Trap game. Lookahead spot. Rivalry hangover.
There’s a good chance you’ll hear one (or all) of the above descriptors in the days and hours leading up to No. 25/RV Missouri football’s game Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette, a team that won 10 games in the 2024 season competed for the Sun Belt Conference title game.
The 2025 campaign is off to a slower start for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who come to Columbia — for what is now a noon kickoff — at .500 through two games.
The Tigers are four-touchdown favorites in the betting markets, but the position on the calendar does lend a little bit of intrigue.
Mizzou (2-0) just beat its biggest rival, Kansas, in the first game played between the two teams in 14 years. Peak one week down the slate, and here comes South Carolina and SEC play — a game that could have serious CFP implications.
So, with Jayhawks to the left of them and Gamecocks to the right, the Tigers are stuck in the middle with UL.
Here’s what you need to know about the Ragin’ Cajuns:
Who is Louisiana’s starting QB for Missouri football game?
The Ragin’ Cajuns have had some injury trouble at quarterback. Former blue-chip prospect and Ole Miss and LSU player Walker Howard, looking to reignite his career at the Group of Five level, is having season-ending surgery after picking up an injury in UL’s season-opener.
There’s a chance you see two quarterbacks Saturday.
Daniel Beale is the expected starter. He has 86 passing yards with a 50% completion rate on 28 passing attempts since taking over the offense late in Week 1.
But Mizzou also could see some wildcat QB work from Lunch Winfield, a run-first backup who has taken a few snaps this season in Howard’s absence.
Drinkwitz vs. UL: Round 3
Drinkwitz has seen Louisiana before in his career. Twice, actually. In the 2019 season, his Appalachian State team beat the Billy Napier-led Ragin’ Cajuns 17-7 in the regular season and then 45-38 in the Sun Belt Conference title game — Drinkwitz’s last game before being hired at Mizzou.
Both head coaches, obviously, are in the SEC now. Louisiana replaced Napier, who is now (for now?) at Florida, with then-assistant and current head coach Michael Desormeaux late in 2021. He is 24-19 as the Ragin’ Cajuns’ head coach with four bowl appearances.
Jim Salgado is Louisiana’s defensive coordinator, and Tim Leger is the offensive coordinator.
What is UL’s record?
Louisiana is 1-1 after taking a surprise, 14-12 home loss to Rice in Week 1.
The Ragin’ Cajuns beat McNeese State 34-10 last Saturday.
Drinkwitz thinks strength of UL is defensive line
This will be a test for Mizzou’s offensive line, which improved against Kansas but still drew some constructive criticism from Drinkwitz in his midweek press conference.
“With as much pressure as we allowed, (as many) sacks as we allowed on our quarterback and our inability to gain short yardage in critical situations,” Drinkwitz said, “I think it’s going to be a real challenge for our team to improve in that way.”
Louisiana has six different players in its front who have generated multiple QB pressures through two games. Rice and McNeese State, between them, averaged just 3.1 yards per rush attempt. That sets up another interesting in-game battle.
Mizzou running backs Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts have forced 26 missed tackles. They’ve rushed for 244 yards after contact, which isn’t terribly far behind the 301 yards UL has allowed on the ground all season.
“We’ll find out exactly where we are this week,” Desormeaux told reporters in Lafayette. “On defense, we’ve been really physical. We’ve stopped the run. We’ve done those things. We’ll find out this week if we’re really that type of team or not.”
Strength of the UL offense: Running backs
Louisiana ran for 5.9 yards per carry against Rice and 7.3 yards per carry against McNeese State. UL running backs Bill Davis and Zylan Perry each are averaging more than 70 yards on the ground per game.
Like Missouri, Louisiana utilizes a lot of zone reads and the personnel to make it work. And, like Missouri’s current running backs, both Davis and Perry have been adept at getting the most out of any given play with 17 combined missed tackles and nearly 200 after-contact yards between them.
“I think the running backs are the guys that give me the most anxiety,” Drinkwitz said … “I mean, they’re built very similar to Ahmad. And we know that’s a difficult style to get to the ground.”
Score prediction: Missouri 38, Louisiana 7
We started out here by telling you this is a game Mizzou can’t overlook.
The Tigers won’t, and they should comfortably win this game.
The injury to Howard has left UL lacking in the passing department. As talented as the visitors might be in the run game, Mizzou’s defensive front is more than strong enough to dominate an overmatched, potentially one-dimensional opponent.
The same applies to the other side of the ball. Mizzou’s offense is firing on all cylinders through two games and could absolutely take advantage of that, and there’s a good chance there are holes in the UL secondary that Beau Pribula and company can exploit.
Put us down for a blowout and some late QB2, Matt Zollers reps in the fourth quarter here.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football vs. Louisiana: Scouting report, score prediction
