The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will kick off their 2026 season this Saturday at 7pm when they host the FCS 14th-ranked Lamar Cardinals at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium. Lamar rolls into Lafayette with some momentum after pulling off a 21-14 upset over Abilene Christian in its season opener this past weekend. The Cardinals entered that game ranked 20th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and as 7.5-point underdogs against the then-15th ranked Wildcats. The victory came largely from winning the turnover battle and capitalizing through the air. Junior quarterback Aiden McCown threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, while the Cardinals’ defense picked off Abilene Christian twice and came up with a late fourth-down stop to seal the win. That victory moved Lamar up six spots to 14th in the latest FCS rankings as the Cardinals now turn their attention to a familiar foe in the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. The Sabine River Rivalry Now, whether you want to consider this a rivalry or not is personal preference, but these two programs have plenty of history with one another. Louisiana and Lamar have played each other 34 times, dating all the way back to 1923. The matchup became an annual meeting from 1965 through 1983, with the two schools sharing the Southland Conference for much of the 1970s while UL was still known as Southwestern Louisiana (USL). There was even a point where a trophy, known as the “Sabine Shoe,” was awarded to the winner of the matchup. The bronze shoe was named after the Sabine River, which separates Louisiana and Texas, and although the trophy eventually disappeared from the rivalry, it later resurfaced and now sits inside UL’s athletic complex. And rightly so, that’s probably where it belongs for now. Louisiana currently leads the all-time series 22-12 and has won the last four meetings between the two programs. After their annual meetings came to an end in the early 1980s, the Cajuns and Cardinals met again in 1989 before going more than two decades without playing each other. Their most recent meeting came in 2012, when Louisiana shut out Lamar 40-0 in Lafayette. Fourteen years later, the Cardinals are back, and this time they come in looking like a much more dangerous season-opening opponent. Lamar is coming off an 8-5 season that ended with an appearance in the FCS playoffs, and Saturday’s win over Abilene Christian was another reminder that this isn’t a team Louisiana should overlook for its annual early-season FCS matchup. This will also be the first time Lamar plays against the Cajuns while being nationally ranked. Year 5: A New Season for Desormeaux For UL, Saturday marks the beginning of year five under head coach Michael Desormeaux and the first real chance to see what this 2026 team actually looks like. Louisiana finished last season 6-7, but the final record doesn’t completely tell the story of how the year played out. The Cajuns opened the season just 2-6 before putting together four straight wins over South Alabama, Texas State, Arkansas State and UL-Monroe to become bowl eligible. Their season eventually ended with a 20-13 loss to Delaware in the 68 Ventures Bowl, but that late-season stretch at least gave Louisiana something to build on heading into the offseason. Now the question becomes whether that finish was the beginning of something good, or simply a good month of football at the end of an otherwise frustrating season. Saturday night should give us our first indication, and Cajuns fans are hoping to see positive improvement to what has been a rather disappointing last few seasons. Ever since former UL head coach Billy Napier left for Florida after the 2021 season and Michael Desormeaux took over, the Cajuns only finished with a winning record once (2024). What does the new version of Lunch Winfield and the wide receiver room look like? One of the biggest things to watch will obviously be Lunch Winfield. He eventually took over the starting quarterback job during the second half of last season and finished the year with 1,555 passing yards. He enters 2026 with much more experience under his belt, but potentially with a slightly different style of play. Louisiana actually spent much of the offseason working to improve Winfield’s pocket-passing ability and, at times, refrained from letting him rely on his legs as much as he’s been known to. Winfield’s ability to escape pressure and create something when a play breaks down is part of what made him dangerous last season. But if the Cajuns want to take a step forward offensively, they’re going to need him to win more often from inside the pocket and utilizing his weapons. Wide receiver Shelton Sampson Jr. returns after leading UL with 537 receiving yards last season following his transfer from LSU. It is important to note that Sampson is freshly coming off a knee injury that sidelined him during fall camp, and he has dealt with other injury issues that limited some of his offseason work. He did, however, return to practice last week and is expected to play against Lamar. Behind Sampson, Louisiana has some questions that need to be answered. Following the departure of a few key receivers after last season, the Cajuns’ depth at wide receiver lacks true game experience. Outside of tight ends Caden Jensen and Brock Chappell, UL does not have any returning receivers with more than 100 yards receiving last season. For Saturday's game, UL has Shelton Sampson Jr. at the starting X spot, KeDarius Wade and Rahji Dennis at the starting Z spot, and two redshirt freshman in Trenton Chaney and Russell Babineaux at the H slot spot. Can Louisiana establish the run? Louisiana’s ability to run the football may be just as important, if not more. The Cajuns, who were predominantly a running team last season, lost their top rushers Bill Davis and Zylan Perry to the portal, so the question this offseason has been who can replace the duo that accounted for roughly 1,500 rushing yards last season. Darrell Smith enters the season as one of the more interesting players in the backfield after earning preseason All-Sun Belt recognition from Phil Steele. Steven Blanco is also in the mix, as