Game 9 Preview: The South Alabama Game

LAFAYETTE - The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns look to build on a two-game win streak when it returns to action on Thursday, Nov. 12, against South Alabama in a nationally-televised Sun Belt Conference contest at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Kickoff is slated for 6:32 p.m. and will televised on ESPNU. Mark Neely (pxp) and Jay Walker (color) will handle the commentary on the broadcast. The game will also be aired statewide on the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Radio Network with Jay Walker (pxp), Richie Falgout (color) and Travis Webb (sideline) calling the action.

Louisiana (4-4, 3-1 SBC) earned its second consecutive win – and first on the road this season – as it rallied in the second half to edge Georgia State, 23-21, last Saturday in the Georgia Dome. The Ragin' Cajuns built a 17-7 lead after the first quarter before getting a pair of second-half field goals from freshman Stevie Artigue to erase a 21-17 deficit and earn the win.

Artigue, who is 6-for-8 on field goals in his last two games, kicked field goals of 40, 49 (a career-long) and 21 yards overall for the Ragin' Cajuns with Al Riles recording a career-high 103 yards on eight receptions. Dominique Tovell recorded seven tackles for the Ragin' Cajuns and added a pair of sacks to increase his Sun Belt-leading total to seven.

Brooks Haack, making his first start since Sept. 26 against Akron, completed 18 of 25 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown for the Ragin' Cajuns with Elijah McGuire (73 yards) and Torrey Pierce (53 yards) providing the bulk of Louisiana's 145 yards on the ground.

The Ragin' Cajuns will make their second-ever trip to Mobile to face South Alabama (4-4, 2-2 SBC) with the Jaguars earning a 30-8 victory on Dec. 7, 2013. The home team has won each of the three meetings in the series with the Ragin' Cajuns earning a 52-30 victory in 2012, and a 19-9 win in last year's game at Cajun Field.

Game No. 9
November 12, 2015 • 6:32 p.m. CT • Mobile, Ala. • Ladd-Peebles Stadium (33,471)

-/- LOUISIANA RAGIN' CAJUNS (4-4, 3-1 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Mark Hudspeth (Delta State, 1992)
Record at Louisiana: 40-20 (5th season), Career Record: 106-41 (12th year)

-/- SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS (4-4, 2-2 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Joey Jones (Alabama, 1989)
Record at USA: 41-32 (7th season), Career Record: 44-39 (8th season)

* - Rankings listed at Amway Coaches' Poll/AP Poll

Series History: Louisiana leads all-time series, 2-1 ... home team has won each contest with USA claiming 30-8 victory in 2013 contest ... Ragin' Cajuns claimed 19-9 victory in 2014 meeting in Lafayette and 52-30 win in 2012.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
ESPN3: Mark Neely, PxP • Jay Walker, Analyst
Ragin' Cajuns Radio Network: Jay Walker, PxP • Richie Falgout, Analyst • Travis Webb, Sideline
In Lafayette: KPEL 1420-AM (Flagship); KHXT 107.9-FM
Affiliates: KTUX 98.9-FM (Shreveport); WGSO 990-AM (New Orleans); KJEF 1290-AM (Jennings); KLCL 1470-AM (Lake Charles); KRJO 1680-AM (Monroe); KTIB 640-AM (Thibodaux)
Live Stats/Audio: RaginCajuns.com
Twitter Updates: @ULRaginCajuns; Facebook: RaginCajunsAthletics;
YouTube: IAm4RaginCajuns; Instagram: ULRaginCajuns

GAMEDAY STORYLINES
• Louisiana is 521-533-34 against all opponents dating back to 1901.
• The Ragin' Cajuns are 22-6 in games in November/December under Mark Hudspeth, including 10-3 in the past two seasons.
• The Louisiana defense has limited its last three opponents to a combined 10 points in the second half.
• Elijah McGuire is ninth among active NCAA players in all-purpose yards (4,210), 11th in all-purpose yards per game (123.82), and 15th in rushing yards (2,876).
• McGuire's 13 yards rushing at South Alabama in 2013 is his lowest total of his career.
• McGuire is six catches shy of becoming the first Ragin' Cajuns running back with 100 receptions.
• Steven Coutts is 29th nationally (third among freshmen) in punting, averaging 43.5 yards per attempt.

DID YOU KNEAUX?
1 - Senior Dominique Tovell has started 40 games in his career for the Ragin' Cajuns, including 34 straight.
2 - Senior Octravian Anderson has started 34 consecutive games at right tackle.
3 - Louisiana is 31-2 overall when leading at halftime under Mark Hudspeth.
4 - The next win would give Mark Hudspeth 41 with the Ragin' Cajuns, tying him with Ricky Bustle for the fourth-most in school history.
5 - Louisiana's six sacks allowed in 2015 are the second-fewest allowed in the Sun Belt Conference.

