The 2024 Sun Belt Championship rematch that was everything the title game should have been
A crowd of 20,135 watched on at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium on Saturday night, as Louisiana and Marshall faced each other for the first time since Marshall’s 31-3 win in the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship Game.
At halftime, the game felt like a duel, being tied 17-17.
Marshall came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, scoring 17 points in just over eight minutes of game time, including a 68-yard rushing score and a 46-yard pick-six that gave the Thundering Herd a 34-17 advantage.
The Cajuns decided to make a quarterback change with 6:55 remaining in the third quarter, putting Lunch Winfield in relief of Daniel Beale, who had recently given up the pick-six.
In the game, Beale recorded 7-for-15 on passes for 72 yards and two interceptions.
From there, Winfield went on a massive tear, accounting for 125 passing yards on 7-for-13 with two touchdowns and 129 rushing yards on 13 carries with three touchdowns.
Winfield’s two passing touchdowns went first to Charles Robertson, a 45-yard pass with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, and a second to Dale Martin, a 24-yard pass with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.
TOUCHDOWN CAJUNS!!! TIE GAME!! 🤟 pic.twitter.com/QPSjDqt0jJ
— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Football (@RaginCajunsFB) September 28, 2025
Two of Winfield’s rushing touchdowns came in regulation, the first being in the second quarter on a six-yard rush with 1:43 remaining in the half, and the other came in the fourth quarter with 10:16 remaining on a 2-yard rush.
In the first overtime, Louisiana scored on the first play in the extra period, with Winfield handing the ball to running back Zylan Perry for the 25-yard score.
Marshall then responded on a last-ditch effort on 4th down with a 3-yard passing score from quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson to Adrian Norton.
The Herd were kept to a field goal in the second overtime period. A 46-yard kick that changed distance four different times due to penalties.
The Cajuns would then score the game winning touchdown from none other than Winfield, a ten-yard rush, giving him his fifth overall touchdown of the game and the Cajuns a 54-51 win in front of the home crowd.
𝗖𝗔𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗡 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬!! 🤟
CAJUNS WIN IN 2OT!!!#cULture | @LafayetteRoofin pic.twitter.com/8LyDCXkLuh
— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Football (@RaginCajunsFB) September 28, 2025
The last time Louisiana rallied down 17 points was back in 1982 against UL-Monroe, where the Cajuns were down 26 and scored 40 points in the second half to pull out the 40-26 win at Cajun Field.
Louisiana head coach Michael Desormeaux appeared very proud of his team after the game, but also very emotional.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a group of people,” Desormeaux said. “We knew we were going to have to scratch out a win somehow tonight, but I definitely did not see it happening like this.”
After a performance like Winfield had tonight in such a short time, Desormeaux confidently acknowledged that a change may be coming at the quarterback position for the next game at James Madison, although nothing official was said.
Winfield said he was sitting on the bench watching and waiting whenever Desormeaux made the call to switch quarterbacks.
“He said to get up because I was going in,” Winfield said. “I rallied the guys up and said that 17 points isn’t anything, we’re gonna fight for this.”
From there, Winfield had the whole team believing in him.
“That’s all it takes,” Winfield said. “We all had a whatever it takes mentality and everything just started to click.”
Tonight’s win for Louisiana moves them up to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference, with a well-deserved bye week scheduled for next week. Their next game will be on Oct. 11 at James Madison.
For Marshall, the loss drops them to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play, and will also be on a bye week, with their next game being back home to face Old Dominion.
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