@RaginCajunsFB Prepares For Trip To Texas State

Louisiana Makes A Trip To San Marcos, Texas For Its Second Sun Belt Conference Game Of The Season

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LOUISIANA GAME NOTES

THE MATCHUP

Louisiana Football plays its second Sun Belt Conference game of the season, looking to get its first conference win, with a trip to San Marcos, Texas to face off with Texas State on Saturday, Oct. 6.

LOUISIANA VS. TEXAS STATE

Louisiana and Texas State meet for the sixth time in each school's history and it is the third time that the two teams will play in San Marcos, Texas.
Louisiana has outscored the Bobcats 134-47 over the five years that the two teams have faced off with each other.
In San Marcos, Louisiana has outscored Texas State 61-13 in the two games played at Bobcat Stadium.

A RAGIN' CAJUNS VICTORY WOULD

Snap a three-game losing slide that Louisiana is currently on, with setbacks at Mississippi State (Sept. 15), at home against Coastal Carolina (Sept. 22) and at Alabama (Sept. 29).
Keep Louisiana unbeaten all-time against Texas State.
Give Louisiana it's first Sun Belt Conference win of the 2018 season.

CENTURY MARK TIMES THREE

Sophomore running back Trey Ragas has been a force on the ground all season long, rushing for a Sun Belt Conference-best 405 yards over Louisiana's first four games of the season.
Ragas has rushed for over 100 yards in the past two games, only missing the century mark in Louisiana's trip to Mississippi State on
Sept. 15.
Over the four-game stretch, Ragas' average sits at 101.2 yards per game, which is the best in the conference. He is the only running back in the Sun Belt that is averaging over 100 yards per game.
It is the first time that a Ragin' Cajun has run for at least 100 yards in three of the first four games of the season since current Assistant Football Coach Michael Desormeaux rushed for 100 three times in Louisiana's first four games of the 2007 season.
Coach Desormeaux, playing quarterback, rushed for 116 yards on 21 carries at South Carolina, scoring one touchdown on the ground. He then followed that up with 101 yards on 19 carries against Ohio. Desormeaux missed the century mark against McNeese State in the next game but returned to rumble for 179 yards (21 carries) against Troy in Louisiana's fourth game of the season.

STILL PERFECT IN THE RED ZONE

Louisiana is 12-for-12 in the red zone during the first four games of the season. Louisiana is one of 12 teams across the country that has remained perfect inside the 20. The Ragin' Cajuns are the only team left in the Sun Belt Conference that has remained perfect in the red zone.
In each of the Cajuns trips to the red zone, they capped off the visit with a touchdown. Louisiana is the only team out of the 12 that are perfect in the red zone that have scored only touchdowns inside-the-20.

100,000 EYES

In Louisiana's trip to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 29, the announced attendance of 101,471 is the biggest crowd the Cajuns have ever played in front of, breaking the previous record of 98,142 set in Louisiana's visit College Station, Texas in Louisiana's game at Texas A&M on Sept. 16, 2017.
The 100,000-plus crowd was the first time Louisiana has ever played in front of a crowd of at least 100,00 fans.

HEAD COACHES WHO WON FIRST GAME AT LOUISIANA

Ashby Woodson - 6-5 at Opelousas (Dec. 21, 1901)
S. Ovey Herpin - 105-0 vs. Delcambre Academy (Nov. 2, 1903)
Edwin F. Gayly - 11-5 at Franklin (Nov. 5, 1904)
Herbert McNaspy - 28-0 vs. St. Martinville (Oct. 27, 1906)
Jefferson Caffery - 11-5 at Crowley (Nov. 2, 1907)
Clement J. McNaspy - 11-0 vs. St. Martinville (Oct. 24, 1908)
H. Lee Prather - 33-0 vs. Morgan City (Sept. 28, 1912)
H.O. Tudor - 34-0 vs. Abbeville (Sept. 25, 1920)
George Mitchell - 24-6 at Stephen F. Austin (Sept. 27, 1947)
A.L. Red Swanson - 25-0 vs. East Texas Baptist (Sept. 23, 1950)
Sam Robertson - 14-12 vs. New Mexico State (Sept. 6, 1980)
Billy Napier - 49-17 vs. Grambling (Sept. 1, 2018)

