Three Offensive Stars to Watch as Tulane Green Wave Face Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
The Tulane Green Wave haven’t paid the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns a visit to Cajun Field in 12 years. But the time has come for the two in-state schools to face off against one another in Lafayette.
The contest starts at 11 a.m. central.
The Green Wave (1-2) has lost its last two games, with both losses coming to teams that are in the AP Top 25 and have College Football Playoff aspirations — the Kansas State Wildcats and the Oklahoma Sooners. This is also Tulane’s final non-conference game before starting American Athletic Conference action.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (1-1) have been off for a week since they defeated Kennesaw State. Louisiana is trying to bounce back from consecutive six-win seasons under coach Michael Desormeaux.
Here are the offensive players to watch for both teams entering Saturday’s game.
Tulane
WR Dontae Fleming
Plenty of attention has been put on the rise of transfer Mario Williams, who leads the team in receptions and receiving yards. But the Green Wave must continue to cultivate options outside of Williams, and Fleming continues to emerge as a solid second option.
The senior is the only other Tulane receiver with more than 100 receiving yards, as he has eight receptions for 156 yards. At this pace, there is a great chance he can pass his career numbers from 2021, when he caught 27 passes for 322 yards and two scores.
With Williams diverting attention in the pass game, Fleming should continue to benefit.
QB Darian Mensah
Trusting a redshirt freshman with no experience prior to his first career start last month was always going to come with some risk. And, he’s made some key mistakes in each of the last two games, both losses.
But, there are still positives for him and the Green Wave to build upon. He’s thrown for 713 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. While the completion percentage needs to get better — it sits at 58.3% after three games — the groundwork is being laid for him to be on a solid foundation going into conference play.
TE Alex Bauman
Every young quarterback needs a security blanket. For Mensah, that player has emerged as Bauman. The junior has caught just four passes this season. But three of them have gone for touchdowns.
He caught a career-high 35 passes last season. While he may not match that, he’s well on his way to obliterating his career-high of five scores a year ago. That would be to Mensah’s and Tulane’s benefit.
Louisiana
QB Ben Wooldridge
He’s in his sixth year of college, but he spent the first three at Fresno State. He’s only been a full-time starter once, which was in 2022. He took over after a mid-season injury to Chandler Fields and threw for 1661 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Wooldridge had a season-ending injury in the season opener last year but he’s back and he’s returned to a starting role. He threw his third career 300-yard passing game against Grambling in the season opener. In two games he’s thrown for 497 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. He’s also completed nearly 77% of his passes.
WR Jacob Bernard
Wooldridge has spread the ball around this year, but Bernard, like his quarterback a redshirt senior, leads the team with eight receptions and 112 yards, but hasn’t scored a touchdown yet.
There’s a good chance he’ll lead the Ragin’ Cajuns in those categories by season’s end. Last year he led Louisiana with 39 receptions while finishing third overall in all-purpose yards (582). And Bernard did that with just four starts in 2023.
RB Zylan Perry
Perry is now getting a shot at being the lead back, though he’s getting some competition from Elijah Davis. Perry has rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries in two games.
He might be the top athlete on the and his numbers last season back that up. He led FBS in kick return yards (862) last season. He was also among the Sun Belt Conference leaders with 1,100 all-purpose yards (213 rushing, 25 receiving, 862 kick returns).
Louisiana should just put him wherever it wants and let him fly.
