The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (4-5, 2-3 Sun Belt) offense couldn’t get out of first gear on Saturday afternoon until the game was well in hand, leading to the Troy Trojans (7-2, 5-0 Sun Belt) coming away with a 26-16 win.
The Trojans opened up the ballgame with a 10-play drive that ended with Tyler Sumpter drilling a 29-yarder through the uprights to take the early lead. It didn’t take long for the Cajuns to respond; in fact it took only 2:15 off the clock and resulted in a 32-yarder from Kyle Pfau to knot things up at three.
The Trojans offense came alive on the next drive with Sawyer Smith connecting with Damion Willis for a 75-yard pass to make it 10-3 with 7:22 left in the first quarter.
Levi Lewis came into the ballgame midway through the second quarter, but fumbled the ball on the first play to give Troy the ball at the Louisiana 12 and two plays later made it 17-3 with a 12-yard run by B.J. Smith to make it 17-3. After being forced to punt, the Trojans started to pull away with a pair of field goals to make it 23-3 as both teams headed into the locker room at the half.
The Cajuns came out the gates strong to start the second half with an eight-play drive that ended with a three-yard run by Trey Ragas to make it a two-possession ballgame. However, it became a 16-point game when Sumpter nailed a 49-yarder to cap off a 10-play drive that ate up a little over six minutes. The Cajuns continued their attempt at a rally on the next drive with a nine play drive that was capped off by Ragas finding the endzone yet again to make it 26-16 after a failed two-point conversion.
Late in the ballgame, the Cajuns fell apart with a pair of interceptions by Andre Nunez to seal their fate.
The Cajuns will return to Cajun Field this Saturday when they take on Georgia State with kickoff set for 4 pm.
-Clint Domingue