Trey Ragas (9) leads UL-Lafayette with 87.5 yards rushing per game.

LAFAYETTE — The Louisiana-Lafayette football team has reached the halfway point of the regular season.

Mark Hudspeth’s team enters the second half with a 3-3 overall record and a 2-1 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns are very much alive to earn a bowl berth (six SBC teams did that last year including the Cajuns) and the team still has a shot at competing for the conference title.

Whether or not the Cajuns return to a bowl game or fall just short will depend on how the team fares in the final six games. For right now though let’s take a look at the Top 4 takeaways from the first half of the 2017 season.

1) Improved & balanced offense

First-year offensive coordinator Will Hall has so far delivered on his promise to making the Ragin’ Cajuns offense more high powered. The Cajuns are averaging an impressive 34 points and 410 yards per game. The team also has become far more balanced than in previous seasons. The Cajuns have rushed for 1,031 yards, averaging 172 per game, and have scored 18 touchdowns on the ground. That is paired with throwing for 1,427 yards, averaging 238 yards per game and scoring 9 TDs. 

The Cajuns offense has also done a nice job of spreading the ball around, which doesn’t allow defenses to key on one player — think Elijah McGuire in 2015 and 2016. A total of 12 players have caught passes with five players recording double-digit totals in receptions. In the backfield, 10 different players have carried the ball, which should allow the team’s leading rusher Trey Ragas to be fresh for the second half of the season.

Possibly the most impressive stat so far is how stellar the team is in red zone scoring. The Cajuns are a tied for first in the NCAA with a perfect 28-for-28 effort in the red zone, with 25 of those trips resulting in touchdowns. 

The most telling sign that the Cajuns’ offense is thriving under Hall is that the offense hasn’t missed a beat with a change at quarterback. Whether it has been Jordan Davis or Andre Nunez, the offense has continued to execute. 

2) Defense is making strides

The Cajuns defense was one of the NCAA’s worst through the team’s first four games. 

Heading into the team’s first bye week, the Cajuns were giving up an average of 53.75 points and 563.5 yards per game and were ranked 129 out of 129 in team sacks and scoring defense, and was ranked 127th in total defense.

Then came the road game at Idaho which saw the Cajuns bottle up the Vandals for a mere 279 yards of total offense, 13 first downs and 16 points. On Thursday, the defense once again stepped up by holding Texas State to 325 total yards and 7 points and forcing three turnovers.

Now entering the second half, the Cajuns have reduced the defensive points allowed to 40 per game, and while that and the 476 yards per game are still way too high, those number will continue to drop if the defense keeps improving.

The team’s secondary leads the way with Tracy Walker (team high 2 interceptions and 6 pass breakups) setting the tone along with cornerbacks Damar’ren Mitchell and Simeon Thomas. Linebacker T.J. Posey has been a stabilizing presence in the middle of the defense, which has underperformed early in the season, and the defensive line led by a now healthy Taboris Lee (2 sacks against Texas State) is playing better as well.

The big question is whether Joe Dillon will return to his Freshman All-American form. Dillon has played better in the past two games, recording two of his four sacks on the season in those games. If he can continue to play that way, the defense could continue to make strides.

Former Catholic High School standout defensive lineman Zi’Yon Hill had been contributing in his freshman season but is out for the remainder of the year with an injury.

3) Successfully replacing McGuire

Heading into the season there was a lot of talk if the Cajuns could replace four-year record-setting running back Elijah McGuire, who is now playing in the NFL for the New York Jets. Could one player replace McGuire’s workload (1,365 total yards, 9 TD in 2016) or would the Cajuns go as many expected with a platoon approach at running back. 

Six games into the 2017 season, the Cajuns running attack is on pace to be even better than it was last season. The Cajuns averaged 178.9 rushing yards per game and 4.0 yards per carry while scoring 21 rushing touchdowns in 13 games in 2016. This season, the team is averaging 171.8 yards per game, 4.5 yards per rush and has already scored 18 rushing touchdowns.

Redshirt freshman Trey Ragas has emerged as the Cajuns bellwether back, averaging 87.5 yards per game and 6.4 yards per carry and has now scored seven rushing touchdowns which equals McGuire’s total from 2016. Ragas is also on pace for a 1,000-yard season. 

Ragas has been aided in the backfield by former Erath High star Elijah Mitchell, who averaged 51.4 yards per game, 6.1 yards per carry, and has scored four rushing touchdowns. Wildcat quarterback Dion Ray meanwhile has three rushing scores and quarterback Jordan Davis has two.

Darius Hoggins, who was dealing with a non-football injury during camp, and Jordan Wright have seen limited carries this season but with Mitchell missing the rest of the season following foot surgery, the duo might see more of a workload moving forward.

4) 1st-year players making impact

There is no way around it, first year players are making a big impact on this year’s team.

After being forced to sit out the 2016 season due to NCAA transfer rules, former SMU letterman Ryheem Malone is making a name for himself in the Cajuns passing attack and return game. Malone is second on the team in receptions (25) and yards (341) and tied for the lead for receiving touchdowns (2). Malone was expected to be a complimentary piece to a talented but deep receiving corps, but has broken out as one of the top targets for both Davis and Nunez. Malone also leads the Cajuns in punt returns averaging 12.64 per return.  

The running back duo of Ragas and Mitchell are each in their first year starting and have combined to average 139 yards per game to help lead a strong rushing attack. Former Cincinnati punter Sam Geraci is averaging 41.88 yards per punt and has had four punts of 50 yards or more, and JUCO signee quarterback Andre Nunez has stepped in for an injured, and now benched Jordan Davis, throwing for 732 yards, completing 65 percent of his passes with four touchdowns to only one interception.

Without the play of these first-year players, the Cajuns could very well be headed in the other direction.