A 33-20 loss to Toledo last Saturday left a sour taste in the mouths of the NIU football players.

Nothing a little Cajun cooking can’t take care of.

The 4-2 Huskies will enter bayou country for a 4 p.m. match on Cajun Field Saturday against Southwestern Louisiana at Lafayette.

But the Huskies aren’t the only ones on the rebound.

The Ragin‘ Cajuns weren’t so hot last weekend as they suffered a 19-16 upset to Louisiana Tech. The loss dropped the Cajuns to 4-1 and marked the first time USL’s run-and-shoot offense had failed to score 20 points this year.

Third-year Cajun coach Nelson Stokley said he thinks his team is “bouncing back pretty well” from the loss to the Bulldogs.

“I think we’re in the same situation as NIU,” Stokley said. “Both teams need a win very badly to get over a loss against a team we were expected to beat.”

If rankings mean anything, there aren’t many teams left on the NIU schedule which the Huskies can “expect to beat.” For instance, USL, formerly ranked among Football News’ top fourty teams, could be the best team the Huskies have played this season.

“The (NIU) players understand USL has an excellent team,” Pettibone said. “They’ve (players) seen the quality of the athletes of USL (on film), and they know they have to be prepared.”

The one consistent thing the Huskies have had to prepare for is the Cajun defense. While LSU’s defensive line boasts two pro prospects in end Chris Gannon and tackle Mark Hall, the Cajuns don’t spice up their looks with much stunting.

“They give us a standard look defensively, and they don’t move around a lot,” Pettibone said. “We should be able to execute our offense without being tentative. We’ll be able to determine by (USL’s) alignment the different opportunities for the triple option we can run.”

NIU will need its best offensive efforts Saturday, as the Cajuns only have given up 144 rushing yards and 88 passing yards per game, as compared to the Huskie defense which has yielded 179 on the ground and 149 in the air.

However, NIU’s offense might throw the Cajuns for a loop as it is the first wishbone formation they will have encountered this season.

“(The wishbone) presents a lot of problems,” Stokley said. “It’s always difficult to prepare for a wishbone in two or three days of practice because it’s difficult to simulate in practice. There’s so many things he (Marshall Taylor) does so well, and that’s another problem.”

But Taylor is used to doing his thing well on astroturf. The Cajun Field contest will be the first and last grass surface challenge facing NIU this season.

“Normally, grass throws your timing off a little bit,” Pettibone said, “but there shouldn’t be that much of a difference because it’s cut real short.”

Pettibone said he didn’t think the different surface would create more injuries, which is fine with the Huskies who already have enough to go around.

Fullback Adam Dach, who leads the nation’s freshmen in rushing, has almost totally recovered from an ailment nobody knew he had.

Dach had fractured a rib in the Minnesota game, but he didn’t know it until it was X-rayed last week. Pettibone said Dach no longer has a significant injury, but he will play with a special foam padding over the sore area.

Pettibone said offensive Guard Bob Montel has made exceptional recovery from the arthroscopic knee surgery he underwent last week. It will be decided today if the tri-captain will be ready for Saturday’s action.