well as JJ Garner and Anthony Raegan Jr. Garner, a redshirt freshman, and Raegan Jr., a junior transfer from Howard, both had promising performances earlier this year in the spring game. So there is no doubt that the Cajuns have decent depth in the running back room. The big question is who will lead the room. All four running backs are currently set to be regularly rotated in against Lamar, with no clear-cut starter set in stone. Arguably the question of all may be what happens in front of them. We all remember the atrocities the UL offensive line suffered last season with injuries, at one point reaching ten players. The good news is Louisiana brings back a lot of important experience along the offensive line, particularly center Cooper Fordham and right tackle George Jackson, who both received preseason All-Sun Belt recognition. Right guard Matt Broussard, who is a redshirt junior, is also a name the Cajuns are familiar with, having a productive season in 2025 with high grades amid the injuries that surrounded the group. As of now, from left tackle to right tackle, the Cajuns have redshirt sophomore Zay Alexander (missed last season due to injury), redshirt senior Kaden Moreau (started 11 games in 2025 and had high grades), redshirt junior Cooper Fordham (started 11 games but was injured), redshirt junior Matt Broussard, and redshirt senior George Jackson (missed most of last season due to injury, receiving another year of eligibility). They lost a few key names to graduation and the portal, but they have quality starting-caliber experience, as well as depth, following last season’s injuries giving way for depth chart players to gain playing time. There are question marks surrounding this group given their previous injury history, but it does give reassurance to know that there is experience there. The Cardinals allowed Abilene Christian to run for 151 yards at 5.2 yards per carry in their opener, so there should be opportunities for Louisiana to establish the ground game if the offensive line controls the matchup. Lamar was much more effective at creating mistakes through the air, picking off two passes while allowing only 207 passing yards. For UL, there shouldn’t be any reason to unnecessarily put Winfield in difficult passing situations if the run game is working. But, this offense does need to prove that it can indeed pass the ball. This game would be a great opportunity to showcase what they got. What does this defense look like? Defensively, I do not think there are as many question marks here as the offense, but there still needs some proving that needs to be done to fully convince fans that this is a legit group. Louisiana has some big pieces, such as cornerback Brent Gordon Jr., defensive tackle Fitzgerald West Jr. and safety Maurion Eleam, all of whom earned preseason All-Sun Belt recognition. That gives Louisiana some experience at each level, but there are still plenty of questions about how consistent the unit can be. Last season, UL was among one of the worst teams in the country when it came to defensive performance. The area to watch for on defense this Saturday will be the secondary against McCown. Now he didn’t exactly shred Abilene Christian’s defense. McCown only completing 53% of his passes for 183 yards, which was just enough to get the job done. All three Cardinal touchdowns came through the air, including two to tight end Davin Driskell on short passes. How much of a threat will McCown be to the UL secondary will depend on how prepared the secondary comes in. One of the strengths Coach Des emphasized this offseason was his defensive line and their response to needing to be physical. From what we saw in the spring, the group appears to be promising, which includes talent in Priest Ashe and Fitzgerald West Jr. If Louisiana can limit the run and force Lamar into obvious passing situations, that should give the Cajuns’ defensive front chances to make McCown uncomfortable. The biggest concern: Don’t start slow For much of last season, Louisiana was not able to consistently move the ball through the air and too often found themselves playing from behind. Against a Lamar team that has already played a full game and is coming off a ranked win, a slow start could make things uncomfortable very quickly. The Cardinals never trailed against Abilene Christian and showed they’re comfortable playing in a close game late into the fourth quarter. They’ve already gone through the first-game nerves, made adjustments and found a way to win under pressure. Louisiana, however, has not yet had that opportunity. And if we remember correctly from last season, their first-game performance at home against Rice was one to forget. The Cajuns should have the advantage in talent and depth, especially playing at home, but that advantage only matters if they actually show it. It will come down to the Cajuns minimizing on mistakes, being able to move the ball, and having a strong secondary performance. If Louisiana can do those things, this should be a game the Cajuns control. It will not be an easy game like many might think it will be, but it should be one the Cajuns can handle and play comfortably. Best of all, it’s against a quality FCS opponent that will help the Cajuns set up well for the season. Final Prediction: Louisiana 34, Lamar 13 Making week one predictions after lots of movement in the offseason is always difficult, especially for schools that have suffer the most roster-wise. This UL team especially, there has just been lots of uncertainty this offseason, so I don’t know how confident I am in giving a definitive prediction, even the one I provided here. If I had to pick though, give me the Cajuns to win this one and cover the spread. Like I said, this won’t be an easy matchup. But I also don’t think Lamar has the weapons to put up more than 2-3 scores against a maturing UL defense. On the flip side, I do think that UL’s points will mainly come from the run game, with at least two rushing touchdowns. I am not fully convinced UL’s passing game will be anything special yet without seeing how this new wide receiver room plays. But I am confident in this young running back room putting up yards and helping separate this game away from the Cardinals. 

