Week 5: Louisiana vs South Alabama 10/1/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and South Alabama Jaguars square off Saturday in week 5 Sun Belt conference college football action from Cajun Field.

The South Alabama Jaguars will try to build on their 3-1 record after a 38-14 win over Louisiana Tech last time out. Carter Bradley has thrown for 1,012 yards, 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 66.9% passing while La’Damian Webb has a team-high 390 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. Jalen Wayne leads South Alabama’s receiving group with 22 grabs for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns while Caullin Lacy has 258 receiving yards and a pair of scores. Another pair of receivers for South Alabama have 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Jaden Voisin has a team-high 20 total tackles while CJ Rias has a pair of sacks and Yam Banks has a pair of interceptions.

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will look to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 21-17 outright loss to Louisiana-Monroe last time out to fall to 2-2. Chandler Fields has thrown for 583 yards, 7 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions on 56.8% passing while Ken Wooldridge has 350 passing yards with 2 touchdowns on 66.7% passing. Chris Smith leads the Cajuns in rushing with 157 rushing yards while Michael Jefferson has a team-high 17 catches for 259 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns so far this season. On defense Kam Pedescleaux has a team-high 29 total tackles including 15 solo tackles with Andre Jones adding 2.5 sacks and Marcus Wiser logging a pair of sacks.

South Alabama is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a win. Louisiana is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 home games while the under is 6-0 in their last 6 games following a loss.

I get the case to be made for a home underdog in spots, but while I was high on what pieces Louisiana still had in the cupboards despite Billy Napier bolting for Florida, the reality is that the Cajuns have shown some frailties recently, losing to Rice and failing to get up off of the mat against Louisiana-Monroe. As much as I wouldn’t relate laying points on the road with South Alabama, the reality for this game is that I don’t think that there’s any other choice really. Even if it’s more of a fade of Louisiana than anything else, I’ll side with the Jaguars laying the points in this one.