Louisiana football traveled to Hattiesburg with a huge chip on its shoulder facing its first Sun Belt Conference opponent of the season and a bitter rival Southern Miss.

The chip spans decades of thrilling matchups with the Golden Eagles that ended in heartbreak. The Ragin’ Cajuns haven’t tasted victory in M. M. Roberts Stadium since the 1980s. But the Cajuns mended those past broken hearts this week by beating Southern Miss 23-13 and breaking an 11-plus-year losing streak to their conference foe.

"We do take pride in our history and it's not always pretty, it's not always good," UL football head coach Michael Desormeaux said. "But we want to play in a way that represents not just this team in this locker room, but everyone who's ever worn a UL jersey and when you have a history like that man at some point you just gotta break it. Tonight we were able to do that."

Snagging this SBC win marks the Cajuns' first conference-opening victory since 2021 and gives them a wave of momentum to ride as they sit at 4-1 overall.

Ragin’ Cajuns' methodical drives

You could tell the Cajuns meant business to start the game keeping the Golden Eagles’ defense guessing on what play would come next. They mixed up run and pass plays to drive down the field for 75 yards and a field goal from reigning SBC Special Teams Player of the Week senior kicker Kenneth Alemdares.

That methodical drive was led by fifth-year quarterback Ben Wooldridge and it would become a theme for UL’s offensive drives. In their next possession, they went 66 yards and capped it off with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Wooldridge to fifth-year wide receiver Lance LeGendre.

Wooldridge ended the night throwing for 222 yards and a touchdown keeping a calm, cool demeanor as he ran the Cajuns' offense with ease. On top of being effective, he was accurate against the Golden Eagles finishing with a 73% completion rate. In the second half, the ground game stole the show by rushing for 188 yards as a team compared to the Golden Eagles' 37 yards rushing.

Leading the rushing attack was redshirt junior Dre’lyn Washington. After having limited snaps for the past two weeks, the 5-foot-9 and 224-pound power back had his comeback game. He rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

“I was anxious, but I was just waiting for my opportunity,” Washington said. "Then when it came, I made it happen. We were very determined to win cause it's been like 11 years, 1990 something, since we last won and we were like we can't let it go like that."

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The sack party begins

Before tonight, UL football had recorded no sacks always applying pressure but just not getting home. Against Southern Miss junior quarterback Tate Rodmaker, that all changed. Senior defensive lineman Antonie Baylis got the sack party started in the first quarter.

Junior outside linebacker Cameron Whitfield joined the party finishing the game with a season-high four sacks. Whitfield’s sack fest ties a school record of single-game sacks that was set in 2021. Along with five sacks, the Cajuns forced and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter to kill any comeback hopes.

"We knew it was a conference game and that we had to give it our all," Whitfield said. "Not having any sacks before this was getting to a lot of our players I was hearing from the critiques online, on Twitter, a lot of people, been looking at the defense like a liability. But I feel like it felt real good to finally let the defense handle the win this week."

With consistent pressure in the pocket, the Golden Eagles struggled to move the ball and went scoreless for three quarters. They finished with only 177 total offensive yards.

“This win was good for our defense," Desormeaux said. "Man, like they needed to feel good about it again, and that was a good performance by them tonight. When we started getting some pressure on them, started getting some sacks, it affects you no matter who you are."

This promising defensive outing for the Cajuns comes after they struggled to contain Wake Forest and Tulane’s rushing attack the past two weeks. They will look to continue to contain their opponent's ground game when they return home for Week 7 against App State on Oct. 12.

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 defeats SBC rivals Southern Miss first time since 1993