Inside the NBA: The Pelicans Are Walking Into a Different Western Conference

Why Bigger Budgets, Bigger Brands and Bigger Stadiums Don’t Always Mean Better College Football

Revisiting the Pelicans' Greatest Wins Last Season

With the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team kicking the new season off this weekend, I present to you my regular season record predictions for UL in 2026, including what I believe to be the absolute floor and absolute ceiling. So let's talk about it. Lots of Uncertainty Leading Up to the Season I won't reveal my predictions until the end, but one thing I will say to start this off is there’s a pretty wide spread between what I believe the absolute floor and absolute ceiling could be for this 2026 Cajuns team. A lot of people who follow this team have had lots of question marks about what's to come this season, myself included. There have been times this offseason where I looked at this team as a 10+ win group, and other times where I viewed them as yet another 6-6 group. We can't necessarily blame the program for this either. When you lose significant talent to the transfer portal and graduation, and always being left with younger talent who are looking to boost their standing in college before "moving up," things change quickly. The good news is that UL didn’t lose as many players to the portal this past offseason as similar programs typically do (I believe only ten players transferred out, if that), and many of the players who did stay gained valuable playing experience last season because of the injury epidemic the Cajuns went through. The bad news is that several of the players the Cajuns lost this offseason were key contributors. Injuries sustained this offseason only added another layer of uncertainty for me and many Cajuns fans out there. Schedule Opens the Door for Potentially High Ceiling One thing is for sure: the Cajuns have a relatively manageable schedule. Only three of their 12 opponents currently rank inside the top 100 of ESPN’s Football Power Index: USC, Southern Miss and Troy. Yes, I used the ESPN FPI, so make of it whatever you want. But, one can look at that schedule and immediately say UL has an opportunity to win a lot of football games, and rightly so, I would agree. The Cajuns are very much capable of winning nine or 10 games this season, and potentially even 11 if things break their way and, most importantly, the team stays healthy. Now I will be honest, I am ruling out a 12-0 regular season because I simply don’t think the Cajuns are capable of beating USC on the road with the talent the Trojans have. UL will also be traveling all the way to the West Coast, while USC already has a game under its belt after playing San Jose State last weekend. That should give the Trojans an advantage in being more settled in and game-ready by the time the Cajuns, who will have only played an FCS team in Lamar, arrive on September 12. Outside of USC, the biggest stretch of the season comes in mid-October. UL will play at Louisiana Tech (the return of the rivalry), return home to face Troy, and then travel to Southern Miss. To me, those are the three toughest games on the schedule after USC. Troy is the only home game of the three, while the other two will come on the road against programs that have historically given the Cajuns problems. Still, if UL is healthy, I think all three games are within reach. The Cajuns kept things competitive against Troy and Southern Miss last season despite being severely depleted at several key positions. So, I will not be shocked if UL can find themselves at 9-3 or 10-2 come December. After all, that is the expectation a lot of Cajuns fans have for this team. An Unsatisfactory Low Floor Still Exists On the flip side, I will not completely rule out another 6-6 season or even a losing record. UL’s depth is relatively young (which once again, is not unusual). Now they have depth with experience at some positions, including at offensive line. But with that depth came a lot of injuries last season, so needless to say, they are injury prone. Not to mention, the wide receiver room is, in my eyes, thin when it comes to proven experience, and the secondary still has plenty to prove as well. If injuries begin piling up again, that’s where I could see this team struggling to get beyond six or seven wins. And we don’t have to look very far back to see how quickly that can happen. At this time last season, expectations were extremely high. The Cajuns had Ole Miss-transfer QB Walker Howard, LSU-transfer WR Shelton Sampson Jr., several other promising transfer additions and a more veteran roster overall. A lot of people believed UL had a legitimate chance to win 10-plus games and potentially accomplish more than simply reaching the Sun Belt Championship Game. The expectations were set really high. Then the injuries started. They began as early as Week 1 at home against Rice, and seemingly never stopped. UL eventually found itself sitting at 2-6 towards the backend of the season with a similar strength of schedule to this season, and it became clear pretty early that the team we saw on paper