By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Although they scored just 23 points winning Friday’s Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, the Houston Cougars brought the heat and left a lasting mark at Independence Stadium.
The Cougars brought in portable heaters for players in their bench area. The heaters were great for UH but not for the brand new artificial turf, which was slightly damaged in four spots in the UH bench area when the plastic grass and rubber pellets melted and briefly created some smoke as the game kicked off. That was more heat than the Cougars offense produced until just before halftime, but the problem was quickly resolved.
318 CAJUNS: Four former area prep standouts were in action Friday for the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, including two offensive starters: senior receiver John Stephens Jr. of Logansport and sophomore left guard AJ Gillie of Natchitoches Central. Stephens, expected to get into an NFL training camp as an undrafted free agent, made three catches for 47 yards. His late father, a former Springhill and Northwestern State record-shattering running back, was the 1988 Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl pick for New England as a highlight of his six NFL seasons.
Haughton’s Jake St. Andre was in on special teams action but the redshirt freshman linebacker did not record a tackle. Many running back Terrance Williams, a second-teamer as a sophomore, netted eight yards on five carries.
SUBTLE TRIBUTE: With everyone but players and officials bundled up in layers trying to ward off the cold, Dana Holgorsen’s gesture honoring one of his mentors didn’t stand out as intended Friday, until the trophy ceremony. The Houston head coach and two of his offensive assistants wore black sweatshirts with “STATE” across the chest to honor the memory of Mike Leach, whose sudden death Dec. 12 shocked the sports world.
Holgorsen played receiver at Iowa Wesleyan College, where Leach and head coach Hal Mumme unleashed the “Air Raid” offense that has greatly influenced the sport at all levels in recent years. Holgorsen worked for Leach after his playing career ended and was his offensive coordinator in Leach’s head coaching debut at Texas Tech, where Cougars offensive line coach Brandon Jones played for Leach from 2004-06.
Holgorsen flew to Starkville, Miss., Tuesday from Shreveport to attend Leach’s memorial service at Mississippi State.
OT AVERTED: As the Houston offense took the field with 2:59 left backed up inside its own 10 in a 16-all tie, overtime loomed. A game-winning 92-yard drive averted only the second OT in I-Bowl history. The first and only? The 2000 “Snow Bowl” when Mississippi State prevailed 43-41 over Texas A&M.
DEUCE WATCH: Nobody wanted to avoid overtime any more than former Saints standout and 2006 Independence Bowl Hall of Fame inductee Deuce McAllister, who starred in Ole Miss wins in 1998 and 1999. He was the color analyst for the ESPN telecast but also kept close watch on the status of his flight from Shreveport Regional to Cleveland, where he will resume his regular role as analyst on the Saints Radio Network for New Orleans’ noon game today against the Browns.
McAllister’s flight took off at 6:17, about 40 minutes after the game ended. Aside from no cancellation (as of halftime) of his flight, he had the advantages of the airport’s location just four miles from Independence Stadium, and not having any traffic woes at game’s end. Only a few hundred fans, at best, hung around in the sub-freezing conditions for the finish.
His backup plan — a private charter by a friend, departing New Orleans early this morning.
TUNE UP: Houston quarterback Clayton Tune tossed three TD passes to rise into a tie for No. 1 nationally this season with 40 scoring strikes, matching Austin Reed of Western Kentucky.
CAJUN COWBOY: UL-Lafayette and McNeese State, like Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State, were for decades bitter rivals before the Cajuns and Bulldogs departed the Southland Conference for Football Bowl Subdivision membership in the 1980s. While the highly-successful head coach at McNeese, Matt Viator was twice in the mix when a downtrodden ULL program was seeking new leadership, but each time the Cajuns went with somebody else.
Now Viator is on the ULL staff as a senior analyst. He left McNeese after 10 seasons and was head coach at ULM from 2016-20, before getting fired. Former Cajun coach Billy Napier, who left after last season to take over at Florida, had brought Viator on as an unpaid analyst, but new coach Michael Desormeaux elevated Viator’s status and put him on salary.
SPEAKING OF CAJUN ANALYSTS: Former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron was on the ULL sideline throughout Saturday’s game. His son Parker is in his first year as an analyst for the Cajuns. Another son, Cody, is in the same role at Miami, where the elder Orgeron has a residence on the 38th floor of a beachfront hotel. “Coach O” has made several visits to watch the Cajuns and visit his son in 2022, and drove up from his south Louisiana home Thursday, stopping to show his girlfriend his old college town, Natchitoches, where he played for Northwestern and started his coaching career in 1983-84.
Coming from sunny Florida, Orgeron and companion purchased winter wear Thursday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Shreveport. Among those he visited with on the field were former Demon teammate Dr. Stan Powell of Shreveport and retired NSU president Dr. Chris Maggio, who was a track athlete for the Demons while Orgeron played and coached there.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com