Louisiana wants to open the Michael Desormeaux era's fifth season with a statement. Lamar just finished ranked 24th nationally and isn't walking into Cajun Field to be anyone's warm-up act.
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LAMUL
LAMUL
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Best BetLouisiana
Louisiana's roster advantage as the Sun Belt's preseason No. 2 in the West should be plenty to handle a Southland opponent at home, even one as good as Lamar was last year. The Cajuns have the healthier quarterback situation and the talent gap that usually shows up against FCS competition in Week 0.
Lamar
+8-5 finish, FCS playoff berth last season
+beat ranked South Dakota and SE Louisiana
+7-game win streak, longest since 1971
−lost season opener at FBS North Texas last year
−steps up in class against Sun Belt roster
Louisiana
+picked 2nd in Sun Belt West preseason poll
+Winfield healthy after offseason ankle surgery
+Desormeaux enters 5th year with continuity
−finished 6-7 with 4th straight bowl loss
−3 turnovers doomed them in last outing
−coach says team still finding consistency
This is the kind of opener that looks like a gimme on paper and isn't. Louisiana is the Sun Belt's preseason pick to finish second in the West, with a healthy Lunch Winfield at quarterback and a roster Desormeaux believes can finally push past bowl eligibility. Lamar, meanwhile, is coming off the best season in program history, an 8-5 finish that included an FCS playoff berth and wins over ranked FCS opponents South Dakota and Southeastern Louisiana.
The Cajuns know this trap game feeling already. Last season they stumbled to a 6-7 finish and closed with their fourth straight bowl loss, a 20-13 defeat to Delaware in which three turnovers wrecked a second-half comeback. Winfield threw for 231 yards in that bowl game and underwent ankle surgery in January, and he says he's fully built back up for a season Desormeaux wants to open clean, not sloppy.
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LAM Lamar
UL Louisiana
Lamar has some scar tissue of its own here. The Cardinals opened last season with a loss at FBS North Texas before ripping off a seven-game win streak, the program's longest since 1971. Head coach Pete Rossomando has now delivered back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 57 years at Lamar, and this group knows exactly what it's like to lose an FBS opener and still have the season turn out fine.
Lamar Cardinals
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Recent form.
The matchup on paper favors the roster with more scholarships and depth, and Louisiana should have the horses to control this one at home. But Lamar isn't the overmatched Southland team that gets run off the field by Week 2 — this is a squad that just beat a ranked FCS opponent by two scores and trusts its two-quarterback continuity heading into the fall.
Lamar Cardinals
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
For Louisiana, the story of the opener is really about answering last year's finish. Desormeaux has said this team reminds him of his 2023 group, which suggests he sees talent that hasn't yet found its consistency. A clean, turnover-free win here would be the exact kind of start the Cajuns didn't get a chance to build on last December.
