Allons danser, mes amis! Mimi Fontenot here, ledger in one hand, accordion playlist in the other, and my two-step shoes already laced for Hattiesburg. If you're new to my corner: I'm an accountant by trade and a zydeco dancer by calling, and I see football the way I see a good dance floor. It's all rhythm. Who's leading, who's following and who just stepped on whose foot. Last Saturday, the Cajuns led every single dance.
Part 1: La Grande Danse at Our Lady of Lourdes
Louisiana beat Troy 33-6 on Oct. 17 at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium in Lafayette, in front of 20,623, on Family Weekend and the Hall of Fame Game. Grandmère would have been proud. We ran for 243 yards, held the ball for 36:39 and didn't turn it over once. Zéro. My ledger loves a zero in the right column.
It started with a gift. Troy forced a four-and-out on our first drive, but then the Trojans muffed the punt and Harrison Kidder pounced on it at the Troy 8. Three plays later, Lunch Winfield threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to KeDarius Wade. Merci beaucoup, Troy.
The defense stood tall when Troy put together a 15-play drive to open the second quarter, and the Trojans missed a 42-yard field goal at the end of it. Then JJ Garner broke a 37-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the half. Tony Sterner kicked a 42-yard field goal with 1:44 left and a 46-yarder as time ran out. That's 12 points in the last 2:21 of a half, and if you've ever seen a zydeco band hit the final chorus, you know exactly how that felt. It was 19-0 at the break.
Troy scored on a 23-yard Tucker Kilcrease run in the third quarter and missed the extra point. Then came the moment I loved most, a 16-play, 91-yard drive that ate 8:22 and ended with Steven Blanco's 2-yard touchdown run. That is a slow waltz, cher, and Troy was waiting for the song to end. Anthony Reagan Jr. finished the scoring with a 15-yard run early in the fourth.
Winfield led a balanced ground game with 65 yards on 15 carries. Garner had 62 on 10, Reagan had 58 on 11, and Blanco had 50 on 10. Four different backs, four different dance partners, all in step. We went 10-for-17 on third down. Jake St. Andre had eight tackles, Maurion Eleam had a sack, and Brent Gordon Jr. broke up three passes. Troy had 267 yards and went 3-for-12 on third down. I'd like to say a quick, sincere prayer for Troy quarterback Goose Crowder, who left the game in the third quarter with what AL.com reported was a shoulder injury.
The Cajuns are 5-2 and 2-1 in the Sun Belt. A week earlier we lost 32-31 at Louisiana Tech, and I'm still not ready to talk about the last step of that dance. Let's leave it in the old ledger.
Part 2: Two-Step to Hattiesburg
Saturday, 5 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN+, Louisiana visits Southern Miss at Renasant Stadium.
Bless them, the Golden Eagles are 1-5 and 0-2 in the Sun Belt. Last Saturday they lost 23-13 at home to Arkansas State. Arkansas State held the ball for 40:08 against them. Forty minutes! The Southern Miss defense was on the dance floor so long it should have gotten a punch card at the band stand.
The Ledger, Please
Mimi always opens the books. Per ESPN's team numbers, Southern Miss allows 252.0 rushing yards a game and 32.7 points. Louisiana runs for 200.1 yards a game and allows only 104.3 on the ground and 19.3 points. In accounting we call that a favorable variance. In Cajun French, I call it bon appétit.
Winfield is our leading rusher with 463 yards and eight touchdowns, and he has 1,153 passing yards. KeDarius Wade leads us with 226 receiving yards. St. Andre has 48 tackles. As a team, we allow only 298.3 yards a game.
Now, fair is fair. Southern Miss has weapons. Mario Sanders has 492 receiving yards and five touchdowns, Steven Robinson has 432 rushing yards and five scores, and Landry Lyddy has thrown for 1,032 yards. Mathis Haygood has 55 tackles. But against Arkansas State, Southern Miss turned it over on downs three times and threw two interceptions. That's not a two-step. That's tripping over your own boots.
The Honest Entry
Here's the part an honest accountant puts in bold. CollegeFootballData.com has Southern Miss ahead 24-5 in this series, and the Golden Eagles won 22-10 in Lafayette last year. Twenty-four to five. That's not a rivalry, mes amis. That's an audit we keep failing. We did win 23-13 in Hattiesburg in 2024, though, so I know the way to the dance hall. Time to balance the books.
The Name Game
And I have to mention The Rock. For 50 years Southern Miss played at M. M. Roberts Stadium. This August, according to the Hattiesburg American and Southern Miss Athletics, the stadium was renamed Renasant Stadium. I support it. Everybody deserves a new name for a fresh start. But here's my question for the Golden Eagles: how's the fresh start going? We have Our Lady of Lourdes on our stadium. I'd say we've got the stronger patron.
A Tale of Two Hub Cities
Here's a fun fact, and I verified it twice because I'm an accountant: both of these towns are nicknamed "The Hub City."
Lafayette. We've had the nickname as Lafayette grew, connected by roads to all its neighboring settlements, and we're also called the "Heart of Acadiana." Our 2020 population was 121,374, and we sit on the Vermilion River. The town was founded as Vermilionville and renamed in 1884 for General Lafayette, the French aristocrat who helped the Continental Army in the Revolution. So we even named our town after a Frenchman who helped win a war. Très Cajun. Wikipedia notes that Lafayette has been among the leaders in restaurants per capita in Louisiana since 2015 and that we host the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles. Cajun and Creole music, Cajun and Creole food, and on Saturdays, Cajun football.
Hattiesburg. Now, Hattiesburg is a fine Pine Belt town of 48,730 people. Its nickname also happens to be "The Hub City." According to Wikipedia, Hattiesburg got that nickname in 1912 from a contest in the local newspaper. A contest! We earned "Hub City" by growing. Hattiesburg won it in the paper, like a crossword. Ma chère, a nickname from a newspaper contest is like a dance partner you won in a raffle.
I'll be fair: Hattiesburg is home to the Hattiesburg Zoo at Kamper Park, and Camp Shelby to the south is the largest National Guard training base east of the Mississippi. I respect it deeply and I thank everyone who trains there. But for a Saturday night? Lafayette has the festival. Hattiesburg has a very nice zoo, which, honestly, is where the Golden Eagles' run defense has been spending its weekends: watching other animals run by.
And size matters in a ledger. Lafayette has about two and a half Hattiesburgs. Two Hub Cities, one wheel. I know whose spokes are turning.
The Last Dance
Here's the rhythm I see. Louisiana runs for 200 yards a game, and Southern Miss gives up 252. Louisiana didn't turn it over against Troy, and Southern Miss gave the ball away five times against Arkansas State, counting turnovers on downs. The series history isn't on our side, but the ledger this season is. Lace up, Cajuns. Let's two-step through Hattiesburg and dance all the way home on I-59 and I-10.
Laissez les bons stats rouler!
My call: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 31, Southern Miss Golden Eagles 22.