2021 Baseball Photos
Louisiana Football Head Coach Billy Napier gets ready for the homecoming game against New Mexico State this Saturday.
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team will play their homecoming game against New Mexico State on Oct. 13.
This will be Louisiana Head Coach Bill Napier’s first homecoming game with Louisiana.
The Ragin’ Cajuns have historically found success in these matchups with a record of 11-7 in homecoming games since 2000.
Louisiana holds a 2-3 overall record this season after their recent 42-27 win over Texas State University on Oct. 6.
The New Mexico State Aggies will go into Cajun Field with a 2-4 overall record, having won their past two matchups against the University of Texas at El Paso and the Liberty University after dropping their first four games of the season.
These two teams met in Louisiana’s homecoming game last season. The Ragin’ Cajuns came away with a 47-34 victory win against the Aggies on Nov. 18.
“They present a number of challenges,” Napier said in a press conference on Monday. “The way their structured, I think they understand what they’re doing. It’s going to take a good week a prep to play against them.”
Louisiana and New Mexico State’s official series record is 5-5. The Ragin’ Cajuns have a 5-2 all-time record against the Aggies when the games are played at Cajun Field.
Looking of the Ragin’ Cajuns offense, the team is averaging 28.6 points per game.
Louisiana’s two wins on the season have been their most effective offensive games, scoring 49 points against Grambling State on Sept. 1 and 42 against Texas State.
The Ragin’ Cajuns rushing attack has been a consistent factor on the offensive side. Louisiana has rushed for 200 or more yards in four out of their five games this season. The team rushed for 65 total yards against Mississippi State on Sept. 15.
The running back trio of Trey Ragas, Elijah Mitchell and Raymond Calais have provided the bulk of the rushing offense this season.
Ragas has totaled 505 rushing yards in five games on 72 attempts. Mitchell is coming off a 192-yard rushing game against Texas State and he has now recorded 353 rushing yards for the season. Calais has the fewest attempts of the three with 24 rush attempts, but he is averaging 8.6 yards per carry and has totaled 206 rushing yards.
Louisiana’s three running backs have a net of 1,064 rushing yards of the team’s total of 1,145.
“You rush the football and stop the run. Everything revolves around that, to some degree,” Napier said.
As for the quarterbacks, Louisiana has played both Andre Nunez and Levi Lewis in all five games. Nunez has thrown for 765 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions on 66.3 percent completion. Lewis is throwing 59.2 percent with 182 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The Ragin’ Cajuns defense is giving up 37.2 points per game to their opponents. Louisiana played two Southeastern Conference games on the road as they gave up 56 points to both Mississippi State and the University of Alabama.
Louisiana’s defense has only one interception and one fumble recovery in three forced fumbles through five games.
Their defense will be facing a New Mexico State offense that is averaging 21.8 points per game.
The Aggies are rushing for 97.2 yards and throwing 225.8 yards per game.
They are led in rushing by running back Christian Gibson. Gibson has recorded 297 rushing yards in six games.
Quarterback Josh Adkins led the way for the Aggies in their latest win over Liberty. Adkins completed 34 of his 51 pass attempts for 402 yards and four touchdowns.
New Mexico State’s defense is giving up 40 points along with 245.5 rushing yards per game.
Napier said in his weekly press conference that this homecoming game will add a little bit of extra motivation for the players.
“This is a good opportunity for the players to represent the university and the community,” Napier said. “It’s an opportunity for them to reflect on where they’re at and where they want to go. It’s an exciting time of the year.”