries for 467 yards. Fenroy added 88 yards on 16 carries, as the Cajuns rushed for 252 yards on 47 carries. Desormeaux was also an efficient 12-for-19 passing for 63 yards.
The Cajuns came out flat and spotted the Gamecocks a 14-0 lead in the game's first
The Gamecocks wanted the ball to begin the game and marched 64 yards in seven plays en route to a quick 7-0 lead. The Cajuns were victimized by a pair of penalties inside their 10-yard line.
The Cajuns were unsuccessful on their first drive, failing to convert on third-and-two. True freshman Spencer Ortego's first career punt traveled only 22 yards to midfield.
SC capitalized on the good field position, needing five plays and 85 seconds to reach the end zone. Back-up quarterback Tommy Beecher connected with a wide open Kenny McKinley for a 19-yard touchdown pass.
The Cajuns could not convert third-and-one on their second drive and were forced to punt again.
Jarrett Jones' first career interception gave the Cajuns back the ball. On the first play, Desormeaux found Jason Chery with a 28-yard pass, but the play was negated by a holding penalty. The Cajuns rebounded from first-and-20 to march down the field.
After the penalty,
The Cajuns mounted another scoring drive to tie the game. Fenroy had four carries for 54 yards and Desormeaux added three carries for 25 yards and a 16-yard pass to Jordan Jackson to move the Cajuns down to the SC one-yard line. From there, Deon Wallace was stopped for no gain and then a false start penalty moved the Cajuns back five yards. Desormeaux scampered for three yards before Chancellor Roberson's third career carry went for a three-yard touchdown. The game was tied at 14-14 with
The Gamecocks tried to reclaim the lead, but Ryan Succop's 47-yard field goal attempt with
A personal foul penalty against the Cajuns moved SC into Cajuns territory. From there, the Gamecocks needed five plays to score ? taking a 21-14 lead at the half.
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