Saturday morning was very similar to a child on Christmas morning in New Orleans. 22,000 Louisiana and Mississippi State fans gathered into the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to watch their teams do battle, and it was exactly that. 7 turnovers between the two teams, so there were plenty of gifts to give out. However, at the end of it, this was one of the more interesting games in Cajuns history.
Levi Lewis, the junior quarterback from Scotlandville High School, finished the day 24-39 with 267 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs. Lewis also lost two fumbles in the contest. Erath’s Elijah Mitchell carried the ball 14 times for 31 yards and a score and receiver Jamal Bell had 8 catches for 113 yards, both career highs for him. Cecilia’s Raymond Calais led the Cajuns in rushing with 80 yards on 8 attempts, while also getting 15 yards receiving on 3 catches.
Defensively, the Cajuns were led by Percy Butler and Holy Cross product Jacques Boudreaux, who had 9 and 8 tackles respectively. However, the big play defensively was the sack fumble by Michael Jacquet III that set the Cajuns up in great field position early in the contest.
Postgame, Head Coach Billy Napier had this to say about his team’s performance: “Well I want everyone to know how proud I am of our football team. I think we have a group of men in there that are made of the right stuff. Tremendous intangibles. I thought they played with tremendous effort. There was a great level of belief out there that we could accomplish that and win that game. We were tough. We were physically tough. We were mentally tough. The area we have to improve is discipline. I felt like we were a little sloppy a times periodically. We didn’t handle some of the situations in the game well. When you turn the football over and you have undisciplined penalties, those are things you can control, whether it’s the player or the coach. I take total responsibility for that. Myself and our staff are going to get that right. That’s not the type of football team we want to be.”
Overall, the Cajuns showed a lot of potential and the mistakes that were made are easily fixable. The offense staggered at points, but also showed their power, especially with the 99 yard scoring drive late in the game. Defensively, I think the Cajuns also showed promise, but have some work to do in practice in terms of just cleaning some things up and not letting the mental aspect of the game get the best of you. But kudos to Mississippi State and RB Kylin Hill, who ran the ball 27 times for 197 yards. Look out for him on Sundays.
The crowd in the Superdome was electric yesterday, and the Cajuns are poised to have a big season in the Sun Conference. For more on the Cajuns throughout the season, listen to the Ragin Cajun Army Podcast on SoundCloud by going to soundcloud.com/ragincajunarmy.
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