Well, folks, apparently I’ve been a little too negative lately.

I know. Shocking.

Somewhere between watching the Cajuns lose games they probably should have won, questioning coaching decisions, and writing articles that occasionally read like a frustrated man’s letter to his therapist, I’ve developed something of a reputation.

Apparently, I’m not being positive enough.

And to be fair, I can see how someone might come to that conclusion. My last few articles haven’t exactly been sunshine, rainbows, and inspirational quotes you’d find hanging in a Hobby Lobby bathroom.

But here’s the thing: I don’t think expecting more from your football program makes you negative. I think it means you care. And I think there’s a pretty significant difference between criticizing the product on the field and criticizing the young men wearing the uniform.

Recently, I’ve actually had a few parents of current players reach out and encourage me to highlight some of the good things happening within this football program. Not necessarily because they disagreed with everything I’ve written, but because there’s another side of this team that probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

And you know what? That’s a fair request.

For those unfamiliar with Ragin Review, we actually do this every week. We have a segment on our shows called “Tell Me Somethin’ Good,” where we deliberately take a moment to highlight the positives surrounding Louisiana athletics.

Yes, really. We say nice things.

Sometimes multiple nice things.

On the same show.

And nobody has even called an ambulance.

So, in the spirit of fairness, and because I don’t particularly want to become the subject of a group chat consisting entirely of angry football moms, I figured we’d bring that segment to the written word.

No microphones. No intro music. No one interrupting me halfway through a sentence.

Just a good old-fashioned appreciation of some things this Louisiana football program is doing right.

And contrary to what my recent articles might suggest, there are quite a few.

They’re Taking Care of Business in the Classroom

Let’s start somewhere that often gets overlooked in college football: the classroom.

We spend an awful lot of time discussing what these young men do between the white lines, but they’re also students. And despite the increasing professionalization of college athletics, that second part of student-athlete still matters.

In August, Louisiana announced that 221 Ragin’ Cajuns student-athletes received Sun Belt Conference academic recognition for the 2025–26 academic year.

Of those, 127 earned Commissioner’s List honors by maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher, while another 84 qualified for the Academic Honor Roll with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.49. Ten more received 1A FAR Academic Excellence Awards, recognizing graduating athletes with cumulative GPAs of at least 3.8.

Now, those are department-wide figures, not football’s specific team GPA, but they demonstrate an academic culture within Louisiana athletics worth recognizing.

And consider what the football players are balancing: early-morning workouts, practice, film sessions, travel, classes, homework, and the occasional Saturday when several thousand people become personally offended by their inability to convert a third down.

Meanwhile, I sometimes consider it a productive day if I remember to move my laundry from the washer to the dryer.

The university has also invested in academic support for its athletes, including a renovated Student-Athlete Academic Center that offers advising, tutoring, and other resources.

We rightfully demand discipline and accountability from this program. Those expectations shouldn’t end when the players walk off the field.

These are young men preparing for lives beyond football, and the commitment to their education deserves recognition.

Because someday the pads come off, the final whistle blows, and most of these guys will have careers that don’t involve running full speed into another human being.

That matters.

They’re Making a Difference in Our Community

This one might be my favorite.

In July, Louisiana defensive end Tito Chikere decided he wanted to do something to help local schoolchildren.

He started buying backpacks with his own money.

Simple enough, right?

Except his teammates found out about it.

Then the coaches got involved.

Then the staff started contributing.

And before long, one player’s act of kindness turned into a team-wide project that delivered 100 backpacks and school supplies worth nearly $5,000 to students at Ossun Elementary and Paul Breaux Middle School.

Think about that for a second.

A college football player saw a need in the community and decided to do something about it without waiting for someone else to organize an initiative.

And his teammates followed his lead.

That’s leadership.

That’s character.

And that’s the kind of story that deserves considerably more attention than whatever somebody’s cousin posted on Facebook about the quarterback situation.

Louisiana athletics also reports that its student-athletes contribute more than 2,000 hours of community service annually across its programs.

These guys are doing more than representing the university on Saturdays. They’re spending time with local kids, helping families, and giving back to the same community that shows up to support them.

And in a college football landscape increasingly dominated by conversations about NIL valuations, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal, it’s refreshing to see players who understand that their impact can extend beyond a stat sheet.

So kudos to Tito Chikere, his teammates, and everyone who helped turn that idea into something meaningful.

That’s what being a Ragin’ Cajun should look like.

And yes, that’s an entirely sincere compliment.

I’ll give everyone a moment to recover.

The Linebackers Have Been a Pleasant Surprise

Now let’s talk some actual football.

I know. I was wondering when we’d get there, too.

Coming into this season, linebacker was a position that had me concerned. The Cajuns weren’t exactly overflowing with proven depth, and there were legitimate questions about how this group would handle the physical demands of a full Sun Belt schedule.

On paper, it looked thin.

And as we’ve learned over the years, being thin at linebacker in the Sun Belt is generally about as desirable as being thin on toilet paper at a crawfish boil.

But to their credit, this group has developed into one of the more encouraging stories of the season.

