UL Athletics
LAFAYETTE – Bill Davis rushed for a career-high 132 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns while Louisiana piled up 315 yards on the ground to power past McNeese 34-10 Saturday night before an announced crowd of 26,071 at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.
Louisiana (1-1) scored 10 unanswered points in the final 1:06 of the opening half to take a 17-7 lead at halftime and used a 17-point fourth quarter to pull away from a 17-10 battle against I-10 rival McNeese (1-1).
“I’m proud of our team,” head coach Michael Desormeaux said. Last week we got gut-punched, and it was a game that we certainly expected to win. We had plenty of opportunities and didn’t do enough to finish.
“It’s a fine line you have to walk after a game like that with your team. I think our coaching staff did a phenomenal job (this week) of pushing them through it, and our team responded the right way.”
Louisiana wasted no time in scoring as Robert Williams ran the opening kickoff back 50 yards to the McNeese 46 and Davis scored five plays later on a 6-yard run for a 7-0 lead.
McNeese answered on its opening drive with a 55-yard pass from James Strong to Joshua Jackson to the UL 25 before Devin Lippold scored on a 2-yard run to cap a 5-play, 80-yard drive.
The Cowboys threatened to take the lead late in the second quarter, driving to the UL 26 before Jalen Clark picked off Strong at the UL 9 to stop the drive.
Louisiana would drive 91 yards in six plays as the Ragin’ Cajuns were aided by a pass interference penalty on the first play of the drive before Daniel Beale scrambled for a 22-yard gain on third-and-10 to the UL 46. Zylan Perry would gain 18 yards to the McNeese 36 before Davis scored two plays later for a 14-7 lead.
After McNeese was forced to punt on its ensuing drive which began at their own 2, the Ragin’ Cajuns drove 35 yards to the Cowboy 21 before Tony Sterner kicked a 38-yard field goal at the buzzer for a 17-7 lead at halftime.
McNeese, which was held to 47 yards on the ground, closed to within 17-10 on Fabrizio Pinton’s 45-yard field goal with 11:50 remaining in the third quarter before Louisiana would put the game away in the fourth.
Sterner, who missed his first two attempts from 28 and 53 yards, connected on a 37-yard field goal with 10:41 remaining for a 20-10 lead before Beale tossed his first career touchdown with a 10-yard strike to Landon Baptiste for a 27-10 lead with 3:48 left.
Redshirt freshman Steven Blanco scored one play after Louisiana’s Ashton Wright recovered a Strong fumble at the McNeese 34.
Perry added 94 rushing yards for Louisiana while Blanco chipped in with 69 on six carries. Beale, replacing injured starter Walker Howard and making his first collegiate start, finished 14 of 22 for 86 yards with a touchdown while gaining 18 yards on three attempts.
Maurion Eleam led Louisiana with six tackles with Terrence Williams adding five. Courtline Flowers and Caleb Kibodi had four stops each for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Kibodi recording his first career sack.
Strong completed 19 of 30 passes for 191 yards for McNeese with Jackson hauling in four catches for 83 yards.
Louisiana will travel the next two weekends, beginning with a non-conference matchup on Saturday at Missouri (2-0). Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network +. The Ragin’ Cajuns will then travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., to face Mid-American Conference member Eastern Michigan (0-2) to wrap up non-conference play on September 20.
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