FBS FIRST YEAR HEAD COACHES OVERALL

Name	Team	Record	Conference	Previous Week	Upcoming
Josh Heupel	UCF	4-0	American Athletic	W, 45-14 (vs. Pittsburgh)	Oct. 6 vs. SMU
Herm Edwards	Arizona State	3-2	PAC-12	W, 52-24 (vs. Oregon State)	Oct. 6 at (21) Colorado
Jeremy Pruitt	Tennessee	2-3	SEC	L, 12-38 (at (2) Georgia)	Oct. 6 at (8) Auburn
Billy Napier	Louisiana	1-3	Sun Belt	L, 14-56 (at (1) Alabama)	Oct. 6 at Texas State
Sean Lewis	Kent State	1-4	MAC	L, 14-52 (at Ball State)	Oct. 6 vs. Ohio
Jonathan Smith	Oregon State	1-4	PAC-12	L, 24-52 (at Arizona State)	Oct. 6 at Washington State
Mike Bloomgren	Rice	1-4	C-USA	L, 24-56 (at Wake Forest)	Oct. 6 vs. UTSA

BRADLEY SNAGS FOUR

Junior wide receiver Ja'Marcus Bradley has caught four touchdown passes over the first four games of the season, two against Grambling (Sept. 1), one at Mississippi State (Sept. 15) and one at Alabama (Sept. 29).
Bradley's four touchdowns is already a career high and it ties senior Rhyeem Malone's team-high four touchdown receptions from the 2017 season.
It is the first time a receiver at Louisiana has caught four touchdown passes within the first four games of the season since Jamal Robinson caught four touchdowns over the first four games of the 2013 season.
Robinson caught one against Kansas State and Nicholls State before snagging two against Akron in Louisiana's fourth game of the 2013 season.

NUNEZ STILL CAN'T MISS

Senior quarterback Andre Nunez has remained among one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the country, with his 70.0 completion percentage ranking 12th in the FBS and second in the Sun Belt.
Nunez has tossed at least one touchdown pass in all four of Louisiana's games thus far, giving him five on the season, which is a new career-high for Nunez.
Nunez already broke a 21-year old school record when he went 19-for-22 against Grambling to finish with a completion percentage of 86.4 percent, setting a new single-game school record for completion percentage.
Nunez has thrown for 616 yards this season and the senior has tossed five touchdowns and rushed for one, giving him six touchdowns scored through the first four games of the season.

LOUISIANA'S RECEIVERS ARE BUSY

So far this season Louisiana's wide receivers have been heavily involved with Louisiana's passing offense, with Louisiana's wide outs catching 76 percent of all passes thrown and completed this season (51-of-67).
Senior Rhyeem Malone leads the unit in receptions with 17 and he is followed up by senior Keenan Barnes and junior Ja'Marcus Bradley each catching 12 passes. Senior Earnest Patterson has added five receptions and sophomore Jamal Bell has caught two so far. Junior Jarrod Jackson and sophomore Jalen Williams has each added one reception to bring the receiver unit's total receptions to 51.

LOUISIANA DOULBES UP ON THE GROUND (VS. CCU; SEPT. 22)

Junior Raymond Calais ran for 108 yards on five carries (a career-high) and sophomore Trey Ragas rumbled for 103 yards on 15 touches against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 22. Both Cajuns reached the end zone during the game.
It is the first time since Oct. 24, 2014, that Louisiana has had a pair of 100-yard rushers in a game. In that game Elijah McGuire (265 yards) and Alonzo Harris (107 yards) each broke the century mark.
It is the 23rd time in school history that Louisiana has had a pair of 100-yard rushers in a single game.

FACING RANKED COMPETITION

Louisiana's game against Alabama was the first time that the Ragin' Cajuns have faced off with the number one team in the country.
With Alabama being ranked No. 1 and Mississippi State coming in at No. 16, Louisiana will faced off with two ranked opponents in the same season for the first time since 2010 when the Cajuns faced off with Georgia (No. 23) and Oklahoma State (No. 22).
This season was only the fourth time that Louisiana has taken on two ranked opponents in the same season. The other three times were in 2010, 2009 (Louisiana State [No. 9] and Nebraska [No. 25]) and 1996 (Florida [No. 4] and Texas A&M [No. 25]).
Since Mississippi State and Alabama were in the top 20, Louisiana took on two top 20 teams for the first time since 1985. During the '85 season the Cajuns faced off with Auburn (No. 2) and Florida (No. 5).

