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CONWAY | Coastal Carolina got the spark it wanted from Noah Kim.

The fifth-year transfer quarterback from Michigan State entered the game in the second quarter and rallied the Chanticleers from a 14-point deficit.

But a backbreaking long touchdown pass in the final minutes allowed Louisiana to hold on for a 34-24 win on Saturday at Brooks Stadium.

Kim threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns after replacing an ineffective Ethan Vasko at quarterback early in the second quarter and drew the Chants into a pair of ties with the Ragin鈥� Cajuns in the second half.

But with UL-Lafayette leading by three points and facing third-and-13 on its own 41, quarterback Ben Wooldridge spun out of pressure in the pocket, rolled to his right and threw on the run over the middle to Terrance Carter.

The 6-foot-2 tight end was behind a pair of defenders over the middle at the 15-yard line. Though he had to wait a bit on the ball, Carter leaped to high-point it over the defenders, fought off an attempt to strip the ball by safety Tobias Fletcher and ran to the end zone to push the ULL advantage to two scores with 2:34 to play.

A 50-yard Kade Hensley field goal attempt with a minute left missed to the right, and ULL ran out the clock to hand CCU (4-3) its second straight loss and drop the Chants to 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference in front of an announced attendance of 17,812 on Homecoming.

It鈥檚 the 10th-largest crowd in school history and second largest on a Homecoming weekend.

Louisiana (6-1) remains a top contender for the Sun Belt Conference鈥檚 West Division title at 3-0 in league play.

鈥淲e dug ourselves into a hole. Our guys fought, kept fighting through the course of the game, but it was too little, too late at the end of the day," CCU coach Tim Beck said. "We had some opportunities to make some plays and we didn鈥檛 and they did. It鈥檚 a tough one to swallow because of the way our guys fought to come back.鈥�

Kim completed 16 of 25 passes, did not commit a turnover and ran five times for 5 yards. Senior running back Braydon Bennett gained a career-high 132 yards on 13 carries and scored both a receiving and rushing touchdown.

Kim transferred to CCU last winter after starting the first five games last season at Michigan State.

His two touchdown passes marked his first game with multiple passing TDs since last Sept. 9 against Richmond, as he did not throw multiple TDs in his final three starts with the Spartans against Washington, Maryland and Iowa.

鈥淓than was struggling and I felt like we needed to kick-start the offense a little bit," Beck said. "Sometimes it鈥檚 creating a spark. You know we recruited Noah for a reason. He鈥檚 a good player, and we gave him an opportunity to come in and he did a really good job."

Who will start at quarterback when CCU travels to Troy on Nov. 2 following its second off week this season?

鈥淎s far as the future, I don鈥檛 know. We鈥檒l see what happens,鈥� Beck said. ". . . Kim had poise. The situation wasn鈥檛 too big for him. We were down 14, things hadn鈥檛 looked good for us offensively and he took us down there and scored. At the end of the day for me it鈥檚 the guy who can lead us down to score touchdowns.

鈥淗e played very poised, made good decisions with the ball. I like the way he played.鈥�

ULL had 516 yards of offense compared to CCU鈥檚 400, and possessed the ball for 17 more minutes than CCU in the game. It is the fourth consecutive CCU opponent to have at least 420 yards of offense.

Wooldridge completed 27 of 36 passes for a career-high 373 yards and three touchdowns, Carter had seven catches for 149 yards and a score to eclipse 100 receiving yards for the second straight week, and Bill Davis had 110 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Ragin' Cajuns start fast, rally late

Louisiana controlled the game through the first 14:30. The Ragin鈥� Cajuns led 14-0, were outgaining CCU 206-39, had 12 first downs to CCU鈥檚 two, and held a 12:38 to 4:54 advantage in time of possession.

After missing a field goal on its opening drive, Louisiana moved the ball with relative ease on its next two drives.

An Emile Sebafundi punt was downed at the ULL 2, but the Ragin鈥� Cajuns drove 98 yards in just seven plays for a 33-yard touchdown reception by Lance Legendre, who came open over the middle and covered the final 24 yards to the end zone untouched. "We didn't guard the guy, they found him and scored a touchdown," Beck said.

A CCU holding penalty on a decent gain on the perimeter on CCU鈥檚 next possession led to a punt, and ULL drove 73 yards in nine plays for a 9-yard Davis touchdown reception out of the backfield.

Kim entered the game after the ensuing kickoff and helped pull the Chants within a field goal by halftime.

Coastal鈥檚 offense had been largely ineffective on its first three possessions, totaling just two first downs.

The Chants drove 76 yards in nine plays on Kim鈥檚 first possession to get on the board.

Kim handed off on his first five plays under center, and Bennett began the drive with a pair of runs for a combined 35 yards and the Chants benefitted from a 15-yard personal foul on ULL.

