No one for UL is thrilled about giving up 260 yards rushing in Thursday’s 42-21 road win over UL-Monroe.
But that didn’t cloud the highlight performances too much in the win.
For the second straight game, there’s a lot of discussion about redshirt junior linebacker Micah Johnson. In the win over South Alabama the week before, it was Johnson’s late interception that helped UL seal a 28-26 win.
On Thursday, Johnson contributed nine tackles and had two fumble recoveries, including bringing back the first one 20 yards for a touchdown.
“I think (safety Collin Jacob) knocked it out,” Johnson said of the scoop-and-score play. “I just saw a ball, nobody was around, so I just scooped and scored like we do in practice every week.”
Johnson has four fumble recoveries, which is a new single-season school record.
“I was happy to put points on the board for the team,” he said. “We needed that. I just keep pursuing to the ball, and when I see it, I’ve just got to go get it.”
The two fumble recoveries definitely slowed down the Warhawks’ ground game, which went for 191 yards in the first half but was limited to 69 yards in the second half.
“We just missed too many tackles (in the first half),” Johnson said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t expecting. We just missed too many tackles. We just have to execute the calls, and that’s what we did in the second half.”
Redshirt freshman running back JJ Garner also had another big game.
The thought was Garner might get more carries this week with the Cajuns (7-3, 4-2 Sun Belt) down to two primary rushing threats, along with Steven Blanco.
But this was a strange game in that the Warhawks finished with 79 offensive plays to only 46 for UL, leading to a 35:27 to 24:33 edge in time of possession for UL-Monroe.
But going from 10 carries the week before to nine carries Thursday didn’t limit Garner’s impact. He finished with 104 yards rushing and two more touchdowns to give him seven consecutive games with a rushing touchdown.
“JJ is a great kid,” Blanco said. “I’ll be in his ear, ‘Come on, let’s do it.’ I know he can do it. JJ can do anything he wants. I know I’ve got to stay on him to do his best.”
Garner had touchdown runs of 18 and 19 yards in impressive fashion. Elijah Mitchell was an elite back for UL in the past, but he was more of an in between tackles runner. Garner’s electric style is more akin to a young Elijah McGuire.
“I mean, his last touchdown, it should have been a TFL (tackle for loss),” Desormeaux said. “They ran a run game (blitz) and the guy made a great play. He makes a miss, and he ends up housing it. That’s what he’s able to do right now.”
Blanco isn’t as flashy of a back as Garner, but he’s certainly been effective. For the second straight week, it was Blanco’s powerful runs late that added the exclamation point to a victory. On Thursday, the St. Martinville product finished with a career-high 113 yards and a score on 15 carries.
“We want Steve-O to lean into what he is,” Desormeaux said. “He gets the tough yards and the dirty yards, and he turns 4-yard gains into 8-yard gains. Those are big over the course of a game. He’s been doing that really well for us.”
Desormeaux sort of suggested during Saturday’s postgame interview that perhaps it’s time to call the duo Thunder and Lightning. After the last two weeks, it’s hard to argue with that thought.
Because of that duo’s rushing exploits, the offense continued to be efficient, especially in the red zone. UL remains No. 2 in the nation in red-zone offense. After a 5 for 5 night in the red zone Thursday, the Cajuns have scored 28 touchdowns and seven field goals in 36 trips to the red zone. The only blemish was a Lunch Winfield fumble on UL’s first drive at Louisiana Tech.
All of it adds up to a very mature victory for the Cajuns.
“This very much qualifies as a mature win,” Desormeaux said. “These five-day turnarounds are hard. We needed our team. I think they handled it well from start to finish and the whole schedule is completely different. It was a big step in the right direction.”
The Cajuns now have a chance for another 10-win season if they run the table.
But first, there’s a few days of rest after another hard-fought team victory.
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