Welcome everyone to the latest edition of #4Downs where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns! This week, I look at the Ragin Cajuns 56-14 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
1st Down: Rough Start
The end result was a given with the Cajuns taking a big loss on Saturday night. The only unknown was going to be how bad the ballgame was going to be from the jump. You really can’t get much worse than 28-0 to start a ballgame. From a blocked punt on the Cajuns opening drive to an outstanding punt return for a touchdown by Jaylen Waddle, the Crimson Tide really imposed their will to start the ballgame.
In fact, the Cajuns offense only amassed 32 total yards of offense in the first quarter and only two first downs as opposed to Alabama’s eight.
2nd Down: Trey Ragas is a Monster
We all know about how stacked the running back corps is for Louisiana and Trey Ragas had a chance to show the world just what he was capable over in Bryan-Denny Stadium with 111 yards on the ground off of 16 carries. While that doesn’t seem like much at first glance, consider that only 13 players before him ran for 100 yards in a single game since Saban became the head coach at Alabama in 2007.
Think about some of the running backs that have taken on the Crimson Tide in the last 11 years and there’s some notable names that aren’t a part of that list like LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice. While some of that was in “garbage time”, it doesn’t make the fact that he ran for 100 yards against the top program in the country any different.
3rd Down: Still Solid in the Redzone
When the Cajuns do get into the redzone, there’s no denying that they can find paydirt and that’s definitely something a lot of teams would kill to have the efficiency they have. They kept their redzone efficiency at 100%, converting both of their redzone chances into touchdowns.
If there’s one thing that the Cajuns did better than the Tide, it’s that since they went 5-of-8 on the afternoon with two missed field goals signifying the missed opportunities.
4th Down: Cajuns Covered
For those degenerate gamblers who kept a close eye on this ballgame may have rejoiced after the Cajuns covered the massive spread thanks to two touchdowns late in the ballgame. While it had no real impact on the end result, it was one thing many fans had an eye on before the game even kicked off.
Extra Point: Must-Win Against Texas State
The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns are in an all too familiar place right now, starting out 1-3 for the fourth time in the last five seasons. While past teams have shown that it’s not necessarily the end of the world, it’s definitely a warning sign that fans need to keep a very close eye on heading into next weekend’s game against Texas State.
The Bobcats haven’t won a conference game since November of 2015, so to compare them to the Cleveland Browns prior to their massive losing streak being snapped would be fairly appropriate. Losing hurts no matter who the opponent is, but a loss to a team like this could really hurt the morale in the locker room.
-Clint Domingue