A week after struggling and squeaking past SMU the Cajuns imposed their will on the road in a 52-10 win over Houston.
Following a seemingly easy drive into the Cajuns red zone on their first possession Houston had to settle for a field goal when the Louisiana defense buckled down inside the five yard line. Houston wound not score again until Greg Ward Jr ran in for a five yard touchdown to make the score 45-10 Louisiana late in the fourth quarter.
Houston’s remaining first half possessions ended as follows: interception, lost fumble, punt, punt, punt, end of half. Meanwhile Louisiana scored three touchdowns and a field goal in the first half. It could have been more if not for an incomplete pass by D’Eriq Robinette on a fake field goal and an interception by Jordan McAlary with under a minute to play in the first half.
The Cajuns first half scores came on a rare run by McAlary, a two yard run by Robinette and a 59 yard McAlary pass to Darren Guerrero who avoided a diving defender to catch a post and then outran the rest of the Houston defense for the score. Jeffrey Yatkowski connected on a 54 yard field goal. Unfortunately, no KICKER PICTURE™ was available.
“A twenty one point lead ain’t ****, especially with guys like Ward and (senior RB Joseph) Glen and (senior WR Rashaun) McClain over there.” Porter Davis said as the team went into the locker room. The expletive apparently made it onto television and created a bit of a stir on social media.
Louisiana didn’t take the lead for granted, piling on another 21 points for a 45-3 lead before Ward’s rushing touchdown with just over three minutes left to play.
Louisiana fullback Raheem Beach scored on a six yard run a couple minutes later, much to the chagrin of some.
“We played poorly last week so this was an important game for us. We had backups in and Raheem doesn’t get a lot of touches. I told Kenny to tell him not to score but I think he’s a little scared of him. Good reason.”
McAlary threw for 313 yards with three scores and an interception on 22 of 31 passing. Robinette ran for 53 and a pair of scores on six rushes and Joeseph Hollins III added 41 yards on seven carries. Guerrero led the team with 87 yards on three receptions including the 59 yard score.
Louisiana as a team rolled up 464 yards of offense with 20 first downs. Houston managed 213 yards, with over 100 of that coming on their final two possessions against a relaxed defense sprinkled with reserves. Greg Ward completed 20 of 25 passes for 195 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He ran for -2 yards on 15 attempts with sacks figured in and scored the late rushing touchdown. Ward, one of the more mobile QBs in the nation, was sacked a total of eight times.
“They had their tight end playing guard half the time.” Davis said. “There’d have been hell to pay if we didn’t get the QB.”
With his three sack performance Miggins has tied the school record for sacks in a season, tying Dom Tovell who did it in 2015.
McAlary now has 3,349 passing yards on the season, extending his school record and leading the nation. He's thrown 24 touchdown passes. The school record is 29.
Game Media
MCALARY SCORES A RUSHING TOUCHDOWN TO GIVE LOUISIANA THE LEAD IN THE FIRST QUARTER
BARNETTE PICKS OFF A WARD PASS
ROBINETTE SCORES A RUSHING TOUCHDOWN
BAILEY FORCES A FUMBLE BY WARD, BOLDEN RECOVERED FOR LOUISIANA
GUERRERO SECURES THE PASS AND SCAMPERS 59 YARDS FOR A SECOND QUARTER SCORE
ROBINETTE TRAMPLES A HOUSTON DEFENDER EN ROUTE TO A RECEIVING TOUCHDOWN
WARD IS BROUGHT DOWN BY GREENWOOD FOR ONE OF EIGHT SACKS BY THE CAJUNS DEFENSE
ROBINETTE FIGHTS THROUGH A PAIR OF DEFENDERS FOR A FOURTH QUARTER RUSHING TOUCHDOWN
WITH BARELY OVER THREE MINUTES LEFT TO PLAY HOUSTON’S WARD SCORES THEIR FIRST TOUCHDOWN
BIG BOY TD
Scoring
ULL|14|10|14|14|
52
HOU|03|00|00|07|
10
1Q HOU Snyder 21 Yd FG
1Q ULL McAlary 5 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
1Q ULL Robinette 2 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
2Q ULL Guerrero 59 Yd TD pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
2Q ULL Yatkowski 53 Yd FG
3Q ULL Browne 54 Yd TD pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
3Q ULL Robinette 18 Yd TD pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
4Q ULL Robinette 11 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
4Q HOU Ward 5 Yd run (Snyder kick)
4Q ULL Beach 6 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
Key Player Stats
Passing: McAlary 22/31 313 3TD 1Int, Robinette 0/2
Rushing: Robinette 6/53 2TD, Hollins III 7/41, Franz III 9/35, Palmero 1/11, Beach 2/9 1TD, McAlary 4/2 1TD
Receiving: Guerrero 3/87 1TD, Carter 4/63, Browne 1/54 1TD, Porter Sr 4/29, Franz III 3/25, Robinette 2/23 1TD, Palmero 3/20, Moody 2/20
Tackles: Bolden 5, Palmer 5
Sacks: Bolden 3, Miggins 3, Fritz 1, Greenwood 1
Takeaways: Barnette 1Int, Bailey 1FF, Bolden 1FR
Special Teams: Yatkowski 1/1 FG 7/7XP 9KO 8TB, Christodoulou 1Pt 35Yds, Greenwood 2KR 76Yds 6PR 63Yds, Allison 1KR 2Yds
Passing: Ward 20/25 195 1Int
Rushing: Glenn 3/24, Ward 15/-2 1TD, Moody 1/-4
Receiving: Merrill 3/66, Mays 2/30, Moody 6/29, Glenn 5/28, Spencer 2/27, McClain 2/15
Tackles: Fruge 9, Jones 7, Barrett 6
Sacks: Fontenot 1
Takeaways: Barrett 1Int, Whitefield 1FF
Special Teams: Snyder 1/1FG 1/1XP 3KO 0TB, Frazier 6Pt 255Yds, Lemon 1KR 42Yds 1PR 10Yds
Coach Davis' Players of the Game
QB Jordan McAlary | DE Curtis Bolden
Next Game
4-5(3-3) | 9-1(6-0)
Saturday November 11th 2017 12:30PM