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The South Alabama Jaguars are 1-6 against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns since November of 2015, but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. South Alabama and Louisiana will face off in a Sun Belt battle at 5 p.m. ET at Cajun Field. The Jaguars won't have the home-field advantage, but they do enjoy a 9-point advantage in the spread.
South Alabama took their game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs last week by a conclusive 38-14 score. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point South Alabama had established a 31-7 advantage. They can attribute much of their success to RB La'Damian Webb, who snatched one receiving TD, and QB Carter Bradley, who passed for three TDs and 178 yards on 21 attempts.
South Alabama's defense was a force to be reckoned with, as it collected four interceptions and one fumble. S Yam Banks picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown.
The Ragin' Cajuns suffered a bitter loss last week, failing to capitalize on an early lead against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. Louisiana was within a late touchdown of stealing the win, but they took the "L" against Louisiana-Monroe 21-17. Louisiana didn't live up to their potential and found themselves falling short of the 9.5-point advantage oddsmakers thought they had coming into the game. Despite the defeat, they had strong showings from QB Chandler Fields, who passed for one TD and 231 yards on 34 attempts in addition to rushing for one TD and 31 yards, and WR Michael Jefferson, who was on the other end of that TD and tacked on 105 yards receiving. That receiving effort made it the first game that Jefferson has posted more than 100 yards receiving.
South Alabama is now 3-1 while Louisiana sits at 2-2. A pair of defensive stats to keep an eye on: The Jaguars enter the matchup having picked the ball off five times, good for 20th in the nation. But the Ragin' Cajuns are even better: they enter the matchup having picked the ball off nine times, good for second in the nation. We'll see if that edge gives Louisiana a route to victory.
