The UL Ragin’ Cajuns hope for a triumphant ending to a trying regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium with rival UL-Monroe in town.
A win for the Cajuns would extend their winning streak to four games and earn bowl eligibility for the eighth consecutive season.
For the visiting Warhawks (3-8, 1-6), it’s simply about playing spoiler against a state rival.
The situation is a simple one for UL coach Michael Desormeaux.
“This game has to mean more to us to win this and get to an opportunity to play in a bowl game than it does to them to come here and spoil it for us,” he said. “That’s just the bottom line.”
A UL team led by 20 seniors who will be honored during senior-day activities will try to finish out the season in style.
“There’s no way that we can be anything other than incredibly excited about going to play this game,” Desormeaux said.
The group of seniors is filled with players who have contributed greatly to the program during their careers. That list includes Key’savalyn Barnes, Micaiah Bivines, Jalen Clark, Jaelen Crider, Jaden Dugger, Courtline Flowers, Jax Harrington, Caleb Kibodi, Jordan Lawson, Mackey Maillho, Dale Martin, Kadarius Miller, Trey Miller, Hunter Sims, Tyree Skipper, Trae Tomlinson, Nathan Torney, Cameron Whitfield, Robert Williams and Terrence Williams.
“I know if I was a senior, I’d want one last game and they deserve it,” redshirt freshman safety Lake Bates said. “They have so many people that mean so much to this program, and they really deserve one more game.”
The Cajuns (5-6, 4-3) have won 14 of the last 17 meetings between the programs, including last year’s 37-24 win in Monroe. UL has played only Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State more times in school history and leads the all-time series 34-26.
Despite the Cajuns’ motivation and recent success against the Warhawks, Desormeaux isn’t without concerns about the matchup.
UL-Monroe has struggled on offense for most of the season, but its defense has held strong all season. The Warhawks rank top five in the Sun Belt in nearly every defensive category, include 63 tackles behind the line to go along with 24 sacks.
“I really believe their defensive line is one of the best in the league,” Desormeaux said. “Trying to get the run game going and trying to find some good, sound runs that we can chip away at it is going to be difficult.
“You know truthfully, I think this might be a little bit more a feast or famine type of deal, where, you know, they’ll create some negatives, but hopefully you can get them out of gaps and you can hit some as well.”
Offensively, the Warhawks have struggled but do have two capable running backs in Braylon McReynolds (112-588, 3 TDs) and Zach Palmer-Smith (95-546, 3 TDs).
“He’s pretty dynamic,” Desormeaux said of Palmer-Smith. “He’s really quick. They run a bunch of wide and outside zone, which coach (Bryant) Vincent has done all the way back to UAB. They know what they want to run.
“I think the back does a really good job. He understands when it might bounce and when it won’t, and he gets to the cutbacks really fast.”
The bottom line is the UL-Monroe offense is averaging only 15.6 points a game this season. So despite giving up big plays at times this season, the UL defense has a chance to carry a bigger load in this game.
“Our defense has to play well in this game, has to,” Desormeaux said.
The Cajuns intend to lean on the running game with Zylan Perry (122-644, 8 TDs) and Bill Davis (133-613, 5 TDs), despite losing starting center Cooper Fordham and veteran backup offensive lineman Mackey Maillho for the remainder of the season.
Redshirt sophomore Andrew Martinez is expected to start at center in Fordham’s spot.
“I’ve been really proud of that group because I think they have maximized carries,” Desormeaux said of his running backs. “They’ve had tough runs. They’ve run through contact.
“Those guys have been very selfless. There’s not a complaint … not an ounce of anything other than they want to do what they can to go help the team win.”
Desormeaux is counting on a total team effort to bring home the sixth win of the season.
“We’ve got to play really good team football — playing good defense is playing smart on offense,” he said. “We can’t turn the ball over, and we can’t do stupid things and expect to have a chance to win. Sometimes you’ve got to punt but we’ve got to execute on the punt, we got to try to flip the field, and we got to make them drive the whole field.
“We need to play our best complementary football game this week. I think we’re getting closer and closer to that week after week, but certainly it would be a great time to do it.”
