University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Saturday, November 23
Lafayette
4:00 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
9-2 , 6-1
51
vs
30
Troy
3-8 , 2-5
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Troy
14
0
8
8
30
Louisiana
7
27
3
14
51
Cajuns Defeat Troy To Claim Share of SBC West Title, 51-30
11/23/2024 10:46:00 PM | Football
Louisiana can win outright title, host SBC Championship, with win at ULM
LAFAYETTE – Redshirt senior Chandler Fields, making his first start of the season, completed 18 of 24 passes for a career-high 323 yards and two touchdowns while Louisiana scored 30 unanswered points to defeat Troy, 51-30, in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday at Cajun Field.
Keyon Martin, back in the starting lineup for the first time since an injury at Texas State on Oct. 29, picked off a pair of passes while redshirt freshman Bill Davis rushed for three touchdowns as Louisiana (9-2, 6-1 SBC) clinched a share of the SBC West Division title – its fifth in seven years since the conference went to the divisional format beginning in 2018.
Louisiana can clinch the outright West Division title and home berth in next month's Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game with a win in its regular-season finale next Saturday (Nov. 30) at ULM or a loss by South Alabama (5-5, 5-2 SBC) on Friday against Texas State.
"We're really proud of the response from this team," head coach Michael Desormeaux said. After a really disappointing week last week (a 24-22 loss to South Alabama), adversity kind of hits in that game and you start to realize you're going to be without some guys who played a critical role in helping us get to this point.
"I think in really good teams, the next guy steps up and the next guy performs. Tonight, we had a lot of that, and I know we're going to talk about those guys individually, but as a team, I couldn't be more proud of the belief that they had."
Fields, who replaced an injured Ben Wooldridge in the second half in last week's game, wasted no time in shaking off any rust as he connected with Jacob Bernard on a 46-yard pass on the Ragin' Cajuns first play from scrimmage. Five plays later, Fields would escape pressure and connect with Tavion Smith – making his first career start – with a 20-yard scoring pass with 9:44 remaining in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
Troy (3-8, 2-5 SBC), looking to knock off a SBC division leader for the second week in a row, took advantage of a short field on its third possession as Matthew Caldwell hit Jackson Worley on a 4-yard scoring pass to cap a 7-play, 34-yard drive.
Following a UL punt, the Trojans drove 68 yards in seven plays as Caldwell threw his second of four TD passes on the night with a 30-yard strike to Devonte Ross for a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After that, it was all Cajuns.
Davis scored the first of his three rushing TDs on the following drive with a 1-yard plunge to cap a 4-play, 55-yard drive which was aided by Robert Williams' 44-yard kickoff return. Davis, who gained 64 yards on 19 carries, bulled his way for a 14-yard run on the opening play of the drive before Fields connected on a 38-yard strike to the Troy 3.
Martin collected the first of his two, second-quarter interceptions when he picked off Caldwell at the Troy 44. One play later, Fields would connect with Lance LeGendre on a 44-yard TD strike to put Louisiana ahead for good, 21-14, with 12:23 left in the half.
The senior cornerback would collect his second interception two drives later at the Troy 49 and the Ragin' Cajuns would score six plays later as Davis scored on a 3-yard TD for a 31-14 lead with 2:16 remaining.
Kenneth Almendares, who moved past Stevie Artigue for the school's all-time lead in extra point conversions (154) and became the Sun Belt Conference all-time leader in field goals (66), booted field goals of 38 and 32 yards in the second quarter to give Louisiana a 34-14 lead at the break.
Almendares, who moved into the national lead with 25 made field goals on the season (in 27 attempts), added a 46-yard field goal in the third quarter to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 37-14 lead.
Troy would score back-to-back touchdowns and convert on a pair of two-point conversions beginning with Caldwell's 6-yard pass to Brody Dalton with 5:45 left in the third quarter. The Trojans would close to with 37-30 with 11:31 remaining after Caldwell capped a 13-play, 82-yard drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Trae Swartz, but the momentum would be short-lived as Williams would returning the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a 44-30 lead.