And at the center of that development is Jake St. Andre.

St. Andre has grown up considerably as a football player this year. He’s playing with more confidence, showing better instincts, and becoming the kind of dependable presence you need in the middle of a defense.

The numbers support it.

Against Troy, he led Louisiana with nine tackles as the Cajuns held a team averaging more than 220 rushing yards per game to just 126 in a convincing 33-6 victory.

Against Southern Miss, even in a frustrating loss, St. Andre recorded 11 tackles and a sack.

That’s 20 tackles in two games, against conference opponents, at a point in the season when the physical wear and tear starts adding up.

And he’s not doing it alone.

Conor McPherson (prior to his injury), Micah Johnson, and Ashley Williams have all provided valuable contributions. Through the first seven games, those three had combined for 70 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and three sacks.

That’s not bad for a position group we entered the season worried about.

And some credit needs to go to the coaching staff here, particularly inside linebackers coach Scott Stoker, along with outside linebackers coach Mike Giuliani and defensive coordinator Jim Salgado.

Stoker deserves particular recognition for the development we’ve seen from these inside linebackers. Good coaching isn’t just about recruiting the most talented players or drawing up something impressive on a whiteboard. It’s about taking what you have, identifying strengths, developing weaknesses, and putting your players in positions to succeed.

That’s what this staff has done with this group.

Is the defense perfect? Absolutely not. Southern Miss running for 286 yards should settle that discussion rather quickly.

But that doesn’t erase the individual improvement or the work being done to develop these players.

And if we’re going to criticize coaches when players aren’t developing, we should be equally willing to acknowledge them when they are.

So, Coach Stoker, Coach Giuliani, Coach Salgado, and the entire linebacker room: well done.

And Jake St. Andre, keep doing what you’re doing.

You’ve earned the recognition.

The Lack of Drama Is Actually Pretty Refreshing

Here’s something that doesn’t show up in the box score but probably deserves a little more appreciation.

For the most part, this Louisiana football program has managed to avoid becoming a traveling reality television show.

In today’s college football environment, that’s practically a competitive advantage.

Look around the country. You’ve got transfer portal disputes, NIL disagreements, coaches publicly feuding with administrators, players complaining on social media, and programs making headlines for everything except what happens between the sidelines.

And then there’s that school across the basin.

You know the one.

The university in Baton Rouge where the football program occasionally seems to operate like a reality television series with a $100 million production budget.

LSU’s first season under Lane Kiffin has already provided enough material to fill several episodes.

Earlier this year, LSU found itself in a very public dispute with the SEC over efforts to add former NFL players to its roster. The situation escalated into legal action, questions about conference eligibility rules, and ultimately LSU backing away from its original plans.

Imagine having enough resources to recruit half the country and still ending up in a legal argument with your own conference over who you’re allowed to put on the field.

There have also been more serious off-field issues involving an ongoing investigation into allegations against an LSU player, a matter that deserves careful handling rather than cheap jokes.

Meanwhile, here in Lafayette, the biggest controversy generally involves whether we’re running the football enough, who should be playing quarterback, or why we apparently have a standing appointment to make every game unnecessarily stressful.

That’s football drama.

And frankly, I’ll take it.

To Michael Desormeaux’s credit, his program has generally projected a sense of stability and discipline.

We aren’t waking up every Tuesday wondering what new controversy might have surfaced overnight.

The players, at least publicly, have largely stayed focused on football, their teammates, and representing the university.

That speaks to the culture within the program.

Now, does having a good culture automatically translate into conference championships?

Obviously not.

If it did, we’d already be scheduling a parade down Johnston Street.

But culture matters. Accountability matters. The character of the young men representing your university matters.

And whatever criticisms I’ve had of Michael Desormeaux’s results on the field, I’ve never believed that he wasn’t invested in developing good people off it.

That’s worth something.

We can question the direction of the offense without questioning the character of the locker room.

We can be frustrated with losses without suggesting the program is fundamentally dysfunctional.

And we can acknowledge that, despite some frustrating Saturdays, there are plenty of programs across the country dealing with issues far more serious than ours.

Besides, LSU can keep the television drama.

We’ve already got enough of our own watching fourth-quarter leads disappear.

These Players Have Continued to Fight

Here’s another thing I don’t think gets mentioned nearly enough.

This team has shown plenty of fight.

Now, before somebody screenshots that sentence and sends it around as evidence that I’ve finally joined the Sunshine Pumpers Association of Acadiana, allow me to explain.

I can be disappointed with the results while still appreciating the effort.

Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Take the Troy game.

Louisiana entered that contest needing a response after an agonizing one-point loss to Louisiana Tech. And instead of folding, the Cajuns delivered arguably their most complete performance of the season, winning 33-6.

That’s a team responding to adversity.

Against Arkansas State, they found a way to grind out a 23-20 victory.

And against Southern Miss, even though the final result was painfully disappointing, they put up 417 yards of offense and scored 31 points.

The execution hasn’t always been there. The results certainly haven’t always been there.

But I haven’t seen a team that has collectively decided to quit.

And that matters.

