Louisiana football aiming for five wins in a row at 68 Ventures Bowl
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On Dec. 13, Louisiana football will hit the road on a path to Mobile, AL, forged by nothing but faith.
Faith that the Ragin’ Cajuns could dig themself out of the early-season hole they dug. And they did just that punching their ticket to the 2025 68 Ventures Bowl. With their Dec. 17 postseason meeting set vs. Delaware, the Cajuns aren’t looking to come this far just to come this far.
“The momentum kind of breeds confidence and despite the way things have happened this year, we’re playing our best football in the back half of the year,” UL football coach Michael Desormeaux said. “Which is what you want to do now. It’s all about timing and I think right now our kids totally believe they’re going to find a way to win no matter how.”
Unexpected returns and an unexpected departures
With the college football transfer portal set to open Jan. 2, the Cajuns have already had a play declare for it in junior offensive lineman Bryant Williams. Listed at 6-7 and 335 pounds, Williams didn’t allow a sack all season serving as a starter for many games.
UL lost nine starting offensive linemen over the course of the regular season. With Williams set to hit the portal, redshirt freshman Ryder Bentley will make his first start against the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
“He’s a good young player that we’re really excited about,” Desormeaux said. “He’s been getting reps kind of all the way through, preparing himself to go play in this game. I expect that he’ll go out there and go play well. He’s tall, long but still not probably quite as forwarded developed physically.”
While Bentley will make his first start in Hancock Whitney Stadium, for senior safety Tyree Skipper, it’ll be a memorable return to Mobile. After being given a season-ending suspension following the Texas State postgame scuffle, Skipper has been reinstated set to play in his final game of his collegiate career.
“It was the greatest news I got all year,” Skipper said. “Just finishing one more with the guys man that means everything to me. This a game that you’re a member of for the rest of your life and that gave me a collegiate career. With this last one man, we’re gonna put an exclamation mark on it an get this done for the Cajuns fans.”
A Battle for Momentum
UL football isn’t the only team heading into the matchup riding a strong wave of momentum as the Blue Hens have a lot to fight for as well. This marks their first bowl game in program history and with the help of quarterback Nick Minicucci, they’ll be looking to make even more history in Mobile.
“They’re well coached, they got skill at all the different levels and they’re a little bit unique compared to the some of the teams we played this year,” UL football defensive coordinator Jim Salgado said. “They throw the ball a lot more, statistically averaging about 42, 43 throws a game compared to most Sun Belt teams looking to run the football.”
Stopping Minicucci and his outside weapons will be on the top of the to-do list for the Cajuns defense. Key players in executing that will be defensive lineman Jordan Lawson, linebackers Jaden Duggar and Terrence Williams, as well as their secondary.
“We have conversations a lot about this game we’ve just been like ‘One more, you know, one more we got to get one more. Got to go 1-0’,” Williams said. “And we certainly gotta go 1-0 next week.”
Shannon Belt covers high school sports and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at sbelt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana football aiming for five wins in a row at 68 Ventures Bowl
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