NEW ORLEANS – For the second straight December, Louisiana football meanders into the offseason off a bowl game loss that, maybe it wasn't the more talented team on the field, but had every chance to win and sent it on the opposite trajectory.

Somehow, the Ragin' Cajuns turned three turnovers into three defensive touchdowns – had a fourth takeaway – against Jacksonville State inside the Caesars Superdome Saturday afternoon only to have the defense hand over plenty of room for 526 yards.

Jax State, who had more rushing yards than the Cajuns at 290 to 247, ran 109 plays on offense and somehow still needed overtime to edge UL, 34-31, to win the New Orleans Bowl for its first bowl victory.

Despite those deficiencies on sides of the ball, Louisiana (6-7) had the chance to take the lead in overtime, but couldn't muster any positive yardage at minus-1 yards on three plays and Kenneth Almendares missed the 43 yarder.

The Gamecocks drove down to UL's 9-yard line on the ensuing possession and kicker Garrison Rippa hit the 27-yarder to win.

"It's disappointing for our players, they are the ones that play the game," UL coach Michael Desormeaux following the team's New Orleans Bowl loss. "I know how hard they work, the belief they have in each other."

There was nothing doing on the ground for the Cajuns until a couple of possessions into the third quarter but they still managed just 92 yards on 35 carries for a 2.6 average. Junior quarterback Chandler Fields went 13-for-26 for 155 yards.

For the game, UL had just 14 first downs, a stark difference to Jacksonville State's 31.

"Offensively, we didn't do enough to give ourselves a chance to win and that falls on me,” Desormeaux said. “I've got to put together a plan that we can execute better. In the first half, we couldn't get in rhythm. In the second half, we got into a little bit of a better rhythm but we weren't able to score enough points. I thought our defense played well. They were opportunistic. I don't care what the stat line looks like, they got big stops when they ended to."

Louisiana hasn't had back-to-back losing seasons since 2016-17 but it's made six straight bowl game appearances.

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Desormeaux enters his third offseason as head coach and while the results on the field have been underwhelming, the Cajuns coach's confidence in where the program in heading under his watch hasn't wavered.

"For us, we know where we are as a team. We know how close we are to being on the right side of all these things," Desormeaux said. "The belief in our locker room has never changed, no matter what's happened all year. When you have that and you keep working through things, the ball is going to bounce your way.

"I know we're going to be fine. We got a helluva group coming back, they believe in each other and we'll be fine. I know how close we are. It sucks whenever lose a game like that and I don't feel like I did my good enough. That's the worst part. As far as the other stuff, I know where we're at and we're going to keep moving forward."

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana football coach Michael Desormeaux on losing seasons: 'We're close'