Saints Week 5 Preview
Travis Himel • October 7, 2024
WEEK 5 PREVIEW
Saints fans are searching for hope coming into Week 5. Last week’s game was a brutal loss. The defense gave up no offensive touchdowns to the Falcons but the Saints couldn’t get the job done. Going into the Monday Night Football matchup against the Chiefs, the Saints injuries have piled up. Things aren’t looking good for our Saints but let’s take a look at what the team needs to do to pull off a big win.
This Week’s Matchup:
The Saints travel to Kansas City this week to take on the Chiefs. These 2 teams haven’t faced off often. Kansas City leads this series 7-5. Arrowhead Stadium is no easy place to play. Chiefs fans pride themselves on making their stadium a tough place to play. The Saints should be used to the noise as we play in a loud environment ourselves. The Chiefs come into this game fairly healthy and look to grab a crucial win against a beat up Saints team.
YOUR SAINTS:
It’s no secret, the Saints injury report is a long list! This is especially bad news after the loss we witnessed last week. Saints fans are scrambling to figure out how we can win this game. The offensive line will look very different this week so it’s Klint Kubiak’s job to disguise that weakness. What kind of scheme will we see to get the ball out quick and get down the field? A key player to watch is Chief’s DL Chris Jones. He’ll be working hard in the trenches to make Derek Carr’a night tough.
Despite the Saints injuries, I expect the defense to pick up right where they’ve left off each week so far. This defense is statistically in the top 10 out of the whole NFL. The ball absolutely has to find Chris Olave this week. He has created the most separation from his defender out of all Wide Receivers in the league. For some reason Carr hasn’t been looking to feed him the ball. This dates back to late last season as well. After watching some film from last week’s game, I find that Derek Carr predetermines his reads sometimes. Not necessarily a good sign from your QB when his predetermined read isn’t his #1 receiver! Kubiak has to find a way to get others the ball because Alvin Kamara’s workload has been too big to sustain, especially with his current injury situation. Let’s take a look at who’s out for this game.
INJURY REPORT:
Taysom Hill, Willie Gay, Cesar Ruiz, Shame Lemieux, and Payton Turner are all officially out this week. Players listed as questionable are Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Taliese Fuaga, Blake Grupe, Juwan Johnson, Bryan Bresee, Kendre Miller, Chris Olave, and Cedrick Wilson. Things aren’t looking in New Orleans right now.
MY PREDICTION:
I don’t see much hope for a win this week. With the amount of injuries the team has, we’re very short handed to have proper chemistry and make a big impact. I think the environment will also play a difference in this game. I think the Saints will fall to 2-3 this season as the Chiefs win this game with a score of 34-16.
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Thursday Night Recap Casan Evans was “embarrassed” after his performance at Vanderbilt last Friday night. Those aren’t my words, they’re his. The Tiger ace expressed to us after the game just how upset he was with himself following his season-worst outing against the Commodores. He only made it through 3.0 innings, gave up 5 hits, 6 runs, and gave up 6 free passes (5 BB/1 HBP). Evans said that upon returning to Baton Rouge on Monday, it was the first time in his life that he threw a bullpen immediately after getting off of the bus coming home. Jay Johnson also mentioned that the two of them, along with pitching coach Nate Yeskie, spent 3 hours fine-tuning preparation for tonight’s start. Whatever it was that they did, it worked. Evans struck out a career-high 15 hitters, flat out dominating the Sooner lineup. He lived in the zone and had all four of his pitches working. The curveball that he debuted in Omaha last season looked the best that it ever has in a game. If his final line doesn’t fully express how special of a start that was, a relatable comparison will. He is the first LSU pitcher to strike out that many hitters in an SEC game since Paul Skenes did it in May of 2023. That’s pretty good company to be mentioned with. As for the offense, they were aided by a Oklahoma ace Cam Johnson’s worst start of the year. The former Tiger has been their Friday guy since the preseason and was pretty good through non-conference play during the first four weeks of the season. Some cracks started to show with a rough performance