Louisiana head coach Billy Napier decided to take security with a five-point lead in the fourth quarter against Ala Palachian State on Friday night when his team decided to take safety from their own 35-yard line.
When asked about Ragin Cajuns’ decision to win 24-21, Napier defended him by saying, “What will you do? You want to run Snapper and Punter from there and see if you can do it?”
Leading to Napier’s decision, Louisiana had three bad snaps from long snapper Paul L. B. Drauks.
“I mean we can do it if you want,” Napier said. “But we felt the best chance of winning was to take the safety there and make sure we don’t leave a bad game.”
Facing fourth and 2 with 1:51 left, Napier sent quarterback Levi Lewis behind the end zone of Ragin ‘Cajuns’, when a mountaineer defender pushed him out of bounds with 1:46 left until the clock struck.
On a free kick coming from Louisiana’s 20-yard line, Malik Williams of Ala Placian State returned the ball to the Mountaineers for 45. After nine plays, Appalachian State attempted a 30-yard field goal with five seconds left, but Ragin Cajuns was helped, missed pressure to seal the win.
Napier said Louisiana decided to go fourth for him but decided against him.
“We felt we could probably flip the field and get 25 or 30 yards if given the time,” he said. “We tried to win the game in third place, we threw the ball and tried to win the game. They had timed out in their pockets, so we felt that if we could cash it in and win the game in third place, go to this game, so we He did.
“And then we already decided that if we get to fourth place and we don’t go for it, we’ll take safety.”
Napier also said that it was out of the question at the time to do punting for Louisiana.
“We only had issues getting the ball instantaneous, but the pants weren’t great,” he said. “With the returnees they have, we’re looking at the condition of that same field. If you go back, and let’s say we’re going to net 35 yards on the punt, then where do they get the ball? 40-yard line About, -45-yard line, right? So we took safety, and then we kicked the ball and we burned more time, and they got the ball in the same place.
“I think the risk-reward was the one we made the right decision.”
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