University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Turn Attention to Kent State
9/5/2011 9:12:00 PM | Football
Louisiana and Kent State kick off at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio. Click here to view the Cajuns game notes.
In preparation for Saturday's non-conference tilt against the Golden Flashes, head football coach Mark Hudspeth held his weekly media luncheon on Monday afternoon.
Click here to view video of coach Hudspeth's comments from the media luncheon. Click here to view a transcript.
The first edition of Inside Ragin' Cajuns Football airs tonight on Cox Channel 4 at 8 p.m. The show will return to its normal time of 9:30 p.m. next week. Replays of Inside Ragin' Cajuns Football will air Wednesday's at 4:30 p.m. on Cox Sports Television (CST).
The Cajuns won the only meeting between the two teams in 2008 in what was a shootout, 44-27. Louisiana racked up a then school record 667 yards of total offense in the game including an impressive 414 rushing yards.
UL enters the Kent State game after a 61-34 loss at No. 9 OSU last week.
Dwight Bentley recorded the second multi-interception game of his career against Oklahoma State including his second career "pick six" scoring Louisiana's first touchdown of the game. His efforts earned him the College Football Performance Awards National Defensive Back Performer of the Week honor.
Bentley's interception return was tabbed No. 2 on ESPN Sportcenter's Nightly Top 10 Highlights.
Jemarlous Moten had the longest play of the game for the Cajuns with his 50-yard interception return in the third quarter.
In the last two seasons, the defensive backs have accounted for 15 of the team's 17 interceptions.
The Cajuns saw 20 new faces compete in the opener at OSU as nine players on offense, 10 on defense and kicker Hunter Stover made their Ragin' Cajuns debuts. On offense, true freshmen running backs Qyen Griffin and Alonzo Harris combined for 67 yards rushing on 16 carries (4.2ypc), with Griffin toting his first career TD.
Griffin became only the second true freshman running back in the modern era to rush for a touchdown in the season opener. Last time was in 1973 by Raymond Lation.
Defensively, Brandon "Trae" Johnson and Jemarlous Moten both started the game, combining for eight tackles and an interception. Transfers Cordian Hagans and Jelani Smith totaled five tackles with a tackle-for-loss.
Blaine Gautier made his second career start against the Cowboys throwing for 106 yards (13-for-26). He also rushed for 14 yards on 14 carries including a one-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
After Saturday's contest, UL returns to Cajun Field for the 2011 season home opener against Nicholls State. Head coach Mark Hudspeth makes his Cajun Field debut and will do so likely in front of the largest season ticket base in school history.
-- RaginCajuns.com --