against Texas A&M a week ago, but the floodgates opened on him in his return to Baton Rouge on Thursday night. LSU had built a 4-0 lead in the 2nd inning without recording a single hit. John Pearson’s single to make it 5-0 was the first one of the game for the Tigers. That hit came off of Oklahoma reliever Xander Mercurius, who had just entered the game. Johnson only made it through 1.1 innings, while walking 6 and hitting another batter. Of his 67 pitches thrown, only 28 were for strikes. LSU’s offense went completely silent for four innings after the 2nd, but the damage was already done and it was becoming clearer and clearer with every pitch that Casan Evans threw, he was on his way to a special night. Pitching Casan Evans was coming off of his worst outing of the year at Vanderbilt last Friday. He got off to a good start tonight, though, striking out 4 hitter through the first 2 innings. In the 1st, he had to record an extra strikeout, after a dropped third strike got away from Cade Arramide for a 2-out baserunner. Evans followed that up with a 10 pitch 2nd inning thanks to the help of two Trent Caraway put outs and then his 4th K to end the inning. He kept it going in 3rd, starting off with a quick reaction stop on a hard ground ball right back at him. His 5th strikeout was followed by a 2-out single, but Evans quickly recorded a two pitch groundout to end the inning. Efficiency was his best friend through the first three innings with 44 pitches thrown, 29 of which were strikes. His best came in the 4th, striking out the side on 12 pitches and getting fired up in the process. With 2 outs and a 1-2 count, Deiten LaChance tried to slow down Evans’s tempo by talking to the umpire and then stepping in to the box and staring back at the pitch clock to avoid the “eye contact” necessary for a pitcher to start his delivery. Casan threw a nasty and struck him out, anyways, getting fired up and letting LaChance hear about it as he walked off of the mound. That was the first time this season that we’ve seen that intensity from the sophomore ace. It only took 5 innings for Evans to record double digit strikeouts, as his two in the 5th got him up to 10 on only 68 pitches. His scoreless outing finally came to and end in the 6th, despite the fact that he struck out another two. A leadoff single ended up coming around on a throwing error by Zach Yorke. The third and final hit that the Sooners got off of Evans came with 2 outs in the 7th, but that was all. With 95 pitches, he returned to the mound in the 8th and with back to back strikeouts to start the inning, he set his new career high with 15. His previous high was when he struck out 12 in the winner-takes-all game vs Little Rock in the Baton Rouge Regional in 2025. Evans fell behind 3-0 to the third hitter of the inning and nearly battled all the way back, but issued his only walk of the evening and with 110 pitches, his remarkable night came to an end. Final line: 7.2 IP / 3 hits / 1 run / 15 Ks / 1 BB / 110 pitches (76 strikes, 69%) Ethan Plog entered to relieve Evans and seemed to be a one batter matchup insertion. He only threw 4 pitches and gave up a single through the infield to put two runners on base with two outs and that was all for him. Final line: 0.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs Coming off of his season best performance at Vanderbilt last Friday, Zac Cowan entered to put the nail in the coffin. He promptly recorded a flyout to end the 8th, then breezed through the 9th on just 9 pitches to record another flyout, a strikeout, and a groundout back to himself to secure the game 1 win for LSU. That’s back to back perfect outings for Cowan, which could be a massive development for the Tiger bullpen. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BBs / 11 pitches (8 strikes) Hitting It was a weird night for the LSU offense with not a single player carrying the load as far as damage goes, but Omar Serna came away as the most productive Tiger hitter, yet again. Following up his homerun on Tuesday against Grambling, the freshman catcher made his first game 1 start at DH. He doubled, walked, and scored a run to finish 2-3. Jay Johnson has been raving about Serna a lot recently and the signs point to a lot more playing time if he keeps producing in SEC play. The only other Tiger with multiple hits was John Pearson, who, like Serna, started for the 3+ straight time for the first time in 2026. Pearson was at 3rd base and delivered one of only 5 credited RBI for LSU on Thursday night. The sophomore finished 2-4 and bumped his on