WHAT'S ON TAP
• Louisiana will return home to face New Mexico State on Saturday, Nov. 21, in a 4 p.m. contest at Cajun Field. The game will be a Sun Belt designated game on ESPN3.

NOTES FROM THE GEORGIA STATE GAME
• Captains were Tracy Walker (DB), Ethan Rosenbalm (OL), Savion Brown (DB) and Jake Guidry (LS). Walker (Brunswick, Ga.) and Rosenbalm (Cumming, Ga.) of the Ragin' Cajuns four players from the state of Georgia on the 2015 roster.
• Stevie Artigue's 49-yard field goal in the third quarter was the longest by a Ragin' Cajun since Brett Baer's 50-yard kick against East Carolina in the 2012 R+L New Orleans Bowl.
• Jamal Robinson caught three passes for 33 yards, increasing his career total to 2,199 and two yards shy of tying former Ragin' Cajun and current San Diego Chargers tight end Ladarius Green (2,201 yards from 2008-11).
• Freshman Gary Haynes' 42-yard punt return in the fourth quarter was the team's longest of the season.

NIXON SECOND MEMBER TO JOIN 200-200 CLUB
• Junior Jalen Nixon became the second quarterback in school history to record both 200 yards rushing and passing in a single game in the Ragin' Cajuns Oct. 20 at Arkansas State. Nixon completed 17 of 44 passes for a career-high 253 yards and two TDs while rushing for 201 yards on 19 carries.
• The Carencro native joined Brian Mitchell, who rushed for 271 yards and passed for 205 yards against Colorado State in 1987, as the lone players in Ragin' Cajuns to record 200 yards rushing and passing in the same game.
• Nixon's 201 yards on the ground were the ninth-most in school history and fourth all-time among Ragin' Cajuns quarterbacks.

QUAVE SIDELINED FOR THE SEASON; CHANGES MADE ON THE O-LINE
• The most consistent area for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team during the past three seasons saw its first mid-season change after senior left guard Mykhael Quave was lost for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
• Quave, a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection and two-time Lombardi Award nominee, injured his rotator cuff early in the first quarter in Louisiana's Oct. 3 game at Louisiana Tech.
• The loss of Quave, who started all 43 games in his Ragin' Cajuns career, saw the first mid-season change within the offensive line since 2012. Grant Horst, who started four games at left tackle for the Ragin' Cajuns moved to center for the Texas State game before moving to left guard for Arkansas State. Eddie Gordon, the team's starting center for the first four games, moved to left guard for Texas State before moving back to center against A-State. D'Aquin Withrow has started the last four games for the Ragin' Cajuns at left tackle.
• Octravian Anderson, a two-year starter, has started the last 34 games for Louisiana with Donovan Williams, who moved over to right guard replacing 52-game starter Daniel Quave, starting in 21 straight games after playing every game last season at left guard.

THE BOOK OF ELI
• Junior running back Elijah McGuire entered the 2015 season as one of the most decorated players to wear a Ragin' Cajuns uniform and after eight games, has continued his assault on the record book.
• In his third season in a Ragin' Cajuns uniform, McGuire has rushed for 2,876 yards, ranking fourth on the school's all-time list. McGuire became the fourth player in school history (joining Tyrell Fenroy and former quarterbacks Brian Mitchell and Michael Desormeaux) to rush for over 1,000 yard in a season when he gained 1,264 yards in 2014.
• McGuire, the 2015 Preseason Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year, was the 2013 SBC Freshman of the Year and the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year.

MR. ALL-PURPOSE
In the Ragin' Cajuns Oct. 20 game at Arkansas State, Elijah McGuire became the third player in school history to record 4,000 all-purpose yards in his career. Below are the top three players in all-purpose yards in Ragin' Cajuns history.

1.   Tyrell Fenroy (2005-08) - 5,231
2.   Darryl Surgent (2010-13) - 4,945
3.   Elijah McGuire (2013-) - 4,210

MCGUIRE JOINS THE 2,000-1,000 CLUB
• With a 21-yard reception in the second quarter against Arkansas State on Oct. 20, Elijah McGuire became the fourth active player in NCAA history to record 2,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. McGuire caught a career-high tying 10 passes against the Red Wolves while recording a career-best 134 yards receiving. McGuire, who is officially the top running back in the group, is joined in the active leaders D.J. Foster (now a WR) of Arizona State, Josh Ferguson of Illinois and Storm Woods of Oregon State.

