Welcome everyone to another edition of #4Downs, where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns! In this week’s edition, I break down the Cajuns win over Texas State.
1st Down: Defense Gets Key Turnovers
One of the big things for the Cajuns on Thursday night was that the defense was able to get some key turnovers to hold down the Bobcats. The Cajuns managed to get three turnovers on the evening and the first one wound up being the most important. Around the midway point of the first quarter, the Cajuns recovered a fumble in Texas State territory that led to a Trey Ragas touchdown to make it 14-0.
However, that’s not the only key turnover the Cajuns got. Jump to the final moments of the second half and Tracy Walker picked off Willie Jones III deep in Cajuns territory to make sure the Bobcats don’t have all the momentum headed into the locker room.
2nd Down: Nunez Looked Solid
Andre Nunez continues to look like the starter for the Ragin Cajuns after his performance against Texas State. He wound up only throwing one touchdown, but he still showed some skills with a really nice deep ball on a sideline pass to Keenan Barnes on the opening drive. There were some dropped balls and some passes were overthrown, but the most important number on the statline on Thursday was zero. Nunez didn’t have an interception and if you want to win ballgames, you need to have a clean sheet in that aspect.
3rd Down: Front Seven Brings Pressure
Going back to the defense, getting turnovers wasn’t the only positive for the Cajuns on Thursday. The front seven got things done with six total sacks on the evening. That’s a huge stat for a defense that was having a hard time getting things done defensively.
New defensive analyst James Willis wound being a huge addition to the staff because they’ve been able to hold teams below 20 points for the second straight game.
4th Down: Indecision
Despite Nunez’ solid effort, it seemed like after the game, head coach Mark Hudspeth wasn’t 100 percent sure if he was going to be the starter going forward. Hudspeth mentioned that he wanted to look at the film to make an informed decision about the position.
While that sounds like a good move, you don’t have to look at the film to make this decision. All you have to do is see that the Cajuns have two wins with Nunez at the helm. This is a year that Hudspeth needs to get skins on the wall any way that he can after the rough start to the season and if there’s a quarterback doing that, you play that guy.
-Clint Domingue