Bold Prediction, How Louisiana Will Defeat Kansas State

Every week the bleacher report reveals 50 bold predictions for the week of college football. In week 2, one of those predictions has the Ragin' Cajuns dropping the Kansas State Wildcats. You can see the prediction and reasoning here, though it's fairly short. It claims KSU will be upset because of UL's talented defense. I guess the author doesn't know very much about UL's football team. In reality, the more talented aspect of the Ragin' Cajuns is offense.

For the bold prediction to come true, Louisiana must improve in the secondary. Wildcat quarterback Jamie Waters may not be Colin Klein, but he's no slouch either. While he throw two costly interceptions in KSU's surprising Week 1 loss to North Dakota State, he did go 21-29 for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns. Two different Wildcat receivers topped the 100 yard receiving mark.

Ragin' Cajun head coach Mark Hudspeth is changing up the starting lineup in the secondary, putting Trevance Patt and Al Riles atop the cornerback depth chart. Both will start this Saturday, even though they both played Safety against Arkansas. Rodney Gillis and TJ Worthy are slated to start at safety in Manhattan against Kansas State.

Of course, the best medicine for a secondary is a solid pass rush. NDSU pressured Waters often, and as a result, forced several turnovers and sacked him 3 times. Look for new UL defensive coordinator James Willis to blitz his linebackers in any obvious passing situation.

Offensively, Louisiana needs to take a page out of the NDSU playbook, and run the ball down Kansas State's throat. The Wildcats were outgained on the ground last Saturday 215-41. As a result, KSU was dominated in the time of possession department, 36:03-23:57.

Alonzo Harris (pictured), who averaged 5.6 yards a carry against the Arkansas Razorbacks, needs to carry the rock over 20 times Saturday in Manhattan. A grind-it-out football game that will slow down the pace at which Kansas State wants to play will be key.

If Louisiana does these things, as well as wins the turnover battle, the Cajuns will even their record to 1-1, while the Wildcats will wonder how they got off to an 0-2 start.