ASU fortifying for Fenroy, Cajuns
Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Arkansas State is embarking on a segment of its schedule that features five out of six games on the road, including this week at Louisiana-Lafayette’s Cajun Field, where the Red Wolves are 0-3 since joining the Sun Belt Conference.
But, hey, there is good news. Arkansas State gets to find out how good its run defense really is.
With a share of first place on the line, the Red Wolves (4-2, 2-0 ) and the Sun Belt’s top run defense will be trying to collar the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-3, 2-0 ) and the nation’s top rushing offense led by the conference’s all-time leading rusher, Tyrell Fenroy.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, coming off an explosive performance in a 59-30 Sun Belt victory over North Texas, are averaging 332. 2 yards a game on the ground. That’s better than No. 1 Texas, 25 th with an average of 191. 8 yards a game, No. 2 Alabama, 15 th with an average of 226. 3, and No. 8 Oklahoma State, fourth with an average of 293. 8.
It’s also better than Arkansas State, ninth in the nation with an average of 246. 0 yards per game.
“They have some guys that can really, really run,” Arkansas State Coach Steve Roberts said. “Then if you do miss an assignment and miscommunicate, they will make big plays on you.”
One of those guys is Fenroy. The senior from LaPlace, La., is gunning for his fourth consecutive 1, 000-yard season after becoming the first Sun Belt player to post three in a row. He is the conference’s all-time leading rusher with 4, 113 yards, and he is fifth in the nation with an average of 140. 3 yards a game.
But Fenroy isn’t alone in the backfield.
Quarterback Michael Desormeaux is 11 th in the country with an average of 118. 0 yards a game, and the Cajuns have found another dimension in receiver Jason Chery, who blistered North Texas for five touchdowns and 335 of his 339 all-purpose yards in the first half.
Chery had just seven touches in the half and scored on a 91-yard kickoff return, an 81-yard run and caught touchdown passes of 17, 49 and 57 yards. A senior, Chery is fourth in the nation with an average of 188. 8 all-purpose yards per game.
That’s a lot to handle, even for an Arkansas State defense allowing an average of 121. 8 rushing yards a game.
“We feel like we have playmakers on the team, just like any team probably feels like,” Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Rickey Bustle said. “Mike’s been making plays for us. Of course, Tyrell has. Jason, we’ve probably involved him more in some of our offense.”
The Shotgun-based option scheme, with its share of counters, I-formations with the quarterback running, stretches and sweeps, offers plenty of headaches.
Not that Roberts and the Red Wolves haven’t seen it before.
Arkansas State has gotten a load of Desormeaux, whose playing time overlapped with former Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback Jerry Babb, and Fenroy the past few seasons. However, Desormeaux injured his knee late in Saturday’s game and there is a chance he could sit out this week.
“I didn’t have to look at the film in order to see what they’re capable of,” Roberts said. “We’ve faced it now for several years.”
Bustle said his offense grew in confidence in a 20-17 loss to Illinois and especially in a 45-37 loss at Kansas State before opening Sun Belt play.
“There’s no question,” Bustle said. “I think Illinois and K-State, we felt like we improved. We had guys making plays against awfully good BCS teams. I think it helped us grow in confidence as much as anything.”
Bustle agreed Arkansas State poses similar problems for his defense. With the mobile Corey Leonard at quarterback, the Red Wolves are averaging 452. 5 yards of total offense a game and are second in the Sun Belt in scoring offense (35. 0 points per game ).
The Ragin’ Cajuns are first with an average of 37. 0 points a game.
“Corey’s a heck of a quarterback,” Bustle said of Leonard, who was recruited by the Cajuns, among others, out of Covington, La. “He’s a great young guy. I do know Corey. He’s a winner, a competitor and a smart kid. He runs their offense extremely well, and you know he can run the ball. He’s a good athlete. He can beat you by himself if you’re not careful.”
Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette are founding members of the football wing of the Sun Belt, formed in 2001. The series has been marked by home supremacy, with the Ragin’ Cajuns winning all three of their games at Cajun Field and Arkansas State taking three in Jonesboro, including last year, when the Red Wolves had their most prolific offensive game in a 52-21 victory.
“Sometimes it’s an advantage,” Bustle said of the home turf. “I think there will be a great crowd here, and I’m sure Arkansas State is going to bring a good crowd. It’s going to be a great college game. I think it’s going to be a battle of heavyweights.”
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