Elijah McGuire, Louisiana – 2,876 rush / 1,126 rec
Storm Woods, Oregon State – 2,643 rush / 1,079 rec
Josh Ferguson, Illinois – 2,392 rush / 1,346 rec
D.J. Foster, Arizona State – 2,303 rush / 2,310 rec

SLOW STARTS, FAST FINISHES
• The Ragin' Cajuns have usually set the tone early in ball games, but the 2015 season has been the opposite as they have been outscored, 163-102, in the first half in six games this season.
• Opponents are outscoring Louisiana, 69-48, in the first quarter before extending their advantage to 94-54 in the second.
• Louisiana has set the tone in the second half, outscoring the competition, 132-81, in the final 30 minutes. The Ragin' Cajuns have scored their most points (69) in the third quarter while holding opponents to 27 points in the fourth for their top defensive effort.

CAJUNS HAVE ENJOYED BOWLING IN PAST FOUR SEASONS
• Louisiana is one of five schools nationally to have won a bowl/postseason game in each of the past four seasons.
• The Cajuns, with four victories in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, are part of a list that includes Michigan State (Outback, Buffalo Wild Wings, Rose, Cotton), Oregon (Rose, Fiesta, Alamo, Rose), South Carolina (Capitol One, Outback, Capitol One, Independence) and Texas A&M (Meinke Car Care, Cotton, Chick-Fil-A, Music City).
• With a 16-3 win over Nevada in the 2014 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, Louisiana became the first school in NCAA history to win the same bowl game four consecutive years.

"NEW KICKS" IMPRESSIVE IN RAGIN' CAJUNS DEBUT
• After losing both Hunter Stover and Daniel Cadona to graduation, the Ragin' Cajuns introduced a new kicking combo of true freshmen Stevie Artigue and Steven Coutts.
• Artigue, a four-time all-district and three-time Class 5A All-State selection at nearby Lafayette High School, has converted on 24 of 25 extra point attempts for the Ragin' Cajuns while going 8-for-12 in field goals, including 6 of 8 in his last two games.
• Coutts, the second Australian to sign with the Ragin' Cajuns in the past three years after following in the footsteps of former Ragin' Cajun Daniel Cadona, is 29th nationally and third among freshman punters, averaging 43.5 per attempt.

TOVELL BECOMING THE NEW SACK MASTER
• After recording a combined total of six sacks in his first three seasons in a Ragin' Cajuns uniform, senior Dominique Tovell has eclipsed his career in the first eight games of the season.
• With a Sun Belt-leading seven sacks on the year, Tovell has 13.0 sacks in his career and 36.0 tackles for loss.
• Tovell, who needs 4.5 sacks to tie the single-season record set last season by Christian Ringo, has recorded a pair of sacks in games against Kentucky (Sept. 5), ULM (Oct. 31) and Georgia State (Nov. 7). With 3.5 sacks, Tovell would tie former Ragin' Cajun Walter Sampson (16.5, 1999-02) for fifth-place on the school's all-time list.
• His 36.0 tackles for loss are tied with Andy Martin (1979-82) for the third-most in school history and trail Paul Cabble (37.0, 1993-96) and Jeffrey Mitchell (45.0, 1992-95).

MR. ROBINSON IS BACK IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD
• After being limited to four games last season due to knee and foot injuries, senior Jamal Robinson has made a successful return to the lineup, catching 23 passes for 370 yards and three touchdowns.
• Against Texas State on Oct. 10, Robinson recorded his first touchdown in over a year when he grabbed a 17-yard pass from Jalen Nixon in the final minute of the first half. The duo hooked up again in the third period with a go-ahead 31-yard TD strike, marking the fifth multi-TD game of Robinson's career.
• His 64-yard reception against ULM on Oct. 31 was the third-longest of his career, following grabs of 86 yards (vs. Lamar) and 81 (at ULM) in 2012.
• The 2014 Biletnikoff Watch List candidate caught 15 passes with four touchdowns in four games last season before being sidelined for the remainder of the season with a foot injury at Texas State.
• The 2015 Preseason Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference candidate ranks ninth in school history with 125 receptions and is fifth overall in receiving yards (2,199). With three yards receiving, Robinson would pass Ladarius Green (2,201 yards from 2008-11) for fourth-place on the school's all-time list.

NEW FACILITIES FOR RAGIN' CAJUNS FOOTBALL
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team officially moved into its new 100,000-square foot Student-Athlete Performance Center on September 13-14. The new building, which is part of the University's $115 million Athletics Facilities Master Plan that was unveiled in March of 2013, will house new offices and locker rooms for the Ragin' Cajuns football team, as well as a state-of-the-art Athletic Training Room, new weight room, new equipment room and 150-seat auditorium that will benefit all Ragin' Cajuns student-athletes.
• Ground was broken on the project in August of 2014 and is part of Tier 1 projects that included the expansion of Cajun Field. Upgrades at Cajun Field, which were completed prior to the 2014 season included the addition of seats in the South End Zone, raising capacity to 41,426, plus a new concession stands and restrooms in the South End Zone facility.
• Also included in Tier 1 were upgrades to the Ragin' Cajuns Soccer/Track Facility, that includes new locker rooms and coaches' offices for both the soccer and track and field programs, a new pressbox, restrooms, a concession stand and retail area.