base percentage during his three consecutive starts up to .600. Zach Yorke had the most productive swing of the night when he drove in 2 RBI in the 7th to put the first runs on the board for LSU since the 2nd inning. He had a rough start to his night at the plate, striking out quickly in his first two at bats and leaving 5 runners on base, himself. He came up with the bases loaded and 1 out, following a bad strikeout by Cade Arrambide and with the pressure of not coming through, once again, he delivered. Yorke finished 1-3. Trent Caraway made his first start since Saturday at Vanderbilt, this one coming at 2nd base as Jay Johnson looked to stack an extra right-handed hitter against LHP Cam Johnson. He finished 1-2 and scored a run, while also drawing 2 walks. His one single was another backside missile to right-center. Although he has had some struggles lately, he has proven the ability to hit the ball hard the other way. Jake Brown’s barrel has cooled off a bit since Nashville, but as he always does, he finds a way to be productive as the rock in the Tiger lineup. Despite the 0-2 line, he walked three times and scored twice. Through 23 games played, Brown has failed to reach base only once. Derek Curiel has also come back down to earth after a great opening SEC weekend, but also found a way to contribute like his fellow outfielder. The super sophomore went 1-4 with a walk, RBI, and a run scored. Up Next LSU and Oklahoma will return to action for game 2 tomorrow night. First pitch will be at 6:30 pm central, setting up a busy day on campus with the Lady Tiger basketball team set to start their NCAA tournament run at 5 pm central down the street at the PMAC. The Tigers will send Cooper Moore to the mound with his record of 3-2, but coming off of back to back losses to Sacramento St and Vanderbilt. The Sooners will answer with L.J. Mercurius, a junior transfer from UNLV with a record of 4-1 and a 1.59 ERA. Despite filling the game 2 role, Mercurius has been Oklahoma’s best starter, statistically. He has struck out 41 and only walked 8 in 28.1 innings pitched. Thursday night’s victory improved LSU’s record to 16-7 overall (2-2 SEC), while Oklahoma dropped to 17-5 (2-2 SEC). This was the first time that the Sooners have lost consecutive games in 2026 after being shut out by SLU in Hammond on Tuesday 3-0. For much more, follow me on X @DCBilliotJr
Tuesday Night Recap After finally exploding for 16 runs in Sunday’s series salvaging win at Vanderbilt, LSU’s offense rode the struggle bus back home from Nashville. Facing a Grambling team that had allowed 10+ runs in 11 of their 18 games, the Tigers weren’t able to put a crooked number on the scoreboard until their final at bat in the 8th inning. Better late than never, they say, but watching this team struggle against an opponent of this caliber is perplexing. The lineup only struck out 6 times, while drawing 8 walks, so it was a simple issue of not finding grass with the balls they put in play. Jay Johnson told us after the game that Grambling used their entire weekend rotation, plus some of their top relievers, but that won’t stop the persisting question. What is going on? As for the pitching, the staff bounced back from some abysmal control issues at Vanderbilt where they issued 26 walks and hit three more. On Tuesday, Tiger pitchers only walked three. The staff, as a whole, was outstanding. Having fallen out of the top 25 of every major poll in the country this week, the 7-1 victory is the first step to finding their way back next Monday. Pitching Reagan Ricken made his second midweek start of the season and things seemed like they may go sideways pretty quickly. He struck the leadoff batter out, but Omar Serna’s throw on the dropped 3rd strike hit the runner and resulted in an error. Ricken got a flyout to Stanfield, but followed with a wild pitch and a hit by pitch and Grambling had two runners on with one out. He locked in from there, recording a groundout and struck the final batter out looking. Returning for the 2nd, Ricken walked the leadoff hitter after starting him with an 0-2 count and then gave up a hard hit single up the middle to put two runners on with 0 outs and that would be the end of his night. Ricken was in the zone with 24 of his 36 pitches for strikes, but struggled to finish hitters off. Final line: 1.