Arkansas State had marched 88 yards down its home field Thursday for one final play from the Louisiana (Lafayette) 2-yard line with three seconds remaining.
But a short-handed Ragin’ Cajuns defense held up — once again — holding the Red Wolves shy of the goal line as they had all second half and escaping Centennial Bank Stadium with a 34-30 win and surviving bowl hopes.
Quarterback Jaylen Raynor caught the shotgun snap and broke to his right to run an option to the wide side of the field, but ultimately found only a swarm of defenders as time expired.
Edge rusher Ashley Williams Jr. (Zachary) shut down Raynor’s path and forced him inside. Defensive tackle Kadarius Miller slowed him down behind the line of scrimmage, and defensive tackle Fitzgerald West Jr. (Lafayette Christian) and linebacker Terrence Williams (Many) led a crew of about five defenders to corral the critical stop.
The victory marked third straight for Louisiana (5-6, 4-3), which has battled back from a 1-4 and 2-6 start and can earn bowl-eligibility with a win in next week’s regular-season finale at home against rival ULM.
“I hope everybody sees how resilient this group is — what we already knew,” coach Michael Desormeaux told the ESPN broadcast immediately following the chaotic finish. “I mean, you’re sitting there at 2-6 and you’re talking about hope and you’re talking about what you’ve got to do to have a chance in Week 12 to find a way in the postseason. This group’s special, man. Not many people can survive what we’ve been through.”
RAGIN CAJUNS — 34-30 — FINAL.
The short-handed defense buckles down and stuffs Arkansas State’s 89-yard final drive just shy of goal.
Coach Michael Desormeaux & co. return home to play rival ULM for a shot at bowl eligibility. pic.twitter.com/7tJJ4oeoaE
— Jerit Roser (@JeritRoser) November 21, 2025
The Ragin’ Cajuns have battled a long list of injuries all season and entered Thursday down another seven players, including four defensive backs and two other defenders, against Raynor and a Red Wolves (5-6, 4-3) offense among the Sun Belt’s better passing attack.
And Arkansas State pounced to an early 10-0 lead with a disruptive defensive performance and Louisiana offensive struggles behind an already banged-up line that suffered further losses during the game.
A three-and-out, short punt and good return set up a Clune Van Andel field goal, and a sack-fumble bounced right to defensive tackle Cody Sigler for a 27-yard return.
But Louisiana took advantage of a couple short fields of its own to respond with a pair of goal-line touchdowns, as the back-and-forth battle began to ramp up.
Fumble recoveries by linebacker Caleb Kibodi (Parkview Baptist) and defensive back Steven Ranel II (Central) — on a muffed punt and Maurion Eleam (Neville) tackle, respectively — set up Zylan Perry (Franklin) and D’Wanye’ “Lunch” Winfield (Lutcher) scores.
Van Andel and Tony Sterner traded 41-yard field goals, and then the teams traded leads on a 93-yard kickoff return by Chauncy Cobb and another Winfield keeper at the goal line.
Arkansas State got the last laugh of the half, though, with a 1-yard Devin Spencer run to cap a 75-yard drive, easily the longest to that point, and reclaim a 27-24 lead at the break with the third-quarter kickoff coming.
But the Ragin’ Cajuns were lights-out defensively to start the second half. And even when they bent, they never broke, allowing just a fourth-quarter field goal that ultimately wouldn’t be enough to help the Red Wolves’ cause.
Elijah “Bill” Davis (Riverside Academy) popped a third-and-1 run for a 36-yard touchdown, the only score of the third quarter, to push Louisiana back ahead, 31-27, with the 85-yard drive.
Sterner boomed a 50-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, and all A-State could manage of an answer was a 24-yarder by Van Andel with 6:40 remaining.
The Red Wolves had opted for a fourth-down attempt from the Cajuns’ 25-yard line on their previous possession, only to be immediately disrupted by senior defensive end Jordan Lawson.
So in their final two possessions in the final minutes, they needed to reach the end zone. And each time, Louisiana denied them.
Williams finished with a game-high 12 tackles, and senior linebacker Jaden Dugger added nine and a deflected pass.
Freshman cornerback Brent Gordon Jr. (Cecilia), Eleam and freshman defensive back Lake Bates (North DeSoto) each wrapped up seven stops in bigger roles for the depleted secondary, and Gordon and Eleam had three and one pass breakups, respectively.
Winfield finished 18-for-25 (72.0%) for 147 yards with completions to eight different receivers and rushed 20 times for another 89 yards and two scores.
Davis carried 11 times for 57 yards, and Perry 12 times for 42 yards with each finding the end zone once.