College football is back in Acadiana.
The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns opened the 2024 season in a big way with a 40-10 win over Grambling State Saturday night at Cajun Field at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.
The Cajuns sent an early message when Ben Wooldridge found his sophomore receiver Harvey Broussard down the middle of the field for a 50 yard gain on the first offensive play from scrimmage for Louisiana.
“That was kind of a little bit of a statement,” Michael Desoremaux said following the game. “I think for our team, this is how we’re going to play this year. We’re going to be aggressive, you we’re not playing not to lose. We’re playing to win games and I think this team has worked at a different level. I think this team is ready to go and do some things we haven’t done in a while.”
From there, Dre’Lyn Washington capped the drive with a six yard touchdown that would start a stretch of 37 unanswered points for the Vermilion and White, including 23 in the second quarter.
Explosive plays were the story of that second quarter as Broussard was found in the back corner of the end zone for the second touchdown of the game before Caleb Kibodi got the first defensive touchdown of the season on a 50-yard pick six. His brother Jacob, who is on the New Orleans Saints practice squad after scoring a pair of touchdowns in the preseason finale, said it was cooler to see his brother score than it was to score for the Saints.
After going up 21-0, the Cajuns offense continued to exploit the Tigers defense as Tavion Smith broke through and was left wide open for a 56 yard touchdown, but a botched snap on the point after kept it a 27-0 affair.
The second half started with an interception from Wooldridge after it deflected off the hands of Jacob Bernard but the Louisiana defense held GSU off the scoreboard and gave the offense another opportunity.
“We’ve talked a lot about our defense and we want to attack the offenses we face,” Desormeaux said. “We want to create negative plays and get them in situations where we knew they’re going to throw the ball and we got to cut those guys loose. I thought their offensive line really did a pretty good job in protection, but we feel like we’ve got really good pass rushers.
“I thought Jim (Salgado) and the defensive staff did a great job. We were aggressive, we dialed it up, I thought we did a good job playing coverage on the back end and you kind of force the issue a little bit.”
The Cajuns were able to add another touchdown to the ledger, part of a three-touchdown performance from Wooldridge who also threw for 308 yards in his return from injury.
Grambling didn’t go down without a fight, however, punching in a touchdown in the third quarter before adding a field goal in the closing moments of the contest.
“I was happy that our guys didn’t quit,” head coach Mickey Joseph said post-game. “They fought until the very end, but we have to do a better job of being ready to play in games like this and playing up to our opponent.”
With the victory over Grambling, Louisiana has now won eight straight home openers going back to 2017 and will look to have continued success when they travel to the newest member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in Kennesaw State on Saturday. Kick off from Fifth Third Stadium is set for 6:00 p.m.