There's no weekend game for Louisiana football but the Ragin' Cajuns will have a rendezvous on Tuesday with Texas State for the fourth nationally broadcasted matchup of the 2024 season.

The Cajuns (6-1, 3-0 SBC) are fresh off of a big win over Sun Belt Conference rival Coastal Carolina, beating the Chanticleers 34-34. With a bit of a breather, they’ll get to get back healthy and lick any wounds they’ve acquired over the past few weeks.

“Naturally, when you play five games back-to-back-to-back they start to pile up on you a little bit but we’ll weather the storm,” UL football coach Michael Desormeaux said. “We’re in a good sport and we’ve got an opportunity to get some guys back healthy. Every game is critical so we got to get things corrected this week.”

UL will have a few more days to prepare for the Bobcats (4-3, 2-1 SBC), who are searching for a bounce-back win after losing last week to Old Dominion 24-14. Here’s what you need to know about the Cajuns' matchup against another SBC foe as they hope to build on their four-game winning streak.

Controlling the controlables

Although the Cajuns came away with a 10-point win over Coastal Carolina, it wasn’t a perfect game for them.

“Obviously, it’s a good win anytime you go on the road and do that but I think the things we have to correct are just the things that are 100% in our control,” Desormeaux said. “The penalties on offense and defense are things that we got to get back to playing with more discipline and eliminating those. On offense, four drops is just something we haven’t done this year.”

Those mistakes allowed the Chanticleers to come back from a 14-0 deficit and put the Cajuns on their heels for the rest of the game. Fixing those controllable things will be crucial against Texas State which took last year’s game to the wire. UL snuck away with a 34-30 win over the Bobcats — its 10th win in the teams' history.

The biggest positive from last week’s game was a stellar outing from fifth-year quarterback Ben Wooldridge. With the Cajuns ground game not as productive last week, Wooldridge threw for a career-high 373 yards and three touchdowns.

His ability to keep plays alive led to the game-winning touchdown pass against Coastal Carolina to sophomore tight end Terrance Carter. If Wooldridge can continue to keep a cool head and the Cajuns get more out of their running backs, the Bobcats will have their hands full.

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‘Stopping what they do best’

So far this season, Texas State has made a living in the air with fifth-year quarterback Jordan McCloud at the helm of their offense. The 6-foot, 205-pounder has thrown for 1,891 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has a completion rate of a little under 70% connecting with a handful of weapons whenever he drops back.

For the Cajuns, minimizing big gains in the air has been their M.O. and they will have to keep that up to stop the Bobcats from doing what they do best offensively.

“It has to start with trying to stop what they do best,” Desormeuax said. “I think that's every week. What you try to do with defense is take away what they do best. If you can get some tendencies where it's like, 'Well, this guy does this in this situation, this formation', whatever it is, that's what you always try to do on defense.”

Key players to limiting McCloud and the Bobcats' offense, which is averaging a little under 300 yards passing per game, are on the defensive line. Senior linebacker K. C. Ossai and junior outside linebacker Cameron Whitfield have been the leaders on that side of the ball so far this season. Ossai leads the Cajuns in total tackles with 59 and has a forced fumble.

The pass rush is led by Whitfield, who has gotten to the quarterback five times leading his team in sacks while also recording 16 total tackles. The duo will look to be a force against the Bobcats, who are itching to put an end to the Cajuns winning streak.

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 10 opponent Texas State