The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and the Houston Cougars will square off this coming Friday in Shreveport for the rights to be called the 2022 Independence Bowl winner. Will the Ragin’ Cajuns win their fourth consecutive bowl game? Or will the Cougars win their second in a row in a bowl game setting? Check out our preview of this Louisiana vs Houston shown in the 2022 Radiance Technologies Independence.
After losing to the Florida State Seminoles on the road on Nov. 19, the Ragin’ Cajuns rebounded with a morale-boosting 41-13 victory over the Texas State Bobcats, also away from home, the following week, 41-13. It was not a sexy victory that carried much weight, but it still got Louisiana a nice boost heading into the Independence Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns’ offense is not much to write home about, as they averaged only 27.3 points per game, which only was 67th overall in the nation. It’s their defense that inspires more confidence. It’s got an opportunistic pass defense that was 16th in the regular season in the nation with a 3.58 defensive interception rate.
Louisiana is 9-3 against the spread versus a team with a winning record.
Unlike the Ragin’ Cajuns, Houston is coming into this bowl game coming off a loss, having lost to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Cougars’ regular-season finale, 37-30. That said, there’s a reason Houston is the favorite over Louisiana. For one, they have a great quarterback in Clayton Tune, who passed for 3,845 yards and 37 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions. He also led the Cougars in 2022 with 489 rushing yards and five rushing scores on 117 carries. Plus, Tune will get help in the bowl game from wideout Nathaniel Dell, who could one day find himself in the NFL. Dell collected 1,354 receiving yards and 15 touchdown receptions this season. As a team, the Cougars are 12th nationally with 37.2 points per game.
Houston is 13-5 against the spread in its last 18 Friday games.
