When the final whistle blows after Saturday’s finale at Cajun Field between Louisiana and ULM, one thing is sure NOT be found as crews begin to remove items from the upper deck and press box structure which has been a part of the Lafayette landscape for over a half century.
The goal posts from the Texas A&M game in 1996.
After 52 years, 288 games and a lifetime of memories for many Ragin’ Cajuns fans, the West side portion of the stadium – the press box, upper deck and original seating in the lower bowl – will be torn down. Replacing the structure in time for the 2025 season will be a state-of-the-art facility which contains the following: 34 suites, 40 loge boxes, 524 club seats, five lower bowl sections with chairback seating and modern and enhanced amenities for all fans.
UL Hall of Fame recipient Dan McDonald recalls three of his memorable moments during his time in the Cajun Field press box as sport information director from 1980-1999.
November 6, 1982 – USL 40, Northeast Louisiana 26
It was head coach Sam Robertson's third year (and my third year here), more importantly USL's first year of independent status, after leaving the Southland Conference at the end of the 1981-82 athletic year in order to retain Division I-A status (the SLC dropped to I-AA).
And even though USL had a successful football season, beating Rice on the road 21-14 in the first game as an independent and starting off 4-0 with wins over West Texas State, North Texas State and Southern Illinois, there was constant bad-mouthing from the remaining SLC schools (Arkansas State, UT Arlington, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, McNeese and NLU which had stepped in as an SLC member in that 1982 season) for that move.
Late losses to A-State and UTA added fuel to that, and it was a heavy conversation piece when USL was prepping for its homecoming game against NLU.
There was a lot more conversation when NLU jumped in front 26-0 at halftime at Cajun Field, not to mention a string of car taillights leaving the parking lot. But Robertson had Lynn Amedee as his offensive coordinator, and Amedee got on a play-calling roll in the second half when it appeared the offense could do no wrong.
Dwight Prudhomme, the quarterback and a Lafayette High product, would never have been confused as a speedster but broke a 60-yard touchdown run that highlighted a rally that eventually tallied 40 unanswered points in a 40-26 victory.
Not sure how that 26-point deficit stands as far as all-time rallies, but it has to be close, and there are urban legends of how people were driving home and listened to Don Allen on the radio call (no TV back then) and turned around and drove back to the stadium.
September 14, 1996 – USL 29, Texas A&M 22
It wasn't the first time a "name" program had come to Cajun Field as USL had hosted Alabama six years earlier in 1990.
But it was the first time an established program had come to Cajun Field while nationally-ranked. A&M was still No. 25 in the AP poll (the gold standard for rankings at the time) even though coming off a tough 41-37 loss to BYU the previous week.
Most expected the Aggies to vent those frustrations in their trip to Lafayette. Radio announcer Don Allen had vowed to shave his head if the Cajuns won. But I remember talking to Brad Marquardt, who was A&M's associate director of media relations under Alan Cannon, on the Friday before the game and he was wondering what they'd gotten themselves into, likening the trip with “going into a snake pit.”
Jake Delhomme was a senior and had been the starter at quarterback each of the previous three years, but everyone knew the schedule as an independent was murderous -- Florida, Texas A&M, Southern Miss, Houston, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, UAB, etc.
Nobody expected the second game of the year and the home opener to be a win, especially after a 55-21 loss at Florida to open the season two weeks earlier (there was an open date on Sept. 7 between those games).
And then A&M scored first, intercepting Delhomme's first pass. But then the turnovers started to mount for A&M – an eventual total of eight in the game. A&M fumbled three times inside the red zone, once through the end zone for a touchback, and the Cajuns scored on two of those turnovers and held a shocking 21-7 lead.
A&M scored twice and held a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter and looked to be driving to a clinching score when Britt Jackson picked off A&M quarterback Branndon Stewart and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown and a 29-22 lead with 6:30 left.
USL couldn't run the clock out and the Aggies had one more chance before Stewart's fourth interception of the night at the USL 14 with 0:31 left. Delhomme kneeled down the biggest home win in the program's history, and was still running around the field with the ball when fans uprooted the south end goal post ... before realizing it wouldn't fit through the tunnel.
Instead, it headed up the grass hill (the corner nearest the oak tree was grass at the time, just like the north end still is) and over the fence. From there, it's urban legend where it eventually traveled and wound up, but at least one piece of it was enshrined in a monument at the stadium (don't know if it's still there or not).
November 3, 1990 – Southern Miss 14, USL 13
The cliche' novel line, "It was a dark and stormy night," was a perfect description for that game. Cajun Field was a quagmire, the pumps couldn't keep up, and to top it off there were electrical problems that knocked out the lights for a short time. They came back on, but the scoreboard never did. Time was kept by the game officials on the field, and all of us in the press box were desperately trying to keep track of game time and all the other essentials.
USL had gone to Hattiesburg the previous year and took a shocking 24-21 win over a heavily favored USM team when Brian Mitchell led a late drive and Mike Lemoine kicked a 50-yard field goal on the last play of the game for that win.
The Golden Eagles and coach Curley Hallman, who had coached with Cajun coach Nelson Stokley on Clemson's 1981 national champion team, were out for revenge behind their own quarterback of some renown (Brett Favre was a senior that year), and they were on their way to an 8-3 record that included an upset over Alabama and a trip to the All-American Bowl.
But the Cajuns still led 13-0 after Todd Scott's 63-yard fumble return set up their only touchdown and a 13-7 lead.
USM scored midway through the fourth quarter to make it 13-7, and USL dodged a bullet with 1:53 left (we got the time via walkie talkie from someone on the field) when Scott recovered a Tony Smith fumble in the end zone, but the Cajuns couldn't get a game-clinching first down (only had 10 all night along with 18 rush yards) and had to punt.
The Golden Eagles had no timeouts left but took advantage of an interference penalty and three straight Favre completions before spiking the ball on second down at the USL 11 with what we later found out was 12 seconds left.
Favre overthrew an open receiver on third down, but hand-motioned running back Michael Welch to an open spot in the end zone and Welch made a leaping grab. Jim Taylor kicked the extra point, after which the officials waved arms overhead indicating the game was over.
