On a night when a lot of things didn’t go well for either team, the UL Ragin’ Cajuns put together a drive that was a thing of beauty in the third quarter.
After the visiting Troy Trojans scored for the first time to open the second half, UL responded with a 16-play, 91-yard drive in 8:22 to vault the Cajuns to a 33-6 victory on Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.
The first play of the drive was the longest one, a 13-yard pass to tight end Brock Chappell. Steven Blanco’s 2-yard plunge put the Cajuns up 26-6.
It was the second UL drive that covered at least eight minutes this season, and the second drive as long as 91 yards.
The victory improved UL to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in Sun Belt play, while reigning Sun Belt West champion Troy dropped to 3-3 and 1-1.
The defenses muddied up the game under blue skies. The longest pass play by either team over the first three quarters was 13 yards.
UL quarterback Lunch Winfield had his busiest rushing day of the season with 15 carries for 65 yards. As a passer, he was only 11 of 21 for 70 yards and one touchdown.
JJ Garner led the UL running backs with 62 yards and a score on 10 carries, followed by Anthony Reagan with 58 yards and a score on 11 carries. Blanco added 50 yards on 10 carries with his touchdown.
As a team, UL rushed for 243 yards.
UL limited Troy to 3 of 12 on third down and 267 total yards for the game. Troy turned it over on downs three times.
The first half was ugly football, but the Ragin’ Cajuns was as comfortable as a pig in slop.
It started when Troy fumbled a 50-yard punt by Mason Golding at the Troy 8. Three plays later, KeDarius Wade caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Winfield for a 7-0 lead with 12:15 left in the first quarter.
Over its next three drives, UL punted each time.
In the second quarter, the Cajuns mustered an eight-play, 76-yard drive in 3:40 to take a two-score lead.
A roughing-the-passer flag helped, and Garner finished off the possession with a 37-yard touchdown run. The Cajuns botched the extra point to keep it 13-0 with 2:21 left until intermission.
The Trojans continued to slip and slide through the first half on a beautiful day on artificial turf. Quarterback Goose Crowder fumbled the snap on second down, and Micah Johnson recovered it for UL at the Troy 28.
The Cajuns stumbled, though, as UL settled for a 42-yard Tony Sterner field goal and a 16-0 lead with 1:44 left in the half.
The sloppy play continued on the ensuing kickoff when Troy fumbled it and had to start at its own 9. Lester Jones’ big stop on third-an-2 then forced the Trojans to punt.
That allowed the Cajuns to need only one first down to set Sterner up for a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. His make sent the Cajuns into the break with a 19-0 cushion.
Troy was limited to six first downs and 97 total yards in the first half. The Trojans put together one long drive that covered 61 yards on 15 plays in 6:50, but a critical holding flag forced Troy to settle for a 42-yard field goal attempt that was missed with 6:01 left in the second quarter.
Despite scoring 19 points in the first half, the UL offense collected only nine first downs and 163 yards.
Winfield had a team-high 11 carries for 46 yards but was only 7-of-13 passing for 35 yards and a score in the first 30 minutes.
The sloppy play continued in the third quarter. Troy marched 75 yards on eight plays in 4:12 after the second-half kickoff. Crowder ran for 9 yards on fourth-and-8, then UL gave backup quarterback Hunter Kilcrease a wide-open field for a 23-yard touchdown run.
The Trojans missed the extra point to keep it at 19-6 with 10:48 left in the third quarter. After that, it was all Cajuns.
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