#4Downs: Louisiana Ragin Cajuns vs South Alabama Jags

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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 Cajuns win over South Alabama.

1st Down: Turnover Battle

The Cajuns defense hasn’t been the best in the world when it comes to the turnover ratio all season long, but they were able to force three fumbles on the afternoon, recovering two of them. Add an interception on the first pass attempt by Cole Garvin helped the Cajuns take an early lead.

Winning the turnover battle wasn’t the only impressive thing about their performance on Saturday. You have to give them a ton of credit for getting 10 points off of the three takeaways.

2nd Down: JaMarcus Bradley Feasts on Jags Defense

JaMarcus Bradley was pretty efficient in the home finale, three receptions that all went for TDs. The Jags defense just couldn’t guard the junior, who had a really good catch on a 44-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter that a defender just missed out on breaking up on the pass.

Having a guy like Bradley really speaks to the Cajuns having a lot of weapons to choose from and that’s a big reason why they’ve been so effective.

3rd Down: Gutsy Decision Making Key to Game

It’s not often we see the Cajuns execute an onside kick, but when they do, it’s usually effective and that’s what happened late in the first half when Billy Napier gambled and won on an onside kick after taking the lead on the aforementioned pass from Levi Lewis to Bradley.

Kyle Pfau pulled it off and that wound up being a big reason why the Cajuns won that ballgame because the defense was exhausted at that point of the game after two drives that ate up over 17 minutes of game time.

4th Down: Putrid Defense on 4th Down

The fourth down defense still needs to show up and it was evident on the second drive for South Alabama, where they converted four straight fourth downs, resulting in a touchdown and taking tons of time off the clock in the first half.

When people look back at this game, they’ll be able to point to this as being a big reason why they were able to keep it competitive for much of the ballgame.

Extra Point: Not Finished

-Clint Domingue