Good evening, night owls, and welcome back to the overnight show. Darnell Vidrine here, Delta-born, coffee-powered and broadcasting from the warm glow of a radio booth where hope never signs off. If you're new, here's how it works: every week I keep an optimism counter. Every week, something tries to knock it down. And every week, I reset it to 100. Friends, I just reset it again. Counter: 100. Let's keep the faith.
Part 1: The Best Half of Football in Monroe This Year
Louisiana Tech beat ULM 24-0 last Saturday at our place, in front of 20,653 people, in the first I-20 Showdown since 2000. We're 0-6 and 0-2 in the Sun Belt. I won't dress it up. But I'm going to tell you about the first half, because you need to hear it, and because I need to say it out loud.
The first half ended 0-0. Zero to zero, against a 4-2 team that was 2-0 in the league. Our defense came to play. Marcus Ross sacked Blake Baker on the second play of the game. Armoni Rue picked off Baker for his first career interception. Jaeden Calender got a sack. Billy Pullen had a sack and two tackles for loss. Then Tyrell Brown blocked a 39-yard field goal, the first blocked field goal by ULM since 2025, according to ULM Athletics. Louisiana Tech also missed from 46 and 41 in that half. By halftime, my counter read 140, and ULM went on to finish with four sacks. I had to recalibrate.
Then the second half happened. Taeden Rogers intercepted our first pass of the half, and Louisiana Tech scored on the drive that followed. Baker threw two 2-yard touchdown passes to Brayden Bockler, and the Bulldogs added a field goal. Counter dipped. Counter recovered. Counter is a professional.
Aidan Armenta went 14 of 24 for 119 yards and ran for 25 more. JP Coulter caught four passes for 42 yards. Kevontay Wells and Noah Flemmings each made eight tackles. And ULM Athletics counted 11 penalties for 118 yards, our most this season. That's the part we fix this week. Counter: holding at 100.
Part 2: Road Trip to The Vet
Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern, ESPN+, ULM visits Troy at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Let me give the Trojans their due, because the overnight show is a kind show. Troy is 3-3 and 3-0 at home, according to Troy Athletics. It runs for 204.7 yards a game, 27th in FBS, and its red zone defense ranks ninth, per AP. Donnie Smith has five sacks. They've got a good program, with back-to-back Sun Belt titles in 2022 and 2023. Respect.
Now, my callers have some notes.
Caller One: "Darnell, What About Last Week?"
Great question, caller. Last Saturday, Louisiana beat Troy 33-6. Troy Athletics' own recap called it a game of missed opportunities. The Trojans muffed a punt that set up Louisiana's first touchdown. They missed a 42-yard field goal after a 15-play drive. They dropped two interceptions. They turned it over twice inside their own 28. They went a combined 4-for-16 on third and fourth down. Friends, ULM isn't the only team looking for its rhythm.
Caller Two: "What's Our Path?"
Penalties, caller. AP's preview ranks Troy 125th in FBS in penalty yards, at 75.3 a game. ULM ranks 37th, at 49.2. Yes, we had a rough flag night last week, but over a whole season we're one of the more disciplined teams in the country. Troy hands out free yards like a church bake sale hands out free cookies. We'll take a few.
And the Trojans' passing game ranks 102nd in FBS at 198 yards a game, per AP. Our pass rush just got four sacks against a team that's 2-0 in the league. Tyrell Brown leads us with 2.5 sacks, and Noah Flemmings has 51 tackles. If our defense plays like it did in the first half last week for a whole game, the counter goes past 100. I'll need new batteries.
Caller Three: "Have We Ever Done It There?"
Oh, caller. You've made my night. CollegeFootballData.com says that in 2024, ULM went to Troy and won 13-9. At The Vet. In their house. The series is 11-8 Troy, and the Trojans won 37-14 last year, but we know the road to Troy, and we know it ends in a parking lot where the Warhawks once celebrated. Counter: 115.
My Honest Moment
I keep the faith, but I don't fib on the overnight show. AP ranks our defense 136th in yards allowed and 137th in scoring defense, at 41.2 points a game. Our offense ranks 121st in scoring. That's real. But we lost by six at UAB and by three to Southeastern Louisiana. We've been close. Close is a seed, and seeds grow.
Tales From Two Towns
Monroe. Here's what the late-night crowd should know about home. Monroe sits on the Ouachita River, the seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish, with 47,702 people in 2020, and with West Monroe across the river, we're the twin cities of northeast Louisiana. And this, friends, is my go-to piece of trivia: Wikipedia says Biedenharn, the first bottler of Coca-Cola, moved to Monroe, and he and his son helped found Delta Dusters, a crop-dusting company that grew into the airline Delta. That's right. An airline was born here, fighting boll weevils from the sky. His home and gardens are still open to the public as the Biedenharn Museum and Gardens. So when somebody says nothing takes off in Monroe, I tell them: friend, the whole Delta fleet does, in spirit.
Troy. Now, Troy is a sweet little city, 17,727 people in 2020, the seat of Pike County. But Wikipedia tells me a remarkable story. Troy started out as Deer Stand Hill. Then it was Zebulon. Then Centreville. And finally, in 1838, Troy. Four names! Friends, that town changed identities more often than our call-in show changes callers. I'd keep the faith in a town like that, too. It took three tries to get it right, which, as a ULM man, I deeply respect.
Monroe has about two and a half Troys. Troy has a 45-acre Pike County Lake, which is lovely. We have a whole river. Troy's team is named for heroes of an ancient city, and it lives in a town of under 18,000. Monroe helped start an airline that now flies all over the world. One of us thinks big, folks. And on a cool fall night by the Ouachita, with the lights on at our stadium and the river rolling by, I'll take our view over a lake every time.
Sign-Off
Here's the overnight forecast. Troy is the more complete team on paper, and it's at home. ULM is 0-6, and I won't pretend otherwise. But the Warhawks just held a 2-0 Sun Belt team scoreless for a half, Troy commits 75.3 penalty yards a game, and the last time we went to The Vet, we came home happy. Cut the flags, keep the pass rush, protect the football. Do that, and Saturday is the night the counter breaks.
Counter: reset to 100. Keep the faith, Warhawks.
My call: Troy Trojans 36, UL Monroe Warhawks 18.