Louisiana To Host New Mexico State For Homecoming Contest

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 8:        New Mexico State (1-7) at Louisiana (5-2)
When:        Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, 4:00 p.m. CDT
Site:        Cajun Field (ProGrass, 31,000)
Sponsor:        Sonic
TV:        Ragin' Cajuns Network (Jeff Palermo, Scott Brazda & Lauren Poumaroux)
ESPN3.com (blacked out in Lafayette)
Radio:        Ragin' Cajuns Radio Network
(Jay Walker, Gerald Broussard & Steve Peloquin)
Participating Stations
KPEL (1420 AM, Lafayette) Flagship
KXHT (107.9 FM, Lafayette)
WGSO (990 AM, New Orleans)
KTUX (98.9 FM, Shreveport)
KLCL (1470 AM, Lake Charles)
KJEF (1290 AM, Jennings)
KRJO (1680 AM, Monroe)
Series:        Louisiana leads, 4-3
Last Meeting:        NMSU 35, Louisiana 32 (10/9/04, Las Cruces, NM)

Coaches:
Louisiana
Mark Hudspeth (Delta State, '92)
Record at Louisiana: 23-10 (3rd year)
Overall Record: 89-31 (10th year)

New Mexico State
Doug Martin (Kentucky, '85)
Record at NMSU: 1-7 (1st year)
Overall Record: 30-60 (8th year)

Tickets:
$30 Reserved, $25 General Admission
(NMSU)
$25 Reserved, $20 General Admission
(Troy & ULM)
Season and individual tickets available at RaginCajuns.com and by calling (337) 265-2357

THE STORYLINE: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns return home this week, hosting New Mexico State for the 68th annual Homecoming game on Saturday, Nov. 2 beginning at 4:00 p.m. at Cajun Field. . . the game will be televised by the Ragin' Cajuns Network with Jeff Palermo, Scott Brazda and Lauren Poumaroux providing commentary. . . the Cajuns will have had 11 days to prepare for the contest since extending their win streak to five by claiming a 23-7 win at two-time defending Sun Belt champion Arkansas State on Oct. 22. . . junior Alonzo Harris (105 yards, 2 TDs) and freshman Elijah McGuire (110 yards) each rushed for more than 100 yards at ASU while junior Jamal Robinson grabbed seven passes for 104 yards, his third 100-yard game of the year. . . the Louisiana defense limited the Sun Belt's top offense to just 168 yards, the lowest total by a Cajuns opponent in three seasons under Mark Hudspeth. . . sophomore T.J. Worthy led the defensive effort by making a career-high 11 tackles (six solo). . . NMSU (1-7) is playing this season as a FBS Independent before rejoining the Sun Belt as a football playing only member next year. . . the Ragin' Cajuns hold a 4-3 lead in the all-time series, including a 4-1 record in games played in Lafayette. . . Louisiana is 12-1 at Cajun Field in three seasons under Hudspeth.

WE ARE LOUISIANA: There is confusion among the national sports organizations as how to refer to the Ragin' Cajuns. Our official name is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, but much like our opponents around the country, we simply go by Louisiana when referring to our athletic programs. It is the same situation at the Universities of Texas (at Austin), Tennessee (at Knoxville) and California (at Berkeley), but years of use and understanding by the sports media has led to each of those schools to have their athletic monikers being simplified and accepted nationally. Although we proudly refer to our University with its full title for academic purposes, we ask that you use Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns or some combination of those terms, when talking about our athletic teams.

WHITE OUT AHEAD: The Nov. 7 game against Troy has been designated a White Out game with Ragin' Cajuns fans who attend the game being encouraged to wear white.

HOMECOMING: Saturday's game will serve as the 68th annual Homecoming contest for Ragin' Cajuns with alumni returning to Lafayette for a weekend of activities. The Cajuns own a 39-26-2 record in Homecoming games, including a 1-0 mark against New Mexico State, toppling the Aggies, 43-26, in 1995.

SERIES VS. NEW MEXICO STATE: Saturday's game marks the eighth series meeting between Louisiana and New Mexico State with the Cajuns owning a 4-3 series lead. The Cajuns won the first three meetings, claiming home wins in 1975, 1980 and 1995. The Aggies were members of the Sun Belt from 2001-04 with the NMSU claiming three of the four games. The Aggies left the Sun Belt after the 2004 season and the two teams have not met since, though that will end as NMSU joins the Sun Belt in 2014 as a football member only.

LOUISIANA & THE RAGIN' CAJUNS NETWORK: Saturday's game will be the second of three games televised this season on the Ragin' Cajuns Network. Formed in 2011 by the Louisiana Athletic Department, the RCN is broadcast to 17 parishes and almost 500,000 households throughout Louisiana with Cox4 serving as the flagship station. Also on tap for the RCN this year will be the Nov. 24 home game against South Alabama. The Cajuns have had good success on the RCN, winning all seven games broadcast over the first three seasons.

CAJUNS EXCEL AT CAJUN FIELD: The win over Texas State on Oct. 5 improved the Cajuns to 12-1 at home in three seasons under head coach Mark Hudspeth. Included in that record were wins in Hudspeth's first eight games, the third-longest in facility history. Louisiana carries a four-game win streak into Saturday's meeting with New Mexico State.