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 1 BB Grant Fontenot was tasked with taking over Ricken’s 2nd inning mess and made quick work of the next three Grambling hitters. He recorded a ground out to Steven Milam, a shallow flyout that Chris Stanfield got back in quick enough to hold the runners, and then froze Chris Marcellus for a called 3rd strike to end the inning. In the 3rd, Fontenot got himself in to a little bit of trouble. He gave up a leadoff single, then a 1 out walk, but was able to lock in and strike the final two hitters out to, once again, keep Grambling off of the scoreboard. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 1 BB Dax Dathe entered for the 4th inning and after striking out the first hitter of the inning, he gave up singles to 2 of the next 3 hitters to allow Grambling to tie the game at 1-1 and that was it for him as Jay Johnson came out to make another pitching change. He was in the zone with 10 of his 14 pitches for strikes, but credit Grambling for finding the barrel against the 5th year senior. Final line: .2 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 1 K / 0 BB With two outs in the 4th, Jay called upon Cooper Williams to shut down the Tigers rally. He was coming off of a fantastic last outing on Sunday, as he threw a perfect 9th inning to finish the LSU win, while striking out two. He did exactly what he was called upon to do with a 4 pitch strikeout to end any further threat. Williams continued his hot streak by coming back in the 5th and striking out two more. That would be the end of his outing, throwing 14 pitches, 11 of which were strikes. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 0 BBs Mavrick Rizy took over to start the 6th and his time on the mound was brief, throwing only 7 pitches. He recorded a flyout, gave up a bloop single, and then drew a ground ball right to Milam who stepped on 2nd base and gunned to 1st to record LSU’s 6th double play of the year. Returning for the 7th, Rizy started the leadoff hitter 2-0 with two bad misses, drawing a visit from pitching coach Nate Yeskie. He promptly threw three straight strikes and then struck out the side to finish his outing. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 0 BB Ethan Plog came in for the 8th inning and didn’t last very long. With the compounded schedule this week, it appeared as if some of the Tiger pitchers had very limited pitch counts and Plog was one of them. He only threw 10 pitches, recording a strikeout and allowing a single. Final line: .1 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BB Following his heartbreaking last appearance in Friday’s walk-off loss Friday night, Gavin Guidry took over, looking to bounce back with a man on first and 1 out. With just 7 pitches, he delivered a strikeout and a groundout. Final line: .2 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BB After his offense finally extended the LSU lead to 7-1, Marcos Paz entered to record the final 3 outs in the 9th inning. He found a quick first out on a nice slow-roller play by Trent Caraway, then recorded a strikeout on a nasty slider, before issuing a 2 out walk. Four pitches later, a fly ball dropped in to Stanfield’s glove and that would do it. Final line: 1.0 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB Hitting Omar Serna delivered his second straight big midweek game, blasting his second homerun in as many weeks. Last Tuesday, the freshman hit the go ahead grand slam against Creighton. Tonight, he led off the 8th inning with a solo shot that kick-started the 4 run inning for LSU. He was the only Tiger with multiple hits, finishing 2-5 and scoring 3 runs. Chris Stanfield continued producing since returning to the lineup last week. Although he was only 1-5, his one hit was a 2 RBI single that created more separation in the 8th inning and showed slight signs of life for the LSU offense. Zach Yorke finished with an official line of 1-1, but drew 3 more walks, extending his team lead and bringing his season total up to 21, six more than the next closest Tiger. Yorke also scored a run. Speaking of walks, Derek Curiel drew two of his own, while finishing 1-3. His biggest impact came on the bases, though, as he stole three bases on Tuesday night. Up Next LSU will welcome Oklahoma for their SEC home opener for a Thursday-Saturday series. This will be the only series that starts on Thursday for the Tigers until the final weekend of the season when every series starts a day early. Game 1 will be a 7 pm central first pitch Thursday night. Oklahoma will come to Baton Rouge off of a 2-1 series win at home against Texas A&M on the opening weekend of conference play. Their overall record is 17-4, following a 3-0 loss to Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond on Tuesday night.