Louisiana football vs. Southeastern Louisiana: Scouting report, prediction

LAFAYETTE – Michael Desormeaux is technically 1-0 as Louisiana’s head football coach, but Saturday night is when the job actually begins.

The former UL quarterback will lead the Ragin’ Cajuns out onto the field at Cajun Field to kickoff the 2022 season against Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. when the Desormeaux era will officially start. He served as interim head coach in the Ragin' Cajuns' 36-21 win over Marshall in last year's New Orleans Bowl.

UL carries college football’s longest active win streak into the game at 13 and are is preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference for the third straight year.

But the Cajuns aren’t without questions entering the season.

LOUISIANA DEPTH CHARTProjecting what UL's two-deep will look like vs. Southeastern Louisiana

BOLD PREDICTIONSFour bold predictions for the Ragin' Cajuns in Michael Desormeaux's first season as coach

QB1 DECISIONHow Chandler Fields won Louisiana's starting quarterback job

Southeastern was voted preseason favorite to win the Southland in 2022, and with plenty of talent all over the field, should make for a competitive, entertaining game at Cajun Field.

Chandler Fields debut

Sophomore quarterback Chandler Fields emerged from a lengthy, close position battle with junior Ben Wooldridge for the QB1 spot, to be formally announced as the starter a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday will be Fields’ first collegiate start. He backed up Levi Lewis the last couple of seasons and played sparingly in mop-up duty or when Lewis had to exit the game due to injury or equipment issues.

Desormeaux and offensive coordinator Tim Leger have expressed confidence in Fields and won’t hold anything back in his first outing. Things won’t be all that easy as he’ll have to contend with two All-Southland Conference defensive backs for the Lions in Zy Alexander and Donniel Ward-McGee.

Chris Smith and who else?

Louisiana is particularly thin behind junior Chris Smith at running back, and much of the talk during the preseason centered around who could coaches rely upon for 10-12 carries a game?

Terrence Williams and Jacob Kibodi will get carries, and who performs better will be worthy of a watch.

Ragin' Cajuns secondary

Louisiana has a chance to be special on the back end, and it starts with senior cornerback Eric Garror. The corner spot opposite him will be something to watch as projected starter Trey Amos has missed time this preseason due to a hamstring injury. How healthy will Amos be?

While the safety positions will feature new starters, those guys have plenty of game experience. The growing sense is safety could be where UL is deepest on defense. Bralen Trahan, Kam Pedescleaux and Brandon Bishop look to make the secondary as tough to throw against as possible.

Score prediction

This game ends up closer than the experts think. Louisiana’s offense will search for cohesion and timing in the opener and Southeastern’s defense keeps the Cajuns within reach for much of the night. Louisiana 28 Southeastern Louisiana 13.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana football vs. SE Louisiana: Scouting report, prediction