Business Trip to Houston The Southeastern Lions stayed hot over the weekend, defeating the Houston Christian Huskies 38-14 on the road in Houston. With the win, the Lions improved to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in Southland Conference play, extending their winning streak and increasing their chances at sole ownership of the Southland Conference.
The Game After back-to-back shutouts, the No. 19 Southeastern Lions (5–2, 3–0 SLC) travel to Houston to face the Houston Christian Huskies (2–5, 1–2 SLC) in what could be a pivotal matchup in the Southland Conference race. The Lions currently sit neck and neck with Stephen F. Austin and Lamar for control of the conference and an automatic FCS playoff bid. Many believe the Southland could be a two-bid league this year, making every game from here out crucial, and every bit of fan support essential, as the Lions push toward the final stretch of this season. There are two more home games against ETAMU and Nicholls this year. As Coach Frank Scelfo said this week, “I know this, playing in our conference week in and week out, you’ve got to bring your best game. You can’t just think it’s going to happen. You’ve got to play well.” That mentality has defined this team’s recent run and will be vital as they try to maintain control of their postseason destiny. In a fan poll I conducted this week on X (@LionUpLeBlanc), 45% of voters predicted a third straight shutout for the Lions, while 36% expected a decisive win that fell just short of a shutout. Only 18% thought the game would be close, and not a single vote went to an HCU upset. The fanbase has made it clear: confidence in this team is at an all-time high.
Homecoming in Hammond, America The SLU Lions put on a show for the Homecoming crowd Saturday night at Strawberry Stadium, dominating Northwestern State 49–0 in the 70th meeting between the longtime rivals. The win marked Southeastern’s 15th straight victory in the series, pushing their all-time record against the Demons to 41–29. The Lions were in control from the start, scoring 7 total touchdowns and piling up 402 yards of total offense while holding Northwestern State to just 120 total yards. Quarterbacks Kyle Lowe and Carson Camp combined for 220 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air, while Southeastern’s rushing attack added 182 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Brandon Hayes got a touchdown for the special teams as well with an 83 yard kickoff return. The win capped off a festive Homecoming weekend in Hammond, America. Friendship Circle was packed for the tailgate, where fans enjoyed live music from The Chee Weez, food vendors, and a great homecoming parade celebrating the Lion Up Community. Many alumni and students made their way from the tailgate into Strawberry Stadium to witness the Lions’ most dominant performance of the season. As an alum myself, I loved seeing the University buy into the Homecoming festivities this year with great entertainment and an electric atomosphere. Head Coach Frank Scelfo emphasized earlier in the week how important homecoming is for the university, noting that for many alumni, this is the only game of the year they get to attend. After the game, he praised his team for delivering for the homecoming crowd and giving our fans something to be proud of. Lion Up LeBlanc’s Players of the Game Offense – Deantre “The Jet” Jackson: Jackson continued to live up to his nickname, finding the end zone three times. Deantre had two touchdowns on the ground and one through the air, totaling 67 yards on just a handful of touches. His early spark set the tone for a long night for the Demon defense. Defense – Jakyri Jones: Jones anchored the Lion defense with seven total tackles (four solo), helping lead a unit that forced five sacks and nine tackles for loss. Southeastern’s defense suffocated the Demons all evening, allowing only 24 rushing yards on 30 attempts. Looking Ahead As impressive as the atmosphere was, I can only hope this energy carries beyond homecoming weekend. The Lions have proven they can contend with anyone in the FCS, and if they continue to play like this, more alumni and students should want to pack Strawberry Stadium every single home game. The Lions are putting an exceptional product on the field, it's our time to do our part as fans to match that energy, fill the stands, and keep the train rolling! Next up, Southeastern (5–2, 3–0 Southland) hits the road for another conference matchup against Houston Christian University. Stay tuned for my pre-game report later this week. Where to find me? X: @LionUpLeBlanc You can also see me on the weekly Louisian Gameday show, previewing all the College Football in Louisiana! LION UP!
