Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns College Football Pregame Quote, 12/06/2019

We are very thankful to be here. We’re fortunate. We have a special group of people that have contributed to our success as a team. It’s been a great little run here in the second half of the year. We have a great group of coaches. We have a terrific group of players. We’re fortunate that we have great leadership, and our administration has done a great job creating the structure and creating investors that have supported our program and really allowed us to have a great process. We’ve got two of our best here today. Kevin Dotson and Jacques Boudreaux are two of our best leaders and best representations of our football team and our football players to be. We’re certainly fortunate to have this opportunity, and we look forward to the challenges that go with playing in a conference championship game. We have a formidable opponent. App State has tremendous tradition and history. I’ve got a lot of respect for them as a team, and I look forward to competing against them. With that, it’s time to play a little football before long.

On the tight ULM outcome last week being a blessing in disguise:

I do think when you go through adverse times as a team; it’s a good thing for you. We’ve certainly had some moments throughout the season where the game was tight. One thing about our football team, we responded. There’s been critical times throughout some of those games where we haven’t responded in the right way. That may be getting a stop on defense in a takeaway, or might be answering a score in offense and or making a big play on special teams. Consistently, we’ve built up our mental toughness over time through our offseason program and by the way we practice. I think that has allowed us the ability to respond when it counts the most. I think last week was a great example of that. We were a little depleted on defense, and we are fortunate to get some of those players back this week, but you’ve got to give ULM the credit.

On some of the past lessons learned that can translate over to tomorrow:

We have made slight adjustments to the process of getting here. Certainly, the travel, the plan that we executed yesterday and how we allocated each of our opportunities all the way up until kickoff. We didn’t go to a team movie today. We let them sleep in and simple things like that. I think when you get in these championship games, those are the things that matter. You’ve got to focus on the technical things that are going to help you play better in the game.

Senior Linebacker Jacques Boudreaux

On how to slow sown the App State offense:

Obviously, they’re a great offense and everybody knows that. When you’re facing a quarterback like Zac Thomas, their running backs that they have and the wide receivers, they have skill at every single position that they have. It’s more so of what we can do for ourselves. Defensively, we just have to be assignment sound. We have to know our responsibilities and try to limit those big plays. Hopefully that’s exactly what we are going to do tomorrow.

On the two-year process that made it possible to reach the Sun Belt Championship:

‚ÄúObviously, this coaching staff came in and changed the way we thought about football a team standpoint wise. We talked and told coach Nap that this team was not very together. We he can in, he made that a point emphasis to get this team as a one cohesive unit. As of late, I think that’s what has been transpiring, being one cohesive unit. I think that is something that shows on the field and off the field. We don’t have to hang out all the time, but we are together all the time. We know a lot about each other, and that puts things into perspective when we are that field. It allows everybody to play for each other.

Redshirt Senior Offensive Lineman Kevin Dotson

On the offensive coming together as a whole, especially the offensive line:

It started in the offseason. We always talked about being the best. We put ourselves on a high pedestal trying to make sure that we didn’t go lower than that bar at all times. We try to be at or above the bar at all time, and I think just this year we just tried to stay above that bar. We’ve done it pretty well this year. The O-line, we always talk about being the top-10 offensive lines. So, we try to do that, and it’s been coming together for us.

On the familiarity of playing at Kidd Brewer Stadium:

It’s always exciting playing here just because of how much fan support they have. It kind of gets to you that this many people are here from them. It’s always a fun experience to have that much people going against you. To have that on your mind, I have to be able to quiet this crowd. If I do my job right, I can control this crowd. I like that aspect of it.