LAFAYETTE – The 2023 college football season is officially here for Michael Desormeaux and the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns.
The second-year coach held his first in-season press conference on Monday to get game week started as his team prepares to host Northwestern State Saturday night inside Cajun Field at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.
This is a revenge tour
2022 did not go the way that Desormeaux and the Cajuns expected it to. It also didn’t meet the expectations of the Louisiana fanbase.
His team has a ‘chip on their shoulder’ mentality and wants to right the ship in 2023. That is why they are labeling this season a “revenge tour”.
“It’s what our kids believe in,” Desormeaux said. “The thing I told him is when you take these types of things and make it public, like we have, then you really got to be about it. There’s a lot of people that say a lot of things, and there’s a lot of people that will talk the game when you have to walk it.”
“When we have a period or a practice that I don’t feel is up to our standard, I’ll tell them. It’s nothing more than talk unless we’re willing to work towards it.”
Even for Desormeaux himself, there’s a bit of a chip on the shoulder.
“I don’t ever forget anything, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Desormeaux said. “I remember the reactions after a lot of those games when they didn’t go our way, I remember the way people reacted, I remember what people said. So I don’t forget anything. And we are a chip on our shoulder operation over here.”
“I don’t care what we have to do: if we have to fabricate it, if it’s really there, whatever it takes. But I know it certainly motivated me and the staff as well as these players to go out there and go put a product out there on the field that we want to see.”
Discipline and effort
Throughout the spring and even into fall camp, these have been two words that Desormeaux has used religiously.
He wants more discipline and effort from this team in 2023.
Heading into week one, he feels the most confident in that aspect of this Cajuns group.
“Those are the things that I’ve seen day in and day out,” said Desormeaux. “I believe if you play with discipline and you play with effort, it covers up some things. For us, that’s what we expect every week. We expect our kids to go out there and go play harder than the other team and to play with more discipline than the other team. And I think when you do that, you eliminate the opportunities to beat yourself.”
Early conference game presents special teams challenge
After their season opener this Saturday, the Cajuns will be on the road to Norfolk, Virginia for their first Sun Belt Conference matchup with Old Dominion. Having a conference game this early on the schedule is incredibly odd and presents an interesting challenge to Desormeaux and his staff.
According to SBC rules, teams can only bring 70 players to a road conference game, which will limit the number of special teamers that can be brought, so Luke Paschall and Desormeaux will be watching very closely in the opener for who could make that trip.
Also of note from Monday’s press conference is that Louisiana soccer, in its second season under Chris McBride, is off to its best start in school history at 3-0-1. They will be on the road in Florida this week to play former Sun Belt members FAU and FIU.