Louisiana long snapper Paul Boudreaux went from anonymity to viral infamy for sailing no less than three snaps over his punter’s head during the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 24-21 victory over Appalachian State on Friday night.
Thankfully, the football gods forgave Boudreaux for his blunders in not costing his team the game, but Twitter didn’t spare any pity for this young man.
Poor Boudreaux. Most of the time, his position is the least-recognizable on the gridiron. As long as a long snapper does his job, there’s nothing to write home about. This was the unfortunate exception.
Brutal. Just brutal. You hate to see it. Bless this young man for enduring all the tough criticism. After all, as you saw by the final score in the lede, all’s well that ends well, right? But the suffering wasn’t over with.
Not only was social media ablaze with hot takes about Boudreaux’s poor form, but they also were baffled as to what happened late in the game, when Louisiana head coach Billy Napier made a, well, bold decision. Instead of making his long snapper get another rep, or roll the dice with someone else, he opted to take a safety on 4th and 2 with less than two minutes left.
Never mind that the defense would probably be required to guard a shorter field, as opposed to what a punt would yield. Worse yet, the Mountaineers would only be a field goal away from sending this one to overtime. Oh, Twitter made sure to weigh in on this angle of the situation as well!
Want to know how it ends, right? The play-by-play on this one is bonkers if you’re morbidly curious to check it out.
Turns out App State was left wanting for basic special teams competence, too. After getting all the way down to the Louisiana 13 yard-line, Mountaineers kicker Chandler Staton snap-hooked a 30-yard chip-shot field goal wide left that would’ve tied the score.
Friday was not a paragon of special teams excellence for these two Sun Belt teams. However, the news is great for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who overcame long-snapping deficiencies to improve to 9-1. It only adds more hype to their matchup with fellow top 25 adversary Coastal Carolina for next week, as Louisiana tries to spoil the Chanticleers’ undefeated season.
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