CAJUNS GET WIN #500: The 70-7 win over Nicholls State on Sept. 14 was the 500th in the 113-year history of the Louisiana football program. The Cajuns have gone to win four more to begin the week with a 504-523-34 record.

STREAKING: The Ragin' Cajuns will put a couple of modest win streaks on the line against New Mexico State. Louisiana enters the game having won five straight games, the longest win streak since the Cajuns claimed six straight victories at the start of the 2011 season. The Cajuns have also won four straight home games going back to last season. One streak that is not on the line are the seven straight Sun Belt victories going back to last year, a streak that started following a 50-27 home loss to Arkansas State.

GETTING BACK TO SATURDAY: After winning back-to-back Tuesday night games on the road, the New Mexico State game will mark the first time since Oct. 5th that the Cajuns will play a game on Saturday. Louisiana finds itself in a stretch where they will play three mid-week games during a four-game stretch with the game against the Aggies being the lone Saturday contest. You have to go back to the 1946 season, when Louisiana played four games on Friday, to find a year when the Ragin' Cajuns played three or more games on days other than Saturday.

BRAUCHLE SETTLES IN: It hasn't been easy for sophomore Stephen Brauchle to replace Cajuns legend Brett Baer, but he has done a good job this season. Brauchle is coming off an 11-point game at Arkansas State, his third double-figure scoring game of the year, posting his first career three field goal game. He leads the Sun Belt in kick scoring with 56 points and with at least five games to go, already ranks fourth with 32 extra points made and ninth with 33 attempts. He is eight-for-11 on field goal attempts.

McGUIRE'S LONG RUN: When Elijah McGuire broke free for a career-long 70-yard run to set up a three-yard touchdown run by Alnzo Harris in the second quarter at Arkansas State, it marked the longest non-scoring play of the season for the Cajuns and the longest since Jamal Robinson and Blaine Gautier teamed up on an 86-yard pass in the 2012 season opener. Although the Louisiana records are incomplete, they do show that there have been at least three non-scoring runs of 80 yards or more, including a record 90-yard effort by Reggie Dupre at Southeastern Louisiana in 1971.

HARRIS & McGUIRE TOPPLE 100 YARD MARK: The Oct. 22 win at Arkansas State featured a unique accomplishment by the Cajuns backfield as running backs Alonzo Harris and Elijah McGuire became just the seventh running back duo, and first since 1998, to rush for 100 yards in the same game. Harris was the work horse, carrying 29 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns while McGuire was aided by a 70-yard burst, rushing just 10 times for a game-high 110 yards. It was the 21st time in program history that two runners each had 100 yards rushing in the game, but in 13 of those games, a quarterback was one of the two. John Bernard (129 yards) and Darren Brister (106) were the last running back duo to accomplish the feat, doing it at ULM in 1998.

CAJUNS DOMINATE POSSESSION TIME: When the Ragin's Cajuns won the toss and elected to defer their choice until the second half at Arkansas State, it was the only time all night that they gave the Red Wolves the ball. For the game, Louisiana had the ball for 42:18, including a dominating 24:14-5:46 advantage in the second half. The Cajuns ran 86 plays to 46 for the Red Wolves for the game, including 45 in the second half to just 18 for ASU. The time of possession trend started the week before at WKU when Louisiana held the ball for 20:35 in the second half (including an 11:44-3:16 edge in the third quarter.). With a dominating time of possession like that, Louisiana has outscored two of the best Sun Belt teams, 47-14 over the last six quarters.

A WORTHY DEFENDER: When Rodney Gillis went down with a season-ending leg injury against Texas State, it created an opportunity for T.J. Worthy to return to the starting lineup, which the sophomore has taken advantage of. He made seven tackles (five solo) and an interception at WKU on Oct. 15 and came back to match his career-high with 11 tackles (6 solo) at Arkansas State. He begins the week ranked fourth on the team with 31 tackles and leading the squad with a pair of interceptions. A starter at safety in three games last year, Worthy finished sixth on the team with 47 tackles.

ANDERSON STARTS SENIOR CAMPAIGN OUT RIGHT: Justin Anderson has started his final season as a Ragin' Cajun out right by setting his career tackle high three times in the first six games. Anderson made 14 tackles in the opener at Arkansas (Aug. 31) and came back at Kansas State (Sept. 7) to register 15 stops. At WKU on Oct. 15, he did that one better by recording 16 tackles (11) solo with two fumbles forced, two fumbles recovered and two TFL to earn Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Anderson now has nine double-figure tackle games in his career. He enters the week leading the Sun Belt and ranking 13th nationally with 71 tackles (10.1 tpg).

RILES TURNS IN THE PLAY OF THE YEAR: With the Cajuns trailing WKU 10-0 and the Hilltoppers facing a fourth-and-goal from the 1 that could have put them ahead 17-0, sophomore safety Al Riles turned in the biggest play of the year to date. Riles intercepted a Brandon Doughty pass just outside the goal line and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown to turn the Cajuns fortunes around. The interception, the first of Riles career, was the second returned for a touchdown by the Cajuns this year (Justin Anderson vs. Nicholls State).

