Rewind: The New Orleans Bowl - From the Bird's Nest

I was right.

The bowl experience is a lot better when you win.

The Cajuns' 28-21 loss to Southern Miss was a disappointment, although there was no question the Golden Eagles were the favorite. Reality is, every loss is a disappointment.

After taking yesterday to ponder, here are some of my takeaways from the fifth trip to New Orleans in the last six years.

THE GOOD

THE COMEBACK--Did you expect the Cajuns to lay down after falling behind 14-0? I didn't. And, the Cajuns got back into the game. That thing could have gotten ugly early. But Mike Lucas' defense made some plays and the Cajuns were able to stay within striking distance to the end.

TAKEAWAYS--The Cajuns had not been very good at taking the ball away until the end of the season. But they got two more in the game on Saturday which kept them in the game. The Cajuns got 14 of their 21 points off USM turnovers. Tre'maine Lightfoot's forced fumble was returned by Otha Peters, setting up Dion Ray's touchdown run and Travis Crawford's 55 yard interception return got the Cajuns back within a touchdown. The Cajuns nearly had two more. A fumble on the kickoff after the Cajuns' first touchdown was recovered by Southern Miss, and there was the play on a punt which evidently hit a Cajun before hitting a Southern Miss player. At least that's what we were told.

THE RUN GAME--Anthony Jennings made some good decisions on the zone read and the Cajuns wound up with a more than decent showing running the football. Jennings and Elijah McGuire combined for 167 positive yards rushing, although the net was lower because of six sacks.

SPECIAL TEAMS--Overall a solid night. The Cajuns got a 25 yard punt return by Elijah McGuire, Steven Coutts averaged over 40 yards with only one returned for three yards. Stevie Artigue made all three of his kicks and Southern Miss didn't get anything done in the return game.

TRE'MAINE LIGHTFOOT--Someone explain to me how this guy isn't one of the six best linebackers in the league. At least that's what the All-Conference team said.

THE CROWD--at UNO. Of the 1,411 in attendance, more than 1,000 were Cajuns' fans. And, they were loud. And, while we're at it, I'm not going to be all that disappointed with the crowd at the 'Dome. Taking everything into consideration, having roughly 50% of the total crowd was pretty good. Those "doom and gloom" predictions would up being off base. Sure, you hope for more and the crowd wasn't what it's been in the past. But there are a LOT of reasons for that.

THE BAD

THE START--Six plays, two touchdowns. The Cajuns were better in not allowing the big play later, but those at the beginning of the game were just killer. One of the keys was keeping big plays to a minimum. Didn't happen early.

THE TWO MINUTE OFFENSE--Give Southern Miss some credit for doing what they needed to do, but this was a concern most of the season. Whether it was Anthony Jennings not throwing it well, or not having time to throw it well, the Cajuns had to rely on their run game most of the season. And that's not good in a two minute offense. Jennings hit Al Riles for 20 on the first play. But that was the high point.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE--They've had their moments this season and they're a pretty good run blocking group. But they allowed another six sacks and their lack of protection made Jennings hurry a few throws. Mark Hudspeth believes this unit will only get better. We had all better hope he's right.

NO BIGGIES--Aside of the pass to Riles in the fourth quarter, the Cajuns didn't have a single play on offense go for twenty yards. You just aren't going to win that way. The Cajuns even tried a half dozen gadget plays. The only one that worked was the Dion Ray pass that was dropped by Michael Jacquet.

THE TARGETING CALL--I can bring up a half dozen calls that I thought were missed, but the targeting call on Tracy Walker was just brutal. And the way the officials handled it was just as bad. And, why did it take two time outs for this MAC crew to figure out they needed to review the spike at the end of the first half? Don't blame ESPN entirely for the four hour game. The delays by the officiating crew contributed to it as well.

THE PICK--How different might things have been without the interception in the end zone The Cajuns had driven 61 yards and were poised to take a lead into the locker room. But Jennings ill-advised pass was intercepted in the end zone. That one would have given the Cajuns all the momentum into the locker room.

Where do the Cajuns go from here? We'll address that tomorrow.