Louisiana vs. USC prediction: College football Week 2 odds, picks, best bet

Welcome back to another week of Ugly Underdogs.After an easy day at the office with New Mexico State in Week 0, we got nothing from Northern Illinois on the road against Iowa in Week 1.

We’ll try to get back on track on Saturday night with one of the most interesting programs in the country, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.There are certain outlier programs in college football.Some are obvious, like the Service Academies, but others are more subtle.The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns are one of the latter.

Unlike most FBS coaches, Michael Desormeaux largely resists the temptation of trying to remake his roster with imports from the portal.And while swimming upstream in college football these days can be a quick way to get yourself fired, you can understand why Desormeaux would bet on a more traditional recruit-and-develop approach with the Ragin’ Cajuns.

The University of Louisiana is located in Lafayette, which is smack dab in one of the country’s football heartlands.A ton of talent comes out of this region, and Desormeaux believes he can turn that skill into success.The results were mixed last season, as the Ragin’ Cajuns qualified for a bowl game but still wound up with a losing record at 6-7.

Instead of abandoning his plan, Desormeaux doubled down in 2026, bringing just five transfers (down from seven in 2025) to Lafayette.He’s betting that the experience that his young roster accrued last year will pay off this fall.It seems like a paradox, but going the old-school route is a bold strategy.We can wax poetic about Desormeaux’s romantic approach all we want, but the Ragin’ Cajuns will go as far as quarterback Lunch Winfield takes them.

Desormeaux installed Winfield as the starter midway through last season, and the decision saved the season.After taking some lumps early, Winfield led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a four-game winning streak to get them to 6-6.

There were some growing pains for the Lutcher, La., native, but he flashed quite a high ceiling than...