Indians surprising everyone but themselves

MeanGreen61 · October 21, 2005

Updated: Oct. 20, 2005

Indians surprising everyone but themselvesBy Adam Rittenberg

Special to ESPN.com

The blueprint for Louisiana-Monroe's turnaround revealed plenty of durable parts but no dependable adhesive.

Like many programs located in the talent-rich south, ULM had the athletes to succeed. But after an exasperating seven months that featured two coaching departures -- Bobby Keasler was fired and Mike Collins resigned after being arrested on DWI charges -- the team was shattered.

"We were pretty much at a depressed point," senior DE Brandon Guillory said. "We were tired of losing. The coaches were going in and out."

The remedy came in waves.

ULM's first step was hiring Charlie Weatherbie, an upstanding citizen who had reassembled programs at both Utah State and Navy. But ultimately, it took a core of leaders to ripen and unite the team.

The evidence is emerging this season. Louisiana-Monroe is the only remaining unbeaten team in Sun Belt Conference play .

Following an unusual three-week break, the Indians will resume the quest for their first league title and a New Orleans Bowl bid.

"Every year I knew we had the capabilities to win the conference," Guillory said, "but this year we have guys who see nothing else but us winning the conference."

Players saw nothing but disappointment before Weatherbie arrived in May of 2003. A feeling of abandonment consumed the team, and morale had plummeted.

But beneath it all, Weatherbie saw potential.

"I thought they had some pretty good players when I got in here," he said, "and I was right."

The Sun Belt schools might seem foreign even to learned college football fans, but NFL alums like Brian Mitchell (Louisiana-Lafayette), Marty Booker (ULM), Jake Delhomme (ULL) and Kelly Holcomb (Middle Tennessee) are known. The league regularly produces pros, most recently Dallas Cowboys LB DeMarcus Ware (Troy) and S Chris Harris, a ULM product who is starting for the Chicago Bears.

Guillory talks regularly with Harris and admits he owes his friend a phone call after the rookie's first interception Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

"It's good to see those guys coming out of our conference," Guillory said. "We're not the Big 12, but we're still showing that we're producing."

Added Indians senior QB Steven Jyles: "There's guys that come out of the Sun Belt who go to the NFL every year. You just don't hear about them until they get there."

The residue from ULM's problematic past led to a 1-11 mark in Weatherbie's first season. The Indians lost their first four games of 2004 before breaking through with a 16-14 win over Idaho.

ULM won four of its final six regular-season games, and players began to absorb their coach's attitude.

"Coach Weatherbie always talked to us about how there were teams we played that talent-wise, there's no way they should compete against us," Jyles said. "But as a team they were better than us, and that's what we had to learn."

Added Weatherbie: "Even though North Texas has dominated by winning the conference title, all the games that teams have played against them or one another, they're all fairly close. This league has got unbelievable parity."

The Indians also learned that great teams don't simply show up on Saturdays. In past summers, only the skill players remained on campus to train, but last summer the linemen stuck around as well.

ULM conducted 7-on-7 scrimmages with Grambling State, and rising seniors like Guillory and Jyles brainstormed how to sustain the momentum from 2004 into 2005. Motivation became easy when the preseason picks came out and the Indians were a consensus bottom-feeder in the Sun Belt.

"I thought they'd give us a little more credit and respect than they did," Jyles said. "The teams we beat last year, they picked them over us, and that really hurt."

But Hurricane Katrina sidetracked the Indians' push toward the season. The hurricane affected several players from the New Orleans area.

"Not just my house is gone, but memories, awards, videos and a lot of things that remind me of how I got here," said Guillory, who hasn't been back to the city and doesn't plan to go anytime soon. "Football had a big, big role in taking my mind off of it."

ULM dropped its season opener to Northwestern State and then was shut out 38-0 against Wyoming. A 44-7 drubbing at Georgia appeared to extend ULM's torment, but Jyles saw good signs emerge in Athens.

"The score didn't show it," he said, "but we competed as a team. Offensively we were going up and down the field. We just couldn't put it in the end zone. That really lifted our spirits and let us know what we are."

What they are is a contender, and with four league games remaining, Jyles intends to keep it that way.

"We have talent all over," he said. "It's just the simple fact of us coming together and playing like a team. That's what winning ball games is about."

Adam Rittenberg covers college football for the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald.

UNTFan23 · October 21, 2005

I know noone in the sun belt is setting the world on fire, but is there anyone out there just a little bit concerned about a team like UL-M or ASsU being the representative for the conference in the bowl game this year?