MOBILE, Ala. – Both Tra Minter and Carlos Davis rushed for over 100 yards, but despite gaining 351 yards on the ground the University of South Alabama football team dropped a 37-27 Sun Belt Conference decision to Louisiana Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Minter led all players with 137 yards on 22 carries while Davis added 122 on only 10 attempts to help the Jaguars (1-9, 0-6 Sun Belt) finish with 467 yards of total offense.  The Ragin Cajuns (8-2, 5-1 Sun Belt) answered with a trio of back who combined to rush for 246 yards — Elijah Mitchell finished with 117, Raymond Calais ran for 77 and Trey Ragas supplied 52.

UL's Ferrod Garner paced all players with 10 tackles, while Riley Cole led the Jags with eight including one for loss.

Louisiana 37, South Alabama 27 (final stats)
South Alabama/Louisiana photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-Despite the Ragin' Cajuns controlling the ball for nearly 12 minutes, Davis' 20-yard touchdown run midway through the period gave the Jaguars a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
-Levi Lewis threw for two scores in the second period to help UL take a 17-14 lead to the locker room.
-The Jags scored on their opening possession of the second half, but the Cajuns put together a pair of drives resulting in Stevie Artigue field goals and were ahead 23-21 going to the final quarter.
-Mitchell capped a 17-play march with a one-yard touchdown run, and Ragas supplied all the yards in a three-play, 47-yard drive that extended the UL advantage to 37-21 with just over four minutes to go in the game.
-The Jaguars averaged a season-best 7.2 yards per play.
-UL had one 72-yard punt return set up a field goal and also averaged 35 yards per kickoff return.

NOTES
-The Cajuns have now won four straight meetings in the series and hold a 6-2 lead.
-The Jaguars' 352 rushing yards were not only their most ever in a Sun Belt Conference game but the highest total recorded against an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in program history.
-It's the first time South has outgained the opposition since recording a 538-265 advantage in total offense against Jackson State on Sept. 7.
-All eight of the Jags' scoring drives in two games this month — which each resulted in a touchdown — have covered 75 or more yards.
-It was the first game in which USA had multiple runners post 100-plus yards since Kendall Houston (178) and Xavier Johnson (107) accomplished the feat in a 27-13 win over Troy on Oct. 24, 2014.
-Minter finished with 253 all-purpose yards — the most he has recorded against a Sun Belt opponent this fall — after adding a season-high 115 yards on five kickoff returns.
-With the effort the senior running back went over 2,000 yards rushing and 4,000 all-purpose yards in his career at South.
-It was the first time this year that Davis has rushed for over 100 yards.
-Senior CB Travis Reed broke up a pair of passes in the contest, marking the fifth time in six league outings he has been credited with at least one pass defensed; that includes recording multiple interceptions and/or pass break ups on three occasions during that stretch.
-The performance helped him move into the top 10 on the school's season record list for passes defensed as he now has a team-high seven.
-After leading the team in tackles once his first three years as a Jag, Cole has now turned the trick two in the last four contests.
-Rocel McWilliams was credited with his first sack since South's Sun Belt opener at ULM on Sept. 29, giving him at least one tackle for loss in back-to-back games for the second time this season.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
Opening statement: "I thought the guys played extremely hard and gave it a really good effort against what I believe is the No. 1 scoring defense in our league and the 11th-best in the country. They are also one of the top scoring offenses in the country.  We had opportunities and we made a bunch of plays, but we still left a couple of plays out there.  I thought we ran the ball much better; the running game is improving and I think we're figuring it out.  We did some good things on the ground, which kept Louisiana on the sideline.  They have some really good running backs and their offensive line is really good.  Any time you can keep them on the sideline, you're killing two birds with one stone.  Tra ran the ball hard and Carlos ran the ball well.  In order to have a chance to beat a team like Louisiana, you're going to have to run the ball the way we did tonight.  We just needed to make one or two more plays."
On what he had seen on film during the week that made him think that he could run the ball on Louisiana: "Louisiana is good on defense, [coming into tonight] they were giving up around 150 yards per game on the ground so they've been good against the run.  They have a lot of good athletes in the secondary and they do a really good job of pressuring the quarterback, so you need to be able to run the ball.  The teams that have been successful against them were Mississippi State and Appalachian State; both of those teams were able to run the ball.  The teams that tried to come out and predominantly throw the ball on them have gotten themselves in trouble and gotten sacked where you get behind the chains and things of that nature.  I have a lot of respect for Ron Roberts — their defensive coordinator — and I knew he would have a great plan for them defensively.  We 've played against Ron a handful of times over the years and he always does a great job, but we felt that if we tried to throw the football he was going to use a really good blitz package.  We felt like we needed to keep it on the ground in order to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance."
On the defensive effort in the red zone: "Our defense played really well in the red zone, we held them to three field goals.  They have three of the better backs in the country and one of the top five offensive lines in the country.  There were some good things that we did in the red zone defensively."
On Desmond Trotter: "Desmond did a lot of good stuff.  He has a knack for making plays.  We called a hitch and go and Louisiana covered it, so he was able to find a receiver down the sideline for a big completion on one of our scoring drives.  Even late, he was able to pull the ball down and get a big gain.  For his second start against one of the top scoring defenses in the league, I think he did a really good job.  There's some stuff for him to definitely use to grow on."

