Bowl Prep: Louisiana vs Houston 12/23/22

[R1Letterman]

Yes, that's exactly what's happening. ESPN is picking Houston to win, so we have no chance. All of ESPN's picks always come true.

if their pick happens to be wrong, that still doesnt make it objective.

[NewsCopy]

Tickets for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Football team upcoming appearance in the 2022 Independence Bowl on Dec. 23 in Shreveport are currently on sale to the general public.

Louisiana, which is making its school-record fifth consecutive bowl appearance and its first-ever visit to the Independence Bowl, will face American Athletic Conference member Houston in a 2 p.m. game which will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Ticket prices are $54.75 for chairback seating and $49.50 for sideline seating. All parking can be purchased on the day of the game or directly through the Independence Bowl. For more information, please call (337) 265-2100, email tickets@cajundome.com or visit https://RaginCajuns.com/BowlCentral

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

[BeauCajun]

Available to the first 200 students to submit a request. See the Ragin’ Cajun website.

[BayouRichard]

Available to the first 200 students to submit a request. See the Ragin’ Cajun website.

Is it too late to enroll? Oh wait, I ordered mine already!

[Esqueleto]

That's awesome

[BeauCajun]

I found the link on FB but couldn’t copy it here.

[JMV JustMyView]

Available to the first 200 students to submit a request. See the Ragin’ Cajun website.

Hopefully these go quick. It would be embarrassing if they have any left.

[Esqueleto]

Hopefully these go quick. It would be embarrassing if they have any left.

Very. They should also provide a bus ride for the kids that want to go.

[JMV JustMyView]

Very. They should also provide a bus ride for the kids that want to go.

That is a great idea. Esqueleto would make a great driver.

[Esqueleto]

That is a great idea. Esqueleto would make a great driver.

Giddy-up

[JMV JustMyView]

Giddy-up

The cool thing is I know you would drive a bus if they provided it.

[RaginDave]

Not the year I was hoping for, but it has been great regardless. Geaux Cajuns!!!!!! I love doing this for you guys.

Houston Cougars Preview

Well, I got my wish, the Texas State game was not my last preview of the season, I got one more in me. Congrats to Coach Des and the team for fighting through adversity and getting to a bowl game in year number 1. The next test is the Houston Cougars. Houston finished the season 7-5 and 5th place in the AAC. It has been an up and down season for the Cougars, lots of close wins and close losses throughout the season. They started the season with what turned out to be a very good win, going to UTSA and defeating them 37-35, they then lost 30-33 at Texas Tech, followed by a home loss to Kansas 30-48. The lone common game between UL and Houston was next as they hosted and defeated Rice 34-27 at home. They lost a home game vs a very good Tulane team 24-27 and then went to Memphis and beat them 33-32, followed by a road win vs Navy 38-20. They then defeated USF 42-27 at home and finished the season 2-2 by losing a shootout at SMU 63-77, defeating Temple 43-36 at home and ECU 42-3 in Greenville, NC and finally losing the Tulsa in an upset to finish the season 30-37 at home.

Houston is led by former WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen. Holgorsen led WVU for 8 seasons and coached them to a respectable 61-41 record before being let go in 2018. In 2019 he took over as head coach in Houston and struggled in 2019 and 2020 but had a great season in 2021 when he went 12-2 and finished #17 in the country and a win in the Birmingham bowl 17-13 over Auburn. Holgorsen has coached under some of the more unique coaches in the history of college football, including Hal Mumme, Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin and Mike Gundy. Holgorsen has an overall record of 87-61 and 3-6 in bowl games over his career at WVU and Houston. He has been an assistant at Texas Tech, Houston, and Oklahoma State in his career.

The Cajuns and the Cougars have met twice since 2003 and have split both games in very close fashion at the others home field. The Cougars won the game in 2003 21-14 at Cajun Field, while the Cajuns had one of the most memorable comebacks in Cajun history defeating Houston 31-18 in Houston on a last second pass from Jerry Babb to Kevin Belton to defeat Houston. In that game CMD had a 51-yard fake punt to keep a drive alive earlier in the game. Overall, Houston holds an all-time lead over the Cajuns 6-3 including a 63-7 debacle back in 1992.

QB— Houston has a great history of fantastic college QB’s including Andre Ware, Case Keenum, Kevin Kolb, David Klingler and many others and this year is no exception. This year’s QB is Clayton Tune (6’3 220). Tune is 2nd in all time yards as a Houston QB and 3rd in all time TDs as a Houston Cougar. That is saying allot when you look at the list of QB’s before him. Tune has thrown all but 3 of UH’s passes this season. Tune has completed over 67% of his passes this season and has 37 TD’s and 10 INT’s. And by the way he is also the team’s leading rusher in carries, yards, and TD’s as well, accounting for another 491 yards on 117 carries and 5 more TDs on the season. So, he is a threat with his legs, not only his arm.

