Louisiana got its first win over a Power Five/Four Conference school for the first time since 2020 when it beat Wake Forest in September. The Ragin’ Cajuns can double their pleasure when they face the TCU Horned Frogs at the Isleta New Mexico Bowl.
This year’s New Mexico Bowl takes place Saturday, December 28 at 2:15 p.m. ET on ESPN.
For Louisiana, it’s a chance to put a stamp on head coach Michael Desormeaux’s finest season since taking over for Billy Napier at the end of 2021. The Cajuns seek the third 11-win campaign in program history — all of which have come in the last six years.
TCU is similarly trying to build back better, albeit toward greater heights. This winter marks the Frogs’ first postseason game since getting trounced by the Georgia Bulldogs in 2022’s national championship game. 2024 wasn’t a full bounce back, but an eight-win regular season marked the team’s second-best record since 2017. Handling Louisiana in Albuquerque may not suggest TCU is all the way back, but it would help build momentum for Sonny Dykes’s 2025.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL TURNOVER:
The biggest question facing the Horned Frogs is whether top wideout Jack Bech will be available. The senior had a breakthrough campaign with more than 1,000 receiving yards but suffered an MCL sprain in the regular season finale against Cincinnati. If he can make it back four weeks after the injury, he’ll boost a passing attack that averaged better than 300 yards per game through the air.
Louisiana will counter with a defense that held opponents to fewer than 190 passing yards per week while generating 15 interceptions in 13 games. Handling the Horned Frogs is a tall task, but the Ragin’ Cajuns can take solace in the fact they’re capable of firing back in a shootout. UL has scored at least 33 points nine times this fall.
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