ULL falls to Appalachian State

Marcus Cox rushed for 78 yards on 22 carries and scored a pair of first-half touchdowns as Appalachian State used a strong defensive effort and defeated the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns 28-7 in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Taylor Lamb completed 14-of-21 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown as Appalachian State gained 402 yards of total offense while holding Louisiana (4-7, 3-4 SBC) to a season-low 246, including a season-low 42 rushing.
Jalin Moore, who gained a game-high 104 yards rushing, added a 54-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for the Mountaineers, while Eric Boggs registered three of the Mountaineers’ six sacks.
“That’s one that you just don’t feel good about because you feel like your defense played well enough to win the game,” Louisiana head coach Mark Hudspeth said in a news release. “You’re talking about a team (App State) that is almost averaging 40 points a game, and for the most part, it was a 21-point game midway through the fourth quarter.
“We kept coming up and getting them off the field, then, offensively, we’re not able to respond at all,” Hudspeth said. “The times we did drive a little bit, we’d get down in the red zone and could not find any points.”
After being forced to punt on eight of its first nine drives, Louisiana scored on its final drive as redshirt freshman Jordan Davis engineered a 12-play, 75-yard drive. Davis, who completed all seven of his passes for 60 yards, capped the scoring drive when he took a quarterback draw and raced 20 yards for his first career touchdown.
Cox capped a six-play, 55-yard drive for the Mountaineers when he scored on a nine-yard run with 9:34 remaining in the first quarter.
Cox added his second touchdown when he scored on a one-yard run off left tackle with 14:03 remaining in the second quarter to cap a 15-play, 80-yard drive.
The Ragin’ Cajuns defense recorded two takeaways in the second quarter as Travis Crawford scooped up a pitch from Lamb for the Ragin’ Cajuns before Chris Prater knocked the ball loose from receiver Malachi Jones with Taboris Lee recovering at the UL 34.
Louisiana threatened to cut into the Appalachian State lead in the second quarter after driving to the Mountaineer 11, but Stevie Artigue’s 36-yard field goal attempt in the half’s final seconds was blocked by Latrell Gibbs.
Moore gave the Mountaineers a 21-0 lead in the third quarter when his touchdown run capped a four-play, 68-yard drive, and Lamb connected with Michael Moll on a two-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter that capped a 12-play, 86-yard drive.
“I felt like special teams-wise and defensively, we played really well against an outstanding offense,” Hudspeth said. “They’re (App State) No. 1 in the (Sun Belt) conference in just about every category, and you hold them the way we held them … that’s pretty good.”
Ronald Blair led App State with eight tackles and a sack with Boggs and John Law each recording six stops.
Brooks Haack finished 13-for-22 for 128 yards for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Jamal Robinson catching a game-high seven passes for 66 yards.
Elijah McGuire led Louisiana with 43 yards rushing on 16 carries with Lee (nine tackles) and Dominique Tovell (eight tackles, one tackle for loss) leading the Ragin’ Cajuns defensive effort.
Patterson High alum Tre’maine Lightfoot had six tackles (four solo and two assists).
Louisiana will conclude the regular-season Dec. 5, when it hosts Troy in a 4 p.m. contest at Cajun Field.