The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns went to battle with the Troy Trojans on Saturday afternoon looking for their sixth win of the season and an opportunity to be bowl eligible. A back and forth affair saw the game tied going into the fourth quarter, Troy was able to score with less than five minutes to go to pick up a 31-24 win over Louisiana.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After starting the game with a defensive battle, Louisiana got on the board halfway through the first quarter when Chandler Fields led a 10-play, 66-yard drive resulting in a 14-yard touchdown pass to Robert Williams.
Troy started the second quarter by getting on the board themselves with a 44-yard field goal from Scott Taylor Renfroe made the score 7-3 in favor of the Cajuns.
Louisiana added to their lead about five minutes later with a 35-yard field goal from Kenneth Almendares to make it back to a touchdown lead for the Cajuns at 10-3. Troy quickly moved down the field and found the end zone to tie the game when Kimani Vidal ran it in from 13 yards out to make it a 10-10 game. Then after a good defensive sequence from the Trojans, a kick catch interference call set Troy up with great field position at the Louisiana 35. With just 21 seconds left in the half, Gunnar Watson found his tight end Clayton Ollendieck for the one-yard touchdown to give Troy the 17-10 halftime lead.
To start the second half, Louisiana had a strong offensive drive, getting the football down to the Troy 31 before a fade route to the end zone was intercepted by the Trojans secondary. However, the Louisiana defense stood up and forced a punt. Once again, the Cajuns did a nice job of moving the football and got inside the 10-yard line. Louisiana found the end zone on third goal with a four yard touchdown pass from Fields to Neal Johnson to tie the game at 17 late in the third quarter.
Troy was able to take the lead early in the fourth with a nine-yard pass from Watson to Chris Lewis that made it 24-17 with 13:24 remaining in the game.
On the next Louisiana possession, a flea flicker play put the Cajuns inside the five yard line before Fields found Terrance Carter for the touchdown to tie the game at 24.
Troy was able to benefit from a defensive pass interference call and found the end zone to take the lead once again to make the score 31-24 with 3:46 to go.
BIG NUMBER: 66
Louisiana was held to just 66 rushing yards on the night as Troy continued to hold their opponents to under 100 yards on the ground.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kimani Vidal
Vidal rushed for 112 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown to be a catalyst for the Trojans offense and take down Louisiana 31-24.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will return home to play their regular-season finale the Saturday after Thanksgiving against ULM. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.