LAFAYETTE – After struggling most of the afternoon to slow down Texas State's high-octane offense, UL's Ragin' Cajun defense forced two turnovers and had a blocked punt on the Bobcats' final four possessions at Cajun Field Saturday afternoon. Those stops helped set up Cajun quarterback Zeon Chriss, who accounted for two touchdowns in the final 5:54 to rally UL from as much as a 13-point deficit and to a 34-30 Sun Belt Conference victory, their 11th in 11 tries against the Bobcats.
Chriss found Robert Williams over the middle for an 11-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, his third touchdown pass of the game, to pull the Cajuns (4-2, 1-1 SBC) within 30-28.
Less than a minute later, the UL defense forced a punt from the Bobcats (4-2, 1-1 SBC) – their first of the game – and junior Dalen Cambre stormed in from the left side to block Seamus O'Kelly's punt. Ironically, Cambre had also blocked a punt against Texas State last year in the Cajuns' 41-13 win in San Marcos.
Patrick Mensah recovered the loose ball and returned it to the Bobcat 22, and four plays later Chriss sprinted eight yards around the right side for a touchdown that gave UL its first lead of the game with 2:21 left.
Texas State, which finished with 530 offensive yards but had only one second-half touchdown, got as far as the Cajun 44 on its final possession when quarterback TJ Finley found Ashtyn Hawkins with a 14-yard screen pass. However, UL linebacker and team tackle leader K.C. Ossai knocked the ball loose from Hawkins, and Tyree Skipper returned the fumble to the Bobcat 15 with 1:19 left.
Chriss ran on first down to the Texas State 1 for a clinching first down before a game-ending kneel down gave UL its third straight home win and its first Sun Belt win of the year.
Chriss had only four incompletions in the game, going 13-of-17 for 205 yards and the three scores, and added 67 yards rushing as one of four Cajuns with 39 or more rushing yards.
Ismail Mahdi was the workhorse for the Bobcats, running for 188 yards on 34 carries and scoring the game's first touchdown on a 10-yard run only three minutes into the game. Finley finished 30-of-40 for 326 yards and two scores.
The Cajuns have never lost to Texas State in a series that began with the Bobcats' move into the Sun Belt for the 2013 season. UL had won each of the previous 11 meetings by double-figure margins including a 45-0 victory at Cajun Field in 2021 and the victory in San Marcos last year.
Texas State, which had won three in a row since a one-score loss to UTSA in the second week of the season, led 20-14 at halftime and added to that lead on its first second-half possession on Mason Shipley's 33-yard field goal. But the Cajuns came right back, going 82 yards in only seven plays, with freshman running back Zylan Perry accounting for 50 yards in that drive and finishing it with a six-yard scoring run.
UL then got the first of its three turnovers in the game's final 16 minutes when Jalen Clark picked off an errant Finley pass, but couldn't take advantage. The Bobcats came right back to take a nine-point lead with 10:14 left on Finley's second touchdown pass, an 18-yarder to Joey Hobert, making it 30-21 before UL's final two scores.
Texas State scored on each of its first four possessions, with the Cajuns getting their first defensive stop only 11 seconds before halftime when cornerback Glenn Brown knocked away a fourth-down Finley pass that kept it a one-score game at halftime.
Finley had guided the Texas State offense to 307 yards and three drives of 70 yards or more in the first half, including a 75-yard march to Mahdi's opening score. The Cajuns came back with their own extended march, going 70 yards before Chriss connected with running back Dre'lyn Washington on a four-yard scoring pass. Chriss accounted for 57 yards in that march including an 18-yard scramble to the Bobcat 15.
The first of two Shipley first-half field goals, this one from 37 yards, gave the Bobcats a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter, and that lead went to 17-7 one drive later when Finley hit Kole Wilson on a one-yard fourth-down scoring pass on the second play of the second quarter.
On each side of that score, the Cajuns had two self-inflicted drive stoppages. A Chriss fumble during a scramble resulted in a 21-yard loss and an eventual punt before a pair of personal foul penalties helped set up the Bobcat score. UL then drove to the Bobcat 10 on its next possession, with Chriss' deep shot to a wide-open Williams providing 60 of the drive's 81 yards, but Washington fumbled inside the 10 and Kaleb Culp recovered for Texas State at the one-yard line.
An 83-yard bomb from Finley to Joey Hobert five plays later put the Bobcats at the UL 3, but the Cajun defense stiffened and forced Shipley's 24-yard field goal that made it 20-7. Following the kickoff, the Cajuns went 67 yards on only six plays before Chriss found Peter LeBlanc for a 34-yard score with 3:56 left in the half.