It was Homecoming once again in Lafayette as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns hosted the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Cajuns offense, once again, stalled in a 22–10 loss, meaning that Louisiana now holds a 2–5 win-loss record. It now seems increasingly likely that the Cajuns will fail to make a bowl game for the first time since 2017.
The game did not seem like it would be such a bad match for Louisiana– in fact, it started out in one of the best possible ways.
Southern Miss got the ball to start the game, and were forced to punt following a nine play drive that went 38 yards. The punt would force the Cajuns to start in a slightly unfavorable position, making them start their first drive from their own 15-yard line.
From the 15-yard line, Louisiana marched downfield led by a great rushing attack. Lunch Winfield, Zylan Perry and Bill Davis would take turns toting the rock as they moved 85 yards down the field in eight minutes.
The drive ended with a three-yard punch-in by Winfield, opening up the scoring in Louisiana’s favor as they took a 7–0 lead. In the 16 plays during that opening drive, only four were pass plays–Lunch going 3/4 on those passes for 31 yards.
After an excellent drive, one could not fault fans for thinking that the offensive woes against JMU were simply due to their elite defense. Yet, it would become clear over the course of the game that the struggles were not related to playing a good defense.
The rest of the half saw both the Cajuns and the Golden Eagles struggle to get things going. Both teams would punt on their next drives. Southern Miss fumbled on the last play of the first quarter, Louisiana’s Cameron Whitfield scooping it up to set the Cajuns up at Southern Miss’ 43-yard line.
The defense set the offense up for a chance to go up by multiple possessions at the start of the second.
The Cajuns moved 16 yards toward the endzone before head coach Michael Desormeaux decided to go for it on fourth-and-4 on the Southern Miss 31-yard line. The conversion failed after Winfield and Charles Robertson failed to connect, turning it over on downs.
With the ball back the Golden Eagles moved into field goal range, being forced to kick after the Cajun defense got them to a fourth down.
The field goal went wide right, keeping the score 7–0 and once again giving the Cajuns offense the chance to extend their lead.
On the very first play of the drive, Winfield uncorked a deep pass. The only problem was that there was not a single receiver in the area he threw to, making it an easy interception for the Southern Miss secondary.
Southern Miss returned the interception to the Louisiana 37-yard line, great field position for the Golden Eagles. Unlike the Cajuns, the Golden Eagles used this turnover to their advantage, quickly scoring a touchdown to tie the game 7–7.
The Cajuns offense went three and out, giving the ball right back to the Golden Eagles. Yet once again the defense made plays, with a Tyree Skipper interception off of Braylon Braxton setting Louisiana up at the Southern Miss 18-yard line, the best field position the Cajuns got all game.
The offense once again failed to answer the great play by the defense, stalling and forced to go for a field goal. Tony Sterner came out to attempt a 36-yard field goal and bring the Cajuns back into the lead. The field goal was no good, leaving both teams at a stalemate heading toward the half.
Southern Miss moved 66 yards in 10 plays, setting their kicker up for another field goal. This time he did not miss, and the stalemate finally broke as Southern Miss took the lead 10–3.
Louisiana had the chance to end the half with a score before getting the ball back at the start of the third quarter. Yet in a move that shocked many, Walker Howard came out to lead the offense.
This was Howard’s first action since getting injured against Rice University in the first game of the season.
It was thought he would be out for the year following an oblique surgery, yet after practicing for the week leading up for the game Desormeaux decided to let the former four-star player come in for such an important moment in the game.
Suffice to say, it was not the right move by the head coach. Howard went 2/6 on the drive and it ended with a Southern Miss interception.
This set the Golden Eagles up in perfect position to kick a field goal before half to go up 13–7.
Louisiana got the ball at the start of the second half. Just like the first drive of the first half, the offense marched downfield, going 77 yards in 10 plays. Yet unlike their first half drive this one only ended in three points.
Both teams punted following the Cajuns opening drive, and it seemed that the Golden Eagles were forced to punt again as they were facing third down on their own two yard line. Broken coverage on receiver Micah Davis left him open enough for Braxton to hit him for a 98- yard touchdown.
That pretty much ended the game for the Cajuns as the offense failed to score for the rest of the night. The game ended 22–10 after Southern Miss forced a safety on Louisiana’s final drive of the game.