For the UL Ragin' Cajuns, it's a matter of reshuffling the focus after Saturday's 35-31 road loss to Southern Miss.

Barring some really unforeseen circumstances, the Sun Belt championship game talk is now out the window.

The truth is, if Louisiana Tech runs the table, it might never have happened anyway.

So coach UL coach Michael Desormeaux is now focused on getting a little healthier during this open date and trying to post three or four wins over the final four-game stretch of the season.

"Obviously, it's very disappointing to come off a loss like that," he said. "two of the last three weeks you had an opportunity to finish games in the fourth quarter and we didn't do that.

"Now we need to regroup and refocus and focus on what's in front of us."

The resting up part will be critical for the Cajuns (5-3, 2-2), who will host South Alabama on Nov. 7 and then a short week at ULM on Thursday, Nov. 12.

"We've got an opportunity to work on ourselves a little bit this week, get back to the to the details and the fundamentals that help you win games when you need to," said Desormeaux, who said the Cajuns will practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.

"Certainly, you know, everybody from top down has to do a little soul searching at what we can do a little bit better to help our team win some of these close games because the reality is we've got a lot in front of us."

Indeed, the Cajuns will have at worst a 50-50 shot to win their last four games of the season. If they can improve on closing out close games and win all four, UL will be heading to a bowl game with a chance for a 10-win season.

To achieve those goals, though, a few things will need to happen.

One, the Cajuns have to get back to playing harder than the opponent.

"I've got to make sure my messaging is right to get them in the right frame of mind to go out there and go play really well," Desormeaux said. "I've got to be what they need during the week so that on Saturday we get, you know, the results that we want.

"For the first time in eight weeks, I felt like we got outhustled and physically, I didn't feel like we won the line of scrimmage on either side. I mean, I know we didn't."

So perhaps the bye week came one week too late for the Cajuns, who must retool some things effectively this week.

The second thing is the Cajuns' defense can't allow Saturday's game to become a blueprint on how to handle UL's defense. The Cajuns must get back to stopping the run again.

Desormeaux explained Southern Miss went back to running plays that had plagued the Cajuns' defense in recent years, but UL had seemingly conquered those demons so far this season.

The result of that approach is the Golden Eagles rushed for 286 yards and four touchdowns against UL's defense.

"The thing that was probably the most disappointing on that end of it was that had given us trouble last year and the year before, and we, we like went over a bunch of things and how to fix it," Desormeaux said. "We went through it, thought we had it figured, and truthfully through the first seven games a year, it really hasn't been a glaring issue."

It certainly was in Saturday's loss. So much so that on the Eagles' game-winning drive, Southern Miss was able to just run the ball right at UL and not even have to throw a pass.

"It was just not really well executed," Desormeaux said. "It didn't matter if we were in man, if we were in pressure, if we were playing coverage ... it was a different problem here and there all the way through it. Um, in general, though, We didn't win the line of scrimmage. 
We didn't knock the line of scrimmage backwards. We didn't create negative plays, which we've done so well."

Some suggested fatigue after eight straight weeks and others overlooking a one-win football team and the longstanding Hattiesburg jinx.

"The overall big overarching theme there on the run is we did not control the line of scrimmage at all, which the week before, we did an elite job of," he concluded.

The other need is figuring out a way to remain efficient on offense when the running game is neutralized and the opposing defense is daring quarterback Lunch Winfield to beat them in the pocket.

On one hand, the Cajuns did that in many instances with Winfield passing for a career-high 299 points and two touchdowns, but it was on 22-of-41 passing with three sacks.

For this game anyway, Desormeaux still went back to the line of scrimmage.

"Just like we talked about the D-line, not on offense, we didn't get knock back," Desormeaux said. " I think we settled for ties, you know, we settled for hat position and just kind of sitting there. And didn't win the tear off.

"And when you do that, it doesn't matter who's running it. 
You're not going to have a lot of success."

For example, "none more than the last run he had in the game on the on the end of the game drive. 
We've got the box exactly like you wanted, and we didn't get off of either double team to get to the linebacker. I mean, it was the box you want. It what you want. 
It's everything that you're looking for with that guy, and we don't get up to the second level."