When: Saturday, October 18th, 2025, 11:00 AM Where: FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, TN Channel: ABC Spread: Vanderbilt -2.5 O/U: 47.5 The Tigers will be playing Saturday morning in Music City. This matchup will tell us a lot! Vanderbilt, 5-1 (1-1), is entering into this contest coming off of a bye week. Vandy does appear to be a little beat up. Keep an eye out for this. The Commodores have the 4th best rushing offense in the SEC as well as the 5th best total offense in the SEC. Diego Pavia is the leader of this team. Pavia has over 1400 passing yards, over 300 rushing yards, and 16 total TDs. Sedrick Alexander and Makihilyn Young are the leaders in the running back room. The leading pass catchers are Eli Stowers, Junior Sherrill, and Tre Richardson. The defense is led by safety CJ Heard, edge rusher Miles Capers, and Bryan Longwell. This isn't your grandpa's, your dad's, nor your Vanderbilt. This is a high strung team. The Tigers are in for a fight. LSU, 5-1 (2-1), enters the contest coming off of a big win against South Carolina. Garrett Nussmeier appears to be healthy. The ball really jumped off of his hand last week. The Tiger signal caller will look to cut back on the interceptions. Caden Durham and Ju'Juan Johnson will take care of the backfield duties for the Tigers. Both Durham and Johnson had solid games last week. The offensive line will look to build off of the momentum from last week. Trey'Dez Green had a great game last week. It will be interesting to see how the Tigers use Green. Kyle Parker has stepped up big time in recent weeks. I would like to see Parker continue to be involved. Aaron Anderson appears to be good to go for this one. This is huge for the Tigers. The Tiger defense is a solid unit with talent at all 3 levels. Jacobian Guillory is the leader on the line. Whit Weeks, who is a bit dinged up, is the leader in the linebacker room. Tamarcus Cooley and AJ Haulcy are the leaders in the defensive backfield, but this defensive backfield is LOADED with talent! KEYS TO THE GAME - The Tigers shut down Diego Pavia last year. This defense had practice last week facing LaNorris Sellers. Let's see if the Tigers can make Pavia one dimensional. - Can the Tiger defense get off the field on 3rd down? - Can the Tigers keep the running game going? This will be a perfect way to start the day, Tiger fans. This looks to be a great game. Fun Fact: The 1st time these teams met was in 1902. LSU finished the season 6-1 with the only loss being to Vanderbilt. The Tigers went on to capture a co-conference championship. Follow me on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) @eazytro
The Tigers move to 5-1 on the season, 2-1 in SEC play. LSU goes 3 and out on the opening drive of the game. LaNorris Sellers fumbles on the 1st play of South Carolina's opening drive. Tigers recover the fumble. LSU goes on a 4 play 7 yard drive that is capped off by a Damian Ramos 28 yard field goal. LSU 3-0. South Carolina puts together a 9 play 46 yard drive, but William Joyce misses a 47 yard field goal. LSU puts together a strong 13 play 71 yard drive, but Ju'Juan Johnson fumbles. South Carolina recovers the fumble. South Carolina takes advantage by going on a 3 play 80 yard drive that was capped off by a Matt Fuller 72 yard rushing TD. SC 7-3. LSU punches back with a 6 play 72 yard drive that was capped off by a Trey'Dez Green 6 yard receiving TD. LSU 10-7. The teams trade punts. Then the quarterbacks trade interceptions. The teams trade punts again. South Carolina runs out the 1st half. South Carolina opens the 2nd half with an 11 play 46 yard drive that was capped off by a William Joyce 47 yard field goal. Tied 10-10. LSU responds with a 4 play 75 yard drive that was capped off by a Kyle Parker 43 yard receiving TD. LSU 17-10. South Carolina goes 3 and out. Garrett Nussmeier throws an interception. The teams trade punts. South Carolina turns the ball over on downs. LSU takes advantage by going on a 10 play 64 yard drive that was capped off by a Damian Ramos 22 yard field goal. LSU 20-10. South Carolina turns the ball over on downs. LSU kneels out the clock. Tigers win! LSU 20, South Carolina 10. Takeaways - The turnovers, especially in the end zone, have to be talked about. - This defense will keep LSU in games. This offense has to pull their weight. - TREY'DEZ GREEN!! Awards - Offensive MVP - Trey'Dez Green - This guy stepped up big time tonight. Hopefully this is a preview of things to come! - Defensive MVP - AJ Haulcy - This guy is climbing draft boards every week. Take it in, Tiger fans! The Tigers travel to Music City to take on Vanderbilt Saturday morning. Thank you for checking out my article. Follow me on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) @eazytro
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team have now fallen to 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in conference play after losing 24-14 to the James Madison Dukes in Harrisonburg, VA. This was the first-ever meeting between the Cajuns and the Dukes. Coming into this game, the Cajuns were 18.5-point underdogs against a James Madison team that was 4-1 on the season and ranked 4th nationally in total defense. QB Lunch Winfield made his debut collegiate start in this game after leading an impressive second-half comeback against Marshall a couple weeks ago when he replaced then-starter Daniel Beale. But while sportsbooks had JMU winning this game in blowout fashion, the Cajuns kept the game close, as neither team led by more than seven points at any point up until the final three minutes. FINAL TAKEAWAYS 1. Lunch Winfield brought the passing game to some sort of life. Prior to this game, UL averaged 122 yards per game through the air and only had three passing touchdowns through five games. Today, Lunch aired it out for 243 yards and two passing touchdowns on just 14 completions, coming out to a nice 17.4 yards per completion. While he did finish with a 50% completion rate (14/28), it is still an impressive stat line given that JMU came into this game ranked 8th nationally in passing yards allowed (137.4 ypg). Not to mention, this was the most yards allowed through the air by the Dukes this season (the most prior to this game was last week at Georgia State who put up 212 yards passing). JMU did not fare well today in pass defense, leaving receivers open multiple times, and Lunch took advantage of those mistakes. That being said, there were some questionable "toss-up" throws he made that could have went either way (similar to what Jameis Winston did in NOLA), but nonetheless, there is an improvement in the passing game compared to where this team was at the start of the season. And it is not necessarily a bad thing, as Lunch appears to have faith in his receivers, and so do the coaching staff. As long as the Cajuns continue to work their craft through the air, they should be just fine for the rest of the season, assuming everyone stays healthy and this offensive line, which is banged up (and potentially lost another body for some time after starting LG Kaden Moreau left with an injury), can get some bodies back. But they are still far from perfect. 