Career day for Wooldridge leads to UL football victory over Coastal Carolina
Louisiana football just wanted it more. That says a lot for the Ragin’ Cajuns who faced Coastal Carolina for the Chanticleers’ homecoming game in Week 8 of the 2024 college football season.
The Cajuns duked it out with their Sun Belt Conference foe but at every turn, they snatched the hope from thousands of fans who thought a homecoming comeback was possible.
The play that really sucked the air out of Brooks Stadium came on a third-and-long in the fourth quarter when fifth-year Cajuns quarterback Ben Wooldridge worked his magic. On a busted play, Wooldridge rolled out and heaved it to tight end Terrance Carter for a 59-yard touchdown to seal the game.
UL football took down the Chanticleers 34-24 to notch its fourth win in a row and put them at a perfect 3-0 record in the Sun Belt. The Cajuns are the first bowl-eligible team from the Sun Belt this season.
“This team wants to win,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “This team has more belief than we’ve had for a while now and they’ve worked incredibly hard. This win makes us bowl-eligible for the seventh year in a row which is something that we're certainly proud of, and we wanted to get it today.”
With this win, the Cajuns are rolling to a 6-1 overall record and are slowly but surely becoming an SBC championship prospect team. Here are the instant takeaways from UL football’s victory over Coastal Carolina.
Career day for UL football's Ben Wooldridge
Desormeaux and his staff knew it was going to have to make it happen in the air against a tough Coastal Carolina defense. Luckily for them, Wooldridge was more than ready to take the task on.
The 6-foot-3, 213-pound signal-caller methodically led the Cajuns down the field for their first score of the game on a 33-yard touchdown pass to fifth-year wide receiver Lance LeGendre. Wooldridge ended the game throwing for a career-high 373 yards and three touchdowns, breaking Desormeaux's career passing yard record to put him in 10th place in school history.
“We got a lot of things to clean up after this game but it's good to get a win,” Wooldridge said. “It's good to get a win on the road, right? They messed up picking us for their homecoming, for sure.”
On top of his career passing day, Wooldridge rushed for a touchdown on a 1-yard sneak. He finished the game completing 75% of his passes despite a handful of dropped passes throughout the game.
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Overcoming a third-quarter slump
Entering the second half, the Cajuns held a three-point lead and got the ball to start the half looking to extend it. That plan got sniffed out as they went three-and-out to start what would be a third-quarter slump.
From false start penalties and struggles finding running lanes the third quarter gave UL all kinds of problems and gave way for a brief Coastal Carolina comeback. The Chanticleers worked down the field and scored a 29-yard field goal from junior kicker Kade Hensley to tie the game at 17-17.
The Cajuns would go scoreless in the third quarter, giving their opponent all the momentum but it didn’t take long for them to snatch it right back.
“I was a little bit disappointed in our slow start on offense in the third quarter but we’re able to keep it rolling,” Desormeaux said. “I think we outplayed them in the first half. It was still close but they made some plays; but that’s just the ebbs and flows of the game.”
In the fourth quarter, the Cajuns locked back in with Wooldridge and redshirt freshman running back Bill Davis leading the charge offensively. Davis broke out for a career-high 110 yards rushing on 19 carries along with the receiving touchdown. With sophomore running back Zylan Perry out of the game after a first-quarter injury, Davis picked up the slack and kept the chains moving.
In the air, Wooldridge connected with nine targets different receivers but his go-to was Carter. The big-body tight end caught for a career-high 149 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
“It was just like go up and play basketball; just go get the rebound,” Carter said of his game-winning touchdown catch. “Once I saw it I kept going. As a team, we’ve been keeping our head high and we’re confident we can do what we gotta do in these close games.”
Shannon Belt covers high school sports and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at sbelt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: UL football spoils Coastal Carolina's 2024 Homecoming in Week 8
