Cajuns Want More Than First Win
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
It would be nice to win the first game at newly-renovated Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium, says Louisiana head football coach Michael Desormeaux, but he says the overall season objective for his team implies achieving so much more.
Desmoreaux said the Cajuns’ ultimate goal for 2025 is winning a conference championship and a bowl game, something the Cajuns haven’t done lately.
“Expectations are high in our building as they should be, but we want to be a championship team. That’s where we want to be and we haven’t done that the last three years,” Desormeaux noted at his weekly noon press conference.
Louisiana opens the season Saturday night against Rice University (7 pm) in a contest that brings its own set of challenges.
It’s the first game for new Rice head football coach Scott Abell, who established a 47-28 record in six years at Davidson College.
In addition to starting a new program quarterback for the first time in three years, the Cajuns’ defensive staff is discerning how to prepare for the newly-installed Rice spread option scheme brought to Rice by Abell.
“My offense is not boring,” Abell said recently during a Rice University sports information interview. “There are reads everywhere,” Abell pointed out.
Desormeaux said scheming for the Rice offense has been intriguing.
“Rice is a triple option team. You have to plan for a number of different things. They are going to move the football. What adjustments we plan to make are extremely important this week,” Desormeaux added.
Desormeaux compared the Rice option game to the offense designed by Army and Navy, which possibly means the Owls will align in a Pistol formation and then read the defense as the play unfolds.
“You want to be able to create negative plays. That offense (for Rice) is hard to implement in just one year, so it’s going to be hard for them too,” Desormeaux pointed out.
The Cajuns will start former St. Thomas More quarterback Walker Howard against Rice. It will mark the first collegiate start ever for Howard, who has spent seasons at LSU and Ole Miss, playing behind two No. 1 NFL draft picks.
Howard transferred to Louisiana at the end of last football season and Desormeaux said Howard has been astute in picking up what the Cajuns plan to do offensively.
“(Howard) has performed at a really high level (since coming back to Lafayette). He’s handled it well. We emphasize to our players for them to just go out and do your job. Don’t try to do more or less,” Desoremaux said.
Louisiana returns the top two running backs from 2024 (Bill Davis and Zylan Perry) who together rushed for over 1,400 yards. Wide receiver Rob Williams (290 receiving yards, 689 all-purpose yards) also returns.
Lineman Jordan Lawson (44 tackles) and defensive back Tyree Skipper (41 tackles) are also back.
The remodeled stadium which was originally known as Cajun Field beginning in 1971, cost $65 million to complete, according to estimates provided by multiple sources, including the university.
Renovations on the former stadium complex, which now seats just under 31,000, began following the end of the 2023 season.
The redesign effort was targeted on the west side of the stadium, where there are now 34 suites, 40 large boxes, 524 stadium seats, an indoor club and five new chair back sections.
