The game was hanging in the balance.
UL coach Michael Desormeaux had just agonizingly punted on fourth-and-inches from his own 37 earlier in the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.
The lead was down to three now and there was only 2:11 left to play.
Desormeaux remembered a promise he made to his team.
“The decision there is if you don’t get it, you probably look like a fool,” said Desormeaux, whose Cajuns improved to 5-1 and 2-0 with a 34-24 win over Appalachian State on Saturday at Cajun Field. “If you get it and score a touchdown, the game is over. I told our kids and I promised them that I’m going to play the game to win, I’m going to call it to win and I’m going to be aggressive. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.”
This time it worked.
Quarterback Ben Wooldridge rolled right and connected with emerging wide receiver Lance LeGendre for 16 yards to the 10.
“We had really good execution,” Desormeaux said. “Lance wins in a one-on-one situation. Ben does a heck of a job of finding him and putting the ball on the money. You need players to make plays in situations and two of our best made really good plays.
“Yeah, I promised them that we’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to play games to win and I’m not going to play them not to lose. That’s a promise I made to them and I’m going to keep my promise.”
LeGendre continues to emerge as one of UL’s top targets with four receptions for 67 yards, while Wooldridge gutted out another 10-point win as the team leader.
“It’s elite, it’s elite,” Desormeaux said of Wooldridge’s toughness. “There’s no other word to describe it. That guy, he just wills things to happen. I think when you have a quarterback who plays the game like he does, I think your whole team embodies that.”
After the big completion to LeGendre, Wooldridge ran the ball eight yards to the 2 and then scored a play later on a 1-yard sneak.
“The naked that he ran on that last drive, I told him it’s got to be a completion or you’ve got to run it,” Desormeaux said. “You cannot stop the clock here. Rob (Williams) got open. He had a naked over. It was kind of a tight window and there was no doubt in my mind what he was about to do and he ran through it up in there.
“He’s just got elite toughness.”
Wooldridge’s other emerging top target is sophomore tight end Terrance Carter, who had four catches for 107 yards in Saturday’s win, including a career-high 74-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter.
“I ain’t going to lie, I didn’t expect to score,” Carter said of his long touchdown catch. “The defense did their little adjustment of bringing the Bandit safety down. Ben checked the play. It was supposed to be a run and he checked it to a pass.
“I caught it and I saw three (defenders) behind me and my think was just, ‘Protect the ball, don’t lose the ball.’ I bounced out and looked up and I was still up. So I was like, ‘Let’s hit the road, let’s go get it in there.’.”
Desormeaux’s gutsy fourth-down call complemented some good fortune for the Cajuns earlier in the fourth quarter.
Just when it appeared Appalachian State had seized the game’s momentum, something big happened.
Kanye Roberts, who led the Mountaineers with 148 yards rushing on the night, fumbled at the UL 15 down 27-17 with 13:19 left to play.
Cornerback Justin Agu scooped it up and ran 70 yards to the App 15.
“They were getting really close to our end zone, so the defense had to buckle down,” Agu said. “From what I saw, the receiver came to block me, it was a run. Amir McDaniel came and tackled him, K.C. (Ossai) came and stripped the ball. I saw the ball pop up and hit the ground. I’m right there, so I just picked it up and starting running.”
Initially it appeared Agu would score, but a horse collar tackle — that got UL to the 7 — stopped him, which naturally he was reminded of from his teammates.
“They’re calling me slow and everything, but I was cramping while I was running,” Agu laughed. “So a tight end catching me, alright, it won’t happen again though.”
On the next play, running back Bill Davis fumbles the ball and inadvertently kicks it into the end zone to be recovered for a touchdown by center Landon Burton. It was UL’s first offensive lineman recovery in the end zone for a score since 1988 against Tulane.
For those few seconds it felt like everyone held their collective breath until a touchdown was signaled.
“When things like that happen, sometimes it’s just kind of on your side a little bit,” Desormeaux said. “The handoff was good. We just didn’t receive the handoff. I’ll say this now, ‘Landon was driving his guy five yards deep in the end zone, so I do thing you recover fumbles when you hustle. I think when you play hard, things go your way a little bit.
“What was going through my mind was just, ‘thank God.' That was a huge moment.”
Several areas must still be addressed for this team to reach the Sun Belt championship game.
The offense struggled in short-yardage situations.
The defense once again didn’t show the ability to handle a physical rushing attack, although it did collect four interceptions and recover a fumble.
“It wasn’t real clean, but that’s what good teams do,” Desormeaux said. "I'm proud to get a win. It wasn't the prettiest or the cleanest, but these games with them are like that sometimes."