USC’s third game brings a Louisiana team that already showed plenty in its opener, and the Ragin’ Cajuns arrive in Los Angeles with a 1-0 record after rolling past Lamar 38-7.
Louisiana’s debut under Year 5 coach Michael Desormeaux looked like a familiar kind of Cajuns performance: efficient on the ground, disruptive on defense, and built around a quarterback who can hurt teams with his legs. The offense piled up 474 total yards, with 243 coming on the ground, and every one of its five touchdowns came via rush. Defensively, Louisiana limited Lamar to 205 total yards, just 56 rushing yards, and came away with three interceptions, three sacks and a fumble recovery.
Quarterback Lunch Winfield was right in the middle of it all. He went 16 of 22 for 189 yards and two interceptions, while adding 84 rushing yards. Winfield took over as the starter midway through last season and finished that year with a team-high 1,555 passing yards and 11 passing touchdowns, plus 667 rushing yards and a team-best nine rushing scores.
That made him the fourth different quarterback to start a season opener for Desormeaux at Louisiana, following Chandler Fields in 2022, Ben Wooldridge in 2023 and 2024, and Walker Howard in 2025.
On the ground, Darrell Smith led the way with 85 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. The 5-foot-8, 200-pound redshirt freshman had only appeared in four games in 2025, logging three carries as a backup along with a pair of kick returns and a punt return.
Through the air, tight end Caden Jensen was Winfield’s top target, catching five passes for 77 yards. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound redshirt junior from Flower Mound, Texas, started 12 games last season, finished second on the team with 29 catches and fourth with 231 receiving yards, and had at least one reception in nine games.
Fifteen of his catches came over the final four games.
The defensive standout in the Lamar win was sophomore cornerback Brent Gordon Jr., who led the team in tackles. Gordon, a 5-foot-11, 200-pounder, finished his true freshman season with 62 tackles, an interception, 12 passes defended, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. He was third on the team in tackles and started 11 of the final 12 games.
Louisiana’s profile around that opener shows a program with plenty returning. The Ragin’ Cajuns bring back 41 letterwinners and 15 starters, and they also signed the No. 105 2026 high school recruiting class while the 2027 class is currently No.
- Their transfer class ranked No.
The preseason recognition was spread across four players. First-team All-Sun Belt selections Shelton Sampson Jr., a wide receiver, and Brent Gordon Jr. were joined by second-team picks Kaden Moreau on the offensive line and defensive tackle Fitzgerald West Jr.
The schedule note is a quirky one: Louisiana’s first two opponents, Lamar and USC, both played in Week 0, and the Cajuns join Miami as teams that have played Week 0 opponents in their first two games. Their road slate also ends with a Nov. 28 trip to Georgia State, meaning Louisiana’s regular-season road opener and road finale will be played at the last two U.S. stadiums to host Summer Olympics opening ceremonies - Los Angeles in 1984 and Atlanta in 1996. That makes Louisiana the first NCAA football team to play in two Olympic stadiums in the same season, and it puts the Cajuns alongside Georgia Southern in that group.
As for the broader picture, Louisiana’s 2025 record was 6-7 overall and 5-3 in Sun Belt play, and the program’s statistical rankings reflect a team still looking to climb. The Cajuns are No. 109 in OFEI, No. 111 in DFEI and No. 103 in SFEI. In conference play, they finished No. 7 in points per game at 29.8, No. 9 in yards per play at 5.3, No. 9 in points allowed per game at 31.3 and No. 13 in yards allowed per play at 6.2.
And the nickname itself carries its own history. The university adopted Bulldogs in 1921, then began using Raging Cajuns in 1963 under sports information director Bob Henderson and head coach Russ Faulkinberry.
The team also switched from gold helmets to white helmets with an Acadian flag. More than 90 percent of Faulkinberry’s teams were made up of Louisiana high school players, many with French-speaking Acadian backgrounds.
The second “g” was dropped in 1967, other sports eventually followed, and the full move to Ragin’ Cajuns came during “Operation Turnaround” in the 1974-75 school year. Sporting News named it the best collegiate team nickname in 1998, and ESPN’s SportsNation survey did the same in 2006.
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