It was a chilly afternoon at Cajun Field, but the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (5-5, 3-3 Sun Belt) run game was on fire with 355 yards on the ground and that was the big factor in a 36-22 win over Georgia State (2-8, 1-5 Sun Belt).
After an early back-and-forth that saw a combined five three-and-outs, the Cajuns busted the game open with a 92-yard touchdown from Cecilia native Raymond Calais. That touchdown run broke a 47 year-old record previously held by Reggie Dupre with the longest run in program history.
After forcing another punt, Andre Nunez led the Cajuns offense down the field and found paydirt once again with a 32-yard pass to Ryheem Malone to make it 13-0 after Kyle Pfau missed the extra point. Georgia State made it interesting though late in the first half when Aaron Winchester got the Panthers into the endzone with a 13-yard pass to Devin Gentry, making it a six-point ballgame headed into the locker room.
The Panthers opened up the second half with the football and looked to play make-it-take-it football, but were stopped on 4th and 3 when Zi’Yon Hill stopped him for a loss of seven yards. The Cajuns capitalized on the miscue with Pfau nailing a 21-yard field goal to make it a nine-point ballgame.
That didn’t last long though as Georgia State put together a methodical 10-play drive that took 5:32 off the clock. That drive was capped off by a 21-yard run by DeMarcus Kirk to make it a two-point game. However, the Cajuns were able to hold them off with another solid run by Calais to get the lead back to nine early in the fourth quarter..
After forcing a punt on the next drive, Elijah Mitchell took the rock and earned all 63 yards on his own en route to a one-yard touchdown to make it 30-14. The final nail was put in by former wide receiver Michael Jacquet when he picked off Winchester on his lone misfire of the game and that led to Calais getting his third touchdown from five yards out.
The Cajuns will stay inside the friendly confines and take on South Alabama (2-8, 2-5 Sun Belt) with kickoff set for 4 pm.
-Clint Domingue