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Louisiana Tops SLU In Football Season Opener, 24-7
Chandler Fields completed 13 of 20 passes for 173 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Johnny Lumpkin while Eric Garror's 83-yard punt return in the second quarter helped the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to a 24-7 win over SLU in the season-opener for both teams on Saturday at Cajun Field.
Kam Pedescleaux recorded a team-high seven tackles while Garror and Amir McDaniel each picked off passes as Louisiana (1-0) extended the nation's longest win streak to 14 games. The win marked the first home victory for head coach Michael Desormeaux, who led Louisiana to a 36-21 win over Marshall in 2021 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and coached his first game at his alma mater.
Fields, making his first career start at quarterback after replacing record-setting signal caller Levi Lewis, led the Ragin' Cajuns down the field on their opening drive, driving 79 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. The Metairie, La., native went 4-for-4 for 65 yards on his opening drive as he connected with Michael Jefferson on a pair of early catches before finding Lumpkin over the middle for a 28-yard TD strike with 9:08 remaining in the first quarter.
After Louisiana forced SLU (0-1) into its second three-and-out in as many drives, the Ragin' Cajuns would drive 58 yards in 10 plays with Preston Stafford converting on a 36-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
SLU would be forced to punt again on its next drive after picking up a pair of first downs, but a 40-yard punt by Austin Dunlap would end up in the hands of Garror at the UL 17 and he would race untouched to the endzone after getting a key block from Wesley Maze near midfield and give Louisiana a 17-0 lead.
SLU would force Louisiana into a pair of three-and-outs to start the second half and the Lions would cut into the lead midway through the third quarter as they drove 78 yards in 13 plays.
Cephus Johnson III twice extended the Lions' drive with a pair of third-down conversions – a 13-yard pass to Mannie Logan-Greene on third-and-8 to the UL 38 and an 11-yard pass to Bauer Sharp on third-and-3 to the UL 20. Four plays later, Carlos Washington, Jr., would score on a 5-yard TD to cut Louisiana's lead to 17-7 with 4:04 remaining.
The Ragin' Cajuns would snuff out an SLU trick play early in the fourth quarter when Garror picked off Gage Larvadain's pass off a reverse before McDaniel picked off Johnson at the SLU 42 and returning it 18 yards with 4:58 left.
Fields and Louisiana would put the game away on the following drive as the sophomore would convert a fourth-and-3 opportunity with an 17-yard pass to Pearse Migl before finding Lumpkin alone in the right corner of the end zone for a 3-yard scoring pass with 1:37 left.
Andre Jones and Kris Moncrief each posted a sack for the Louisiana defense, which held a high-octane SLU offense to 260 yards of total offense while forcing a pair of turnovers. Moncrief added five tackles for the Ragin' Cajuns, including a pair of stops for loss, while Courtline Flowers and Jourdan Quibodeaux had five stops each.
Johnson finished 22-for-34 for 149 yards for SLU while Washington, Jr., led the Lions on the ground with 57 yards on 10 carries.
Louisiana will return to action on Saturday (Sept. 10) when it plays host to Eastern Michigan in a 6 p.m., which be televised nationally on NFL Network.
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