Louisiana finds itself 5–1 for the first time since 2021 after handling the Appalachian State Mountaineers 34–24 at Cajun Field. The Cajuns now find themselves 3–0 since their loss to Tulane, a good sign for things to come as the team starts rolling with momentum into the heart of their Sun Belt schedule.
The game started with the Louisiana defense forcing an App State punt on their opening drive that would be capitalized on with a field goal to put the Cajuns up 3–0.
Both teams would exchange punts on the next two drives which was then followed by a Mountaineer touchdown to put them up 7–3.
The Cajuns would respond immediately the next drive as Ben Wooldridge would connect with tight end Terrence Carter for a 74-yard touchdown on the very first play of the drive to put Louisiana up 10–7.
A few drives later the Mountaineers would have the ball again, for all of about 12 seconds. On the very first play of the drive App State quarterback Joey Aguilar would throw his first pick of the night to junior safety Tyree Skipper, setting up the Cajuns on the App State 33-yard line.
Louisiana would capitalize on this opportunity with a five play drive ending in a Wooldridge touchdown to Harvey Broussard to expand the Cajuns lead 17–7.
App State would not go into the half quiet though as they marched 70 yards downfield in 10 plays for a touchdown to shorten the Cajuns lead 17–14.
Louisiana would end the half after Kenneth Almendares missed a 60-yard field goal to the left, making the score 17–14 Cajuns entering the half.
The Cajuns would get the ball first and looked to expand their lead with the first possession of the half. They could not get anything going though and were quickly forced into a three-and-out punt.
App State and Louisiana would then exchange field goals to make the score 20–17 Louisiana.
Following the Louisiana field goal, App State would begin an 11 play, 60- yard drive toward the end zone. The drive would end with App State running back Kanye Roberts fumbling the ball which would be recovered by junior corner Justin Agu. He returned the fumble 70-yards and would have taken it to the house if not for a bad horse collar tackle by App State.
The fumble would quickly be capitalized on with another touchdown by Louisiana, though it would be accredited to senior offensive lineman Landon Burton due to Bill Davis fumbling the ball and Burton recovering it for the touchdown, putting the Cajuns up 27–17.
The game was essentially over after that point. App State would have four more drives in the game, only one would lead to the touchdown, the other three would end in interceptions.
The Cajuns would have a final touchdown of their own as well. Finding the end zone with a Wooldridge QB sneak to make the final score 34–24 Louisiana.
The offense struggled at times throughout the game, especially the run game which was not nearly as efficient as it has been most the season.
Zylan Perry got the majority of the carries, getting the ball 14 times for only 53 yards, only averaging 3.8 yards per carry. Bill Davis was not much better, averaging 4.9 yards per carry on eight touches for 51 yards. The best back of the game was certainly senior back Dre’lyn Washington who averaged 7.3 yards per carry on only 7 touches for 51 yards.
Wooldridge once again proved to be very efficient with the ball and limiting turnovers to only one interception that came midway through the fourth quarter.
He finished the game going 14/23 for 198 yards and two touchdowns while also doing additional damage on the ground, scrambling five times for 25 yards and getting a touchdown with a QB sneak on the goal line.
Wooldridge did a good job of spreading the ball around to the receivers on the team, finding Terrance Carter and Lance LeGendre four times for 107 and 67 yards respectively. Robert Williams would also record three receptions but for only 10 yards and Harvey Broussard’s only reception was his eight yard touchdown.
The defense, specifically the rushing defense, continues to be the most worrying part of the team as they allowed App State back Kanye Roberts to run for 148 yards, averaging 5.7 per carry.
There were also struggles in the passing game, namely with yards after catch as the Cajuns continued their struggles in finishing tackles, seemingly just allowing opponents to slip tackles for more yards then they should actually have.
That being said, the secondary continues to be the best part of the defense as they held App State to under 50% completion and also forced four interceptions. Two interceptions were caught by junior safety Tyree Skipper and the other two were caught by senior safety Tyrone Lewis Jr.
Next week, the Cajuns travel to play 4–2 Coastal Carolina who just came off a crushing loss to James Masidon. The Chanticleers are 1-1 so far in conference play with their one win coming against a subpar Old Dominion team. Their only notable win thus far this season was a 55–27 hammering of Jacksonville State in the season opener.