Add The New York Post on Google Welcome back to another week of Ugly Underdogs. After an easy day at the office with New Mexico State in Week 0, we got nothing from Northern Illinois on the road against Iowa in Week 1. We’ll try to get back on track on Saturday night with one of the most interesting programs in the country, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.
There are certain outlier programs in college football. Some are obvious, like the Service Academies, but others are more subtle.
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns are one of the latter.
Unlike most FBS coaches, Michael Desormeaux largely resists the temptation of trying to remake his roster with imports from the portal.
And while swimming upstream in college football these days can be a quick way to get yourself fired, you can understand why Desormeaux would bet on a more traditional recruit-and-develop approach with the Ragin’ Cajuns.
The University of Louisiana is located in Lafayette, which is smack dab in one of the country’s football heartlands. A ton of talent comes out of this region, and Desormeaux believes he can turn that skill into success.
The results were mixed last season, as the Ragin’ Cajuns qualified for a bowl game but still wound up with a losing record at 6-7. Instead of abandoning his plan, Desormeaux doubled down in 2026, bringing just five transfers (down from seven in 2025) to Lafayette. He’s betting that the experience that his young roster accrued last year will pay off this fall.
It seems like a paradox, but going the old-school route is a bold strategy.
We can wax poetic about Desormeaux’s romantic approach all we want, but the Ragin’ Cajuns will go as far as quarterback Lunch Winfield takes them.
Desormeaux installed Winfield as the starter midway through last season, and the decision saved the season. After taking some lumps early, Winfield led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a four-game winning streak to get them to 6-6. There were some growing pains for the Lutcher, La., native, but he flashed quite a high ceiling thanks to his dual-threat ability.
Winfield will need to show that ceiling more consistently this season because the defense could be a sore spot. Perhaps the experience that this unit picked up last year pays off, but it’s not fair to expect them to contain USC’s prolific offense.
The bookmakers aren’t expecting it, at least, as the Trojans are laying 30.5 points against Louisiana.
USC’s first game was wonky, as the Trojans conceded 23 points in the fourth quarter against San Jose State, but they were up 35-3 at the time, so it was excusable from the outside. The defense seemed to take it personally, though, as USC shut out Fresno State, 39-0, and held the Bulldogs to just 116 yards of offense in Week 1.
Lincoln Riley leads USC out against Fresno State. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect That leaves us with a question to answer. Which version of the USC defense will show up on Saturday?
I tend to think it will look more like the one we saw against San Jose State.
While Fresno State is a better team overall than SJSU, the offense is moribund, and Bulldogs quarterback Jayden Mandal was making the first start of his career in a brutal situation. That spot was set up wonderfully for USC to respond to their sluggish finish against the Spartans.
The situation will be quite different against Louisiana.
Not only does Louisiana have a quarterback who can make things happen, but the Trojans have a schedule to manage. They will have to travel across the country to Rutgers in Week 3, and then fly back home for a season-defining visit from Oregon the following Saturday.
I’d expect Riley to rotate his squad pretty heavily in the second half, leaving the backdoor open for Winfield and the Ragin’ Cajuns to cover the 30.5-point spread.
The Play: Louisiana +30.5 (-102, DraftKings)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
