FB Game 12 Preview: at Appalachian State

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team will look to become bowl eligible for the sixth time in the past seven years when it travels to face Sun Belt Conference co-leader Appalachian State in the regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday at Kidd-Brewer Stadium.

Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be available on ESPN3 with Brock Bowling (pxp) and Watson Brown (analyst) providing commentary. The game will also be available statewide on the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Radio Network with Jay Walker (pxp), former Ragin' Cajuns receiver Richie Falgout (analyst) and Cody Junot (sideline) on the call.

Louisiana (5-6, 4-3 SBC) can qualify for its second straight bowl game with a win against the Mountaineers (7-4, 6-1 SBC). App State, which can claim a share of the SBC regular-season title, has won the three previous meetings in the series, including a 28-7 victory in the first-ever meeting between the schools in Boone on Nov. 28, 2015.

GAME 12
LOUISIANA RAGIN' CAJUNS (5-6, 4-3 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Mark Hudspeth (Delta State, 1992) • @ULCoachHud
Record at LA: 29-37* (seventh season), Career Record: 95-58* (14th season)

APPALACHIAN STATE MOUNTAINEERS (7-4, 6-1 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Scott Satterfield (Appalachian State, 1996)
Record at App State: 39-22 (fifth season), Career Record: Same

Dec. 2, 2017 • 2:35 p.m. • Boone, N.C. • Kidd-Brewer Stadium (30,000)
Series History: App State leads, 3-0
At Lafayette: App State leads, 2-0 | At Boone: App State leads, 1-0 | Hudspeth vs. App State: 0-3
First Meeting: App State 35, Louisiana 16 • Nov. 22, 2014 at Lafayette
Last Meeting: App State 24, Louisiana 0 • Oct. 12, 2016 at Lafayette

ESPN3 | WatchESPN • Brock Bowling PXP • Watson Brown Analyst
KPEL 1420 AM (Flagship) • Jay Walker PXP • Richie Falgout Analyst • Cody Junot Sideline

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Louisiana would become bowl-eligible for the sixth time in seven years under head coach Mark Hudspeth with a win.
• Louisiana is one of four FBS schools (Houston, Maryland, Michigan) that have started three quarterbacks (Jordan Davis, Levi Lewis, Andre Nunez) in wins this season.
• Louisiana's four 100-yard rushing performances this season have been recorded by freshmen (Levi Lewis, Elijah Mitchell, Trey Ragas).
• Trey Ragas' 132 yards on the ground against New Mexico State was the most by a Ragin' Cajuns running back this season.
• Louisiana is 38-for-41 (92.6 percent) with 31 touchdowns scored in the red zone during the 2017 season.

GAME NOTES
CALL US "LOUISIANA"
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns® is the nickname of the University's athletic teams. As listed by the Sun Belt Conference, the NCAA and ESPN.com, we politely ask that you refer to our athletic programs as simply "Louisiana" on first reference, or use any of the following: Ragin' Cajuns or Cajuns.
• For all electronic sports tickers and TV crawls only, please use "LA" as the official abbreviation for all athletic programs.
• The Sun Belt Conference made public its University Reference Guide in 2016 that is used to reference each member institution's athletic title and nicknames. The publication of the guide comes after all of the conference's presidents and chancellors submitted their preferred reference.
• The Sun Belt Conference will begin to use these references immediately. Sun Belt member institutions and media partners are encouraged to use these references so that there is consistency across all communication platforms.

THE SERIES
• Louisiana and Appalachian State meet for the fourth time on the gridiron with the Mountaineers winning the previous three meetings.
• The Ragin' Cajuns are 0-1 in Boone after App State claimed a 28-7 win on Nov. 28, 2015.
• The trip to Kidd-Brewer Stadium is the first of two consecutive trips to Boone for the Ragin' Cajuns, who will face App State on the road in 2018.

A RAGIN' CAJUNS VICTORY WOULD ...
• improve their overall record to 6-6.
• make Louisiana bowl eligible for the sixth time in seven years under head coach Mark Hudspeth.
• improve their Sun Belt Conference record to 5-3.
• conclude their overall seven-game road record at 3-4.
• officially give head coach Mark Hudspeth his 30th career win at Louisiana, tying him Augie Tammariello (1974-79) for seventh-place in school history.

RAGIN' CAJUNS COACHING EXPERIENCE
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns coaching staff brings a combined total of 196 years of collegiate experience to the table along with 82 bowl/postseason appearances.
• Defensive coordinator Mike Lucas (36 years) and offensive line coach Mitch Rodrigue (32 years) are the most experienced coaches on the staff with co-defensive coordinator Charlie Harbison (19) and Rodrigue (15) the most experienced in post-season/bowl games.
• Both coordinators for the Ragin' Cajuns - Will Hall (West Alabama/West Georgia) and Mike Lucas (Southeastern Louisiana) have been head coaches during their collegiate careers.

