Head Coach Michael Desormeaux and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns put together a good season, the first of Desormeaux’s tenure as the head coach. The team started out hot, going 8–1 in the first nine games of the season before crashing down.
It started with the game against South Alabama, the second game in a three home game stretch. Louisiana was just coming off a dominant 55–19 win over Arkansas State before welcoming the Jaguars from Mobile, Alabama.
The game looked like it would be a blowout after the Jags went up 24–3 at half, and even more so as starting quarterback Ben Wooldridge was forced to leave the game due to injury. There was not much fear as seasoned backup Chandler Fields would come in and nearly lead the Cajuns to a comeback victory, falling just short after a botched two-point conversion.
Fields would lead the Cajuns to back-to-back wins to end out the season, including a 51–30 massacre of Troy, which helped the Cajuns win the Western division of the Sun Belt.
As the best team in the Sun Belt, Louisiana was able to host Marshall for the Sun Belt Championship game. Things would quickly go south for the Cajuns though after Fields got hurt early in the game, forcing true freshman Daniel Beale to take the field.
After that it was all Marshall as they ran away with the game, taking home the Sun Belt Conference trophy with a dominant 31–3 win, the first time in SBC history that a visiting team won the championship.
Louisiana would get a chance to redeem its season in the Isleta New Mexico Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs. Many had the Cajuns counted out, but they had a chance to shock and upset the heavily favored TCU.
The Horned Frogs ran away with the game 34–3, the Cajuns simply rolling over for the Big XII team. Wooldridge, who had returned for this game to make his first and only bowl game start, and the offense simply could not move the bowl.
Even worse, the usually solid Cajuns secondary got sliced up by TCU quarterback Josh Hoover who threw for 252 yards and four touchdowns.
This humiliating loss is now Desormeaux’s third straight bowl loss, his record now 1–3 in bowl games. Though an asterisk should be placed next to that stat as his one bowl win, the 2021 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, was with a team still largely made by Billy Napier.
Despite this glaring issue that Desormeaux has in big games, Louisiana still gave him a contract extension for another five years. Though if he keeps his current bowl streak up he might not make all five.
Next year could prove to be a setback for the program, as many longtime starters are either graduating, transferring, or declaring for the draft.
There is hope in the transfer class that coach Desormeaux is putting together, highlighted by former four star quarterback Walker Howard.
Howard was a four star quarterback coming out of St. Thomas Moore in Lafayette before he committed to LSU in 2021, enrolling early in January 2022. Howard would sit for the 22’ season, redshirting since Jayden Daniels was the starter.
Following the 22’ season Howard would transfer to Ole Miss where he would sit behind Jaxson Dart for the ‘23 and 24’ seasons, seeing minimal playtime. Howard would not get his chance to start for Ole Miss, with Austin Simmons being picked to be the heir to Dart.
Howard would thus enter the portal, coming home to Lafayette to play for his hometown team. He is projected to be the starting quarterback for the 25’ season, his first time starting since his senior season of high school.
The receiving core he will be throwing too is slightly depleted though. Both Lance LeGendre(49/826/6) and Jacob Bernard(28/375/0) played their last game as seniors while the other two top pass catchers in Harvey Broussard(31/486/3) and tight end Terrance Carter(48/689/4) transferred to Houston and Texas Tech respectively.
Here the portal has also solved this receiver problem with the addition of Shelton Sampson Jr. The 6’3.5” redshirt freshman from LSU was a four star receiver in the class of 2023 from Catholic B.R. The hope is that Sampson comes in and forms a connection with Howard similar to the connection between Wooldridge and Carter.
The Cajuns should still be able to rely on a solid run game as both Bill Davis(796 yards and 9 touchdowns) and Zylan Perry(695 yards and 4 touchdowns) are returning, Dre’lyn Washington though, entering his senior season, transferred to Alabama.
Louisiana also lost many defensive starters starting with linebackers K.C. Ossai(115 tackles) to graduation and Carmycah Glass(75 tackles) to the transfer portal.
The biggest losses on defense though comes from the secondary as both Tyrone Lewis Jr(76 tackles and 4 ints) and Tyree Skipper(41 tackles and 4 ints) declared for the 2025 NFL draft.
The Cajuns will also be saying goodbye to the ever reliable Lou Groza award winning kicker, Kenneth Almendares who finished his last season with the Cajuns going for 28/31 on field goals, he was perfect inside 50 yards.
Next season is still far off and the offseason has just begun. For now hope for the 2025 season can grow as underclassmen, transfers, and recruits fill the holes left by the strong senior core.