RB—This is not a team that runs the ball allot from the RB position, but they do have 3 capable backs when they chose to run it. As stated above, QB Tune leads the team in carries, yards, and TD’s, but the trio of Stacey Sneed (5’11 175), Brandon Campbell (5’11 210) and Ta'Zhawn Henry (5’7 170) are all capable backs for the Cougars. Henry is a Senior transfer from Texas Tech. Both Campbell and Sneed are redshirt freshman. They all have a knack for getting into the endzone as well. Between the three of them they have combined for 12 TDs on the season. Sneed is the leading rusher amongst the group and the home run hitter with 70 carries for 489 yards and 5 TD’s (that is a 7 ypc average). Campbell has 83 carries for 409 and 4 TD’s and Henry has 75 carries for 318 yards and 3 TD’s. They are all very good out of the backfield catching the ball as well, as to be expected with such a pass happy team. Sneed has 21 catches for 131 yards, while Henry has 20 for 232 and a TD and Campbell has 15 for 90. They are not a team that loves to run it allot, but between the 3 RB’s and the QB, they can do so. Then you add the short passing game in that mirrors a running game and they are tough to defend.

WR/TE—Lots of weapons in the WR corps, but one guy stands head and shoulders above the rest. Nathaniel “TANK” Dell (5’10 160) is the best. He has almost triple the amount of yards and catches than most of his teammates. Dell has caught 103 passes for 1354 yards and 15 TD’s. That is a career for most college WR’s and that is his single season numbers. Dell is a Junior; he was a returning 1st Team All AAC player last year. They do have other weapons as well, but none with the explosiveness of Dell. Matthew Golden (6’0 190) has 36 receptions for 567 yards and 7 TD’s, while KeSean Carter (5’11 190) has 35 catches for 497 yards and 4 TD’s, Sam Brown (6’2 197) has 41 catches for 471 yards and 4 TD’s and Johnny Manjack has 11 catches for 123 1 TD, but has missed some time with injuries, he is a transfer from USC. They do get some good production out of the TE position for sure. Christian Trahan (6’3 245) Senior from Sulphur, La has 23 catches for 237 yards and 3 TD’s. This is a team that likes to get a ton of guys involved in the passing game between WR, RB and TE, but the man to watch is Dell for sure. He will need to be double teamed as he can take over a game at any point.

OL— This team has been very consistent and solid on the OL. They have not had to rotate many players or worry about injuries as the starting group has done a fairly good job. They are led by LT and All AAC player Patrick Paul (6’7 315) and LG Cam ‘Ron Johnson (6’4 305). At Center we will see Jack Freeman (6’3 295), RT will be Lance Robinson (6’3 285). The only position that has had some real question is RG, where Tyler Johnson (6’6 300) a transfer from Texas has taken the helm. But Tank Jenkins (6’3 320) a transfer from Texas A&M has gotten some playing time there as well. This group has done a good job of protecting Tune, when you consider how many times, he has dropped back to throw the ball this season and has only been sacked a total of 21 times in 12 games, that is quite astounding. Part of that is his ability to allude sacks and gets the ball out very quickly, but much of it is because his OL has given him plenty of pass protection.

Offense—Overall this is a pass happy offense, but do not sleep on them running the ball. They average 37.2 points per game and a total of 463 yards per game, of that 321 are through the air and 142 of which is on the ground, many of those are designed runs and or Tune extending plays with his legs. I have already talked about how they do not give up many sacks, but they are also quite good at 3rd and 4th down conversions. They are converting 3rd downs at a 48% clip and 4th downs by an astounding 65%. There are very few downs and distances that this team is not confident they can get. They are also pretty good in the redzone. They convert about 90% of their red zone opportunities into points and 65% of those are for TD’s. Offensively there are very few weaknesses on this team. Turnovers might be one of those few weaknesses. They have thrown 10 INT’s as well as turned the ball over on fumbles another 9 times.

DLine— Houston will employ a 4-2-5 defense primarily but will have times that they will give you multiple different looks on defense as well. At DE you will see D’Anthony Jones (6’2 285) and Nelson Ceaser (6’3 245). D’Anthony Jones is a good one he 35 tackles on the season with 6 sacks and an impressive 6 forced fumbles. Ceaser has played well himself with 34 tackles and 4 sacks and 1 INT for 32 yards. Inside of them we will see Chidoze Nwankwo (5’11 293) and Sedrick Williams (6’1 270) and/or Atlias Bell (6’1 260). Nwankwo is a run stopper he has 35 tackles on the season from his NT position. Williams has 19 tackles and 1 sack. Bell leads the DL in tackles with 37. Jones is the guy we need to keep an eye on up front, he will have his ears pinned back and looking to sack the QB from the DL position.

LB— Donavan Mutin (6’0 230), remember that name. He is a tackling machine. He leads the team in tackles with 78 and has 4 passes defensed and a forced fumble. He plays the Will LB position. Next to him will be Manny Nunnery (6’2 225). Nunnery is a good one as well with 1 sack. They will rotate a couple of guys at the LB position as much as they can the guys we will see behind Nunnery and Mutin are Timarcus Cheeks (6’3 225) and Jamal Morris (6’2 215). Both of which have had some solid games, but Mutin is the main guy at LB.

