Final: Louisiana 12, Rice 14

[RedBug58]

We sat in section 124 in the new mesh chair back seating. They were very comfortable. We did notice though that on two of the seats on the row in front of us that the piping that holds the mesh in was coming out. If there were two right there, there must be many more throughout the sections. I hope we have a guarantee, because these seats are brand new and I’m sure many of them are already starting to fall apart.

[NewsCopy]

Quinton Jackson rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown and Aaron Turner added a 17-yard scoring run in the second quarter as Rice held off Louisiana, 14-12, in the season opener for both teams on Saturday before 22,148 fans in the inaugural game at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.

Louisiana (0-1), which will host in-state foe McNeese (1-0) for Hall of Fame/Alumni Weekend, on Saturday in a 7 p.m. contest, struck first when Tony Sterner drilled a 47-yard field goal midway through the first quarter to give the Cajuns a 3-0 lead.

Rice (1-0) answered with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Jackson finished off a 13-play, 72-yard march with a 1-yard plunge, and Turner followed with his 17-yard burst around left end to stretch the Owls' lead to 14-3. Sterner cut into the margin just before halftime with a career-best 51-yard boot.

Quarterback Walker Howard brought Louisiana within striking distance late in the third quarter, capping a 98-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown run that made it 14-12. The Cajuns went for two but came up short, and neither team scored in the final 16 minutes.
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Rice leaned on its ground game, piling up 206 rushing yards on 55 attempts and controlling possession for more than 36 minutes. Daelen Alexander added 74 yards for the Owls, while quarterback Chase Jenkins completed 7 of 9 passes for 45 yards.

Howard threw for 88 yards with one interception and ran for 47 yards and the Cajuns' lone touchdown. Bill Davis led Louisiana with 58 rushing yards, including a 32-yard burst during the third-quarter scoring drive. Shelton Sampson Jr. had four catches for 59 yards.

Defensively, Jaden Dugger and Terrence Williams each posted career-highs in tackles for Louisiana with Dugger recording 10 and Williams eight. Williams and Jaelen Crider each added a sack for the Ragin' Cajuns, who limited the Owls to 71 yards of total offense in the second half while making a goal-line stand late.

Jack Kane had an interception for Rice with Blake Boenisch recovering a fumble for the Owls,setting up Turner's touchdown with 3:38 remaining in the half.

The Cajuns were held to 239 total yards and converted just 7 of 15 third downs.

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
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[Swamp]

I’ve heard none of the offense wants to play for #4, bad teammate and doesn’t understand the offense. I guess tonight proved that. Hopefully next week is better.

You better be able to stand behind this statement you just made or prove otherwise. Either way, you just bet all your credibility on one game, in your 2nd post.

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana football didn’t expect to be shell-shocked in its first game of the 2025 football season in new Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium vs. Rice.

If a 14-12 loss to the Owls wasn’t bad enough, the Ragin Cajuns’ starting quarterback Walker Howard exited the game with an unknown injury. The dual-threat slinger went down with no contact and was able to limp off the field on his own, but didn’t return to the game.

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Shannon Mia Belt

[Turbine]

For me a 14-13 loss would feel more like "a hair off" 14-12 feels like a lot of work to do.

Going for 2 that early was not the right message for in my opinion.

Not the right message for your own team.

Of course if they had made it I would be singing a different tune, but I have never liked going for two till you actually need in a "game on the line" situation.

If there was one indication of not learning from practice it's how, hard Walker throws, he throws way to hard for his recievers to catch his balls. This is something that should have been caught (pun) and fixed in early August.

This game was sooo winnable.

[CajunRed]

I’ve heard none of the offense wants to play for #4, bad teammate and doesn’t understand the offense. I guess tonight proved that. Hopefully next week is better.

You heard that as a Cougar?

[RECORDEDit]

Touchdown

[Swamp]

If there is one, and I'm talking' ONE indication of a lineman "quitting" on WH, Dez will throw him off the field. I didn't see it. What I did see was a clinic on how to drop a pass. I also remember us being DOMINATED at the line and Bill having zero chance of busting through with extremely few exceptions.

WH had one throw into SEZ that was beautiful and receiver just couldn't make it happen. I'm talking a throw.

[Boggs]

All those dropped balls are speed of the game issues. They will be fixed

[Swamp]

Crowd must have looked good on tv, I don't hear JMV squawking about the place being empty. Place was rockin'. For those who weren't able to make it in person, you would have been Very impressed, it was an awesome turn out with tons of flags flying in the RV section and at tailgating. Tailgating lined the outer perimeter (fence line). It honestly felt like more than the announced 22,000+. More like 25,000.

One more thing, a shout out to MH for making all the sororities miss this. F'n unbelievable, but true. $65 million dollar renovation and you find a way to keep THE SORORITIES away. You need to be GONE, TUESDAY.