Rewind: Louisiana vs. Georgia Southern

Wait.  Did the Cajuns play last week?

Unfortunately, the game against Georgia Southern was an afterthought after the controversial locker room video was made public the day of the game.

And, that's too bad.  Because it was perhaps the Cajuns' best performance of the year.

Here's some good and bad from the Louisiana win.

THE GOOD

LET'S START UP FRONT--The Cajuns' offensive line has been much maligned this year, and, at times, rightfully so.  But not Thursday.  The Cajuns had time to throw the deep ball, opened holes for the running backs and running quarterbacks, and did not allow a sack. And, that was without their starting right tackle.  A big step forward.

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD--The Cajuns played three quarterbacks and two of them shone brightly.  Anthony Jennings was nominated for SBC Player of the Week after a solid performance where he accounted for 300 yards in offense.  He ran the ball better than he has all year and his passes (thanks to good protection) were on point.  Dion Ray showed why there are many who think highly of him.  He didn't throw the football, but ran very effectively.  Unfortunately, Jordan Davis lost a fumble on his only play of the game.  And, things like that will put you further behind in coaches' minds.

HELLO DEFENSE--Georgia Southern doesn't run the football as much or as effectively as they have in the past.  Thursday, they couldn't run it at all.  The Cajuns defense smothered Matt Breida the entire night.  Sure, there were some injuries to the Eagles' offense.  You still gotta play.  And, you still gotta make plays on defense.  The Cajuns did.  The Eagles had some success on quick slant plays.  But even those weren't all that effective in the fourth quarter.

YEOMAN'S WORK--Elijah McGuire keeps going out and giving everything he has.  And despite his injury, he still has a lot.  McGuire was the Cajuns leading receiver with six catches on Thursday.  And, he got some tough yards running the football.  Pay attention to this guy.  We're gonna miss him.  A lot

MORE PAGES IN THE PLAYBOOK--The Cajuns took more shots downfield, ran the quarterback more, gave Dion Ray extended playing time and threw a touchdown pass out of the wildcat formation with Al Riles.  And, many are asking, where has that been all year.  My guess is the staff saw the offensive line could have a really good day and game planned accordingly.  Regardless, it was really good to see.

THE BAD

CAN'T GET TO THE QUARTERBACK--Even when the Cajuns blitzed they weren't able to get to freshman Seth Shuman.  The quick passing game had something to do with that.  But even when they were running something other than a quick slant, the Cajuns couldn't record a sack.  That was a surprise.

DON'T DROP THE POTATO--As noted above, the one offensive blemish was Jordan Davis' fumble in the red zone when the Cajuns were headed for a score.  It was the only turnover of the night.  But if you're the future of this team at quarterback, you just can't do that.  Davis didn't play again in the game.  He had a chance to instill confidence with the coaching staff.  Didn't happen.

NO TURNOVERS...AGAIN--The Cajuns' defense still can't get a takeaway, and their failure to be able to do that has cost them at least two wins this year.  Not much else to say about it.  It's a chord that has been struck for two years now.  And, that's a shame, because Mike Lucas is doing a helluva job as defensive coordinator.

NOTHING SPECIAL--A kickoff return for GS to the 40 yard line. Two kickoff returns that put the Cajuns in a deep hole, And, while there were four times GS had to start deep in its own territory because of good punts, the Cajuns had one blocked which gave life to the Eagles in the fourth quarter.  Better special teams play could have made this a 20 point win.