The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns fell to the James Madison Dukes 24-14 on Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium. The loss moves Louisiana to 2-4 overall, now 1-1 in Sun Belt Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game began with a couple of long James Madison drives. However, both times the Cajuns were able to turn them away, once with a fumble recovery and once on a fourth down stop.
Eventually, the Cajuns came up with the first big play offensively. They converted on a 6 play, 80 yard drive that ended with a touchdown from Lunch Winfield to Brock Chappell. This was Winfield’s first start of his Cajuns’ career.
That gave Louisiana a 7-0 lead, and they quickly had a chance to extend it after another turnover. However, a blocked field goal prevented that, and JMU scored on the ensuing possession.
Alonzo Barnett III found Landon Ellis for the touchdown, making it 7-7. However, that score would not last very long.
Winfield found Dale Martin on a slant route and Martin took it the rest of the way for a 69 yard touchdown. That gave Louisiana the 14-7 lead.
Once again the Cajuns had a chance to add to the lead but could not. With the ball on the one yard line, they chose to go for the touchdown before the half and did not convert. That made it 14-7 at the half.
James Madison used the momentum and scored on the first play of the second half. A big double reverse pass and connection from Barnett III to Ellis tied things at 14.
From there on out, the Dukes were able to control the game. They eventually took the lead after a short touchdown drive set up by a bad punt. Ellis found the end zone again, making it 21-14.
The Dukes added a field goal to make it 24-14, and completely shut down the Cajuns running game. They were able to keep Louisiana off the scoreboard as an interception in the end zone closed the game.
BIG NUMBER: 45
The JMU defense held Louisiana to just 45 rushing yards on the day and 1.6 yards per carry. That made the Louisiana offense one dimensional and hindered plenty of offensive drives.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Landon Ellis
Ellis scored all three of JMU’s touchdowns. He caught six passes for 120 yards and those three scores, pacing the Duke offense.
UP NEXT: The Cajuns will return home for Homecoming as they play host to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Saturday, October 18th at 4:00 PM central.