Louisiana Runs over Lamar Despite Three Interceptions
Louisiana threw three interceptions and won by 31. Hold that thought, because it barely matters.
The Ragin' Cajuns scored in the first quarter and kept scoring. Darrell Smith ran in from 2 yards out, then added a 25-yarder early in the second. Anthony Reagan Jr. made it 21-0, and D'Wayne Winfield ran in from 22 yards with 31 seconds left in the half for 28-0. Steven Blanco's 1-yard run at the end of the third quarter made it 35-0.
Lamar's only points came on a pick-six. D. Beale's pass was intercepted and L. Kelley took it back 40 yards with 11:48 left in the fourth quarter, which made it 35-7. That is a lot of fuss for a team that was shut out on offense. Tony Sterner closed the scoring with a 31-yard field goal at 2:58 for 38-7.
The numbers say the ground game was the whole story. Louisiana ran 40 times for 243 yards and threw for 231, for 474 total yards, and all five of its touchdowns came on the ground. Winfield was 15 of 21 for 189 yards with no passing touchdowns and two of the interceptions, so the giveaways barely mattered. The defense sacked the quarterback three times.
Louisiana is 1-0 and Lamar is 0-1. If you rostered Smith you got 20.4 points on two touchdowns, and if you rostered Winfield you got 22 points even with the picks. Rushing quarterbacks are a cheat code, as it turns out. The scoring was spread around too: Smith, Reagan, Winfield and Blanco all found the end zone, so no single back carried the load.