Davis would cap off his night after Louisiana turned Troy over on downs at the Troy 3 with a 1-yard TD run with 1:09 remaining.
LeGendre caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown for Louisiana, which recorded 418 yards of total offense despite Troy holding a 78-56 advantage in total plays and a near seven-minute advantage in time of possession.
K.C. Ossai led all players with nine tackles with Justin Agu tying his career-high with eight. Jake St. Andre forced a fumble – one of three turnovers by the Trojans – while Jordan Lawson and Mason Narcisse combined for 2.0 sacks.
"Tonight, there was some adversity in the game," said Desormeaux, "and they never wavered, never faltered, just kept plugging away and we ended up having a really good night here for Senior Night at home.
"I told them before this game that we're playing for one more (home) game. We want to go down the tunnel one more time as a team this year. So, we still got work to do, but for us tonight was a good way to bounce back. We got to build off it and try to keep playing our best ball going forward."
Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (@RaginCajunsFB) to stay up-to-date on Louisiana Football.
Keyon Martin, back in the starting lineup for the first time since an injury at Texas State on Oct. 29, picked off a pair of passes while redshirt freshman Bill Davis rushed for three touchdowns as Louisiana (9-2, 6-1 SBC) clinched a share of the SBC West Division title – its fifth in seven years since the conference went to the divisional format beginning in 2018.
Louisiana can clinch the outright West Division title and home berth in next month's Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game with a win in its regular-season finale next Saturday (Nov. 30) at ULM or a loss by South Alabama (5-5, 5-2 SBC) on Friday against Texas State.
"We're really proud of the response from this team," head coach Michael Desormeaux said. After a really disappointing week last week (a 24-22 loss to South Alabama), adversity kind of hits in that game and you start to realize you're going to be without some guys who played a critical role in helping us get to this point.
"I think in really good teams, the next guy steps up and the next guy performs. Tonight, we had a lot of that, and I know we're going to talk about those guys individually, but as a team, I couldn't be more proud of the belief that they had."
Fields, who replaced an injured Ben Wooldridge in the second half in last week's game, wasted no time in shaking off any rust as he connected with Jacob Bernard on a 46-yard pass on the Ragin' Cajuns first play from scrimmage. Five plays later, Fields would escape pressure and connect with Tavion Smith – making his first career start – with a 20-yard scoring pass with 9:44 remaining in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
Troy (3-8, 2-5 SBC), looking to knock off a SBC division leader for the second week in a row, took advantage of a short field on its third possession as Matthew Caldwell hit Jackson Worley on a 4-yard scoring pass to cap a 7-play, 34-yard drive.
Following a UL punt, the Trojans drove 68 yards in seven plays as Caldwell threw his second of four TD passes on the night with a 30-yard strike to Devonte Ross for a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After that, it was all Cajuns.
Davis scored the first of his three rushing TDs on the following drive with a 1-yard plunge to cap a 4-play, 55-yard drive which was aided by Robert Williams' 44-yard kickoff return. Davis, who gained 64 yards on 19 carries, bulled his way for a 14-yard run on the opening play of the drive before Fields connected on a 38-yard strike to the Troy 3.
Martin collected the first of his two, second-quarter interceptions when he picked off Caldwell at the Troy 44. One play later, Fields would connect with Lance LeGendre on a 44-yard TD strike to put Louisiana ahead for good, 21-14, with 12:23 left in the half.
The senior cornerback would collect his second interception two drives later at the Troy 49 and the Ragin' Cajuns would score six plays later as Davis scored on a 3-yard TD for a 31-14 lead with 2:16 remaining.
Kenneth Almendares, who moved past Stevie Artigue for the school's all-time lead in extra point conversions (154) and became the Sun Belt Conference all-time leader in field goals (66), booted field goals of 38 and 32 yards in the second quarter to give Louisiana a 34-14 lead at the break.
