Tim Buckley

tbuckley2@theadvertiser.com

MONROE — The chant of “bowling, bowling, bowling,” could be heard from inside the visitor’s locker room at Malone Stadium here.

The chances of the Ragin’ Cajuns ever hearing that in 2016 seemed bleak at best when UL was sitting at 3-5 back in early November.

But the Cajuns managed to pull off the improbable, winning three of their final four regular-season games to become bowl-eligible for the fifth time in six seasons.

UL did it with a 30-3 Sun Belt Conference win over UL Monroe that got it to 6-6 on a cool, rainy Saturday here.

The Cajuns now are expected to receive on sometime Sunday an invitation to the New Orleans Bowl, which they won for four straight seasons from 2011-14.

A possible opponent for UL in New Orleans is 6-6 Southern Mississippi of Conference USA, which would mean the first meeting between the Cajuns and the Golden Eagles since 2008.

If for some reason the Southern Miss part of the equation were to fall apart, 8-4 Middle Tennessee is another possible — albeit much less likely, and rumored to perhaps be headed to the Hawaii Bowl — next opponent for a Cajun program that for the longest time looked like it would be spending a second straight postseason on the couch.

“Obviously everybody was ready to sort of count us out, look toward the next year,” UL coach Mark Hudspeth said.

“And this team, they sort of bowed their necks and continued coming to practice with a great attitude. They just never that belief that they could get it done.”

Hudspeth, Cajuns dug deep to revive season

UL beat 4-8 ULM behind 110 yards rushing and one touchdown on by 28 carries by senior running back Elijah McGuire, who surpassed the 1,000 rushing yards-plateau for a third straight season, and a defense that claimed five turnovers while producing two TDs of its own.

“I thought they played inspired,” Hudspeth said of his defense, “and I thought they flew around.”

On a drive that started when a Savion Brown interception ended ULM’s opening possession on its first play, McGuire ran in from the 1-yard line out of the Wildcat quarterback spot.

Craig Ford responded later in the first quarter with a 23-yard field goal for ULM.

Another turnover — UL’s third on the day — led to the Cajuns taking a 14-3 advantage, as Trev Miller returned a Brown-caused fumble 73 yards for a touchdown.

“We’ve been working all week on picking up the ball, scoop and score, getting tipped balls,” Miller said.

“It slowed down a little bit,” the defensive lineman added with reference to his long rumble to the end zone. “But I’m glad I made it. Glad my teammates helped me get there. I’m just thankful for them.”

UL linebacker Otha Peters later returned a Karmichael Dunbar-forced fumble 25 yards for a touchdown, and Stevie Artigue’s 26-yard field goal put the Cajuns up 24-3 as time expired in the second half.

“It was meant to happen,” Peters said of his first career college TD. “I just grabbed it, and you know the rest.”

Artigue added a 35-yard field goal in the third quarter to make it 27-3 UL, and his third field goal, this one from 37 yards, made it 30-3 late in the third quarter.

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UL wound up recovering five turnovers, including a Tracy Walker first-half interception and Simeon Thomas’ third-quarter recovery of a Rodrick Stephens-forced fumble.

That is all happened in the nasty conditions it did made it that much more meaningful for a Cajun club that had its season riding on a win over its in-state rival.

Hudspeth called it a deep-water “quaggamire,” and lauded his Cajuns — who were picked off twice — for not losing any fumbles.

He also had plenty of praise for his kicker.

“Stevie Artigue had a phenomenal night in the rain,” Hudspeth said.

“For these guys to come into these elements on the road and to play the way they played says just a lot about, to me, their preparation this week.”

Hudspeth also credited his assistants for turning around a team that at one point seemed bound for a second straight 4-8 season.

“They just have continued to improve all year. And I think (Saturday) was just a culmination of all that improvement,” he said of the Cajuns, who closed with a win at Georgia Southern, a loss at Georgia of the SEC, an upset win over Arkansas State to keep its bowl hopes alive and finally Saturday’s victory over ULM.

“This team has worked hard, and has endured. So I couldn’t be more proud of them, and this group of coaches that has pulled this team together. They’re responsible for this improvement that we’ve seen in the last half of this season.”

The turnaround allows a team that had few believing in it except themselves to go bowling — bowling, bowling, bowling, that is — once again.

UL also has New Orleans Bowl wins over San Diego State, East Carolina, Tulane and Nevada.

“Just like Coach Hud and all our coaches always told us, ‘We’ve just got to stick together and do what we have to do,’” Brown said.

“It means a lot,” Peters added. “It just shows the fight that us seniors have. … Just to see us pull together at the right time, it feels good.”

UL vs. ULM: Buckley's Breakdown