Photo by Karley Nugent The Vermillion
Welcome everyone to another edition of #4Downs!
1st Down: Second Half Adjustments were brilliant
One big issue throughout the season is the Cajuns inability to get started off on the right foot on both sides of the ball. This was evident with drives in which the Cajuns had stellar field position, but were only able to settle for field goals. This is exactly why the Cajuns have lost games. Along with that is bad defensive schemes. Several of the scoring plays for the Warhawks were caused by busted coverage. When it came to the adjustments coming out of the locker room for the second half it looked like the Cajuns made all the right moves and were able to blank the Warhawks in the second half and come from behind and win.
2nd Down: Numbers Don’t Lie
One thing coming out of this game is that the Cajuns played a lot like the field conditions on Saturday: sloppy. The Cajuns only had 261 yards of offense and no player had more than 100 yards of offense. But at the end of the day, the number that matters most is what’s on the scoreboard. And the number for the Cajuns was 30. For the Cajuns, it’s a classic case of “win and move on”.
3rd Down: Tovell Reigns Supreme
There’s something special about Cajuns Linebacker Dominique Tovell. And tonight was a prime example of that. He was hungry and he got his fill of the Warhawks with 12 tackles, two tackles for loss, and two sacks on the night. Oh, and he had a forced fumble and a recovered fumble as well. If that’s not a sign of a player that could be playing on Sundays in the future, I don’t know what is.
4th Down: What’s Next for QB Position?
According to Coach Mark Hudspeth during his postgame presser, he could be embracing a two QB system going forward. Something about that just sounds weird in my book. There’s always a sick feeling in my stomach everytime I hear those words. It’s basically saying that you have no idea which quarterback you want to use. Saying that this late in the season is kind of counterproductive in my book. Haack should be the starter moving forward, bottom line. What he did after sitting on the bench for weeks proves that despite rough games early in the season proves that he is the right man for the job. It’s not a knock against Nixon, it’s just going with the guy who could give the team a good balance of run and pass. Most of the coaches in the Sun Belt have seen enough footage from the Hudspeth era to know what kind of offense he runs. To quote Christopher Walken in the cowbell sketch from SNL, Hud should “explore the space a bit.”
-Clint Domingue