When You’re Used To Losing…

Saturday, Louisiana travelled north to take on ULM.

A ULM team that had the excitement of a first year head coach.

A ULM team that was a win away from being bowl eligible....and virtually assured a bowl bid with a win.

A ULM team that was a touchdown favorite to get it done.

And it really seemed that not many people in Monroe really cared.

The announced attendance was just over 9000, which tells me that they probably counted feet when they announced the attendance.  There were some things certainly working against ULM on this day....it was Thanksgiving weekend, school was out and LSU was kicking off at the same time (and it seems everyone in Monroe is an LSU fan, including ULM fans.)

But for the 5000 or so fans that were in attendance, it was something else.

It was almost as though they expected to lose.

That's hard to figure.  ULM had a home win over four time defending champion Troy.  They came back from the dead against Western Kentucky to win in the fourth quarter.  They had showed they could win with their backs to the wall.

And they led at one time 10-0 and seemed to be in control of the game.  And yet, it seemed like their fans were waiting for the shoe to drop.

Which eventually, of course, it did.

Maybe it was the fact that the Cajuns had beaten ULM two years in a row.  Maybe ULM fans remembered the incredible offensive day that the Cajuns had at Malone Stadium two years ago.  Maybe it was that ULM had a chance to lock up a bowl bid the previous year, only to have the Cajuns win at Cajun Field, which proved to be the final game of the Charlie Weatherbie era.

Whatever the case, the fans that bothered to show didn't show much...emotion that is.

And, when it was over, it was okay, I guess.

Now, I certainly didn't see every fan that left Malone Stadium.  But I saw some of them.  And, after what should have been a gut-wrenching 23-22 loss, these folks seemed to take it all in stride.  I saw no pain on faces.  I saw no anger.  I saw no disgust.

I just saw fans ready to move on to the rest of their Saturday night.

Since entering Division 1-A in 1994, ULM has never had a winning season.  They came close a few times with Ed Zaunbrecher.  They broke even at times with Charlie Weatherbie.  And, although a win in this game wouldn't have guaranteed a winning season, it would have just about guaranteed ULM something they've never experienced...a trip to a bowl game.

It didn't happen.  But, for the ULM fans I crossed paths with after the game, it was okay.  They had other things to worry about:  after all, LSU lost, too.

Now, winning at UL hasn't been exactly a tradition.  The Cajuns, like the Warhawks, haven't been bowling (at least in the modern era.)  But I've never seen Cajuns fans think that losing is okay.

And, I hope I never do.