Favorite Cajuns Sports Memory?

Cajuns
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Okay, degenerates. Now’s your chance to actually share a little positivity on this site!
What is your single greatest Cajun sports memory? Go into detail. Relive the tale.

I’ll start. June 7th, 2014. The #1 Ragin’ Cajuns (57-8) host the Ole Miss Rebels at the OG “Tigue” Moore Field. I was a sophomore at UL, majoring in Broadcasting. And you can bet your ass, I took full advantage of those free student tickets all year long. Never missed a home game, loud and proud with the degenerates of Section A. The problem is, those free student tickets ended as soon as the postseason began. Finding tickets for the regional was easy, as opposing fans of teams that we weren’t playing were giving them away to us. But the Super Regional… that was a different animal.

Let me first say, from the last out vs. Mississippi State, to the first pitch of game 1 vs Ole Miss, that entire week was a blur. The tailgate was a non-stop party. The beer was cold and endless, and the BBQ pits were lit for a week straight. In my mind, I don’t recall anyone in Lafayette who went to work that week.

Back to the student ticket issue. There were about 20 diehard students who went to every home game that season with our “Red Dot” cards. We decided to push the issue together, and file with the admin for some Super Regional student tickets. After a few days, surprisingly… the admin came through for us. We were rewarded with SRO tickets for the entire weekend, and placed in the patio area in front of the home bullpen. I found a hard rubbermaid trash can, flipped it over, leaned against the bullpen fence, and stood on it for 27 innings that weekend.

Back to my favorite Cajun sport moment.
Game 1. Austin Robichaux on the mound. After a scoreless 1st inning, the Rebs came out banging in the 2nd… A lead-off double. An RBI single, followed by another RBI single. And finally, a sacrifice fly, that brings in 3rd run of inning. 3-0 Ole Miss, early. The Cajuns manage to grab a run on an error in the bottom half, to cut the lead 3-1. Aut goes 1-2-3 in the top of the 3rd, and that’s when the party started.

Bottom 3rd. Ole Miss walks the leadoff. Next batter, hit by pitch. Jace Conrad then draws a walk to load the bases. Blake Trahan gets an RBI groundout. The stage is set for this moment…

Tyler “Shug’ Girouard smashes a 3-run homer down the line in right field. The Cajuns go up 5-3, and eventually win the game, 9-5.

I’ve never heard any Cajun sports moment that LOUD, before or since.

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There are few that will always be on the top of my memory bank but for now there is one that sticks out as my favorite sports memory.

I will start with a couple “honorable mentions”.

  1. 2000 CWS - this one will always have a special place in my memory bank. Finishing up our sophomore year at UL and wife and I were super pumped to finally see a Cajuns team in Omaha. Unfortunately, I could not make the trip since wife and I were planning a wedding 3 months later and I was working on our 1st house just about every night and weekend.

  2. 2014 Baseball Season and post season - from seeing my previous honorable mention, you can easily see where I’m going with this one. From 2000 to today, I am still patiently waiting for my time to visit Omaha. Going through the 2014 season, high just kept getting higher. Could this be the team to finally get me there. I remember sitting at the announcement watch party at The Tigue to see if we would host. Of course we did. I cannot express the amount of fun that we had for the next 2 weekends. Most all of it was a blur. Its one of those great memories where we have to talk through the memory as a group to remember what in the hell went on. :slight_smile:

My Favorite Memory: “The Kick”

It wasn’t just a game—it was a moment that felt like we finally made it. We didn’t know if we’d ever get this chance again, so we soaked up every second of the bowl experience. A mix of luck and good fortune made this trip unforgettable—one that would be hard to top.

We kicked things off by driving in for the team luncheon on Thursday. That night was the “Battle of the Bands,” and the energy was electric. The next morning, my son and I ran the 5K that finished on the 50-yard line of the Superdome. I’ll never forget the look on his face when we stepped inside and he saw himself on the big screen—it was pure magic.

Game day was something else. I managed to score field passes, so we arrived early for warm-ups. Standing on that field, camera in hand, I tried to capture every detail—the sights, the sounds, the atmosphere. We stayed there until the players stormed out to start the game.

From our seats, I felt confident the whole way through. Even when San Diego State closed the gap, I never truly believed they’d take the lead. With about five minutes left, we headed back down to the field, hoping to get in position for postgame. To my surprise, we walked onto the turf with three minutes still on the clock—completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Then came The Kick. We were standing near the 20-yard line, between the line of scrimmage and the goalposts. My angle wasn’t great, so I knew I wouldn’t capture the ball clearly. Instead, I focused on Brett Baer. His reaction would tell me everything. And when that kick sailed through, his celebration said it all—we had won.