2. Tackling continues to be an issue for the Cajuns. While this was not as big of an issue for defense as it was for special teams (particularly punt team) today, this is something the Cajuns have struggled with all season long. Not including those that may have went over my mind, there were two notable Cajuns punts today where the JMU returner broke 3+ tackles each time and gained significant yardage. We all hoped the team would use the bye week to improve wrapping-up players and tackling better, but the issues still persisted today. There was improvement, as the Cajuns defense did better with tackling and not allowing big plays after contact, per say. But overall, it has been a concerning spot all season for the Cajuns, and there were some glimpses of that yet again today. 3. Cajuns defense slowly showing improvement but still needs lots of work. UL's defense has been on a decline all season, and as a whole came in today as statistically one of the worst in the country. Though there are some positives to take from today's game. Prior to playing Marshall a couple weeks ago, this secondary allowed an average of only 160 yards per game through the air, which was top 25 nationally. Ever since, they have been exposed twice in a row, with big games allowed against Marshall's QB Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (258 yards) and now JMU's QB Alonza Barnett III (290 yards). However, despite the numbers saying otherwise, it looked worse against Marshall than it did today against JMU. The difference between the two is that against Marshall, receivers were consistently being left open, whereas against JMU, there was better awareness and coverage. Not to mention a big chunk of Barnett's 290 yards came from a flea flicker trick play on the opening play of the second half for a 62-yard touchdown. Still, this isn't to mention, however, that JMU was a run-heavy team coming into this game, not a passing team by any means. 63% of their total offensive yards prior to today came from their strong running attack. The Cajuns need to figure something out defensively to slow down passing games, and it undoubtedly became more concerning after allowing a run-heavy team to pass very well today. So far through two conference games, they are on pace to being one of the worst passing defenses in the country. As far as the run game, the Cajuns showed improvement, allowing 187 rushing yards. Now, by no means is that a stat to highlight on a defense's resume. But UL came into this game ranked 6th worst in the country in rushing defense (allowing 221.6 ypg), while JMU was 10th best in rushing offense (averaging 241.6 ypg). If anything, the indications pointed towards a huge running attack for the Dukes going up against a really poor Cajuns defensive front. Prior to this game, the only time JMU ran for less than 210 yards was against a really good Louisville defense when the Dukes were limited to just 126 yards on a whopping 47 attempts. Today, even though they ran pretty well, the Dukes had to rely a lot on the passing game to move the ball, which as mentioned above, is completely opposite of what their norm is (60% of their yards today came through the air). 4. Banged up offensive line situation just keeps getting worse. UL had three offensive linemen out for this game due to injury, and they lost another one halfway through the game as starting LG Kaden Moreau went down with an apparent leg injury. The exact diagnosis and his status for future games are still undetermined, but that now puts the Cajuns at two starting offensive linemen now potentially being out against Southern Miss (the other is RT George Jackson who was already ruled out for the game and likely to miss the rest of the season). The struggles were apparent in the game as not only were the Cajuns unable to run the ball well, only gaining 45 yards on 28 carries (QB Lunch Winfield was the leading rusher with 23 yards), but there was also lots of pressure on Lunch during pass attempts that increasingly got worse as the game progressed. Leading RB Zylan Perry was out with an injury, so he did not play. Overall The team is still continuing to show lots of inconsistency, and a lot of it has to do with injuries and poor execution. As mentioned earlier, this is a really good James Madison team, and this game was going to be a tough one to win in the first place. That being said, the fact that the Cajuns were able to keep the game close (only allowed 14 points through three quarters) is a huge positive and a step towards the right direction, but the team is still not where it needs to be. JMU today was flagged ten times for a whopping 102 yards, which played a big role in giving the Cajuns the great field position and scoring opportunities they had. The Ragin' Cajuns will now fly back home to prepare for a homecoming matchup next Saturday at 4pm versus the Southern Miss Eagles in what will be the TRUE rematch of the Sun Belt Conference Championship last season (if you know, you know). We'll see how the Cajuns play against Coach Huff and QB Braylon Braxton, both of whom were at Marshall last season when the Cajuns played them in the conference title game. The Cajuns are now needing to win four of these last six games to earn bowl eligibility. Please don't forget to follow my talk show, Cajun Sports Talk, on X (@CajunSportsTalk) and subscribe to our YouTube (@CajunSportsTalk2025), covering the hottest sports topics in Cajun country and beyond with my co-host and betting expert, Banyan Turner!