Redshirt freshman RB Carlos Davis
On the holes created by the offensive line: "It's real nice. The offensive line created good holes for us, and we hit them full speed."

Senior RB Tra Minter
On the offense: "We made a lot of plays on offense.  Desmond did a good job of delivering the ball, running backs did a good job of running; Carlos Davis came behind me and did a tremendous job running the football.  The offensive line pushed and worked hard.  We just worked hard all week in practice, having fun and grinding.  We're right there.  It's the little things, but we're getting there.  I love the direction this football team is headed."
On his performance: "I just ran hard.  I did what I do every game, I just try to stay consistent and help the offense succeed.  I feel like I could have done better, but I just took what was given."

Senior CB Travis Reed
On the defensive effort: "We got a little tired and started getting out of our gaps a little bit, but we played hard the entire game.  Everybody did a good job of stopping the run, because that's what they mainly wanted to do, and we controlled the passing game.  We did a real solid job of getting off the field and getting the ball in the offense's hands."
On moving forward: "Everybody on this team believes in Coach Campbell.  We've worked hard day-in and day-out, we just have to make a couple of more plays, and those plays we have to make could be the deciding factor of winning those games."

Redshirt freshman QB Desmond Trotter
On his performance: "I was just building off of last week.  I knew the guys were counting on me, and Coach Campbell was counting on me to make a play.  He always tells me to make a play, and I just knew that if I had confidence then the team would have confidence.  I feel like I played pretty well, but just need to make a couple of more plays."

Louisiana head coach Billy Napier
Opening statement: "We felt like they were better than a 1-7 football team.  Watching the film and preparing for them, you could see that they have talent.  Their players played hard and created problems for us throughout the game.  Going through something like that tells you a lot about our football team.  I thought we settled down, responded and made plays at critical times.  Then, late in the game, we got stops, made plays and finished with touchdowns.  One of the things that stood out was that we had to settle for three field goals inside the 10 so we need to do a better job there.  We didn't tackle as well as we have in the past so we have some work to do, but I'm proud of our team.  We are undefeated on the road this season, which is a big deal.  We are excited to go home and play in front of our people in the upcoming weeks."
On South Alabama's effective run game: "They have a big physical group up front, their two backs 26 and 5 are special, and the element of the quarterback being able to run it makes it tough.  We got them to third down a couple of times throughout the game and couldn't get off the field whether that was from penalties, or them executing and finding an open receiver or the quarterback scrambling for a first down.  They have been a very capable and effective running team throughout the year, and certainly they did a good job today."

Up next: USA will play Georgia State Saturday at 1 p.m (CST) in Atlanta in the team's fninal road game of the season.

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