MOBILE, Ala. — Louisiana-Lafayette freshman quarterback Levi Lewis, making the first start of his career, threw two first-half touchdown passes and ran for 129 yards, and the Ragin’ Cajuns held on to beat South Alabama 19-14 Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
The loss dropped South Alabama to 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the Sun Belt Conference.
A Surprise Starter
Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth removed Lewis’ redshirt this week with two quarterbacks dealing with injuries. Lewis completed 8 of 15 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 129 yards.
“We found out today that he was going to play and had no idea about that in our preparation,” South Alabama coach Joey Jones said. “They changed up their offense a little bit with a little bit more of a quarterback running game. I thought our defense adjusted well once we got to see what they were doing with him in the first half.”
Cajuns Build Early Lead
Louisiana-Lafayette kicked a first-quarter field goal and then scored on a 54-yard pass from Lewis to Jacquet, who got behind a defender who had moved up in run support. The extra point was missed, leaving the score 9-0.
On the next possession, the Cajuns drove to the South Alabama 13, and Lewis rolled right and threw a touchdown pass to Chase Rogers for a 16-0 lead. Another field goal made it 19-0 with 3:10 left before halftime.
South Alabama answered behind Cole Garvin, who opened the drive with four straight completions and finished it with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Malik Stanley on an inside slant with 38 seconds left in the half.
Defense Adjusts, Offense Stalls
The Jaguar defense held Louisiana-Lafayette scoreless in the second half and limited the Cajuns to 109 total yards after halftime, 81 rushing and 28 passing.
South Alabama’s offense could not close the gap. Dallas Davis started at quarterback but took several hard hits, and Garvin replaced him. Garvin completed 22 of 35 passes for 274 yards but threw two interceptions in Louisiana-Lafayette territory. The second came early in the fourth quarter at the Cajun 4-yard line, after an 81-yard completion from Garvin to Jamarius Way, when a pass was tipped by a Jaguar receiver and intercepted.
The Jaguars scored on a drive of just under two and a half minutes late in the game to pull within five, but their onside kick attempt was unsuccessful.
Shorthanded Backfield
Jones announced Saturday that senior running back Xavier Johnson had been suspended for the rest of the season for a violation of team rules. Deonta Moore was also unavailable, leaving the running back duties to Tra Minter, Carlos Robinson and Denzel Foster.
South Alabama’s running backs combined for 95 yards on 21 carries. Including sacks and quarterback scrambles, the Jaguars finished with 87 rushing yards on 29 attempts after losing 42 yards on sacks.
What They Said
Jones pointed to slow starts. “We had a fumble on the ground in the fourth quarter that we had our hands on that would have given us the ball around midfield. I think right now the biggest concentration for us though is to be able to come out of the gates better. We can’t play catch up,” he said. “The last two games we got behind early and had to play catch up and if you miss a couple of plays here and there you’re going to lose ball games.”
“It’s tough,” Jones said. “We knew it was going to be a big game for us and a big game for them. We didn’t come out of the gate very well only scoring seven points until a minute left in the game on offense; we’ve got to do better than that.”
“We just have to work on not breaking our own momentum,” Garvin said. “We had momentum a lot that game, and the offense would mess it up for ourselves and that hurt us. Getting in the red zone and not scoring – we have to stop doing that.”
Senior defensive back Jeremy Reaves described Lewis as “more versatile” and “better with his feet.” “We were prepared for deep balls, but with him being so small he couldn’t see over the line of scrimmage so everything was outside,” Reaves said. “He gave us a different look; he was a running back, basically, at quarterback.”
Reaves took responsibility for one of the touchdown passes. “I was trying to do someone else’s job and essentially lost my man,” he said. “I put that on the seniors; we’re the leaders and we’re responsible for that. We have to get that corrected.”
“Early on, there were just mental busts that happened and got them ahead,” said Darrell Songy. “As we got into the game, we felt more into position and adjusted to the quarterback. But it was just too little too late.”
Up Next
South Alabama must win its final three games to become bowl eligible. The stretch begins next Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium against Arkansas State, which is 5-0 all-time against the Jaguars and has won the Sun Belt title in three of the last four seasons.
“We’ll line up and get ready to play, I promise you,” Jones said. “Arkansas State has got a really good football team, but we still need to get ready to play. … It’s certainly backed up against the wall for us right now.”
Update: Pregame Notes
Both teams entered the game after extended breaks. South Alabama had nine days to prepare after a loss at Georgia State in which the Jaguars rushed for 41 yards on 23 carries and threw two interceptions, including one on the second play from scrimmage that was returned inside the South Alabama 10 and led to an early Panthers touchdown. Louisiana-Lafayette had 16 days off following a 47-3 loss at Arkansas State.
The Ragin’ Cajuns came in averaging 160 rushing yards and 229 passing yards per game and had scored on all 28 of their red zone trips this season, with 25 touchdowns and three field goals. Freshman running back Trey Ragas had 542 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns entering the game.
Richard Owens has taken over as South Alabama’s offensive coordinator, and Jaguars punter Corliss Waitman is a candidate for the Ray Guy Award, presented to the nation’s top punter.