It’s easy to forget that these are young men who are dealing with disappointment themselves.

Trust me, nobody in that locker room enjoyed watching Southern Miss celebrate a last-minute victory.

Nobody enjoyed losing to Louisiana Tech by one point.

And nobody enjoys spending the following week hearing thousands of people explain exactly what they should have done differently.

Including me.

Especially me, apparently.

But they keep showing up.

They keep practicing.

They keep preparing.

And they continue to represent Louisiana.

That doesn’t mean they get a participation trophy. It doesn’t mean the coaches are beyond criticism. And it certainly doesn’t mean we should lower expectations.

It simply means we should recognize effort and resilience where they exist.

There Are Some Actual Football Numbers Worth Celebrating

Since we’re making a concerted effort to locate the positives, let’s dig a little deeper.

Through eight games, Louisiana is averaging 30.1 points per game while allowing 21.25.

The Cajuns are averaging roughly 383 yards of offense per contest while surrendering about 317.

They’re averaging 190 rushing yards per game.

And they’ve scored 24 rushing touchdowns while allowing only 10.

That’s a substantial difference.

The team has also done a respectable job of avoiding penalties, averaging just 44 penalty yards per game.

And perhaps most importantly, Louisiana has converted six of its 11 fourth-down opportunities while holding opponents to seven conversions in 22 attempts.

Now, I could spend the next five paragraphs explaining why some of those numbers haven’t translated into more wins.

But apparently that’s how we got into this situation in the first place.

So I’ll resist.

The point is, there are things happening on the field that are working.

When Louisiana establishes its running game, maintains defensive discipline, and avoids catastrophic mistakes, this team has shown it can be effective.

That’s not speculation.

We’ve seen it.

The challenge is finding a way to do those things consistently, especially against opponents we’re supposed to beat.

See? I almost made it through an entire section without criticism.

Personal growth.

The Players Are Still Giving Us Reasons to Show Up

This might be the most important part of the entire conversation.

For all my frustrations with the direction of this football program, I still enjoy watching these young men compete.

I enjoy seeing Jake St. Andre grow into a leader.

I enjoy watching young players like JJ Garner and Steven Blanco, Jr. make other defenses scratch their heads as they break a tackle for six.

I enjoy watching TE’s Caden Jensen and Brock Chappell bully guys off the line, then catch a 20-yard pass a play later.

I enjoy seeing a player like Tito Chikere take the initiative to help kids in our community.

And I enjoy knowing that, despite all the noise surrounding college athletics these days, there are still players who take pride in wearing Louisiana across their chest.

That means something to me.

It always has.

And I think sometimes, when we get wrapped up in the endless conversations about coaching decisions, conference standings, financial resources, and what this program should be, we forget to appreciate the people actually doing the work.

Not every good thing that happens within a football program ends with six points on a scoreboard.

Sometimes it’s a young man earning his degree.

Sometimes it’s a linebacker becoming a better player than he was in August.

Sometimes it’s a backpack full of school supplies delivered to a child who needs it.

And sometimes it’s simply a group of young men continuing to represent their university with pride, even when the results aren’t going their way.

Those things deserve recognition.

And I probably haven’t done enough of that lately.

So, Am I Turning Over a New Leaf?

Well, let’s not get carried away.

I’m not suddenly going to start celebrating moral victories, writing glowing reviews of poorly executed football, or pretending that losing to Southern Miss is acceptable because we had some nice individual performances.

That’s not who I am.

And more importantly, that’s not what Ragin’ Review is supposed to be.

We started this platform to provide an honest perspective from people who genuinely care about Louisiana athletics.

Sometimes that means celebrating a championship.

Sometimes it means criticizing a coaching decision.

And sometimes it means sitting at your computer on a Sunday morning wondering how on earth you’ve voluntarily allowed a group of college students to dictate your emotional well-being for the last 30 years.

But there’s room for both criticism and appreciation.

Being critical of a program doesn’t mean you’re against the people in it.

And supporting the young men wearing the uniform doesn’t require pretending everything is perfect.

To the parents who reached out, I appreciate the reminder. Not because I necessarily agree that I’ve been too negative, but because you made a fair point.

There’s a lot of good happening with these young men that deserves to be highlighted.

You should be proud of them.

And I hope they understand that when I criticize what happens on Saturdays, it’s because I believe this program is capable of more, not because I don’t appreciate the effort they’re putting into it.

I want them to succeed.

I want the coaches to succeed.

And I want Louisiana football competing for conference championships again.

Those expectations aren’t going anywhere.

But neither is my appreciation for the players who continue to work hard, represent this university, and make a difference in our community.

So there you have it.

An entire article dedicated to the positive things happening within Louisiana football.

We discussed academics, community service, player development, coaching, culture, and some encouraging statistics.

I even complimented Michael Desormeaux.

Multiple times.

Somebody should probably print this thing out and frame it because I’m not entirely sure when we’ll see another one.

And to the players and their families, sincerely, thank you for everything you do for the university and the community.

Your efforts aren’t going unnoticed.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find something to complain about before people start questioning whether this is actually me writing this article.

C’est Tout!