Indians looking for a first in Sun Belt
TODD TRAUBARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
JONESBORO -- In the big book of coaching cliches, the saying "We've got to take care of business" falls somewhere between "We had our chances" and "You've got to give them credit."
But the tried and true pronouncement rings a little truer in the case of Arkansas State today.
The Indians (0-4) are coming off their best performance in a 35-17 loss to Ole Miss last week. The business at hand now is to keep the momentum going in the Sun Belt Conference opener against Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. at Indian Stadium.
The Indians are 4 1/2-point favorites, but they've been favored before, as in the Sept. 22 loss to NCAA Division I-AA Jacksonville State. The Indians are probably evenly matched against the Ragin' Cajuns -- better in some areas, worse in others -- but they've matched up well with other teams and lost those games, too.
ASU's ground game got on track last week behind 173 yards from Jonathan Adams, and freshman quarterbacks Josh Driscoll and Elliot Jacobs continue to mature. But what the Indians need as much as talent, Coach Joe Hollis said, is a little fire in the belly.
"It's the only way we can survive in the Sun Belt," Hollis said. "No matter who the opponent is, we've got to play at that level of intensity and blue-collar style. If we don't, we expose ourselves to failure."
After their disheartening loss to Jacksonville State two weeks ago, the Indians have been encouraged by the fact that they were in the game against Ole Miss midway through the fourth quarter.
"Although we didn't win against Ole Miss, we felt we played pretty good against them," Jacobs said. "And what we need to do is jump out to the same kind of start against Louisiana-Lafayette. A team, if you score a couple touchdowns they'll get down in a hurry. And we haven't really done that to people this year but if we can do that we can work on what we need to work on instead of having to play catch-up."
What it boils down to, Jacobs said, is being a little bit nasty.
"I think a lot of us are too nice. We just have to have that killer mentality," Jacobs said. "We need to get them down and keep them down, because they showed us, a I-AA team came back and beat us. So it can happen on any Saturday."
Even if the Indians play their best, today's game isn't supposed to be a cakewalk. Allowing an average 171 passing yards a game, the Ragin' Cajuns (1-4, 0-1) lead the league in pass defense and are second in total defense, allowing an average of 370.2 yards.
"It should be a good matchup," Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Jerry Baldwin said. "Arkansas State, just looking at the video, they're getting better every week. They're really running the ball well. Adams is really running the ball well."
As happy as ASU is with its rejuvenated running attack, Louisiana-Lafayette can be expected to load up on the line of scrimmage to stop it and challenge the Indians' young quarterbacks with man-to-man coverage.
"They give you a lot of looks up front," Hollis said. "They're unique in their coverages. They give you a lot of bump and run, man coverage with the free safety. They're very athletic. I say that every week, but this might be the most athletic football team in the Sun Belt."
The pass coverage is something Driscoll welcomes, especially after Arizona State turned four blown coverages into scores in last week's victory against the Cajuns.
"I'm glad to see that," Driscoll said. "I feel confident in our pass protection with our offensive line and our offensive scheme that we have. If they do stack the line, hey, that's more to us on passing. We'll just read our side adjusts, throw it to our side adjusts and hope we can move the ball up and down the field."
But Louisiana-Lafayette is in a situation ASU has known well recently -- it can't afford another loss and have a realistic shot at a conference title.
"I don't know if we can [lose another game] to be honest with you," Baldwin said.
But the Cajuns have at least won one, something ASU has yet to do. Without a victory today, or soon, the rosy glow that followed the Ole Miss game will fade pretty quickly.
"Everybody was more alive," Driscoll said. "More confident feeling. Saying 'Hey we can do this.' But now we've got to come together as a whole team. We've got to put everything together for that first win."
Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State
WHEN 2 p.m. today.
WHERE Indian Stadium in Jonesboro.
SERIES Louisiana-Lafayette leads 15-14-1.
LINE ASU by 4 1/2.
COACHES Joe Hollis (15-43-1 in fifth season at ASU), Jerry Baldwin (4-23 in third season at Louisiana-Lafeyette).
TELEVISION None.
RADIO KKEY-FM 95.9 and KNEA-AM 979 in Jonesboro; KWAK in Stuttgart; KEWI-AM 690 in Benton; KHPQ-FM 92.1 in Clinton; KASR-FM 82.7 in Conway; KQEW-FM 102.3 in Fordyce; KXJK-AM 950 in Forrest City; KBOA-FM 105.5 in Kennett, Mo.; KXSA-FM 99.9 in Monticello; KTLO-AM 1240 in Mountain Home; KNBY-AM 1280 in Newport; KWYN-AN 1400 in Wynne and KAAY-AM 1090 in Little Rock.
This article was published on October 13, 2001
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