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Game Two: Ragin’ Cajuns Head to Starkville to Take on Mississippi State

Louisiana will try to upset the Bulldogs and get off to a 2-0 start, but beating Mississippi State in Starkville will be a tall order.

By cschooler
/ new
NCAA Football: UL Lafayette at Mississippi
Ja’Marcus Bradley catches a ball against Ole Miss last year. He leads the team in receiving this year and hopes to carry that success into their matchup against Mississippi’s other college football team this weekend.
Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Matchup: The University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns vs. The Mississippi State University Bulldogs

Location: Davis Wade Stadium, Starvkville, MS

Date: Saturday, September 15th

Time: 6:30 PM Local Time (CDT)

Coverage: ESPN2

Outlook

It feels like it has been an entire month since the Ragin’ Cajuns last took the field. After a week off after a solid outing against Grambling State, they set their sites on Starkville.

The Cajuns played as a cohesive unit in their season opener. It was a site for sore eyes for Ragin’ Cajun fans as they actually looked like a good team for the first time in a while. At no point was there ever any panic or fear of losing the game.

This week will be a different story. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely a chance that the Cajuns can pull off the upset. They have enough talent to hang with plenty of the Power Five teams, and Mississippi State isn’t exactly the David vs. Goliath matchup that the Cajuns will face in a couple of weeks in Tuscaloosa. If everything goes right, the Cajuns can add one to the W column this weekend.

Here are a few reasons why the upset is plausible:

  1. The Ragin’ Cajuns have a talented roster that is learning to play together under new head coach Billy Napier.
  2. They have momentum coming off of a solid win, they are well rested, and they have had two weeks to prepare for the Bulldogs.
  3. Mississippi State has looked good this year, but they have played a soft schedule up until this point (one FCS team and one team that only beat an FCS team by a field goal). They haven’t exactly been tested, nor have they outright slammed their opponents.
  4. The whole “they aren’t a Power-5 conference team so we don’t need to really prepare” mentality could sneak into Mississippi State’s players’ minds. This tends to happen when the SEC plays the Cajuns, as evidenced by the punch-to-the-jaw that the Cajuns gave to Texas A&M in the first half of their tilt last season.
  5. It’s college football! Anything can happen.

Things to Know

  1. The start of “The Simpsons”
  2. The top song was “Faith” by George Michael
  3. Phil Simms coined the phrase “I’m gonna go to Disney World!” after the Giants won Super Bowl XXI

...it has been a while since they’ve played each other

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