It was a great day for football in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With a cloudy atmosphere of 76 degrees Fahrenheit, I am sure even the Ragin’ Cajuns appreciated the cooler weather for once.
They were in-town facing the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. It was a close game most of the way, but Louisiana would sneak out with a 41-38 victory.
The Cajuns started off hot in the first quarter. Their opening drive would foreshadow the rest of the game for both teams. It was smooth, maybe a little too smooth of an opening drive.
Quarterback Ben Wooldridge went 8/8 and capped it off with a two yard roll-out to Tavion Smith for the touchdown.
The following possession, they would drive down the field again. Only this time it would end in a one yard sneak by Wooldridge.
The Cajuns weren’t cooking just on the offensive end, as the defense looked to bounce back from a horrible performance a week ago. You could tell the emphasis throughout the week was on execution.
They weren’t missing tackles, coverage was air-tight and the defensive line was constantly affecting throws from Demon Deacon quarterback Hank Bachmeier. Their first drive was a three-and-out.
Sadly, the defense would throw all this away after the first quarter. I think they just wanted to see just how long our offense would last in a shootout versus a Power 4 school. Wake Forest would not punt for the rest of the game.
The second quarter would start an unhealthy trend of illegal hits by the Cajun defense.
Senior safety Tyrone Lewis would set the tone with a targeting penalty, ejecting him from the game.
To be fair to Lewis, it was a hospital ball thrown by Bachmeier to the middle of the field. Lewis just used poor technique, aiming a little too high around the head area.
But don’t worry, he would not be outdone. He would be followed to the locker room by three more key defensive players: senior linebacker K.C. Ossai, starting corner Justin Agu, and linebacker Kailep Edwards.
I don’t think there was any evil intent, they were simply having a competition of who could have the most gruesome hit with the refs staring right at them. Turns out there was no winner.
The two first-half targeting penalties would lead to a pair of Demon Deacon touchdowns, adjusting the Cajun lead to 21-17 going into the half.
Both teams would continue their hot offensive onslaughts in the third. After four straight scoring drives we would finally have a standstill at 31-31. The Cajuns would punt but the offense would not be on the sideline for long.
Bachmeier dropped back to pass from the shotgun, intending to throw it to Horatio Fields. However, the ball got deflected into the air and intercepted by Tyree Skinner.
This was one of the turning points in the game because it gave the Cajuns great field position on Wake Forest’s 38 yard line.
Both teams would again trade touchdowns making it 38-38 with right under two minutes left in the game. After the Demon Deacon touchdown they would kick it off with running back Zylan Perry back deep to return.
Perry would execute the second turning point of the game, hauling back a 57 yard return giving the Cajuns great field position again.
Wooldridge completed a timely 24 yard pass to receiver Lance LeGendre, which got them up the red zone. Kenneth Almendares would eventually kick a field goal to take the lead.
On the final drive of the game and 52 seconds remaining, Wake Forest’s objective was clear: score. And it wasn’t surprising that the Ragin’ Cajun defense would help them out as much as they could.
Lineman Antoine Baylis would be called for roughing the passer as he attempted to sack Bachmeier after he threw the ball. This added a substantial 15 yards to the gut-wrenching drive.
Wake Forest would eventually have to settle for a 42-yard field goal. Out came their extremely accurate kicker, Matthew Dennis, who was 7-7 on field goals this season.
That was up until this point. As the ball bounced off the left arch, the Cajuns would advance their record to 3-1 with a hard fought 41-38 win over the Demon Deacons.
My MVP for this game would go to the entire offense, but if I had to choose one player it would be Ben Wooldridge. He simply wasn’t rattled by Wake Forest’s constant offensive pressure. He finished 20/29 for 257 yards and three touchdowns.
He also had 34 yards on the ground and the QB sneak rushing touchdown. He was flawless, making quick reads and getting almost every receiver on the depth chart involved.
The biggest positive from this game was easily the offensive line. When you talk about an absolute masterclass by the offense it has to start in the trenches.
The most glaring stat is that they gave up zero sacks and only two tackles for loss. That’s on 32 combined carries by the way.
Great offensive line play is the catalyst for anything positive by an offense. The Cajuns rushed for 210 yards including a Bill Davis’ 60 yard outburst. Perry also had a 30 yard rush in the fourth quarter.
Both running backs averaged over seven yards a carry. The team relied heavily on the offense and they delivered big. However, the same can be said for the Demon Deacons because they’re offense came to play as well.
Which leads to the biggest negative: defensive penalties. Coming into the game, Louisiana was the least penalized team in the country with only nine flags in three games.They piled up eight for 83 penalty yards against Wake Forest alone.
The game would’ve never come down to field goals if it weren’t for the self-inflicted wounds. We were beating ourselves with the lack of discipline, especially on defense.
Penalties like targeting are so huge because you’re giving up a lot of free yards, and on top of that the guilty party is ejected from the game. That’s a loss of depth and in this case, our best players.
The Cajuns improve to 3-1 as the road trip continues to Hattiesburg, Mississippi against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Saturday, Oct. 5.