After an interesting first two games of the 2019 season, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns have hit a little bit of a lull with a matchup against a SWAC opponent in the Texas Southern Tigers.
Last Time Out:
The Ragin’ Cajuns got on the winning side of the ledger last weekend with an emphatic 35-14 win highlighted by over 400 yards on the ground. The Tigers, on the other hand, fell to Incarnate Word in a high-scoring affair.
Last Meeting:
This will be the first time that the two programs will play each other.
Storylines to Watch:
Will We See More Magalei?
With the spreads saying that the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns are currently 44-point favorites, the expectation is that Levi Lewis likely doesn’t see the field after the first half. We saw Jai’ave Magalei get some playing time at certain points in last Saturday’s win over Liberty, but it was in very small bursts, going 1-of-2.
The Tacoma, Washington native will likely get some extended playing time in the second half as long as it isn’t a complete blowout. It’ll be interesting to see if the Cajuns go deeper into the depth chart and we see freshman Chandler Fields get some playing time as well.
Run Game Could Have Their Way
Look back at what was mentioned during last week’s game for Texas Southern against Incarnate Word. Over 400 yards rushing and that wasn’t against a three-headed monster like the Cajuns have. There might be 400 yards on the ground just in the first half with Elijah Mitchell, Trey Ragas, and Raymond Calais doing big things.
Establishing Depth
With the relatively new redshirt rule, these kinds of games give ample opportunity to see what they have in terms of depth and make sure these guys are ready if and when they’re needed to fill a gap due to injury.
As mentioned earlier, the Cajuns will likely send out Magalei and possibly Chandler Fields, but by the end of Saturday’s matchup, there might be some players that have never seen the field get significant playing time.
Louisiana Will Win If:
The Cajuns should get the win on Saturday and a lot of that will be due to their run game. That 44-point spread is there for a reason and it will be a dominant performance.
Texas Southern Will Win If:
It would be an upset of epic proportions, but the way the Tigers have played this season it seems very unlikely. It would require a massive letdown defensively for that to happen and based off of how the Cajuns played last weekend after allowing two scores against, it seems very unlikely.