Louisiana Escapes Wild Ending for Narrow Win Against App State

Full disclosure, I might have a tough time relaying what I just watched.

In one of the wildest college football games of 2020, No. 25 Louisiana narrowly escaped with a win against App State on Friday night. The Ragin’ Cajuns were up 24-10 entering the fourth quarter, but the final score looked a lot different.

It was cold, and it was raining. That’s a good place to start, but we have only just begun.

Redshirt junior long snapper Paul Boudreaux missed his target on three separate occasions. The result? Chaos, to put it mildly. One was a snap over the punter’s head that resulted in a scoop and score from App State — or so we thought.

Instead, the referees called a personal foul that put the ball on the 35-yard line. That normally would have been fine, but the refs didn’t specify the “who” or “how” on the penalty, which left people infuriated on social media.

App State scored a touchdown here after a bad snap on a punt and it somehow became App State’s ball on their own 35 with no TD because of a personal foul that was never shown pic.twitter.com/qBYMOJkmeJ

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 5, 2020

Was that the worst call in the History of man kind? What in the hail did @AppState_FB do?

— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) December 5, 2020

The officials just stole 60 yards and 7 points from App State.

Stole it.

Every week these guys dramatically alter the outcome of games with sheer incompetence and no one seems to care.

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) December 5, 2020

I wish I could say that is where the weirdness ended, but I would be lying. There was another bad snap on a field goal attempt, but the worst came on the THIRD missed snap of the game.

Yet again, it was high over the punter’s head. But this time, the Mountaineers were gifted two points on a safety. It was late in the fourth quarter and cut the lead from seven to five points (24-19) — this is going to matter later, I promise.

We cannot make this up, Louisiana sails a THIRD snap over the punter’s head.. this time resulting in a safety

Louisiana 24
App State 19 pic.twitter.com/CXNQk4w8r3

— Sun Belt Pages (@SBPages) December 5, 2020

Rough night for the long snapper, but Louisiana head coach Billy Napier decided to take some of the heat off his guy by making a ridiculously bad coaching decision.

After failing to get a first down to ice the game, the Ragin’ Cajuns decided to avoid another snapping debacle and left the offense on the field. Despite field position, it made sense given the special teams issues — or it did until we saw the plan.

Quarterback Levi Lewis took the fourth-down snap and ran back 35 yards before taking a safety. This was with a minute and 46 seconds left in the game and cut Louisiana’s lead to only three points. A major head-scratcher …

"Taking a safety >> Risking the snapper snapping it over the punter's head again" -Louisiana pic.twitter.com/oqlmySRRJV

— . (@FTBBurner11) December 5, 2020

If you haven’t figured it out by this point, this game is now officially off the rails. Napier and company elected to cut down its lead to only a field goal while handing the ball back to App State with enough time to drive down the field.

And guess what? That is exactly what the Mountaineers did.

After a nine-play, 42-yard drive, App State was in a position to tie the game up at 24. Louisiana had blown it, and deserved a crushing defeat in overtime. The Mountaineers had other plans, however. Well, maybe it wasn’t planned, but it happened.

They missed the game-tying field goal, giving the Ragin’ Cajuns their first victory over App State in school history. Final score: Louisiana 24, App State 21.

Chandler Staton’s field goal is NO GOOD

Louisiana takes down App State for the first time in school history! pic.twitter.com/YEViHyyLUD

— Sun Belt Pages (@SBPages) December 5, 2020

I don’t even smoke, but I’m going to need a cigarette after that rollercoaster. Let’s all sleep on it and try again on Saturday — since there will be plenty more games capable of stressing us out.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.