A BIRD APPROACHES A MILESTONE

Jay Walker, who many know as the voice of the Ragin' Cajuns, will call career game number 299 when Louisiana travels to San Marcos, Texas on Saturday.
It is Jay's 27th season calling the Ragin' Cajuns on the radio, having served duties as both the color commentator and his current role as play-by-play announcer.
During the 27 seasons Walker has called some memorable games, but the most was the color commentary he provided for Louisiana's biggest win in school history, a 29-22 win over No. 25 Texas A&M on Sept. 14, 1996.
Walker called his 298th game when Louisiana visited No. 1 Alabama on Sept. 29.

COACHING EXPERINCE FILLS THE SIDELINE

Louisiana's coaching staff brings 129 years of combined collegiate and professional coaching experience. Coupled with those years, Louisiana's coaches have coached in a combined 43 bowl games.
It's not just bowl games that Louisiana's staff has experience in coaching. Rory Segrest, during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, coached in the NFL Playoffs from 2008-10.
Coach Napier leads the charge with bowl experience, coaching in 10 bowl games during his career. While right behind him is Mark Hocke, who has had his hands in nine bowl games. Rob Sale is not far behind with seven bowl game appearances as a coach.
Leading the experience on the sidelines is Ron Roberts, who has 27 years on the sidelines, including six years as the head coach at Southeastern Louisiana (2012-17). Right behind him is Segrest, who has 22 years of coaching experience.

MASON GETS THE NOD

Louisiana all-time great Damon Mason was recently honored as part of the 2018 Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame class.
Mason was a three-year letter-winner for the Ragin' Cajuns football team from 1994-96, posting 135 tackles as a senior, which put him atop Louisiana's all-time list for tackles in a season by a defensive back. It was also the third-highest, single-season total for the Ragin' Cajuns defender, who finished with a career total 243 tackles, six interceptions and four sacks.
The LaPlace, Louisiana, native was honored as a national Defensive Player of the Week and was featured in "Sports Illustrated" after posting two interceptions, including one for a touchdown, to go along with two forced fumbles, one sack and a team-best nine tackles in the Ragin' Cajuns 29-22 upset win over Nationally-ranked Texas A&M in 1996. Mason, was a first team All-Big West Conference selection in 1995, and earned third-team All-America honors in 1996.
Mason will be honored on the field during Louisiana's Homecoming game against New Mexico State on Oct. 13 and he will be joined by the five other members (Scott Dohmann [baseball]; Anna Petrakova [women's basketball]; Yvette Girouard [softball] and Gerald Hebert [administration]) of the Class of 2018 on the field during halftime.

SATURDAYS AT CAJUN FIELD

For the first time since 2016, Louisiana will be playing six games at home this season.
All six home games will be played on Saturday, and that's the first time that's happened for Louisiana since 2015.

COACHES SHOW ON CST STARTS

On Tuesday, Sept. 4, Inside Louisiana Football aired for the first time on CST starting at 6:30 p.m. It was the first coaches show of the 2018 and it is a new endeavor for the Louisiana Athletic Department.
The show will be produced throughout the season by the new Louisiana Broadcast Services and will be hosted by Darren Walker.

SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME IS HERE

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 and the first game will be played this season. The announcement was made on June 8, 2016.
The two teams will be decided by who wins their respective divisions, with the conference being split into a east and west division for the first time.
The game will be played at the school with the better record or wins the tiebreaker if both division winners share the same conference record at the end of the season.

- #GEAUXCAJUNS -

@RaginCajunsFB Prepares For Trip To Texas State

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Players Mentioned

Keenan Barnes

Jamal Bell

Ja'Marcus Bradley

Raymond Calais

Alonzo Harris

Jarrod Jackson

Elijah McGuire

Andre Nunez

Earnest Patterson

Trey Ragas

Jamal Robinson

Jalen Williams

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

@RaginCajunsFB Prepares For Trip To Texas State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Keenan Barnes

Jamal Bell

Ja'Marcus Bradley

Raymond Calais

Alonzo Harris

Jarrod Jackson

Elijah McGuire

Andre Nunez

Earnest Patterson

Trey Ragas

Jamal Robinson

Jalen Williams

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