Everything Louisiana's Michael Desormeaux Said After Loss to Mizzou

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers hosted Louisiana in Week 3, and everything seemed to go Missouri's way. The Tigers defeated the Cajuns 52-10 Saturday.

Quarterback Beau Pribula and running back Ahmad Hardy stood out for the Tigers, while the defensive unit as a whole clamped down to effectively shut Louisiana's offense down.

Here's everything Louisiana head coach Michael Desormeaux said after the loss.

Opening Statement:

"There's not a whole lot to say. We got beat by a better football team. We didn't do a lot of things to help ourselves, particularly on offense. I think they've got a really good running back. Guy (is) hard to tackle. We didn't tackle very well. I think a lot of that has to do with him. My biggest concern was not being able to control the line of scrimmage, and we weren't, so that was the biggest concern we had going into and (we) knew we had to be able to stop the run a little bit, and (we) certainly knew we were going to have to run the football, and we were not able to do either one effectively.

So, we got to go back to it, and we got to get ready for the next one. We got to take the thing. You got to go watch the film, act like it didn't happen. I got plenty of things that we control that we've got to fix and do better, and we will, but we've got to go get this thing clicking a little bit before we get to conference. And we have a chance to travel again, so get a chance to go on the road, try to do this better than we did this time, and keep improving our football team because we're not where we want to be right now. There's a lot of work to be done.”

On Maurion Eleam's injury:

"Any time you see a kid who's on the field like that with an injury of that nature, it's really hard. A former walk-on who earned a scholarship and earned a starting role. Seeing an injury like that is just hard. Because you know everything that kid has put into it to be here. So, he's supposed to be coming back with us. I can't really comment on the extent of it right now, but I think he'll be coming back with us, which is always a good thing. So, those are tough at any time, and certainly in his case, in particular, just the type of kid he is, just what he's all about it, just, yeah, those are hard to see."

On Trae Tomlinson's ability to come in as cornerback and if he'll take over the spot:

"Yeah, he should. He can play inside and outside. He's cross-trained at star. Micaiah Bivines is another player. He's a senior. He's going to have to get ready to go, too. He's really improved a whole lot in the last couple of years since he's been here. So, right now, we're having a tough run with injuries here for three weeks; it's part of the game. You got to get the next guy ready, and you got to just continue plugging away at it. So, yeah, we'll have some guys who will step in there, and Trae would probably be the first one at nickel."

On what went into Drenon Fite III starting:

"Cam Whitfield was banged up after last week. We felt that he was going to be able to play. We just felt like it was gonna be pretty limited. Trey- Drenon has been playing gross. Sorry. His name's Drenon; he's been going by Trey, so I apologize. Drenon has been playing really good for us, come a long way. Had a great offseason, put on a bunch of weight, he's playing really good. So we felt like maybe if we needed Cam in third downs and some things like that, we could do that, but we felt like, with Drenon and with Ashley Williams, we felt like they would match up pretty well in this- as good as what we could in this game. So it was kind of out of necessity. There was no issue. We felt like Cam was gonna be able to play. We just didn't know if it was going to be the number of snaps that he normally does."

On assessing the offensive line:

"The first couple drives, we're a hair away from kind of getting through there a little bit. But we didn't finish blocks. We didn't strain and finish. We rotate a lot of guys to feel like we would need to because of the heat and all that stuff. We just never got any kind of rhythm on offense. I don't think we pass-protected very well either.

And look, I'm not going to sit here and act like we just didn't play very good. That's a damn good football team. I told our team that before we came here. I think this might be a playoff team when it's all said and done. I believe it. I think on both sides of the ball, I think they're really well coached. I think they play really hard. It's a really good football team, but (at) some point we got to go execute better and we just didn't do that.

Had a couple holding penalties that kill you, especially in this game. Get behind the sticks. It's really tough because when they start pass rushing us, we don't have a whole lot of answers there. We looked like we had a bunch of backups in there on offense and played like it.

There's no help on the way. There's no waiver wire. So we got to get back to work. We got to get those guys to play with some more confidence and go out there and go play better. And we will. It's a tough environment to play in whenever you're in there for the first time playing in any significant amount of snaps. So, it's going to get better from there. It has to, and it will."

On how the issues with passing game extended beyond the quarterback:

"We're not doing the things to be effective in the past game. We're not protecting it good enough, we're not getting open frequently enough. We're not putting the ball exactly where it needs to be at times. We got to get everybody on the same page. And, again, played a team; we knew they were going to contest everything;we knew on third downs, in particular when they played, man, we're going to have to make some throws and catches and protect it. We didn't do that.

Everybody likes to say (the) quarterback doesn't throw very good, or whatever the case may be, but everyone's responsible for it, from protection, to route running, to depth, and to play design. So, that's me too. So we've got to continue to find ways to get guys open. And certainly, we're going to have to throw the ball. So, we've got to continue to work through the pass game. We're going to need it, and we're going to keep doing it. So it's not just about winning one game. It's about trying to get this thing where we need it, to try to make a run and win a conference championship, and the only way you do that is to continue to work to improve."

On whether or not RB Steven Blanco can be a part of the regular running rotation:

"I think the plan now is going to be he's going to get some carries every game. I wouldn't say it's going to be equal thirds, but if he continues to produce, yeah, very well could be. He's playing really well. He's earning the right to continue to get more. That's how it works. You know, you try to star in your role, and you work really hard to earn more, and he's doing a good job of earning more."

On the worry about a game like this affecting the team's confidence:

"No, I mean, it can't. I mean, it was a really good team. We knew, truthfully, they were gonna have to probably not play very well. We were gonna have to start really fast, and we were gonna have to play really well. They started fast. They came out ready to play. I think that's a compliment to their coaching staff, to their kids, to get ready to go play. And like I said, we didn't do things to help ourselves. On defense, we weren't able to get off the field the first three or four drives, and on offense, we weren't able to do anything.

The reality of it is that we knew that this was an uphill climb. You got to move on and go to the next one. We don't play Mizzou again. So, next week we have another team. We need to get ready to go play. We need to get ready to go try to beat that team."

On the impact of Ahmad Hardy:

“That kid's special. We got a firsthand look at it last year, so we knew exactly what it was going to be. We missed quite a few tackles, but he does that to a lot of people. For us, what we talked about is you got to wrap up, run your feet, and you gotta game tackle. You got to get more hats to the ball than just one. I think he's a special player. I think he was a great get for Mizzou. And I think he fits what this team does and their identity really well. He's a down-hill back, all the outside zone stuff that they run, the tracks that they run, he does a great job. He presses it, and then he gets his foot in the ground and gets vertical. And he's not just a run-through-a-tackle guy. He (can) make you miss, and he's got the ability to run through arm tackles. I think the kid (is) a really special player, and he played his tail off today.”

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