Bradley photo by Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
Halloween weekend seems always to have good football games throughout the country.
In the Sun Belt Conference, the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (4-3) and South Alabama Jaguars (4-3) will feature their talented starting quarterbacks and debilitating defenses in a Western division showdown Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
RIVALRY BREWING
For years, The Jags and the Cajuns have had a bitter rivalry on the baseball diamond. However, it has recently spread into football and basketball. On the football field, four of the last five matchups have been settled by less than ten with two of those four being three or fewer points. With both teams continuing the success on the football field, a natural rivalry has developed between these two Sun Belt West foes.
BATTLE OF THE RUN GAMES
Both Louisiana and South Alabama come into this contest ranked in the Top 50 for rushing offense. The Cajuns are currently 8th in the nation (215.6 yards per game) while the Jaguars are 41st (176.1 per game). Jacob Kibodi and La’Damian Webb have both been critical pieces to the success of each team’s running game, while Zeon Chriss has provided a nice spark in the rushing attack for Michael Desormeaux’s team. As cliche as it may sound, whichever team has more success controlling the run game should pull out a victory.
RACE FOR THE WEST
Currently, the race for the lead in the Sun Belt West is very close. Texas State, Troy, and South Alabama are all tied at 1st with a 2-1 conference record, then Louisiana sits at 4th tied with Arkansas State at 1-2. If the Cajuns beat South Alabama, both teams would be 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the SBC. Meanwhile, Troy and Texas State battle each other this weekend so one of those teams will be 3-1 and the other will join the Cajuns and Jags in second place. If that’s the case though, Louisiana would hold a tiebreaker over both the Jags and the Bobcats.
KEYS TO VICTORY
If you’re Louisiana, you have to be able to establish a ground game and then open your air attack through the run game. Otherwise, South Alabama will be able to control things on both sides of the ball and it will be a long afternoon.
If you’re South Alabama, you have to find a way to slow down Zeon Chriss, who had an off game last week against Georgia State. Chriss will be looking for a bounce-back performance and the Jags defense has to make sure they don’t let that happen.
SERIES RECORD: Louisiana leads 8-3
Previous Meetings:
2022: 17 Louisiana-South Alabama 20
2021: 20 Louisiana-South Alabama 18
2020: 38 Louisiana-South Alabama 10
2019: 37 Louisiana-South Alabama 27
2018: 48 Louisiana-South Alabama 38
STAT LEADERS
Louisiana
Zeon Chriss: 77-119, 906 yards, 8 TDs, 5 INTs
Jacob Kibodi: 64 carries, 466 yards, 5 TDs
Robert Williams: 22 receptions, 289 yards, 3 TDs
K.C. Ossai: 49 tackles (25 solo), 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 1 blocked kick
Kenneth Almendares: 7-for-8, Long of 46, 28-28 XP
South Alabama
Carter Bradley: 138-205, 1,775 yards, 11 TDs, 5 INTs
La’Damian Webb: 103 carries, 578 yards, 12 TDs
Caullin Lacy: 48 receptions, 826 yards, 6 TDs
Trey Kiser: 45 tackles (19 solo), 6.0 TFL, 2 PBUs
Diego Guajardo: 9-of-12, Long of 46, 28-30 XP
This crucial matchup in the Sun Belt West division will kick off at 4:00 p.m. from Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama. The game can be seen on ESPN+.