Welcome everyone to the latest game preview for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns! This week, we break down the Cajuns road game against South Alabama.
Last Week: The Cajuns had last weekend off after suffering a 47-3 loss on October 19th to Arkansas State. The Jaguars came up short last weekend to Georgia State on a Thursday night matchup.
Last Meeting: The last time these two teams faced off, the Cajuns narrowly came away with a 28-23 victory over South Alabama. Louisiana leads the overall series 3-2.
Storylines to Watch
Who’s the QB? As of right now, the Cajuns have their hands tied when it comes to their starting quarterback. With the concussion that Nunez suffered back in the Arkansas State game, Mark Hudspeth is back to Jordan Davis who started the season for the Cajuns. Davis has taken more snaps with the ones during the extended break and if Nunez isn’t 100 percent, the Cajuns offense gets their original starter back in the shotgun position.
While Davis hasn’t been the same since the loss to Texas A&M, you’d expect that the extended time away from the field has helped him get to as close to 100 percent as he can be for this final stretch and get his starting spot back from Nunez. South Alabama is the opportunity he needs to show that he can still lead this team to victory.
Control Dallas Davis: The Cajuns defense has a chance to redeem themselves after a poor game against Arkansas State this weekend because of a largely one-dimensional offense in South Alabama. Just last weekend, the Jaguars rushed for 41 net yards. The Cajuns will need to keep their star QB in Dallas Davis to ensure a win.
Last week, Davis ended up with two interceptions and almost 300 yards in the loss. If the Cajuns defense can try and duplicate that performance, then maybe there’s a chance to break some recent trends.
Home Field Advantage: As mentioned earlier, the overall series between these two is 3-2 in favor of the Cajuns. However, both teams are unbeaten at their respective home fields. It seems cliché to say that, but when you look at the history between these two, you have to give it some credence.
Louisiana Will Win If:
The Cajuns can get the first road win in the series if Jordan Davis is near 100 percent and can get the offense back into form. Even in a loss, Davis had a decent showing after having to fill in for Nunez, but he’ll need to do a lot more to lead this team to a win.
Also, the offensive line will need to step up a lot more to keep Davis healthy. They allowed five sacks in the loss and that might hurt the Cajuns if Davis is under pressure throughout.
South Alabama Will Win If:
South Alabama can keep the series trend going if the offense can get going again. As mentioned earlier, the run game was virtually nonexistent. If Dallas Davis is able to get things going through the air, this could very well be a shootout.
-Clint Domingue
-Clint Domingue