#RAGINGRADS - AMONG BEST FBS PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY
• Louisiana is one of two in-state FBS schools (LSU) and seven Sun Belt Conference schools (Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, South Alabama, Arkansas State, Idaho and Troy) among a list of FBS schools across the country with at least five graduates on its roster.
• TE Matthew Barnes, OT Grant Horst, LB T.J. Posey and WR Devin Scott all earned their bachelor's degrees from UL with punter Sam Geraci earning his degree from Cincinnati.
• Here is a list of FBS schools with five or more graduates on their current 2017 roster.

18 – Northwestern
14 – Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina
13 – Toledo
12 – TCU, Alabama, Oregon, Virginia
11 – Georgia State, Kansas State, Maryland, UCF, USF
10 – Kent State, Nevada, New Mexico, South Alabama, Texas Tech, West Virginia
9 – Houston, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, Temple
8 – Auburn, Clemson, Iowa, Kentucky, NC State, Northern Illinois, Ole Miss, Penn State, SMU, Syracuse, UAB, Western Kentucky
7 – Arizona State, Georgia, Kansas, Marshall, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Missouri, North Texas, Utah, Virginia Tech
6 – Akron, Arkansas State, Colorado State, Duke, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, UMass, UTEP, UTSA, Troy, Tulsa, Washington
5 – Arkansas, Baylor, UConn, FAU, Idaho, Louisiana, LSU, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, USC, Washington State

TEAM CAPTAINS
• Quarterback Jordan Davis, linebacker T.J. Posey, offensive tackle Grant Horst and nose tackle Taboris Lee were voted as team captains for the 2017 season.

SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME COMING IN 2018
• The Sun Belt Conference will hold its first ever football championship game as the league's presidents and chancellors, as well as athletic directors, voted unanimously to play the game beginning in 2018. The announcement was made on June 8, 2016.
• Details regarding how the two participants will be selected will be available at a later date. Rules set forward by the Division I Council in January require conferences with fewer than 12 members to hold championship games in football, as long as they meet one of two conditions.
• A conference can choose to either play their championship game between division winners after round-robin competition in each division or between the top two teams in the conference standings following full round-robin, regular-season competition between all members of the conference.

HUDSPETH HEADS THE SUN BELT COACHING FRATERNITY
• Now in his seventh year at Louisiana, head coach Mark Hudspeth is the dean of the Sun Belt Conference coaching fraternity, having taken over the reins of the Ragin' Cajuns program in 2011.
• Hudspeth, in his 14th season as a head coach, spent seven years as head coach at North Alabama and was an assistant at five schools, including FBS programs Navy and Mississippi State.

CUE UP SOME WILLIE ... THE CAJUNS ARE ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• For the first time since the 2011 season, Louisiana will play seven football games on the road, including trips to SEC opponents Texas A&M and Ole Miss, along with American Athletic Conference member Tulsa.
• Also on the road schedule are dates at Sun Belt Conference co-championships Arkansas State (Oct. 19) and Appalachian State (Dec. 2), plus league rivals Idaho (Oct. 7) and South Alabama (Nov. 4).

RAGIN' CAJUNS RECEIVERS IN ELITE GROUP
• Louisiana is one of eight FBS schools to have three players record 100 receiving yards in a game during the 2017 season.
• Keenan Barnes (at Tulsa, at Texas A&M), Ryheem Malone (at Tulsa) and Jarrod Jackson (vs. ULM) have all surpassed the 100-yard receiving mark in games this season.
• Currently four players - Barnes, Malone, Jackson and Ja'Marcus Bradley - have all recorded 100-yard receiving games in their careers for the Ragin' Cajuns.
• FBS teams with at least three players with 100 or more yards receiving in a game:

Arizona State – 5
Oklahoma State - 4
Louisiana - 3
Virginia – 3
Washington State – 3
SMU – 3
Louisiana Tech – 3
Massachusetts – 3

FORMER DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JAMES WILLIS REJOINS CAJUNS AS ANALYST
• Former defensive coordinator James Willis rejoined the Ragin' Cajuns program as a defensive analyst during the team's open date and will be in the booth beginning with Louisiana's game at Idaho on Oct. 7.
• Willis served as defensive coordinator for Louisiana from 2013-14, helping lead the Ragin' Cajuns to a pair of bowl games. He left after the 2014 season to become a defensive assistant/linebackers coach for the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
• A former Auburn standout and seven-year veteran in the NFL, Willis worked as an assistant at Rhode Island, Temple, Alabama, Auburn and Texas Tech before joining the Ragin' Cajuns program in early 2013.

RAGIN' CAJUNS ADD MISSOURI TO 2020 SCHEDULE
• Officials for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns and University of Missouri announced that the teams will play in a non-conference game on Nov. 21, 2020, at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo.
• The game between Louisiana and Missouri, one of two non-conference games on the 2020 schedule, will be the first between schools on the gridiron.
• Louisiana will also face New Mexico State in its 2020 non-conference schedule.

FB Game 12 Preview: at Appalachian State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Keenan Barnes

Ja'Marcus Bradley

Jordan Davis

Sam Geraci

Grant Horst

Jarrod Jackson

Taboris Lee

Levi Lewis

Ryheem Malone

Elijah Mitchell

Andre Nunez

T.J. Posey

Trey Ragas

Devin Scott

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