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1st Quarter Report
Louisiana is on the board, but we're still waiting on Troy to respond. Sitting on a score of 7-0, Louisiana has looked like the better team, but there's still three more quarters to play.
Louisiana came into the contest with some extra motivation after the defeat they were dealt the last time these two teams faced off. We'll see if they're able to flip the script or if it'll just be more of the same.
Preview
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will head out on the road to face off against the Troy Trojans at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Larry Blakeney Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Coming off a loss in a game Louisiana was expected to win, they now face the more daunting task of proving themselves against unfavorable odds.
Louisiana scored first but ultimately less than Southern Miss in their game on Thursday. They fell just short of the Golden Eagles by a score of 34-31. Louisiana has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Chandler Fields, who threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns. Dre'lyn Washington was another key contributor, rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Troy came tearing into Saturday's contest with seven straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.8 points) and they left with even more momentum. They claimed a resounding 45-14 victory over UL Monroe on the road. Troy might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won three contests by 21 points or more this season.
Gunnar Watson was the offensive standout of the game as he threw for 219 yards and four touchdowns. Watson has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last three times he's played.
Another reason for the win was Troy's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for nine sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Javon Solomon and Richard Jibunor who racked up 7.5 sacks between them.
Louisiana has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-5 record this season. As for Troy, they pushed their record up to 8-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Looking ahead, Troy is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by 16 points. This contest will be their sixth straight as the favorites (so far over this stretch they are 5-0 against the spread).
Louisiana came up short against Troy in their previous meeting back in November of 2022, falling 23-17. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Troy's Kimani Vidal, who rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown. Now that Louisiana knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
