The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and Georgia Southern Eagles meet Thursday in week 11 Sun Belt college football action from Cajun Field. Georgia Southern is fresh off a matchup versus South Alabama. In that one the Eagles lost by a touchdown. As for Louisiana, they played Troy over the weekend. The Cajuns ended up falling by six.
Georgia Southern opened up the year at 3-1 with wins over Morgan State, Nebraska and Ball State. The Eagles lost a pair to Coastal Carolina and Georgia State before bouncing back with wins over James Madison and Old Dominion in their next pair.
In the South Alabama game, the Eagles were up 24-17 heading into halftime. Georgia Southern was outscored 14-0 in the final quarter for a 38-31 loss. QB Kyle Vantrease managed 278 yards with two scores and a pick, while Jalen White added 65 yards and a TD.
Over on the Louisiana side, they beat Southeastern Louisiana and Eastern Michigan to start out the year before losses to Rice, LA-Monroe and South Alabama. The Cajuns then beat Marshall and Arkansas State before a loss to Southern Miss.
Matched up against Troy, the Cajuns were up 17-7 going into the final quarter. Louisiana was outscored 16-0 from there in a 23-17 loss. Quarterback Ben Woolridge threw for just 112 yards, and Chris Smith rushed 18 times for 97 yards.
The Eagles are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 overall and 5-2 ATS in their last seven conference games. Georgia Southern is 5-2 ATS in their last seven road games.
Meanwhile, the Cajuns are 5-1 ATS in their last six at home and 8-2 ATS versus a team with a winning record. Louisiana is 5-2 ATS in the last seven on turf.
PICK: I’m probably staying with Louisiana, but not touching it. Both these teams had bad fourth quarters that cost them victories in their last appearances. The Cajuns specifically posted just 112 pass yards in their loss to the Trojans, along with a tepid 4.3 yards per play. All was going well until the 16-0 final quarter, though.
As for Georgia Southern, they surrendered 514 yards and 29 first downs in their latest loss, despite South Alabama’s three turnovers and 13 penalties. This next matchup should be a pretty tight one regardless, so I’m not going near it.