The Texas State Bobcats gave the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns a good scare on Halloween night, but it wasn’t enough to stop the high-octane offense as Levi Lewis and crew rolled to a 44-34 win in San Marcos, Texas.
How It Happened:
After the Bobcats’ first play from scrimmage resulted in a 40-yard run from Brock Sturges, the Cajuns defense came up big with former Acadiana High Wrecking Ram Bralen Trahan intercepted Brady McBride and got it into Texas State territory. The Cajuns wasted no time getting on the board with a five-play drive that had a healthy dose of Elijah Mitchell and Trey Ragas punched it in from three yards out.
The next drive wasn’t much better for Texas State with McBride throwing his second interception of the night and this was cashed in on a 46-yard deep ball from Levi Lewis to Calif Gossett, giving Louisiana an early 14-0 advantage. The momentum shifted as the second quarter progressed though, as the Bobcats marched down the field and were able to get on the board after a well-executed fake field goal run to cut the lead in half.
After a muffed punt by Eric Garror, Texas State took advantage of the short field and tied things up with a one-yard run from Jahmyl Jeter with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Cajuns tried to take back control of the contest and looked poised to do just that after a 37-yard pass on a wheel route to Chris Smith but was fumbled and recovered by Texas State. McBride put the Bobcats up for the first time in the contest with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Marcell Barbee. The Cajuns offense responded with a methodical 10-play drive highlighted by a 13-yard pass to Dontae Fleming on 3rd-and-9 and Lewis punched it in with a 12-yard run to even things up at 21.
Later in the second quarter, the Cajuns put together a quick six-play drive that was set up with a pair of passes to Jalen Williams and ended with Trey Ragas finding the endzone for the second time in the first half, to put the Cajuns up 28-21. McBride threw his third interception on the next drive, giving Louisiana another chance to score before halftime and made the most of the opportunity with Lewis finding Kyren Lacy to go up 34-21 before halftime after a missed extra-point attempt by Nate Snyder.
The Cajuns had a good start to the second half with Lewis connecting with Williams on a 51-yard deep ball. However, after a pair of incomplete passes intended for Kyren Lacy, they had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from Snyder to go up 37-21.
The score remained that way until late in the third quarter after another fumble by Smith turned into a seven-play, 62-yard drive that ended with Brock Sturges scoring from ten yards out to make it a ten-point ballgame after a failed two-point conversion attempt.
The Cajuns were able to put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter with a 10-play drive that ended with Ragas finding the endzone once again, officially putting the game out of reach.
BIG NUMBER: 614
The high-powered Cajuns offense made a much-needed return on Saturday night with 614 yards of offense, almost 300 of which were on the ground. It was an impressive night for an offense that felt like it hadn’t hit at the same clip as last year’s team did.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Eric Garror
It was a great night for the Cajuns secondary, limiting McBride to 239 yards and three interceptions. Garror caught two of those interceptions to help the Cajuns get to 5-1 on the season.
NEXT UP: Saturday vs Arkansas State; Kickoff at 11 am