The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will kick off their 2026 season this Saturday at 7pm when they host the FCS 14th-ranked Lamar Cardinals at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.

Lamar rolls into Lafayette with some momentum after pulling off a 21-14 upset over Abilene Christian in its season opener this past weekend. The Cardinals entered that game ranked 20th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and as 7.5-point underdogs against the then-15th ranked Wildcats. The victory came largely from winning the turnover battle and capitalizing through the air. Junior quarterback Aiden McCown threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, while the Cardinals’ defense picked off Abilene Christian twice and came up with a late fourth-down stop to seal the win.

That victory moved Lamar up six spots to 14th in the latest FCS rankings as the Cardinals now turn their attention to a familiar foe in the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.

The Sabine River Rivalry

Now, whether you want to consider this a rivalry or not is personal preference, but these two programs have plenty of history with one another. Louisiana and Lamar have played each other 34 times, dating all the way back to 1923. The matchup became an annual meeting from 1965 through 1983, with the two schools sharing the Southland Conference for much of the 1970s while UL was still known as Southwestern Louisiana (USL).

There was even a point where a trophy, known as the “Sabine Shoe,” was awarded to the winner of the matchup. The bronze shoe was named after the Sabine River, which separates Louisiana and Texas, and although the trophy eventually disappeared from the rivalry, it later resurfaced and now sits inside UL’s athletic complex.

And rightly so, that’s probably where it belongs for now. Louisiana currently leads the all-time series 22-12 and has won the last four meetings between the two programs. After their annual meetings came to an end in the early 1980s, the Cajuns and Cardinals met again in 1989 before going more than two decades without playing each other. Their most recent meeting came in 2012, when Louisiana shut out Lamar 40-0 in Lafayette.

Fourteen years later, the Cardinals are back, and this time they come in looking like a much more dangerous season-opening opponent. Lamar is coming off an 8-5 season that ended with an appearance in the FCS playoffs, and Saturday’s win over Abilene Christian was another reminder that this isn’t a team Louisiana should overlook for its annual early-season FCS matchup. This will also be the first time Lamar is ranked nationally when facing Louisiana.

Year 5: A New Season for Desormeaux

For UL, Saturday marks the beginning of year five under head coach Michael Desormeaux and the first real chance to see what this 2026 team actually looks like. Louisiana finished last season 6-7, but the final record doesn’t completely tell the story of how the year played out.

The Cajuns opened the season just 2-6 before putting together four straight wins over South Alabama, Texas State, Arkansas State and UL-Monroe to become bowl eligible. Their season eventually ended with a 20-13 loss to Delaware in the 68 Ventures Bowl, but that late-season stretch at least gave Louisiana something to build on heading into the offseason.

Now the question becomes whether that finish was the beginning of something good, or simply a good month of football at the end of an otherwise frustrating season. Saturday night should give us our first indication, and Cajuns fans are hoping to see positive improvement to what has been a rather disappointing last few seasons. Ever since former UL head coach Billy Napier left for Florida after the 2021 season and Michael Desormeaux took over, the Cajuns only finished with a winning record once (2024).

What does the new version of Lunch Winfield and the wide receiver room look like?

One of the biggest things to watch will obviously be Lunch Winfield. He eventually took over the starting quarterback job during the second half of last season and finished the year with 1,555 passing yards. He enters 2026 with much more experience under his belt, but potentially with a slightly different style of play. Louisiana actually spent much of the offseason working to improve Winfield’s pocket-passing ability and, at times, refrained from letting him rely on his legs as much as he’s been known to.

Winfield’s ability to escape pressure and create something when a play breaks down is part of what made him dangerous last season. But if the Cajuns want to take a step forward offensively, they’re going to need him to win more often from inside the pocket and utilizing his weapons.

Wide receiver Shelton Sampson Jr. returns after leading UL with 537 receiving yards last season following his transfer from LSU. It is important to note that Sampson is freshly coming off a knee injury that sidelined him during fall camp, and he has dealt with other injury issues that limited some of his offseason work. He did, however, return to practice last week and is expected to play against Lamar.

Behind Sampson, Louisiana has some questions that need to be answered. Following the departure of a few key receivers after last season, the Cajuns’ depth at wide receiver lacks true game experience. Outside of tight ends Caden Jensen and Brock Chappell, UL does not have any returning receivers with more than 100 yards receiving last season. For Saturday's game, UL has Shelton Sampson Jr. at the starting X spot, KeDarius Wade and Rahji Dennis at the starting Z spot, and two redshirt freshman in Trenton Chaney and Russell Babineaux at the H slot spot.

Can Louisiana establish the run?

Louisiana’s ability to run the football may be just as important, if not more. The Cajuns, who were predominantly a running team last season, lost their top rushers Bill Davis and Zylan Perry to the portal, so the question this offseason has been who can replace the duo that accounted for roughly 1,500 rushing yards last season.

