A new week provides a chance to bounce back for Louisiana football after losing its first game of the 2024 season to Tulane on Sept. 21.

The Cajuns (2-1) just didn’t have enough in the tank to go blow for blow with the Green Wave, losing 41-33. This marked the biggest test for them after holding their first two opponents to a combined 20 points. Their Week 5 opponent will provide another test as they travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to face Wake Forest.

“We asked everyone including myself to look in the mirror and we got to figure out what we can do a little bit better,” UL football head coach Michael Desormeaux said. “That’s what we're going to do this week and we’re looking forward to bouncing back. We’re looking forward to playing a good Wake Forest team. It’s another challenge.”

Here’s everything you need to know about UL football’s Week 5 opponent and second road trip of the season.

An unusual offensive scheme

Against Tulane, the Cajuns saw a pretty balanced offense that mixed in run and pass plays while charging down the field. The Demon Deacons (1-2) run a more unique offense that is led by a seasoned quarterback and Louisiana Tech transfer senior Hank Bachmeier.

“This mesh deal that they do is really unique,” Desormeaux said. “The quarterback will ride it all the way up behind the line of scrimmage, and he'll throw it from 2 yards behind the scrimmage which seems crazy but it works for them. It’s a pretty unique thing.”

RPOs are also a part of Wake Forest’s offensive scheme that has been victorious against North Carolina A&T. In that game, Bachmeier scored with ease, throwing for 263 yards and three touchdowns in the 45-13 win. He is well on his way to 1,000 yards passing after three games and has thrown for four touchdowns so far.

The Demon Deacons also have a solid run game despite losing their last two games, a heartbreaker vs. Virginia, and a blowout against No. 6 Ole Miss. Junior running back Demond Claiborne leads them with 241 yards rushing and three touchdowns three games into the season.

“Obviously, we're trying to do a bunch of research and trying to study and figure out our best way to attack it,” Desormeaux said. “They're really big up front. They've got a good running back, No. 1 is really shifty he’s got a lot of speed and they’ve got a short yardage guy who’s like the hammer.”

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Who’s going to step up?

In UL football’s loss to Tulane, it also lost a huge part of its defense in redshirt senior linebacker K.C. Ossai who was ruled out during the second half of Saturday’s game. The 6-foot-2, 241-pounder came out of the game with an upper-body injury and according to Desormauex is doubtful to return for Week 5’s matchup.

Ossai is currently leading the Cajuns' defense with 22 total tackles and has been a vocal leader as well. With him more than likely out, this week will determine which guy can step up and take his place.

“We got to figure out who's gonna go out there and play the most consistently for us, because when K.C. was out last week — I’m not going to get into any names but it wasn’t good enough,” Desormeaux said. “So those guys are capable. They've done it but didn't play very well on Saturday. So we got to play better.”

The Cajuns allowed Tulane’s offense nearly 300 yards rushing last week and in order to avoid that this weekend key linebackers will have to take on a new leadership role. Linebackers Carmycah Glass, Caleb Kibodi, Terrance Williams and Kailep Edwards are looking to answer the call.

Glass has the third most tackles on the team so far this season with 12 total tackles while Kibodi has the team’s lone interception from Week 1 against Grambling State.

“They need to go compete their tail off to see who's going to go out there and go take K.C.’s place if he can't go because that's obviously a big void,” Desormeaux said. “Carmycah has played really well for us so that’s a no-brainer for us and Kibodi’s a really good communicator. All four of them are going to play and they're gonna have to battle and compete and scratch and claw to figure out who's gonna be the guy this weekend.”

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 5 matchup vs. Wake Forest