Almendares, who moved into the national lead with 25 made field goals on the season (in 27 attempts), added a 46-yard field goal in the third quarter to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 37-14 lead.
Troy would score back-to-back touchdowns and convert on a pair of two-point conversions beginning with Caldwell's 6-yard pass to Brody Dalton with 5:45 left in the third quarter. The Trojans would close to with 37-30 with 11:31 remaining after Caldwell capped a 13-play, 82-yard drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Trae Swartz, but the momentum would be short-lived as Williams would returning the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a 44-30 lead.
Davis would cap off his night after Louisiana turned Troy over on downs at the Troy 3 with a 1-yard TD run with 1:09 remaining.
LeGendre caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown for Louisiana, which recorded 418 yards of total offense despite Troy holding a 78-56 advantage in total plays and a near seven-minute advantage in time of possession.
K.C. Ossai led all players with nine tackles with Justin Agu tying his career-high with eight. Jake St. Andre forced a fumble – one of three turnovers by the Trojans – while Jordan Lawson and Mason Narcisse combined for 2.0 sacks.
"Tonight, there was some adversity in the game," said Desormeaux, "and they never wavered, never faltered, just kept plugging away and we ended up having a really good night here for Senior Night at home.
"I told them before this game that we're playing for one more (home) game. We want to go down the tunnel one more time as a team this year. So, we still got work to do, but for us tonight was a good way to bounce back. We got to build off it and try to keep playing our best ball going forward."
Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (@RaginCajunsFB) to stay up-to-date on Louisiana Football.
Team Stats
TRO
UL
Total Yards
394
418
Pass Yards
259
323
Rushing Yards
135
95
Penalty Yards
43
45
1st Downs
23
18
3rd Downs
6
2
4th Downs
2
0
TOP
33:22
26:38
1st Quarter
TRO 0, UL 7
UL - Smith,Tavion 20 yd pass from Fields,Chandler (Almendares,Kenneth kick) 6 plays, 85 yards, TOP 03:03
TRO 7, UL 7
TRO - Worley,Jackson 4 yd pass from Caldwell,Matthew (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick) 7 plays, 34 yards, TOP 03:45
TRO 14, UL 7
TRO - Ross,Devonte 30 yd pass from Caldwell,Matthew (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick) 7 plays, 68 yards, TOP 02:58
2nd Quarter
TRO 14, UL 14
UL - Davis,Bill 1 yd run (Almendares,Kenneth kick), 4 plays, 55 yards, TOP 01:20
TRO 14, UL 21
UL - LeGendre,Lance 44 yd pass from Fields,Chandler (Almendares,Kenneth kick) 1 plays, 44 yards, TOP 00:08
TRO 14, UL 24
UL - Almendares,Kenneth 38 yd field goal 6 plays, 37 yards, TOP 02:44
TRO 14, UL 31
UL - Davis,Bill 3 yd run (Almendares,Kenneth kick), 6 plays, 49 yards, TOP 02:49
TRO 14, UL 34
UL - Almendares,Kenneth 32 yd field goal 6 plays, 26 yards, TOP 00:48
3rd Quarter
TRO 14, UL 37
UL - Almendares,Kenneth 46 yd field goal 7 plays, 46 yards, TOP 03:54
TRO 22, UL 37
TRO - Dalton,Brody 6 yd pass from Caldwell,Matthew (Parker,Landon pass) 10 plays, 83 yards, TOP 05:14
4th Quarter
TRO 30, UL 37
TRO - Swartz,Trae 1 yd pass from Caldwell,Matthew (Ross,Devonte pass) 13 plays, 82 yards, TOP 06:48
TRO 30, UL 44
UL - Williams,Robert 96 yd kickoff return (Almendares,Kenneth kick)
TRO 30, UL 51
UL - Davis,Bill 1 yd run (Almendares,Kenneth kick), 3 plays, 3 yards, TOP 01:31
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
18
TD
2
YDS
323
INT
0
Players Mentioned
CB
/ Football
K
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DE
/ Football
WR
/ Football
CB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
LB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
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