The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (3-3, 1-1 Sun Belt) hadn’t been home in about a month and wasted very little time getting things going on Saturday afternoon and came away with a 66-38 win over former Sun Belt member New Mexico State (2-5).
Within the opening three minutes of the ballgame, the Cajuns got on the board thanks to a 50-yard touchdown pass to JaMarcus Bradley to take the early lead. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Andre Nunez found another target on the next drive in Jarrod Jackson for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
The Aggies responded on the next drive with Josh Adkins finding Jason Huntley for a 51-yard touchdown pass. Nunez got his third touchdown pass of the afternoon before the first quarter was finished when he connected with Trey Ragas on an 11-yard swing pass to increase their lead. However, a poor kickoff by the Cajuns made it a seven points ballgame once again with Huntley running back the ensuing kickoff return for 87 yards. The Cajuns didn’t let that last long with some trickeration that led to Earnest Patterson taking it to the house from 79 yards out to take a 28-14 lead.
Louisiana started to pile it on in the second quarter with a 31-yard touchdown run from Elijah Mitchell and Nunez finding Jackson once again for his fourth touchdown pass of the ballgame and giving the Cajuns a big 42-14 lead.
New Mexico State seemed to get back into the ballgame early in the second with 10 unanswered points to make it a two-possession ballgame, but Nunez put it out of reach when he connected with Ryheem Malone to tie the all-time record for touchdown passes in a single game with five.
The Cajuns will now make a road trip to Boone, North Carolina to take on Appalachian State (4-1, 2-0 Sun Belt) with kickoff set for 2:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue