We Asked A.I. Who Would Win – Ragin’ Cajuns vs Eastern Michigan

(KMDL-FM) We are three games deep into our unofficial experiment involving artificial intelligence and Ragin' Cajun football. Each week before the Cajuns take the field against their opponents, we've asked the "robots" at ChatGPT to act as a college football fortune teller and predict not only the outcome of the game but what some of the big plays and controversial calls might be.

You should know that when asked to prepare a gumbo recipe, these same robots used tomatoes. So, you make your own call on how much you want to believe them.

I would say in our very small sample size of three games, the "robots" have gotten close enough for Jazz on two predictions, but they really whiffed badly on the projected one-point loss by the Cajuns to Missouri. If you didn't see the final score, let's just say Missouri won by more than one.

READ MORE: AI Predicts Winner of UL vs Missouri Football Game

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In the first game of the year, which was Rice vs UL, the robots got the game scenario pretty close but whiffed on who the winner would be. I would say the best effort in handicapping and forecasting the outcome of a Cajuns game came with the robot's prediction on the McNeese game.

I would like to think the "program" is getting wiser with each prediction we ask it to make, but the Missouri prediction was so far off that we may have taken a step or two back. Regardless, there is a game to be played this weekend. The Ragin' Cajuns will travel to Ypsilanti, Michigan, to take on the Eagles of Eastern Michigan.

I guess that critter is an Eagle. It would have made sense to have an Emu as the mascot for a school known as EMU, but I guess they didn't get any NIL money from that insurance company that seems to have all the emus on lock.

I do know his name is Swoop, and he hangs out at EMU sporting events and has been there since 1994. The school used to be known as the "Hurons," but transitioned to Eagles in the early 90s.

First Quarter UL vs Eastern Michigan:

According to the robots, if you're betting the coin flip on DraftKings, go with Eastern Michigan winning the coin toss. No, the robots don't have inside information, but if you're betting on coin flips, you could have a gambling problem.

The robots say EMU sputters on its first drive, but the Cajuns do not. They march down the field for a touchdown using a mix of running plays and short passes. On the ensuing drive, Eastern Michigan attempts a long pass that is picked off by a Cajun defender. The Cajuns set up shop on offense and drive the ball into field goal range.

The score at the end of one quarter: UL's Ragin' Cajuns 10 - Eastern Michigan 0

Second Quarter UL vs Eastern Michigan:

The EMU crew responds to the UL field goal by getting aggressive with their play calling. The Eagles call for several long passes in the first drive of the second quarter, but are flagged on one of those attempts for Pass Interference.

The Cajuns use the EMU faux pas to get the ball back and drive the field for another touchdown. The robots seem to think UL's Tight Ends will play a major part in this drive. EMU finally puts a drive together with just minutes left in the half. They put the ball in the Red Zone but are stymied by the Cajun defense. The Eagles settle for three as the half comes to an end.

The score at the end of two quarters: UL's Ragin' Cajuns 17 - Eastern Michigan 3

Third Quarter UL vs Eastern Michigan:

Eastern Michigan gets the ball on its opening drive of the 3rd quarter and puts together a remarkable drive. The Eagles break it open with a big run from scrimmage and score on a short dink pass to the end zone to score a touchdown.

Louisiana responds by methodically driving down the field, consuming massive amounts of time on the clock. The Cajuns cap off the 12-play drive with a short dive into the endzone to answer the touchdown scored by EMU.

EMU takes the Cajuns' kick after the touchdown and puts together their own methodical drive. However, the drive stalls in the Red Zone, and the Eagles opt to go for a first down on fourth down. The Cajun defense stiffens, and the ball goes over to Louisiana on downs. The robots say the measurement in this instance is very controversial, but it still turns out to be the Cajuns' ball.

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Louisiana uses the momentum off the big defensive stop to drive down the field and tack on three more points in the form of a field goal.

The score at the end of three quarters, UL's Ragin' Cajuns 27 - Eastern Michigan 10

Fourth Quarter UL vs Eastern Michigan:

Trailing by three scores with only one quarter left, EMU gets aggressive on offense, and they open the quarter with a touchdown throw on a long pass. That brings the score to 27-17 in favor of the Cajuns. UL responds not with offense or defense but with an incredible special teams play that sets up another Cajun touchdown. This widens the gap with only half a quarter left to 34-17.

EMU continues their aggressive attack and manages to put the ball in the end zone one more time. However, the EMU defense is now playing back on their heels, and UL's unrelenting running attack slowly imposes its will on the Eagles, burning up most of the time left on the clock.

EMU does mount a drive with under two minutes left in the game, but that falls short when the Cajuns' defensive line steps up the rush on the EMU quarterback, causing him to give up a sack and eventually turn the ball over on downs. The Cajuns go into Victory Formation, and that's the game.

Final Score: UL 34, Eastern Michigan 24.

That's how the robots see the game playing out. Of course, you'll want to be here when the actual game is played. You can catch the Ragin' Cajuns vs Eastern Michigan on 103.3 FM and 1420 AM (The GOAT). They'll carry the Cajuns pre-game show. HOT 107.9 FM will also carry the play-by-play story of the game.

Kickoff from Ypsilanti, Michigan, is scheduled for 2:30 pm. Saturday's game time forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 70s falling into the upper 60s by the end of the game.  Las Vegas has the Cajuns listed as a 2.5-point favorite to win the game.

If you're going to the game, I don't know if the leaves have started to change up there yet, but based on these photos, it's quite spectacular when they do.