THE TURNOVER TALE: Mark Hudspeth has preached the importance of taking care of the football since he first stepped on the Louisiana campus in 2010 and the 2013 Cajuns have definitely paid attention to his words. The Cajuns enter the week ranked seventh nationally in turnover margin, averaging 1.3 turnovers more than their opponents each game. In seven games, the Louisiana defense ranks 22nd in the nation with 17 takeaways (8 fumbles & 9 interceptions) and 12th with just eight give-aways (3 fumbles & 5 interceptions).

10 CAJUNS EARN MID-SEASON ALL-SBC HONORS: Ten Louisiana players received mention when Phil Steele released his mid-season All-Sun Belt Conference team on Oct. 14. The Cajuns placed five players on the first team, Jamal Robinson (WR), Andre Huval (C), Daniel Quave (RG), Mykhael Quave (LT) and Justin Anderson (LB), while Terrance Broadway (QB), Alonzo Harris (RB), Jacob Maxwell (TE), Sean Thomas (FS), Dominique Tovell (DL) earned second team mention. Louisiana and Arkansas State shared the lead with 10 players honored.

4TH DOWN EXPLOITS: Louisiana stopped Arkansas State on its only fourth down attempt, extending the Cajuns string of successful fourth down stops to six going back to the Texas State game. Louisiana begins the week ranked 11th nationally in fourth down defense this season. In seven games, Cajuns opponents have converted just three of the 13 times that they have attempted to convert a fourth down play (.231). This is nothing new to Louisiana. In 2012, the Cajuns stopped their opponents on 11 of their 14 attempts to rank second behind Syracuse (2-10, .200) with a .214 defense rate.

IMPROVED RUNNING: One of the strengths of the Cajuns offense in 2012 was their improvement in the running game. In 2011, Louisiana ranked seventh in the Sun Belt and 88th nationally averaging 125.2 yards per game. In 2012, using a running attack featuring two sophomores and two freshmen, the Cajuns ranked second in the Sun Belt and 34th in the nation averaging 193.5 yards per game.

. . . AND THE CAJUNS MOVE UP TO 17TH IN RUSHING: With the majority of the rushing attack back this year, the Cajuns have taken another jump in the rushing stats. Through seven games, Louisiana has gained 1,605 yards on 328 carries for a healthy 4.9 yards per carry. The Cajuns lead the Sun Belt and rank 17th in the nation averaging 229.3 yards per game. (and 243.7 in three Sun Belt games) Those numbers were expected this season as the Cajuns returned every player who gained rushing yards last year except quarterback Blaine Gautier (17 carries, 93 yards) and wide receiver Harry Peoples (14-72).

SURGENT BREAKS KICKOFF RECORD: Senior Darryl Surgent returned three kickoffs for 81 yards at Western Kentucky on Oct. 15 to break Joe Redding's school record of 114 career kickoff returns. He enters the week with 116 kickoff returns for 2,575 kickoff return yards, needing 68 more to break the school record for return yards. Redding, who played from 1985-88, returned 114 kicks of a school-best 2,642 yards. Earlier in the year, Surgent set a record by returning a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown at Kansas State, the longest return in school history.

McGUIRE VIES FOR SUN BELT FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Running back Elijah McGuire is making a strong case for Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors this season. The only non-kicker freshman ranked in the top 10 in any of the major Sun Belt stat categories, McGuire enters the week ranked fourth in the conference averaging 60.7 rushing yards per game. The Houma, La. native has carried 51 times for 425 yards and a league-best 8.3 average. He gained a career-high 137 yards with three touchdowns against Nicholls State and added 110 yards, including a career-long 70 yard rush, on 10 carries at Arkansas State. In Sun Belt games, McGuire has rushed 26 times for 239 yards, a 9.2 average and 79.7 yards per game.

. . . AND McGUIRE LIKES CAJUN FIELD: Elijah McGuire is especially comfortable playing at Cajun Field, carrying 16 times for 195 yards and four touchdowns in the two games to date. He wowed the Cajun Field crowd against Nicholls State (Sept. 14), becoming the ninth true-freshman in school history to rush for 100 yards in a game. He carried nine times for 137 yards and three touchdowns, including a scintillating 42-yard scamper on which he dragged Nicholls defensive back Treavon Evans for almost 10 yards and then had to fight off another defender to get into the endzone. McGuire came back to carry seven times for 58 yards and a touchdown against Texas State.

BROADWAY PASSES 4,000 YARD MARK: With 1,448 yards passing this season, junior Terrance Broadway has become just the eighth player in Cajuns history to surpass the 4,000 yard mark for his Cajuns career. In 20 career games (16 starts), Broadway has completed 315 of 486 passes for 4,290 yards and 28 touchdowns.

NEXT UP: After playing just three games in four weeks, the Cajuns have their shortest turnaround of the season, having just five days before facing Troy on Thursday, Nov. 7 beginning at 6:30 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

Louisiana To Host New Mexico State For Homecoming Contest

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