User:Johntex/2005 LL

The 2005 Louisiana Lafayette vs. Texas football game was a college football] game played September 3 2005 between the Texas Longhorns and the Ragin' Cajuns.

This game marked the second meeting of the Texas Longhorns and the Louisiana Lafayette (ULL) Ragin' Cajuns. In their first meeting in 2000, UT quarterback Major Applewhite entered the game late in the first quarter and threw for 315 yards and four TDs (tied for #3 on the UT all-time single-game touchdown list) as the Longhorns scored 52 unanswered points in a 52-10 victory. Prior to kick-off of the 2005 game, a special appeal was made for donations to help those suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated parts of Louisiana just a few days previously. Donations were not accepted at the game because of a policy against official fund-raising. As the Longhorns entered the field, special teams player Karim Meijer carried a United States flag that was given to the team on Thursday by former Longhorn Nathan Kaspar who flew the flag during missions in southeastern Iraq.

For this first game of the season, and only for this game, Texas elected to wear "throwback" uniforms. The throwback jerseys were similar to jerseys worn during their 1963 National Championshp season under coach Darrell K. Royal. The throwback helmet includes the players number located above the Longhorn logo. The players' number first appeared on the UT helmet in 1957 and at that time the Longhorn logo was not on the helmet. The logo first appeared on the helmet in 1961. The number was moved to the back of the helmet in 1967 and it remains there on the usual 2005 helmet. On the throwback jerseys the individual players' names were removed from the back. Also, the word "Texas" was removed from the front of the jersey. The state name appeared on some UT jerseys from 1959-61, but it did not appear on the burnt orange jersey worn by the 1963 championship team. The "Texas" reappeared in 1981 and remained on the standard uniform of the 2005 team. The cost of the uniforms was paid by Nike.

The game was played in Austin, Texas. Although football is often considered a cold-weather sport, the temperature at kickoff of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) which is also the average temperature in Austin for the month of September. The skies were partly cloudy with a southeast wind blowing 18 mph (29 km/hour) and 52% humidity. Louisiana won the coin toss and elected to kickoff to Texas. The ball went into the Texas end zone for a touchback and Texas started their first drive at their own 20 yard-line.

In six plays, Texas had advanced to the Louisiana-Lafayette 24 yard-line. On the seventh play, running back Selvin Young rushed up the middle of the formation to the ULL15, but he fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Lafayette's Michael Adams at the ULL12 yard-line. The Ragin' Cajuns were unable to obtain a first down, so they punted the ball back to Texas. This time, Texas started at the UT35 yard-line. They used four plays to reach the ULL9; from their Selvin Young ran the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point attempt by Richmond McGee was no good.

McGee also performed the kickoff for Texas. The ball went into the ULL end zone and was brought out by Michael Adams to the ULL31 where he was tackled by Marcus Griffin and Michael Huff. Jerry Babb started as quarterback for Louisiana Lafayette; his first pass was incomplete. On second down, Babb handed off to Dwight Lindon for a one yard gain. His second pass went to Derrick Smith for a 30 yard gain and a first down at the UT38. A false start penalty backed them up five yards which were regained on the next play with a run by Tyrell Fenroy. Babb threw one incomplete pass followed by a third down completion to Fenroy. The gain was not sufficient for a first down so the Cajuns elected to attempt a field goal. This attempt by Sean Comiskey was good, making the score Texas 6, Louisiana Lafayette 3.

From that point, Texas scored fifty-four unanswered points to win the game 60-3. With the win, Texas improved its record in season opening games to 93-17-3 in season-opening games (72-2-2 when they open the year at home). That figure includes 11 straight wins and victories in 30 of their last 31 games at home. Their home record under Mack Brown improved to 39 wins and 3 losses.

During the game, true freshman running back Jamaal Charles set the UT rushing record for a debut game with 135 yards and a rushing touchdown alongside one reception for 18 yards, after taking over during the game for injured running back Selvin Young. True freshman running back Henry Melton also saw his first action and scored his first touchdown at the college level. True freshman Quan Cosby got his first college start, and three other true freshmen (Roy Miller, Aaron Lewis and Tarell Brown) saw action.