RAGIN' CAJUNS REPEAT AS SUN BELT ACADEMIC CHAMPS
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team earned the best cumulative grade point average among Sun Belt Conference schools for the second consecutive year as the league announced its Team GPA Awards for the 2014-15 academic year.
• Louisiana posted a 2.81 team GPA during the 2014-15 academic year to lead all football schools competing in the Sun Belt.
• During the Fall 2014 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded their highest GPA in team history (2.923) and posted its sixth consecutive semester of 2.6 or higher. Fifty-two percent of the student-athletes on the roster earned a 3.0 GPA or higher during the fall with six players earning a 4.0, and 11 receiving their degree during Fall Commencement ceremonies.

SUN BELT RECEIVES FIFTH POSSIBLE BOWL DESTINATION
• The Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission announced the creation of the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. The bowl game will debut on Dec. 29, 2015 and will match two teams from the Mountain West Conference, Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference. The game will be played at the University of Arizona's Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.
• The NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl is the first-ever bowl game to have a digitally-focused broadcast strategy to be orchestrated by primary digital media partner Campus Insiders. Details and technology partnerships along with the television broadcast partner will be announced at a later date.
• The Sun Belt Conference has grown from having just one primary bowl game from 2001 through 2010 to now having four primary postseason bowl game tie-ins. The Cure Bowl, which will debut in 2015, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the GoDaddy Bowl and the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl are the Sun Belt's primary bowl tie-ins. In addition the Sun Belt Conference is also part of a coalition that will send teams to the Miami Beach Bowl and the Bahamas Bowl on a rotating basis.

THE LAST MEETING
Louisiana 19, South Alabama 9 • November 1, 2014 — Lafayette, La.

LAFAYETTE – Hunter Stover connected on four field goals and Elijah McGuire added a fourth quarter touchdown to carry the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to a 19-9 Homecoming win over South Alabama.

Louisiana outgained the Jaguars 412-336 with a 196-66 edge in rushing yards. Terrance Broadway went 16-for-28 for 216 yards with James Butler catching four passes for 91 yards and McGuire making nine catches for 90 yards.

On the ground, McGuire led the Cajuns (5-3, 4-0 SBC) with 116 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries.

The Cajuns' running game carried Louisiana down the field on their first possession of the game before a Broadway pass to Devin Scott for 45 yards to the USA 10 put the Cajuns in the red zone. However, the drive would stall, forcing a 23-yard field goal by Hunter Stover to put the Cajuns up 3-0 with 9:19 to play in the first quarter.

USA evened the game at the beginning of the second quarter with a 20-yard field goal by Aleem Sunanon.

The Jaguars grabbed a 9-3 lead midway through the second quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Bridge to Jereme Jones at 8:15. The score was set up by a roughing the kicker penalty on a punt that allowed USA to avoid a three-and-out drive.

Louisiana cut into the Jaguars' lead on the next drive with a 26-yard field goal from Stover to make it 9-6 with 4:30 to play in the first half.

Stover later knotted up the game for the Cajuns with his third field goal of the contest, a 22-yarder to make it 9-9 with 3:31 to play in the third quarter.

Leading 12-9 in the fourth quarter the defense came up with a decisive stop after a 41-yard pass from Matt Floyd to Marvin Shinn allowed USA to reach the Cajuns four-yard line. Christian Ringo came up with a Jaguars' fumble to give the ball back to Louisiana with eight minutes remaining.

Three minutes later, an eight-yard touchdown run for McGuire at the 5:01 mark put the Cajuns up 19-9.

Facing a fourth-and-four on the ensuing drive, South Alabama was unable to convert and the Cajuns were able to run out the clock.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Octravian Anderson

Stevie Artigue

Terrance Broadway

Savion Brown

James Butler

Daniel Cadona

Steven Coutts

Eddie Gordon

Jake Guidry

Brooks Haack

Gary Haynes

Grant Horst

Elijah McGuire

Jalen Nixon

Torrey Pierce

Daniel Quave

Mykhael Quave

Al Riles

Christian Ringo

Jamal Robinson

Ethan Rosenbalm

Devin Scott

Hunter Stover

Dominique Tovell

Tracy Walker

Donovan Williams

D'Aquin Withrow

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