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Athlon Sports
Louisiana Football: 2024 Ragin' Cajuns Season Preview and Prediction
By Athlon Sports,
1 day ago
Louisiana head coach Michael Desormeaux’s job in replacing coach Billy Napier was always going to be hard, but two losing seasons in a row have fans frustrated. To get themselves over the hump, the Cajuns simply have to do a better job of closing out close games. They lost five games by a touchdown or less last season.
After two consecutive 6-7 seasons, Louisiana fans want to see the Cajuns get back to the 10-win form that they displayed under former head coach Billy Napier. The offense did plenty of good things last season, including scoring 32.1 points per game, a number that placed the Cajuns just outside of the top 30 of FBS in that category.
Incumbent starting quarterback Ben Wooldridge missed most of last season with an injury after throwing 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions back in 2022 when he was healthy and played in 10 games. Chandler Fields has experience, and junior college transfer Samari Collier impressed in the spring, so the battle could extend into fall camp.
The strength of Louisiana’s offense in 2023 was the rushing game, which posted a league-best 4.9 yards per carry. Returning running backs Dre’lyn Washington and Zylan Perry combined for 728 yards last season.
Having an experienced offensive line with four returning starters should help the Cajuns repeat their ground success in 2024, even without mobile QB Zeon Chriss and departed running back Jacob Kibodi.
Louisiana will have most of its production returning, including leading tackler K.C. Ossai, who posted 95 tackles at his middle linebacker spot last season with 4.5 tackles for a loss. He was an All-Sun Belt honorable mention performer in 2023 and will be an anchor in the middle.
As a unit, the Cajuns were decent but not particularly exceptional. Getting off the field was a particular issue that must be corrected. On third down, opponents converted 44.3 percent of the time, and opponents scored on 82.8 percent of their red-zone trips. On average, Louisiana allowed opponents to gain 5.2 yards per play.
Longtime NFL assistant Jim Salgado will take over as defensive coordinator this season, with particular expertise in coaching secondaries. Salgado’s most recent coaching stop was with the Washington Commanders, and he was at Michigan State before that.
Longtime placekicker Kenneth Almendares missed only one PAT out of 51 attempts last season and was 14-of-16 on field-goal attempts. Perry scored a touchdown on a kick return last season. Last season’s punter Thomas Leo is off to the pros, which leaves that job open.
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