Darrell Smith enters the season as one of the more interesting players in the backfield after earning preseason All-Sun Belt recognition from Phil Steele. Steven Blanco is also in the mix, as well as JJ Garner and Anthony Raegan Jr. Garner, a redshirt freshman, and Raegan Jr., a junior transfer from Howard, both had promising performances earlier this year in the spring game. So there is no doubt that the Cajuns have decent depth in the running back room. The big question is who will lead the room. All four running backs are currently set to be regularly rotated in against Lamar, with no clear-cut starter set in stone.

Arguably the question of all may be what happens in front of them. We all remember the atrocities the UL offensive line suffered last season with injuries, at one point reaching ten players. The good news is Louisiana brings back a lot of important experience along the offensive line, particularly center Cooper Fordham and right tackle George Jackson, who both received preseason All-Sun Belt recognition. Right guard Matt Broussard, who is a redshirt junior, is also a name the Cajuns are familiar with, having a productive season in 2025 with high grades amid the injuries that surrounded the group.

As of now, from left tackle to right tackle, the Cajuns have redshirt sophomore Zay Alexander (missed last season due to injury), redshirt senior Kaden Moreau (started 11 games in 2025 and had high grades), redshirt junior Cooper Fordham (started 11 games but was injured), redshirt junior Matt Broussard, and redshirt senior George Jackson (missed most of last season due to injury, receiving another year of eligibility).

They lost a few key names to graduation and the portal, but they have quality starting-caliber experience, as well as depth, following last season’s injuries giving way for depth chart players to gain playing time. There are question marks surrounding this group given their previous injury history, but it does give reassurance to know that there is experience there.

The Cardinals allowed Abilene Christian to run for 151 yards at 5.2 yards per carry in their opener, so there should be opportunities for Louisiana to establish the ground game if the offensive line controls the matchup. Lamar was much more effective at creating mistakes through the air, picking off two passes while allowing only 207 passing yards.

For UL, there shouldn’t be any reason to unnecessarily put Winfield in difficult passing situations if the run game is working. But, this offense does need to prove that it can indeed pass the ball. This game would be a great opportunity to showcase what they got.

What does this defense look like?

Defensively, I do not think there are as many question marks here as the offense, but there still needs some proving that needs to be done to fully convince fans that this is a legit group. Louisiana has some big pieces, such as cornerback Brent Gordon Jr., defensive tackle Fitzgerald West Jr. and safety Maurion Eleam, all of whom earned preseason All-Sun Belt recognition. That gives Louisiana some experience at each level, but there are still plenty of questions about how consistent the unit can be. Last season, UL was among one of the worst teams in the country when it came to defensive performance.

The area to watch for on defense this Saturday will be the secondary against McCown. Now he didn’t exactly shred Abilene Christian’s defense. McCown only completing 53% of his passes for 183 yards, which was just enough to get the job done. All three Cardinal touchdowns came through the air, including two to tight end Davin Driskell on short passes. How much of a threat will McCown be to the UL secondary will depend on how prepared the secondary comes in.

One of the strengths Coach Des emphasized this offseason was his defensive line and their response to needing to be physical. From what we saw in the spring, the group appears to be promising, which includes talent in Priest Ashe and Fitzgerald West Jr. If Louisiana can limit the run and force Lamar into obvious passing situations, that should give the Cajuns’ defensive front chances to make McCown uncomfortable.

The biggest concern: Don’t start slow

For much of last season, Louisiana was not able to consistently move the ball through the air and too often found themselves playing from behind. Against a Lamar team that has already played a full game and is coming off a ranked win, a slow start could make things uncomfortable very quickly.

The Cardinals never trailed against Abilene Christian and showed they’re comfortable playing in a close game late into the fourth quarter. They’ve already gone through the first-game nerves, made adjustments and found a way to win under pressure. Louisiana, however, has not yet had that opportunity. And if we remember correctly from last season, their first-game performance at home against Rice was one to forget.

The Cajuns should have the advantage in talent and depth, especially playing at home, but that advantage only matters if they actually show it. It will come down to the Cajuns minimizing on mistakes, being able to move the ball, and having a strong secondary performance. If Louisiana can do those things, this should be a game the Cajuns control. It will not be an easy game like many might think it will be, but it should be one the Cajuns can handle and play comfortably. Best of all, it’s against a quality FCS opponent that will help the Cajuns set up well for the season.

Final Prediction: Louisiana 34, Lamar 13

Making week one predictions after lots of movement in the offseason is always difficult, especially for schools that have suffer the most roster-wise. This UL team especially, there has just been lots of uncertainty this offseason, so I don’t know how confident I am in giving a definitive prediction, even the one I provided here. If I had to pick though, give me the Cajuns to win this one and cover the spread which currently sits at 20.5 in their favor.

Like I said, this won’t be an easy matchup. But I also don’t think Lamar has the weapons to put up more than 2-3 scores against a maturing UL defense. On the flip side, I do think that UL’s points will mainly come from the run game, with at least two rushing touchdowns.

I am not fully convinced UL’s passing game will be anything special yet without seeing how this new wide receiver room plays. But I am confident in this young running back room putting up yards and helping separate this game away from the Cardinals. Not to mention, there is a chance it rains on Saturday night, which may make passing the ball a bit more difficult.