MOBILE, Ala. – For most of UL’s 31-22 Sun Belt road win over South Alabama on Saturday, all signs pointed to a nice and easy win over the Ragin’ Cajuns.
It turned out to be anything but that.
Despite leading by 24 points in the third quarter, the Cajuns required a goalline stand with 2:41 left to play to hold off a furious South Alabama rally to hold off the Jaguars.
“To see their smiling faces in the lockerroom,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
South Alabama failed to score three straight times from the 1 to give the Cajuns just enough cushion to hold on to the win.
“So I kind of pressed I pressed out with the tackle and they kind of like, it was sort of like a double team almost,” UL defensive lineman Fitzgerald West said. “I just sat down and he ran into the back ran into the back of to do it I was pressing. That’s how I’s how I knew we stopped him, because the dude that I pressed, he didn’t get into the end zone, so I knew the running back didn’t.”
UL’s offense did good to avoid a safety and get the ball out to the 10 to punt on fourth-and-1. That was enough, because two plays after Nathan Torney’s 43-yard punt, Jaden Dugger intercepted Bishop Davenport to ice the victory.
The Cajuns are now 3-6 and 2-3 on the season, while South Alabama dropped to 2-7 and 1-4.
UL quarterback Lunch Winfield was 14-of-15 passing for 232 yards and two touchdowns in the win, while also rushing for 45 yards and a score on 15 carries.
“I was standing right there. screaming, ‘Go defense. Let’s go D,'” Winfield said of the goal line stand. “I was there (on line of scrimmage). I was there screaming. They probably heard me every play.”
Wide receiver Shelton Sampson collected six receptions for 138 yards and two scores.
“It feels great,” Sampson said. “In practice, we just keep our head down. It was just a matter of time. We just keep our hair down, kept working and it finally clicked this week.”
Zylan Perry and and Bill Davis both rushed for 56 yards and Perry added a touchdown.
The Cajuns outgained South Alabama 393-368 in the win.
UL opened up the second half like it finished the first half with a 7-play, 75-yard drive in 3:02 to grab a 31-7 lead.
Completions of 34 yard to Brock Chappell and 19 to Sampson set up a 1-yard TD plunge for Winfield.
The Jaguars attempted a comeback down 24, however.
First, South Alabama drove 75 yards itself on 12 plays in 5:04 and got a 4-yard TD run from Davenport to narrow UL’s lead to 17 with 6:54 left in the third.
Then the Cajuns’ offense punted for the first time in the game to give the Jags a chance to get even closer. South Alabama got a 17-yard completion to Micah Woods and reached UL’s 32, but a fourth-down sack by safety Tyree Skipper ended that threat.
It was Skipper’s first sack of the season and it came after a big tackle in the backfield by Dugger for a minus-2 to slow the Jags’ momentum.
“We were in an all-out blitz and man on the outside, so zero coverage,” Skipper said. “I just shot the B-gap free. I don’t think South Al had the numbers for everybody. The quarterback tried to get out and I hit him with a heel swipe. That was a great stop. We needed that as a defense. I was excited for that stop.”
Offensively, the first half couldn’t have gone much better for the Cajuns.
UL got four possessions in the first half and scored on all four.
The first one was 9-play, 75-yard drive in 4:46 to take the early 7-0 lead with 8:05 left in the first quarter.
It began the big day for Winfield and Sampson, who caught a 24-yard score to finish off the drive.
The second possession covered 60 yards on nine plays in 5:04. A 45-yard connection to Sampson got UL into the red zone, but a sack on Winfield forced the Cajuns to settle for a 32-yard Tony Sterner field goal and a 10-0 lead with 1:24 left in the opening quarter.
South Alabama interrupted the Cajun party at that point with an impressive 16-play, 84-yard drive in 6:46. Quarterback Bishop Davenport was 6-of-8 passing for 46 yards on the drive and Keenan Phillips finished off the scoring drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to trim UL’s lead to 10-7 with 9:38 left until halftime.
But that didn’t deter what the Cajuns’ offense had cooking on this day.
UL responded with a 12-play, 75-yard drive in 7:29 to up its lead to 17-7 with 2:09 left until halftime.
A critical 14-yard completion to Jaydon Johnson produced a big conversion on the drive and Perry scored on an 18-yard touchdown run.
Things got a little more interesting over the final two minutes. First, South Alabama’s offense ran it twice and then threw an incomplete pass on third down.
That allowed the Cajuns to start their next drive on their own 37 with 1:36 left. Winfield got a 22-yard pass to Robert Williams and then another 22-yard strike to Sampson to reach the 17 with 17 seconds left after spiking the football.
On the next play, Winfield hit Sampson in the back corner of the end zone for a 17-yard TD pass with 11 seconds left for a 24-7 halftime lead.
“On the play I came back to the ball, I had like an in-breaking route, and by the time I broke in, Lunch was pointing at me to go to other directions,” Sampson said. “So I just turned around and the ball was where it was, so I came back and got it. And then on touchdowns, it was, man, one on one, and he just gave me a chance, and I made a play.”
Sampson had five catches for 119 yards and two scores in the first half.
