'A championship game for us': UL football host South Alabama for Week 12
As we enter Week 12 of the 2024 college football season, the stakes continue to get higher for Louisiana football.
After bulldozing through Arkansas State last week for a 55-19 homecoming victory, the Ragin’ Cajuns return home for a Sun Belt Conference matchup against South Alabama. The Cajuns (8-1, 5-0 SBC) control their own destiny as they sit atop the Sun Belt West division, but to fully secure the top spot they have to get past the Jaguars.
“This is a championship game for us this week against a team that I think is a really good football team,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “They’ve got three one-possession losses this year and I know what that’s like. This is a team that shows up every week and you’re gonna have a dogfight on your hands. So it's a huge week for us.”
Here’s what you need to know about the Cajuns' Week 12 opponent, the Jaguars (4-5, 3-2 SBC), as UL looks to keep its winning streak alive.
Yet another dual-threat challenge
This will be the third week in a row that the Cajuns face an elusive quarterback who possesses the ability to pass and run at any given snap. In Week 10 it was Texas State’s Jordan McCloud, last week it was Arkansas State’s Jaylen Raynor and this Saturday it’ll be South Alabama’s redshirt freshman quarterback Gio Lopez.
“All three of them are, I think, equally as dangerous. These guys do it a little bit differently,” Desormeaux said on the comparison of the three opposing quarterbacks. “It's more condensed than it is open sets compared in the last couple of weeks. They've run more condensed sets and tighter sets and getting them on the edge instead of just the pocket RPOs, if that makes any sense.”
Lopez, the 6-foot slinger, has been a focal point of the Jaguars offense throwing for nearly 1,900 yards and 14 touchdowns so far this season. What’s even more impressive is his turnover rate only throwing two interceptions this season, two less than UL’s seventh-year quarterback Ben Wooldridge.
On the ground, Lopez is the Jaguars' third-leading rusher with nearly 400 yards this season. He has also found the end zone four times on the ground. While he is one of the Jaguars' biggest offensive weapons, they have struggled in the red zone this season — something the Cajuns will look to take advantage of.
REQUIRED READING: UL football vs Arkansas State: Cajuns blast the Red Wolves to go 5-0 in Sun Belt play
REQUIRED READING: Where does UL football stand in latest bowl projections at Week 11?
A win isn’t good enough
Despite having a wire-to-wire victory over Arkansas State last week, Desormeaux and his staff aren’t satisfied.
“Honestly, out of everything in that game I wasn't happy at all about, really the drive after halftime, more than even the touchdown at the end of the half,” Desormeaux said. “Not happy with that, and I was not happy with our execution on the PAT field goals.”
Out of the half, the Cajuns got the ball and drove down the field for a 47-yard drive that stalled out in the red zone and ended with them settling for a field goal. While that may not seem like too much of a negative, for a team with Sun Belt Conference championship goals, that is a little thing that can be a difference-maker down the line.
On special teams against the Red Wolves, most probably didn’t notice any bad holds as UL’s redshirt senior kicker Kenneth Almendares made both of his field goal attempts and all seven PATs. But Desormeaux and his staff did as they have been on the grind the past few weeks trying to fix the little things so they can play their best brand of football.
“Not many kickers can handle the rhythm being thrown off like that and it can't be, because one guy is not performing the way that he's capable of performing, and has performed,” Desormeaux said. “So that is an issue. We're gonna open that thing up. We're gonna make him compete this week and I expect, Hunter (Sims) to go out there and go compete his tail off and try to keep that job.”
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: What to know about UL football's Week 12 opponent South Alabama