D-Backs—Usually the sign of a questionable defense is when your DB’s make more tackles that most of your front 7 and that has been the achilleas heal of this team. 4 of their top 5 tacklers come from the Defensive Backfield. This is because many teams attempt and have thrown the ball successfully against the Cougars. The leading tackler in the DB’s is Gervarrius Owens (6’0 200) at the Free Safety position. Owens has 70 tackles on the season 51 of which are solo tackles, which leads the team. He also has 1 INT and 2 forced fumbles as well as a fumble recovery on the season. Also at FS is Thabo Mwaniki with 47 tackles as well as an INT on the season. Art Green (6’2 200) at one CB is a really good player, opposite will be Jalen Emery (5’9 170). Houston will play several different guys in the back end of their defense including Jayce Rogers at NB (5’8 175), Rogers is tied for the team lead with Art Green with 2 INTs on the season. Hasaan Hypolite (5’11 215) at BS (Boundary Safety) and Alex Hogan (5’11 190) at CB. This team struggles against the pass so that is why you see a several guys getting chances to play.

DEFENSE— The Defense is quite a different story from the offense. This team gives up around 33 points per game to their opponents and a total of 430 yards per game. Much of those are through the air. They give up 285 yards per game through the air and another 144 yards per game on the ground. So, where they are strong on offense, they have some glaring weaknesses on defense. Teams are also converting at a pretty good clip-on 3rd and 4th down, not as good as the Cougar offense but pretty good. They are giving up 44% of 3rd conversions and 52% on 4th down. As good as they are in the red zone, they are worse on defense in the redzone. Teams are scoring at a 94% clip against Houston and of that 67% are TD’s.

Special Teams—They have a weapon as a punter. Laine Wilkins is the guy. He is averaging 44.6 yards per punt with a long of 67 and 9 of his 37 punts have been for over 50 yards. 9 more of those have been downed inside the 20. Their FG kicking duties have been split between two different players. Bubba Baxa has been the main guy, but Kyle Ramsey has gotten in on the duties as well. Baxa is only 9-14 on the season but all but one of those misses were from 40+ and his long is 37 yards. While Ramsey has been 4-5 on the season with a long of 42. Kickoff duties have been split as well. Baxa handling most of those with 64 of them, of the 64, 37 have been for TB’s and 2 out of bounds.
Return Specialist—Punt returns are handled by the most explosive player on the field in Nathaniel Dell. Dell has returned 9 punts for 153 yards and a TD. He has an average of 17 yards per punt. He is good catching the ball as well as returning it. Lots of different guys have handled the kick return duties, but the main 2 have been Peyton Sawyer and Jace Rogers. Both have 13 kickoff returns each, but Rogers has been the most effective with an average of 30.5 as well as a 100-yard KO return, while Sawyer has an average of 22.4 yards and a long of 35.
My Prediction

Cajuns 21
Cougars 31

Keys to the game for the Cajuns, I think the Cougars are going to win this game, as I always try to be honest with myself on my predictions. I think the Cajuns can win this game, but they are going to have to play very smart and disciplined football. The key to the Cajuns will be avoiding the big plays from Houston on defense and being able to be balanced with the run and pass on offense. Houston is going to make plays and gain yards, but you cannot give up tons of huge plays against this team. They are capable of scoring quickly and in bunches. For the Cajuns to win they will have to keep the plays in front of them and get off the field on 3rd down. We can not allow a 5 – 10-yard pass to turn into a 40-50 yards TD. We also have to keep contain on Tune, we can not allow him when he scrambles around to make plays with his legs, guys like Braylen Trahan and Kam Pedescleaux as well as our LB’s are going to have to make sure that when they have a chance to make a play on Tune, they get him on the ground. Tune will challenge our DB’s early and often, there is no question about that, we have played well back there, and we need to do so again. This is one of the more powerful offenses we have seen all season, we must make sure they do not get over the top on us. We are going to have to be balanced on offense and make sure that we lead in the time of possession the longer we have the ball the better chance that Tune does not and that means we can control the game and keep our defense off the field. The key on defense is our Safeties and LB’s make sure they play disciplined football, if they do that, we can win this game. If they, do not it could be a long night. This is a case of a good offense vs a good defense and a suspect offense vs a very suspect defense. Special teams could play a big roll in this game as neither team has been great at FG’s and both have very good punters who can change the dynamic of a football game. As well as excellent punt returners who can score when they have the ball. Eric Garror could be a difference maker in this game in the PR game.

Again, I am predicting the Cougars with my head, but will be pulling for the Cajun with my heart. I think regardless this is the best matchup we could imagine based on how the season went. Both teams finished with disappointing records considering the expectations of both teams. This is an opportunity for the Cajuns to finish the season with a winning record and have a lot of momentum going into next year.

Geaux Cajuns!!!! Beat the Cougars!!!!!!