It might seem peculiar that UL coach Michael Desormeaux said the 8 p.m. Thursday game at UL-Monroe is "the biggest test of the year to this team."

But if you peel back a few layers, there's quite a few valuable lessons to be learned from it. It starts with understanding how many question marks this young team had going into the season.

"Nobody was more nervous than me for the (season opener) Lamar game," Desormeaux said. "I had no idea what it was going to look like. We'd been practicing and we practiced well and we made a lot of progress, but I had no idea."

That young team has progressed in several ways. It handled the trip to USC quite well. After each loss, the Cajuns have showed a level of maturity by rebounding for a win.

But the defense struggled with communication against the hurry-up offense at Louisiana Tech, and it's possible this young team wasn't focused on the game before the bye week against a Southern Miss team that had struggled earlier this season.

"How much have we learned?" Desormeaux said. "How much have we've grown?

"We've got to keep working on that mindset, and we’ve got to keep working on our mental approach, because the reality is you can't keep getting burnt. You can't keep touching the damn fire. At some point, you've got to figure it out. You've got to learn."

After a physical victory Saturday against South Alabama, hardly any players will be at 100% against the Warhawks.

"We're going to have to push through that a little bit," Desormeaux said. "I know these dudes want to play. They've been pushing through a lot, so I expect those guys to be ready to go."

Then there's the mental approach.

The historians among us warned about the program's history in Hattiesburg. Yet in the postgame interview session, a team leader admitted to not taking Southern Miss seriously enough.

Well, here we are again.

Sure, the Cajuns have won 15 of the last 18 games over the Warhawks, but 10 of those 15 games were single-digit wins. Just last season, it took overtime to beat UL-Monroe 30-27 at home with a bowl berth on the line.

And UL-Monroe has won two of its last three games.

"You've got to learn that every opponent you play deserves your maximum effort, respect, discipline, preparation," Desormeaux said.

On Thursday in Monroe, we'll see exactly how mature the Cajuns have become.

"If we can see that, then we've still got a long way to go," Desormeaux said. "It starts with me with the messaging, getting them dialed in, and then with those guys just growing up and taking the messaging."

The Cajuns also need to make the Warhawks earn their points. 

Quarterback Lunch Winfield has thrown pick-sixes in the last two games. Overall, UL opponents have scored six non-offensive touchdowns this season in nine games.

When UL-Monroe last beat UL 21-17 in Monroe in 2022, the Cajuns snapped a ball over the punter's head to set up an 8-yard scoring drive, and the defense gave up a 75-yard TD run and an 89-yard reception.

The Warhawks didn't do much other than those three plays, but they didn't need to for the upset win.

Desormeaux explained Monday the interception return Saturday was more complicated than the one in Hattiesburg.

"On the call, they ended up running a cloud coverage to the field, which was not what we were expecting in '12' personnel," he said. "It's not an excuse. It is what it is, but he had an opportunity to get rid of it a little bit earlier but he held onto it.

"He lost track of where the defender was ... it's a safe throw and you throw a pick on it. If I get somebody wide open for him, then he probably doesn't throw it there and he doesn't have to get to his third progression."

UL-Monroe has a veteran quarterback in Aidan Armenta, and the Warhawks ran it for 268 yards in Jonesboro to beat Arkansas State on Saturday.

Just like going into the Southern Miss game, there's a little rest on the other side of this underrated challenge in Monroe on Thursday. UL-Monroe would love nothing more than to beat UL.

A mature Cajuns squad will understand how unacceptable losing to Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and UL-Monroe in the same season would be around these parts.

So is it the biggest test of the season? You bet it is.