Ragin’ Cajuns Look Bowl Bound After South Alabama Victory

By Dan McDonald (Special for ESPN 1420)

Too early to start talking about bowl games? Maybe not, after UL’s Ragin’ Cajuns made it four in a row Saturday evening with a gritty 19-9 win over South Alabama.

Consider that the Cajuns are now 5-3, one win away from bowl eligibility and two wins away from an almost certain invitation. Then consider that UL’s final four foes are a combined 9-25 heading into this week.

Contemplate the fact that no other bowl-eligible team in the Sun Belt Conference has a better record than the Cajuns’ 5-3 (Georgia Southern is 7-2 in its first year but not eligible for bowl consideration unless less than 76 teams nationally are bowl-eligible, and then it’s not a sure thing).

And remember that the Sun Belt has three bowl ties this year instead of the previous two, with the new Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., joining the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile as league bowl partners.

So far, 44 teams in the country are bowl eligible going into the second weekend of November, and unless there are a late-season wave of upsets, there won’t be many more than 76 teams eligible for bowl participation by the time the season ends.

It’s not a sure thing, but it’s pretty close. This week’s opponent, New Mexico State, is an offensive force ... the Aggies rolled up 639 yards and 32 first downs Saturday against Texas State. But NMSU is statistically the nation’s worst defense, and that’s not good against the Cajuns right now.

UL goes to UL Monroe in two weeks, and that rivalry contest won’t be easy considering the Warhawks played Texas A&M within a touchdown last weekend.. Appalachian State, the Cajuns’ only other home opponent this year on Nov. 22, scored 44 points and shut out Georgia State 44-0 on Saturday. Even a season-ending trip to face a 1-8 Troy team might be in doubt since the Trojans may be trying to win one more for outgoing coach Larry Blakeney.

But UL will be the betting-line favorite in all four games, and if the Cajuns perform as they have in the current winning streak, they still have a chance to record nine regular-season wins – and that’s one thing that they haven’t done over the last three years even with the runaway success since Mark Hudspeth took over the program.

Saturday’s win over USA came on the heels of a 55-point effort in the big Tuesday night win over Arkansas State 11 days earlier. It showed that, right now, the Cajuns can win in shootout fashion, and can also grind one out like they did against the Jaguars.

It’s easy to forget since they’re such a new program, but USA had a chance to become the Sun Belt’s first bowl-eligible team on Saturday. The Jaguars were 5-2 and one of the losses came to No. 1-ranked Mississippi State, and had the league’s longest win streak (four) among bowl-eligible teams.

But Saturday, USA managed one touchdown, and might not have gotten that one had it not been for an ill-timed roughing the punter penalty. The Jaguars also didn’t score in the game’s final 38 minutes against a UL defense that held USA to a 4-of-16 conversion rate on third and fourth down.

The Cajuns also made a game-turning play on defense, something that hasn’t happened a lot this year. This one came with 8:20 left, UL leading 12-9 and USA in position for an almost-certain tying field goal and possibly a go-ahead touchdown with a first-down possession at the UL 4.

Two plays netted two yards, and on third down Jaguar backup quarterback Matt Floyd botched an exchange with running back Kendall Houston and Christian Ringo claimed the loose ball for the capper to his stellar night.

Six plays and 91 yards later, Elijah McGuire was standing in the end zone and the Cajuns had a 10-point cushion, and all UL needed was one stop which it easily managed. The hosts ran out the final 4:17 to send the Homecoming crowd home happy.

A week and a half earlier, it was a hugely productive offense that set up what was the biggest win of the season. On Saturday, it was the defense’s turn, and because of that UL is the only bowl-eligible unbeaten in the Sun Belt – and the Cajuns have head-up wins over the two teams that have only one league loss.

That’s a recipe for locking up a spot in late December, or in the case of the GoDaddy Bowl, early January. There could be other bowl games that wind up with spots to fill, since there will be one or two leagues that don’t fill their bowl commitments with eligible teams. But that’s impossible to figure at this point.

What is possible is to start looking at the possibilities. Both the New Orleans and the Camellia Bowls are on the opening weekend of bowl play on Saturday, Dec. 20, with the New Orleans at an eye-opening 10 a.m. and the Camellia at 8:15 p.m. The Go-Daddy is after the holidays on Sunday night, Jan. 4.

Unless something really odd happens, one way or the other, the Cajuns will be at one of those sites. Make your plans now.