The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs play their first Sun Belt Conference game Saturday against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+).
Louisiana Tech (2-2) is coming off a 31-29 home victory over Army West Point. Louisiana (4-1, 1-0) defeated Arkansas State 23-20 at home last Saturday.
This is the 88th meeting between the teams. It’s the first since Louisiana Tech won 43-14 at home in 2015.
During his Monday press conference, Louisiana Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie described the Cajuns as “a 4-1 UL Lafayette team that is really good.”
“They play the game fast on offense,” he said. “Lunch Winnfield is a competitor. He’s a winner. He’s an incredible quarterback. He makes it go for them.
“You look across their roster and they have a lot of players that have been in their program for a long time. It’s a testament to Coach (Michael) Desormeaux. It’s a testament to their ability to retain players and keep them there for multiple years.”
Winnfield, a redshirt junior from Lutcher, has been the starter since the midpoint of last season.
He has completed 83-of-110 passes for 844 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. He also leads the team in rushing with 364 yards on 69 carries and seven touchdowns.
Louisiana is averaging 378.8 yards per game (199.6 rushing, 179.2 passing).
Including Winnfield, the Cajuns have five players with at least 100 yards rushing.
“They’ve been able to control the football and part of it is their running backs and part of it is their quarterback,” Cumbie said. “Their offensive line is very effective.”
Louisiana is allowing just 267.2 yards per game (91.4 rushing, 175.8 passing).
“Defensively, they’re playing really well,” Cumbie said. “They create different looks, very multiple up front. They’re very athletic, very fast. From a secondary standpoint they’ve got some of the best cover guys we’ve seen this year. They change their looks in the secondary as much as they do up front. So you’re going to have to have a great plan offensively and defensively get stops in the run game.”
One of the Cajuns’ top defensive players is former Haughton star linebacker Jake St. Andre.
A redshirt senior, St. Andre ranks fourth on the team with 17 solo tackles and nine assists. He has three tackles for loss and one interception.
Blake Baker is returning as the starter at quarterback for Louisiana Tech. He suffered a hand injury in Week 2 against LSU and sat out the Bulldogs’ third game against Baylor.
Trey Kukuk started against Baylor and Army West Point. He suffered an ankle sprain on the last series against Army. Baker replaced him and threw one pass.
The Bulldogs are averaging 383 yards per game (167 rushing, 207 passing).
Dylone Brooks had 200 all-purpose yards against Army. He ran 72 yards for a touchdown and caught a 74-yard pass from Marcus Calais Jr. on a double-pass play.
Linebackers Kolbe Fields and Jadon Mayfield leads the defense with 31 total tackles each. Linebacker Alonzo Jackson Jr., a former Haynesville star, has a team-high 7.0 tackles for loss and four sacks.