For the first time this season, both offense and defense for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns played a complete game when it mattered most. The Cajuns beat the Jaguars 31-22 this past Saturday in a game where bowl eligibility was at stake. Louisiana’s struggles this season has been costly. From poor QB play and an injured offensive line to poor coverage and tackling on defense allowing big plays, it has been a difficult stretch for Coach Des and company who came into this season with arguably the highest expectations of any Cajuns football season prior. Unfortunately, they found themselves at 2-6 and right on the verge of losing bowl eligibility coming into this game. But on Saturday, the team finally found a spark not just on one side, but both sides of the ball, that allowed them to take a nice lead early in the game big enough to where they kept it through the end even after a comeback attempt by South Alabama. Here are my final takeaways on the game: 1. Cajuns offense finally had a really good and consistent game. The Cajuns have struggled on offense way more than anyone would’ve thought they would this season. The run game has been the sole bright spot on this side of the football, with the passing game being very subpar and inconsistent. Turnovers and inability to take advantage of red zone trips has been the story of this offense’s struggles. On Saturday, however, everything seemed to click very well. Despite many players being out due to injuries, the team played a clean game free of turnovers and filled with big plays. Both the passing with Lunch Winfield and running games by Bill Davis and Zylan Perry was excellent, and the team only had to punt the ball 3 times. As a matter of fact, they did not punt the ball at all in the first half, scoring on all four of their possessions which allowed them to carry a 24-7 lead going into half. I’m going to give extensive credit to the offensive line, who we all know has struggled with an abundance of injuries this season, for allowing the offense to play and move well. Six offensive linemen were ruled out for this game, including three who have been starters this season. Only one sack was allowed Saturday against South Alabama. The team was also without starting TE Caden Jensen, but Brock Chappell took over very well, with 44 yards on just 2 receptions. 2. Shelton Sampson is finally playing the way we all expected he would. Things did not start off well this season for WR Shelton Sampson Jr., who only pulled in 7 of the 25 targets thrown to him in the first four games of the season. He was then sidelined for over a month with a hamstring injury suffered against Eastern Michigan. Sampson came back against Troy last week, leading all UL receivers in the game with 5 catches for 74 yards and his first touchdown reception of the season. Then on Saturday, he came down with 6 receptions and a whopping 138 yards to show for it (the most of any UL receiver this season), along with 2 touchdowns. He only had one drop, which came on a play that probably should’ve been called defensive pass interference. It’s been a sensational last two games and a comeback after injury for Sampson, making even the toughest of catches. Cajuns fans are excited to see him back and finally playing the way everyone knew he’s capable of, and he played a big role in Saturday's win over the Jaguars. 3. Lunch Winfield’s sensational performance made for a historical day in UL football history. From an overall perspective, QB Lunch Winfield has not looked entirely good passing the ball for the Cajuns ever since he led the team to a convincing second half comeback against Marshall. He came into this game with only a 54% completion in the previous three starts and averaging 180 yards per game through the air. To shoot him some credit, however, he has been the team’s leading rusher in the last four games prior to this game, averaging nearly 100 yards per game. On Saturday, he finished with 232 yards passing on just 14 completions, along with the 2 touchdowns passes to Sampson. What made this game really special, and historic, for Lunch was that he only threw one incompletion, finishing the day 14/15. That made for a 93.3% completion game, which breaks UL’s single-game record for best completion percentage (previously held by Chandler Fields when he went 18/20 [90%] against ULM in 2023). To Winfield’s credit, that lone incompletion came on a deep pass to Sampson that, as mentioned earlier, probably should've been called pass interference. The defender’s hand was grabbing on Sampson’s jersey by the inside of his shoulder pads as he went up to catch the ball. Regardless, excellent performance by Lunch on Saturday in making decisive plays to keep the ball safe and moving. Not to mention he did run for 45 yards and a touchdown as well. 4. Defense stepped up big-time when needed. The Cajuns defense played very well in the first half of the game where UL powered themselves to a 24-7 lead going into the half. They allowed only a total of 126 total yards in the first two quarters, helping the Cajuns offense control ball possession 18:44 to 11:16. Most notably, the defense triumphed big with a huge goal line stop late in the fourth quarter as South Alabama tried to rally a second-half comeback. Not to mention, the defense sealed off the victory with an interception by LB Jaden Dugger. This is a defense that has had some inconsistency in defending both the pass and run from time to time. Defending the run has been a key issue, where they allow 200 yards per game, and defending the pass against Sun Belt quarterbacks, albeit improved against Troy last week, has been subpar as well. Tackling was also an issue for the team as well, which allowed for big plays by opponents. That has improved as the course of the season played out, and the performance in this game showed a lot of that improvement. The Cajuns will be back home this upcoming Saturday at 4pm to face 3-5 (0-4 in conference) Texas State in what will be the final game between the two before the Bobcats ship away to the new Pac-12 Conference. Louisiana is 12-0 and undefeated against Texas State, a matchup that has been played yearly since 2013. UL looks to keep that streak going as they find a way to keep their 7-year bowl eligible streak going. Check out my sports talk show, Cajun Sports Talk, where my co-host and betting expert Banyan Turner and I cover the hottest sports topics from Cajun Country and beyond! We go live on our YouTube channel Tuesdays at 5pm CT. We are a proud member of The Kneaux. Check us out!