Wooldridge leads Louisiana to 34–24 victory over Chanticleers 

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns win their fourth straight as they take down the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in Myrtle Beach 34–24 off the arm of Ben Wooldridge. 

Louisiana now moves to 6–1 to become bowl eligible for the seventh straight season. This win also places them atop the West in the Sun Belt Conference, hopping in-state rivals ULM who held the spot. 

The game would start fairly slowly as the Chanticleers would be forced to punt the ball on their first possession of the game. The Cajuns would get the ball for their first possession on their own 15-yard line. 

Louisiana would march downfield before being stopped at the Coastal 35- yard line. Kicker Kenneth Almendares would trot out to attempt a 53-yard field goal, but he would miss it keeping the score tied at nothing. 

The Chanticleers would get the ball back and would once again do nothing with it as they were forced to punt again, forcing the Cajuns to start their drive at their own two-yard line. This did not phase them in the slightest. 

Starting with a four-yard handoff to Bill Davis, the Cajuns would march 98-yards downfield for a touchdown. The drive would end with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Wooldridge to Lance LeGendre to put Louisiana up 7–0. 

With their next possession Coastal would once again be forced to punt after a seven play drive that would only net four yards. 

The Cajuns, starting at their own 27, would once again march downfield thanks to the efforts of Wooldridge and back Zylan Perry and Dre’lyn Washington. The drive would end with another touchdown pass from Wooldridge, this time to Bill Davis for the first receiving touchdown of his career. 

Following this drive, the Chanticleers would decide they had enough and would bench starting quarterback Ethan Vasko after he went 3/10 in the half. In his place would trout out senior Noah Kim. 

Kim would instantly lead the Chanticleers to back to back touchdown drives before heading into the half. The only reason that they did not have the lead heading into half was because of an Almendares field goal sandwiched between the Coastal touchdown drives. 

The teams would enter the half with Louisiana leading 17–14 with Coastal having much of the momentum thanks to Kim leading the Chanticleers to 14 points in the second quarter. 

The second half would start out fairly slow as the teams exchanged punts in the first three drives of the third quarter. The lack of scoring would end with a Chanticleer field goal that would tie the game 17-all. 

The Cajuns would answer immediately the next drive, capping it off with a QB sneak by Ben Wooldridge on the goal line to make it a 24–17 game. 

Kim and the Chanticleers would answer with a touchdown drive of their own to once again tie the game. 

Almendres would help the Cajuns recapture the lead with a 38-yard field goal, breaking the record for most field goals by a Louisiana kicker. 

The game would be all but over a couple of drives later after Ben Wooldridge connected with tight end Terrance Carter for a 59-yard touchdown to expand Louisiana’s lead 34–24. 

The game would officially end after the Chanticleers missed a field goal, allowing Louisiana to come out in victory formation to chew the rest of the clock. 

Ben Wooldridge was far and away the best player on the field, with Terrance Carter and Bill Davis being tied for a close second. 

Wooldridge threw for a career high 373 passing yards, averaging 10.4 yards per completion. He finished the game going 27/36 with three of those completions finding the end zone. 

Wooldridge finished the game with four total touchdowns with three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown thanks to a QB sneak on the goalline. 

Bill Davis would pick up all the slack of the running backs after Zylan Perry went down early with an injury and Dre’lyn Washington struggled to get anything going. 

Davis would take 19 touches for 110 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. He was also a threat in the receiving game, a new element to his game. He would finish the game with six receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown. 

The best receiver of the game was once again tight end Terrance Carter who finished his second straight game with 100 plus receiving yards. Carter finished the game with seven receptions for 149 yards, including the receiving touchdown that would seal the game. 

Lance LeGendre would be the only other receiver with a touchdown, catching a 33-yard pass for a touchdown in the second quarter. Other notable receivers were Robert Williams and Jacob Benard who both finished with four and three receptions respectively. 

The most worrying part of the team was once again the defense, specifically the rushing defense. 

Louisiana’s defense allowed Coastal’s backup running back, Braydon Bennett, to rush for 132 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries. They allowed Coastal to rush for a combined total of 208 rushing yards, something that can not be allowed by teams who are trying to make a push for the conference championship. 

The secondary once again proved to be the best aspect of the team as they held the Coastal starting QB to only three completions for 10 yards before he was pulled for Noah Kim. Kim would do a much better job at attacking space in the secondary when they were in zone coverage. 

The defensive player of the game, though, has to go to K.C. Ossai finished with 17 tackles, nearly tying his career high of tackles in a game. He even recorded a deflected pass, making himself seem like he was everywhere on the field. 

Cajuns now go into their final bye week at the top of the Western division and with a four game win streak. Their next game will be on the road again, this time against Texas State and will be on a Tuesday night which will be interesting to say the least. 

The Texas State game will start their toughest slate of games in conference play. This will be where the Cajuns can prove themselves real contenders and keep their momentum rolling when they return home for their first of three straight home games against Arkansas State.