Game day in the Swamp is just days away for Louisiana football as it prepares for its 2024 season opener at 7 p.m. Saturday against Grambling State in the annual Herbert Heymann Classic.

The Ragin’ Cajuns ended last season on a sour note, losing to Jacksonville State 34-31 in overtime in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. That capped off a solid season that ended in a 6-7 overall record and a 3-5 Sun Belt Conference mark. Head coach Micheal Desormeaux and his staff went back to the drawing board and spent the off-season curating a squad that could get UL above .500 this year.

“It’s finally here,” Desormeaux said. “A lot of work goes into getting ready for Week 1 and this thing starts in January every year. You work really hard every year to put yourself in a good position at the starting line and we take each week as its own race.”

With the Tigers en route to Cajun Field on Saturday, here’s everything you need to know about UL football’s Week 1 matchup.

Grambling has a new look

The last time UL and Grambling met was in 2018 which was the start of the Billy Napier era. It was all Ragin’ Cajuns in that matchup as they scored on five out of seven drives to beat the Tigers 49-17.

This go-round, things look different for both squads, especially for the Tigers — who will play their first season under new head coach Mickey Joseph. Along with a new head coach, Grambling has a handful of transfers and new coaches on both sides of the ball.

“They've got four guys or five guys returning that have played significant snaps everyone else, and they're just transferred in,” Desormeaux said. “On offense, they've added three transfers that we think are going to be starting on the O-line to go along with an all-conference player that they have. It's a lot of new faces in there and we're gonna have to play sound football.”

With some new faces, Grambling — like UL — is looking to have a winning record after finishing 5-6 overall and missing out on a bowl game. The Tigers picked up three notable Power 4 transfers during the off-season in defensive back Cisco Caston from Baylor, wide receiver Patrick Williams from Arizona State, and kicker Reed Harradine from Alabama.

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The quarterback question is answered

Despite not having a ton of film on the new faces for the Tigers, Desormeaux and his staff have prepared their team to play situational ball.

“You're just gonna have to rule everything up, and you have to go out there, and it's gonna be camp rules,” Desormeaux said. “We don’t know what coverage it’ll be and we’ll have things that kind of that you can adjust. The quarterbacks know the answers, the guys up front, know how to block it and you just got to let your guys go out and play.”

Senior quarterback Ben Wooldridge will be the guy at the helm of the Ragin’ Cajuns offense to start this season as announced by Desormeaux in Monday’s press conference. The 6-foot-3 slinger suffered a season-ending injury just three games into the season last year after racking up 508 yards and five touchdowns.

Wooldridge will reprise his starter role this year with senior Chandler Fields as backup. The two battled for the starting spot all offseason.

“I know we can win football games if Chandler is our quarterback, but Ben played better than him at camp. He protected the ball, and they both made a lot of plays," Desormeaux said. "I think Ben operated our offense a little bit smoother than Chandler did day in and day out. So that’s where we are at and we’re excited about getting ready to play a game this week.”

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 The Record: What to know about UL football's Week 1 matchup vs. Grambling State