The Cajuns came to the Cox Communications Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon for their weekly team meeting feeling down. Head coach Rickey Bustle reminded his team that their goal of a Sun Belt championship remains in tact, but the hunt starts this week. The Cajuns went to practice in the Leon Moncla Indoor Facility on Sunday evening with a renewed drive, know their 0-3 record includes 0-0 in the Sun Belt Conference.
The team worked on Tuesday for 12 periods and on Wednesday for 13 periods, heavily working against their scout team in preparation for Troy's spread offense. The team will practice on Thursday and walk through at Cajun Field on Friday afternoon.
Five questions for defensive line coach Shawn Quinn...
How did practice go this week?
Quinn: "On Sunday we tried to focus on the basics and get good at the base fundamentals. Blocking and tackling ? assignment football - wins games. We have to play better run defense and that's been emphasized this week. We implemented the game plan starting on Tuesday. We've had good practices and the guys understand the game plan.”
What are the Cajuns positives?
Quinn: "We are playing at home and we continue to play hard. I think we've played really well at times, but we need to be better on third down. We have a fresh start because we are 0-0 in conference play.”
Is it any tougher to open conference play against the team that was the preseason favorite?
Quinn: "Yes and no. Yes, because we are playing a great football team. No, because we all realize that we have to bring our ?A' game to have a chance to win. They might be better offensively than anyone we've seen all year. Defensively, they are very athletic. They present a lot of challenges on both sides of the ball. We have to play mistake-free football.”
How can the Cajuns become a better second half team?
Quinn: "We are losing the field position battle and the turnover battle. We have to get stops and create turnovers on defense and we have to win the field position battle. Both sides of the ball have to win third down.”
What does Troy do well and how can the Cajuns combat that?
Quinn: "Everybody can run. They have great team speed and athleticism. We have to make their offense one dimensional. We have to take away the big play, be effective in run defense, pressure the quarterback and create some turnovers.”
Official Louisiana-Lafayette Injury Report (as of Wednesday, September 19, 2007): Matt Desormeaux, FB (ankle ? out); Tyrell Fenroy, RB (ankle ? doubtful); Jarrett Jones, CB (shoulder/ankle ? doubtful); Torres Kingsby, DB (hamstring ? out, downgraded from questionable); Lamar Morgan, DB (hip ? probable); Jesse Newman, OL (ankle ? probable); Mark Risher, LB (shoulder/knee ? probable); Michael Schultz, DB (elbow ? out); Deon Wallace, RB (triceps ? probable).
