2010 Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns Football Preview

2009 Results: 6-6, No Bowl

Head Coach: Ricky Bustle (9th year @ Louisiana, 38-56 Overall)

Home Venue: Cajun Field (31,000), Lafayette, Louisiana

Louisiana has perhaps the worst luck of any team in Division One football. Four of the last five years, the Ragin’ Cajuns have earned the necessary six wins to qualify for a postseason bowl berth. However, they have been passed over each time! Can Coach Ricky Bustle lead Louisiana to the first bowl berth in school history?

OFFENSE

It won’t help their cause that there are only five starters returning on offense. The good news is that junior quarterback Chris Masson (2,600 total yards, 16 TDs in 2009) will enter his 2 nd full season under center. He’ll have to play well and hook up with senior Marlin Miller (32 catches, 533 yards, 2 TDs) and junior LaDarius Green (37 catches, 325 yards, 2 TDs) because the passing game appears to be the team’s bright spot this season.

That’s because there is a dearth of experience on the O-Line and in the backfield. Gone are three linemen with a combined ten years of starting experience and the top returning rusher barely gained over 400 yards in 2009. Needless to say, the Ragin’ Cajuns are badly in need of a breakout tailback to balance out their attack and if that doesn’t happen then Louisiana will be lucky to exceed last season’s 22.2 points per game average.

DEFENSE

What has plagued the Louisiana defense in the last three seasons was a porous run defense that has allowed at least 180 rush yards per game in each campaign! The good news is that the Ragin’ Cajuns have improved in each of the past two seasons but the bad news is that Louisiana lost two of their top three tacklers from 2009.

Without a doubt, the top defender is senior linebacker Grant Fleming, who is by far the team’s top returning tackler with 89 stops. He’ll lead a veteran front seven that brings back five starters and should ring up plenty of stops this season. How experienced is this defense? Every projected starter is an upperclassman.

Here’s the bottom line on the Ragin’ Cajun defense: They’re an experienced group but they haven’t had a lot of success in the past three seasons. While I think they should be better on their own merits, they aren’t going to have a great running game and that means that they’ll be on the field a lot this season. Unfortunately, that means more scoring chances for opponents and that means another tough season on the scoreboard.

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SCHEDULE

Louisiana has one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the Sun Belt. Visits to Georgia, Ole Miss and Ohio combined with a home date against Oklahoma State means that the Ragin’ Cajuns face four 2009 bowl teams out of conference. With only five total home games, Louisiana is at a big disadvantage in their quest to get back to bowl eligibility.

OUTLOOK

The Ragin’ Cajuns have a few major things going against them this season. Their running game and offensive line are gigantic question marks and their veteran defense is the core of a group that has three consecutive poor performances. With a difficult non-conference schedule, I think it will be very difficult for Louisiana to match last season’s six win total and a major step back could be in the works if there aren’t some surprises on the offensive side of the football.

PREDICTED RESULT: 2-10 (2-6 Sun Belt)