Sadly, I’ve misplaced the full video and many of the photos from that weekend. I do have a short clip on Facebook, and I’m still hopeful I’ll recover the original footage from one of the hard drives I have lying around. That moment deserves to be relived.

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I’ve cried twice in my life due to being overwhelmed with joy due to sports.

Beating TAMU

Punching our ticket to Omaha.

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As a fan, I attended the NLU game as an early teenager when we came back from the huge halftime deficit started by Dwight Prudhomme. I had walked to the game from my aunts house who lived at the end of Memory Lane.

As a player, beating Southern Miss in Hattiesburg on Mike Lemoine’s 50 yard field goal.

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1996- I was a 7 year old kid who got sideline passes when Texas A&M came to town. Damon Mason picked it off and took it to the house right in front of me. I’ll never forget how loud Cajun Field was at that moment. I also remembered watching the fans storm the field from the top of the hill after we won with “WE WIN!!!” flashing on the old scoreboard.

2011- Watching Brett Baer kick that 50 yard FG to beat San Diego State to win our first New Orleans bowl. I was on the field standing behind the goal post as the ball went through the uprights. I filmed the entire moment and stormed the field. You can actually see me on the highlight if you watch closely. What made it even sweeter was the fact that I graduated from UL that morning.

2014- Baseball Regional and Super Regional weekends at The Tigue. To sum it up, we got a taste of what it was like to be “big time.” Everything from the hype around town to the big ESPN trucks pulling into the parking lot to the thousands of fans watching the game from the tailgate area. It WAS big time. And when Shugg hit that 3-run bomb in Game 1 against Ole Miss, I literally fell out of my seat and scraped my knee from trying to high five everyone around me inside The Tigue. It was euphoric.

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Was a blast chanting SBC at the Moo state fans

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Anyone have the feeling they’re gonna get this treatment from their grandkids when they’re telling them about this stuff one day? “We played Tulane in a bowl game in the Super Dome in front of 50,000 people. 40,000+ of which were Cajuns fans.” “sure grandpa.”

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Beating Texas a and m and the last minute field goal to beat Kansas St

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Being in school during 2011 was wildm the football and Basketball runs had the student body beyond hyped. Also Lafayette’s night life was still booming due to lacked age verifications.

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Gotta say, the 2011 New Orleans Bowl was my favorite. When we got bowl eligible, I jumped on Priceline and booked the New Orleans Marriott for the week, got it for about $75 a night. Didn’t know at the time that it would be the team hotel. Had great seats for the game, got to be part of all the events at the hotel, got to meet Coach Hud’s family, the Quarter was Red, and the Superdome was Ragin’. I remember thinking at that moment we have a ton of potential to build from this moment.

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Yall got all the big ones, so I’ll throw in a wild card.

2003, 0-7 Cajuns vs 1-6 New Mexico State.

No-miss-key Comiskey hits a FG as time expires for a comeback win.

The game and moment were not memorable by comparison. But I do remember celebrating in the stands like we just won the Super Bowl.

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Speaking of Babb for Heisman … another one that sticks in my mind for some reason is Jerry Babb’s 80 yard run vs Kansas State.

I remember seeing him running down the field like he was running for his life and thinking we just may have a shot at coming back and winning this game. We know that we didnt make the comeback but it was one of the 1st memories in my mind thinking that we could compete with the “big boys”.

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I’ll give you one:

2005- beating ULM in Monroe by the score of 55-21 to secure a three-way tie for the SBC Championship and securing our first winning season in 9 years after a 1-5 start.

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We had fun the night. Running with the flag in that upper deck.

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That was 2008 when Fenroy rushed for just under 300 yards. But yes, that was a good time.

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Ahhh yes.how could I forget the year we met. :joy:

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Gosh this is hard lol. I’d say winning the NOLA Bowl 4 times in a row is my fav memory, as well as meeting the football team at UL Lab when I was 5. I bet I still have the picture from that day lol. I was also at the Tigue when they played their first game after the remodel was completed. We lost to wright state, but the crowd was electric that game, and that’s something I’ll never forget!

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https://x.com/007Era_Trigga/status/797154640873791489?s=20

Terrible season but still loved this

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That was the second most impactful locker room video of the Hud era

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2021 sunbelt championship at home. After losing it in 18,19 and being robbed of the chance to play in 20 to have it at home was awesome. Great game, with a good Cajun field atmosphere. 2020 against Georgia southern game winning kick stands out too.