Seven bold predictions for Ragin' Cajuns football, Michael Desormeaux in 2022

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will be hard-pressed to top the 2021 season.

The No. 17 Ragin’ Cajuns (13-1) set the school-record wins, 13 straight following a season-opening loss at Texas.

They beat Appalachian State in the Sun Belt Conference championship, claiming their first outright Sun Belt title and adding it to the co-championship they shared with Coastal Carolina in 2020.

They capped the season off with a 36-21 New Orleans Bowl win over Marshall in which Emani Bailey rushed for 94 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, Levi Lewis threw for 270 yards and one touchdown and Lewis – in his final handoff as a Cajun – gave away his bowl MVP trophy to Bailey.

What will the new year bring? Here are seven bold predictions:

UL has two 1,000-yard rushers

It might be Bailey and returning starter Chris Smith, who missed the New Orleans Bowl while nursing a knee injury. It might be Bailey and Montrell Johnson Jr, who returns for his sophomore season. Or it might be Smith and Johnson.

Two 1,000-yard rushers for the Cajuns next season seems like a stretch on the surface, especially with a three-man running backs rotation, but why not?

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UL may be forced to run even more with an unproven quarterback, no matter who wins the job, and the Cajuns have quite-capable running backs, especially if two of the three can stay healthy.

Smith ran for 894 yards this season and might have hit 1,000 if he hadn’t been slowed in the Sun Belt championship game and absent for the bowl.

Johnson rushed for 784, including a 99-yard touchdown at Arkansas State, and should only get better in his second college season. Bailey finished with 615 despite missing three games due to in-season knee surgery. If he had played all 14 and hit his average, he’d be at 782 – despite the injury.

The Cajuns have had five 1,000-plus-yard rushing seasons since 2011, all by running backs who’ve played in the NFL (Elijah McGuire three times, Elijah Mitchell and Trey Ragas once each). But the only times they’ve had two do it in the same season came in 2007 and 2008, when coach Michael Desormeaux was playing quarterback and running back Tyrell Fenroy pulled it off.

Almendares is perfect

After taking over for the injured Kenneth Almendares, Nate Snyder missed five field goal tries during the season. But he went out the right way, making 3-of-3.

After all the ups and downs, the Cajuns deserve a break, and Almendares – back from a major hip injury – will deliver with flawless field goal kicking in 2022.

Zeon Chriss plays

He may not start. He may not even play a lot. But quarterback Zeon Chriss, a recent signee, will see the field next season.

That’s asking a lot, especially with so many quarterbacks – backup  Chandler Fields, Fresno State transfer Ben Wooldridge, Maryland transfer Lance Legendre, 2021 freshmen Hunter Herring and Zy McDonald – waiting in line to succeed Lewis.

But Chriss evidently has the makings of something special, so he’ll get a dip sooner than later.

Cajuns win the West, again

The easy bold prediction would be to say the Cajuns, for the first time since the Sun Belt’s two-division format was instituted in 2018, don’t win the West Division.

Even bolder is to suggest they will.

The reason for thinking they can? Until someone kicks UL off the mantle – South Alabama, at early glance, seems to have the best shot – the Cajuns remain king.

UL knocks off Florida State

UL doesn’t play its final non-conference game until Nov. 19 at Florida State.

By then, new coach Desormeaux should have his play-calling rhythm down pat, the quarterback situation should be settled and the Cajuns will have found their grove in their first full season without new Florida coach Billy Napier.

Coach Mike Norvell will be in his third season at Florida State, but after two sub-.500 years the Seminoles are beatable if they’re floundering yet again in November of Year 3. If the Cajuns pull it off, it could soften the Seminoles up for Napier and the Gators to pound FSU when visiting Tallahassee one week later.

Desormeaux wins double digits

The rest of UL’s nonconference schedule seems soft.

Southeastern Louisiana will be playing its first FCS season in a while without Cole Kelley, the prolific quarterback from Teurlings Catholic. Eastern Michigan lost 56-20 to Liberty in the LendingTree Bowl and is a 7-6 MAC team. Rice finished 4-8 and lost four straight before ending its season with a win over Louisiana Tech, which fired coach Skip Holtz.

Matching 13 victories is dang-near impossible for Desormeaux, but winning 10 just might be within reach.

UL extends its bowl streak

The Cajuns have won three straight bowl games with Lewis at quarterback, beating Miami (Ohio) in the 2019 season’s LendingTree Bowl and Texas-San Antonio in the 2020 First Responder Bowl before taking care of Marshall in New Orleans.

Another Sun Belt title-game appearance, toppling a Power Five opponent, double-digit victories and a fourth straight bowl win is putting a lot on Desormeaux in his first season as a college coach, but it happens in this bold forecast.