Kim went 2-of-3 on the drive, hitting tight end Kendall Karr for an 11-yard TD pass to end the drive.

鈥淚 felt like the spark was Braydon Bennett. He started just running and playing with passion,鈥� Beck said. 鈥淔or some reason we watched. We watched them run the ball, watched them throw the ball, watched them get off our blocks and tackle our running backs, watched us throw incompletions. We kind of watched. Then all of a sudden we were kind of like, 鈥楬ey man, we鈥檝e got to play.鈥�

"And Braydon provided a little bit of spark, Noah provided a little bit of spark, calmness and savvy, and you saw a difference in the team play. . . . You felt a little different vibe, you felt it was going to start to turn, and it did.鈥�

The Chants held a ULL 11-play drive to a 45-yard Kenneth Almendares field goal before Kim led the Chants on a second straight scoring drive, this one of 90 yards in 10 plays.

A key play on the drive was a 43-yard reception by Bryson Graves on a third-and-12 at the ULL 47. Kim dropped a lofted pass into his arms down the right sideline and hit Bennett on a 4-yard TD pass as he rolled out to the right to cut CCU鈥檚 deficit to 17-14.

A sack by linebacker Clev Lubin and tackle for no gain by defensive back Courtney Eubanks and defensive lineman Gavin Ransaw on a run helped keep Louisiana from mustering a drive in the final minute of the first half.

The teams managed just one first down combined on the first three possessions of the second half 鈥� two by ULL 鈥� before Coastal drove 68 yards in 10 plays to tie the game at 17 on a 29-yard field goal by Kade Hensley.

CCU had a first-and-goal at the 4, but a pass interference penalty on tight end Zach Courtney pushed the Chants back 15 yards.

鈥淭hey called offensive pass interference on a pop pass to the tight end," Beck said. "I didn鈥檛 see it but my gut tells me he鈥檚 faking like he鈥檚 blocking and he鈥檚 releasing. It鈥檚 a pop pass. Pee wee football uses it, but we call it offensive pass interference down here on the goal line, which puts us behind. So do I think that鈥檚 our player鈥檚 fault? No, I don鈥檛.鈥�

After being gashed on some runs and leaving receivers open in the secondary early, the CCU defense stiffened for a quarter and a half beginning in the middle of the second quarter, and held ULL to three straight possessions of five plays or less.

Louisiana went scoreless in the third quarter, ending a streak of 18 straight quarters with points.

鈥淲e just knew we weren鈥檛 doing our jobs, we weren鈥檛 being physical, weren鈥檛 playing to make a play, attack another person. Like, we were being timid,鈥� said Lubin, a redshirt sophomore who had two sacks in a game 鈥� both of CCU鈥檚 sacks Saturday 鈥� for the first time in his career. 鈥淭he captains spoke to us on the sideline and we made those adjustments and played the game we needed to play and started to play as one.鈥�

Hensley's third-quarter field goal began a stretch of four consecutive possessions with scores.

Louisiana drove 81 yards in 12 plays for a 1-yard Wooldridge QB sneak for a touchdown on fourth down.

A Bennett 49-yard touchdown run tied the game at 24 with 11 minutes to play. Bennett took a pitch to the left from Kim on an option run and used his speed to burst through a seam and continue down the sideline for CCU's longest TD run of the season.

A 38-yard Almendares field goal with 6 minutes left gave ULL a 27-24 lead.

After Kim gained 6 yards on a run to start CCU鈥檚 next possession, he had a pass broken up and missed a receiver on third down, and the Chants punted with 5 minutes to play.

ULL got first downs on a pass interference penalty and 7-yard Davis run before the game-clinching 59-yard Carter touchdown reception.

"He had all day to throw the ball," Beck said. "You can't cover them for 10 seconds, nobody can do that."

Missing from action

Coastal played Saturday without junior center Thomas Johnson of Aynor and grad student Will Whitson, its top defensive lineman, due to injuries. Both are expected to return in the coming weeks. Beck termed Whitson a 鈥渨eek to week situation, mostly likely out. That鈥檚 obviously a big hurt. He鈥檚 been a great leader for us and done a lot of really good things for us. But he鈥檚 had an injury he鈥檚 trying to play through.鈥�

Leading rusher Christian Washington was held out as a coach's decision and apparently wasn鈥檛 dressed in uniform. The redshirt sophomore transfer from New Mexico did not have a carry last week after recording 60 carries for 313 yards and four rushing touchdowns in the opening five games.

鈥淐hristian was suspended for violation of team rules for this game,鈥� Beck said. 鈥淗e鈥檒l be back, provided he does what he鈥檚 supposed to do.鈥�

Also apparently absent from the sideline was freshman quarterback DJ Moore, a coveted prospect in the class of 2024 from Bolles High in Jacksonville, Florida.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 comment on DJ鈥檚 situation right now,鈥� Beck said.

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