before the season was not going to be the same team we watched on Saturdays. That experience is a big reason why I’m hesitant to automatically assume everything will go right this season. As far as how low things could realistically go, I simply do not see the Cajuns losing to Lamar, UAB, UL-Monroe or Georgia State. Or at least I would think. I may even go as far as saying I don’t think they lose to Coastal Carolina after how they played last season, but Coastal’s level of play seems to vary from year to year, so I’m a little less confident there. Regardless, it would surprise me if UL finished with only four or five wins. On paper, this team is better than at least half of the teams on its schedule. Of course, like I said earlier, we learned last season that being better on paper doesn’t mean much when a quarter of your roster is injured. And those who follow the Cajuns, as well as the New Orleans Saints, know a thing or two about how completely different things can be from expectations when injuries plague your team. We unfortunately have a tendency to attract injury-prone players, but that’s a story for another day. On the flip side of this, at the time of writing this, I also don’t believe this year’s team on paper is any more talented than the group UL had entering last season. Last season presented a lot of "bigger" names and veteran players than what I am seeing on this season's roster. That doesn’t necessarily mean this team will be worse, but it’s another reason why I’m not ready to confidently call the Cajuns a 10-win team before seeing them in action. Final Thoughts on Record Prediction Ultimately, because of how favorable the schedule is, I don’t think it’s difficult to envision UL having a very successful season. At the same time however, knowing this program’s recent injury history and considering how young and/or thin certain parts of the roster are, I’m not ready to assume that this season will automatically be dramatically better than last year. With so much uncertainty, there is a lot of proving that needs to be done on the field for me to make sense of what this 2026 squad is about. I actually went back and forth for a while between predicting 8-4 and 9-3 for this Cajuns team because I realistically believe they will end up somewhere around those two marks. The four games I’m most concerned about are USC (not really concerned, I think we know how this one will go), Louisiana Tech, Troy and Southern Miss. Losing to Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss would certainly hurt, but both games will be on the road against teams expected to be competitive within the Sun Belt. The Troy game was ultimately the deciding factor for me. I view that matchup as a true toss-up, and one that could come down heavily to how healthy UL is by that point in the season. I also believe that game could ultimately decide whether the Cajuns reach the Sun Belt Championship Game, similar to how last season’s matchup versus Troy ultimately decided who made it (after it was all said and done). The Louisiana Tech matchup will also carry some extra juice with it being the Bulldogs’ first Sun Belt game after joining the conference. As much as I hate to say it, I fully expect Louisiana Tech to be fired up for that one. With the record I’m predicting and losses to the teams I mentioned above, I don’t think that will be enough to get UL back to the Sun Belt Championship Game, as my prediction would have them finishing 5-3 in SBC West play. Still, if that ends up being the final result, I would be satisfied considering everything surrounding not only the football program this offseason, but the athletic department and university as a whole (again, a story for another day). More importantly, I think this season could serve as a bridge toward what has the potential to be a special year for the Cajuns in 2027. But first, we have to see what this team actually looks like. That starts this weekend against Lamar, a matchup which won’t be a gimme like typical FCS games the Cajuns schedule. Lamar is coming in ranked in the FCS Top 25 after taking down a top 25 opponent last weekend, so they will be coming in hungry. Regardless, Cajuns fans are hoping this season’s opener showing looks a whole lot better than what we saw in last season’s opener against Rice. So after going through the schedule, the roster and all of the uncertainty surrounding this team, here’s where I ultimately land: Absolute floor: 4-8 Projected record: 8-4 Absolute ceiling: 11-1 Those who know me well know that I am a realist. Rather than being the super optimistic, I just want to be right with my predictions. Saints and Cajuns fans know what it’s look to be completely wrong with optimistic predictions because things don’t go as expected. We all know how hard it is being a fan of both. At the end of the day, these are just predictions, and we know the chance any team goes 0-12 or 12-0 is never 0. But, that's my realistic approach to the outlook of the Cajuns team this season, given what we know so far up to this point (a lot of uncertainty but a positive outlook of a team that will be hungry for wins).

