Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ASU wants revenge
Arkansas State Coach Blake Anderson (above) wasn’t around to see the Red Wolves’ 23-7 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette last year, but he hasn’t had to work this week on moving his players’ attention toward Tuesday night’s rematch.
JONESBORO — Last year’s game between the two teams that shared the Sun Belt Conference title has already been addressed once this year.
It came last month — during the week leading up to Boise State’s 34-9 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in Boise, Idaho, oddly enough,.
Boise State tight ends coach Elijah Drinkwitz discussed Arkansas State’s 23-7 loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns last year in a game that was televised on ESPN2.
“They scarred us emotionally,” said Drinkwitz, who was ASU’s co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach last season.
Louisiana-Lafayette held ASU to one first-half touchdown and 168 total yards — its lowest output since it moved to a Spread offense in 2010 — while taking control of the race for a Sun Belt title the two teams eventually shared.
Louisiana-Lafayette (3-3, 2-0) was picked as the preseason league favorite partially because of what happened at Centennial Bank Stadium last season.
But ASU (4-2, 2-0) gets another crack at a Ragin’ Cajuns team that beat it so thoroughly one year ago in a Tuesday night game at Cajun Field.
ASU, Louisiana- Lafay- ette and newcomer Georgia Southern are all undefeated in conference play, but with Georgia Southern ineligible for postseason play, the winner of ASU-Louisiana-Lafayette could help determine who wins the title and lend a hand in determining eventual bowl destinations.
What might be more of a concern for the Red Wolves is not feeling the way they felt a year ago.
“They embarrassed us at home, and I took that to heart and I didn’t like that,” defensive end Chris Stone said.
“I wouldn’t say it scarred us emotionally, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t supposed to happen, and you got embarrassed at home and you’re not supposed to lose at home.”
Stone, cornerback Andrew Tryon and quarterback Fredi Knighten each talked about the chance to finally turn the page on last season’s chapter with the Ragin’ Cajuns in their post-game remarks after a 5210 victory over Georgia State on Oct. 11.
“Getting beat like that is not a good feeling,” Knighten said. “We want to avenge that a little bit.”
First-year Coach Blake Anderson wasn’t around to see ASU’s loss last year, which was followed by four consecutive victories that propelled it to a share of the conference title and another Go Daddy Bowl invitation.
But he hasn’t had to work this week on moving his players attention toward Tuesday night.
“They know that Lafayette is the preseason favorite and a lot of people are expecting them to win,” Anderson said. “For a lot of reasons, even though we don’t talk about it, we know what’s coming. But they handled their business right, and they gave themselves a chance for this game to matter.”
Largely because of a nonconference schedule that includes losses to Louisiana Tech, Boise State and No. 3 Ole Miss, the Ragin’ Cajuns are sixth in the Sun Belt in total defense (426.7 yards per game), fifth against the run (170.5), last against the pass (256.2) and their three forced turnovers are tied for fewest in the FBS.
But the the Ragin’ Cajuns handled Texas State last week, a team that still ranks second in the Sun Belt in total offense (459.8).
The Ragin’ Cajuns held the Bobcats to 270 yards of total offense, 94 yards rushing and without a touchdown until the game’s final minutes.
“The personnel is the same,” said running backs coach Anthony Tucker, the only holdover from Bryan Harsin’s staff who witnessed last season’s game.
“Those guys get after it. They came here, they came into our stadium here and they got after us and they whooped us.”