A record-breaking crowd of 11,040 filled Fifth Third Stadium to watch the Owls fall 34-10 to Louisiana in their inaugural FBS home game on Saturday night.
Following a week one loss on the road against UTSA, the Owls were unable to right the ship against the Ragin’ Cajuns despite a fast start.
“We didn’t have quite that chip on our shoulder edge about us he had in the first game, which we got to have,” Owls head coach Brian Bohannon said. “There’s a lot of young guys in that locker room that want to win and sometimes when things don’t go their way it’s hard to navigate that. And that’s what we’re trying to do is navigate that.”
On their opening drive, the Owls marched 16 plays in nearly nine minutes to take a 7-0 lead on a Preston Daniels three-yard touchdown rush.
Photo credit: Erin Cater
The Owls’ defense was able to hold Louisiana out of the end zone on the ensuing possession despite a trip inside the Kennesaw State red zone. Ragin’ Cajun’s kicker Kenneth Almendares connected on a 30-yard field goal attempt to cut the Owls’ lead to 7-3.
In the opening period, the Owls lost two of their top offensive playmakers in receiver Gabriel Benyard and tight end Carson Kent due to injury.
After forcing an Owls’ punt, Louisiana drove 80 yards in 10 plays to take a 10-7 lead when running back Elijah Davis plowed his way into the end zone from a yard out.
KSU was forced to punt on its next possession. After a 49-yard punt from Jacob Ulrich that pinned Louisiana inside its own 20, the Cajuns made quick work on a four play, 85-yard drive, to extend their lead to 17-7.
With 26 seconds remaining in the half, Ulrich’s punt was blocked in Owls’ territory. A few plays later, Almendares hit his second kick of the night to give Louisiana a 20-7 lead at halftime.
The Cajun’s scored twice more in the third quarter when quarterback Ben Woolridge connected with target Robert Williams and when leading rusher Zylan Perry broke through the Owls defensive front on the goal line, extending the lead to 34-7.
Perry finished the night with a game-high 104 yards on 10.4 yards per carry.
Owls’ kicker Austin Welch scored the final points of the game on a 30-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, bringing the score to 34-10.
“I thought at times we got frustrated (in the second half) – because I think our kids put all their eggs in a basket,” Bohannon said. “They put all their eggs in this basket to say hey we’re going to go win this, and things don’t go their way, and sometimes we’re not responding to that in the right manner.”
The crowd of 11,040 broke the previous school record of 10,436 set at last season’s homecoming game against Tennessee State.
Photo credit: Erin Cater
“It’s great to see that, to me that should be the standard every home game here,” Bohannon said. “It’s awesome, it’s good stuff and we’re gonna need it every week. We need everybody on board to help for us be successful.”