Roster Reality: Who Has the Most to Prove? Zion Williamson

The final 53 man roster is in and the results are not too surprising this year. About what was expected on offense and a surprise name on defense. Let us break it down by position starting on offense. (QB) - 3 Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler, Zach Wilson The Saints are rolling with Shough, Rattler, and Wilson to start the regular season. Shough of course the starting quarterback but after him there was certainly some potential for surprise given the lackluster performance by Rattler and Wilson this offseason. Sounds like the Saints were exploring outside options at backup quarterback so look for that interest to continue for the near future. (RB) - 4 Travis Etienne Jr, Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, Audric Estime Four running backs is typically unusual but given the health of the running backs on the roster currently carrying four makes total sense. Kamara is banged up currently and Miller has obvious talent but has not been able to show the ability to stay healthy. Audric Estime capitalized on his opportunity given the uncertainty of health in the room. (WR) - 5 Chris Olave, DeVaughn Vele, Bryce Lance, Barion Brown, Kevin Austin Jr Even with the injury to Jordyn Tyson the Saints are feeling very satisfied with this wide receiver room. Lance and Brown especially have shown this offseason and training camp they will be able to contribute when their number is called which could certainly be sooner than later. (TE) - 4 Juwan Johnson, Noah Fant, Oscar Delp, Treyton Welch Four tight ends is a little surprising but because of a hamstring issue with Delp Welch latches on with the team. Welch has shown to be a capable back up tight end and can play special teams so his presence will help solidify the back of the depth chart while Delp gets healthy. (OL) - 8 Kelvin Banks Jr, David Edwards, Eric McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Taliese Fuaga, Asim Richards, Jeremiah Wright, William Sherman No real surprises here in the offensive live room as the Saints feel good about the potential and depth of this group. Of the group Jeremiah Wright showed some real potential in the preseason to maybe push for a starting role before too long should Cesar Ruiz not step up his level of play. (iDL) - 6 Davon Godchaux, Christen Miller, Vernon Broughton, Nathan Shepard, John Ridgeway III, Khristian Boyd There was room for a surprise here with the injury to Bresee early on in training camp however the names in this room have quite a bit to prove. The D-line group consists of aging veterans and unproven youngsters so this will be a position on the team to monitor this season with quite a few question marks moving forward. (Edge) - 6 Chase Young, Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan, Anfernee Jennings, Chris Rumph, Tyree Wilson As expected here, the only question of this group in the offseason was whether Cameron Jordan would return or not. Chase Young is poised to take over the top pass rushing mantle from Jordan and become the cornerstone piece on defense for the Saints looking ahead. Behind him are reliable veterans who know their role and what is expected of them. (LB) - 4 Kaden Ellis, Pete Werner, Danny Stutsman, Isaiah Stallbird This will be an interesting group to watch this after the departure of Demario Davis this offseason. Davis’ presence has kept quite a few young, talented linebackers from getting their opportunity on the field but opportunity is plentiful with his absence combined with the level of play from Pete Werner last season. Kaden Ellis looks to make an impact in his return to the Saints as a versatile piece for Brandon Staley to deploy in different spots on defense. (CB) - 4 Kool Aid-McKinstry, Quincy Riley, Martin Emerson Jr, Jayden Price Four corners is an interesting choice not usually made by many teams. The back end depth at corner was dealt some major injuries throughout camp and preseason so this could be a position where the Saints try to fortify on the back end sooner than later. Overall though this is quite the young group of corner who will have their work cut out for them this season on the back end. Croner felt like a position the Saints wished they were able to make a bigger investment in this offseason but ultimately were not able to. (DB) - 6 Justin Reid, Julian Blackmon, Jonas Sanker, Jordan Howden, Lorenzo Styles Jr, Mike Reid Here comes the biggest surprise of the list, Mike Reid. Reid's addition to the 53 man roster felt purely about the ability he showed while playing special teams this summer so kudos to him for earning a spot. The defensive back room as a whole is a good mixture between talented veterans and young players with upside most notably Jonas Sanker after having an impressive rookie season. Sanker will be the one to watch from this group as his role changes to play more in the slot. (Specialists) - 3 Ryan Wright, Daniel Carlson, Zach Wood The surprise here was Carlson who was given a week to earn the kicking job and promptly did so in the last preseason game against the Cowboys. Both Carlson and Wright are looking to finally answer the long time woes the Saints have had at both the kicker and punter positions. For the Saints sake I hope they do as they would deeply benefit from some stability in those positions. The main takeaway from me is the majority of 53 feels written in stone while there are some positions where there will probably be more changes in the coming weeks. The Saints came out of the preseason in a good spot and will look to capitalize in Week 1 when they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions.