@RaginCajunsFB Gets Ready To Head To No. 16 Mississippi State

Louisiana Plays Their First Road Game Of The Season At No. 16 Mississippi State

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LOUISIANA GAME NOTES

THE MATCHUP

Louisiana Football looks to remain undefeated as they return to the field for their first road game of the season in the first matchup against Mississippi State since 1987 when the Ragin' Cajuns travel to Starkville, Miss., to play the No. 16 team in the country on Saturday, Sept. 15.

LOUISIANA VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE

Louisiana and Mississippi State meet for the fourth time in each program's history on Saturday, Sept. 15.
All-time Mississippi State is 3-0 against Louisiana.
It is the first time the two schools have met since 1987 making it 31 years since the two schools have faced off on the gridiron.
Although it has been 31 years since the two schools have met, it is not the longest stretch that the two teams have gone without playing each other. The Cajuns and Bulldogs went 41 years between 1945 and 1987 without meeting up.
This is the second time that either team will be ranked entering the game in the match-ups, with Mississippi State being ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll when the two teams met in 1940.

A RAGIN' CAJUNS VICTORY WOULD

Get Louisiana off to a 2-0 start for first time since 2009 when the Cajuns beat Southern (42-19) to open the season and followed that up with a 17-15 win over Kansas State.
Be the second game Louisiana has ever won against a ranked opponent and the first since Louisiana upset No. 25 Texas A&M, 29-22, on Sept. 14, 1996.
Give Louisiana its first win ever against Mississippi State and its first win ever against a current member of the Southeastern Conference.

BRINGING BACK THE 80s

In 1987, gas was under a dollar for one of the last times in history, sitting at 90 cents (in 1989, gas would hit the dollar mark). A gallon of milk cost just $2.28 and a dozen eggs would have only set someone back 78 cents.
Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop II was the highest grossing film in 1987 ($153,665,036), while NBC's The Cosby Show (27.8 rating), A Different World (25.0 rating) and Cheers (21.8 rating) ruled the airwaves.
The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" finished 1987 at the top of Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 Singles.

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE

Of the seven head coaches in FBS who coached their first career games, four won their first games, with Louisiana head coach Billy Napier being among that group.
Rice fell to Houston on Saturday (Sept. 1), giving Rice's first-year head coach Mike Bloomgren his first career loss (1-1).
Napier joins Josh Heupel (UCF) and Herm Edwards (Arizona State) as the three coaches in the country who have yet to take a loss.

NAPIER GETS NUMBER ONE

Head coach Billy Napier got his first career win against Grambling and the 27th head coach in school history becomes the 12th coach ever in school history to get his first win as head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns.
Coach Napier became the first coach to complete the feat since Sam Robertson won his first game as the head coach of Louisiana (then USL) when the Ragin' Cajuns beat New Mexico State 14-12 on Sept. 6, 1980.
Between Coach Robertson and Coach Napier four head coaches failed to win their first game as head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns.

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	2-0	American Athletic	W, 38-0 (vs. South Carolina State)	Sept. 15 at North Carolina
Herm Edwards	Arizona State	2-0	PAC-12	W, 16-13 (vs. (15) Michigan State)	Sept. 15 at San Diego State
Billy Napier	Louisiana	1-0	Sun Belt	Bye Week	Sept. 15 at (16) Mississippi State
Sean Lewis	Kent State	1-1	MAC	W, 54-14 (vs. Howard)	Sept. 15 at (11) Penn State
Jonathan Smith	Oregon State	1-1	PAC-12	W, 48-25 (vs. Southern Utah)	Sept. 15 at Nevada
Jeremy Pruitt	Tennessee	1-1	SEC	W, 59-3 (vs. ETSU)	Sept. 15 vs. UTEP
Mike Bloomgren	Rice	1-2	C-USA	L, 29-43 (at Hawai'i)	Bye Week

TAKING ON THE SEC

For the seventh-straight season, Louisiana will face off with at least one SEC opponent during the football season. And it's the second-straight year that the Ragin' Cajuns will take on two SEC teams (at Mississippi State, Sept. 15 and at Alabama, Sept. 29).
Despite never beating a team that was a member of the SEC when Louisiana played them (0-42 all-time vs. SEC), Louisiana did score a historic upset against current SEC member Texas A&M (29-25 on Sept. 14, 1996)but at the time Texas A&M was a member of the Big 12.

FACING RANKED COMPETITION

With Alabama being ranked No. 1 and Mississippi State coming in at No. 18 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, Louisiana will be facing two ranked opponents in the same season since 2010 when the Cajuns faced off with Georgia (No. 23) and Oklahoma State (No. 22).
This season will be 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]).
As long as Mississippi State and Alabama stay in the top 20, Louisiana will take 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).
Louisiana has not faced a ranked opponent since taking on Ole Miss (No. 14) in 2014.

NEW FACES

Louisiana had 18 new additions to the squad from 2017 make their first appearance as a member of the Ragin' Cajuns.
When breaking down the numbers, nine were transfers from another school and nine were true freshmen.
Two newcomers got the start with Chauncey Manac (LB) and Kendall Johnson (CB) getting the nod on defense.

A 21-YEAR OLD RECORD FALLS

Senior quarterback Andre Nunez's completion percentage of 86.4 (Grambling, Sept. 1), which is a new single-game record for completion percentage with at least 20 attempts, broke a record that stuck for 21 years. Lance Domec went 17 for 20 against Arkansas State on Oct. 4, 1997, to finish with a completion percentage of 85.0 percent.
Nunez finished with 184 yards passing and two touchdown passes against Grambling (Sept. 1). He was 19 for 22 to finish with his school record 86.4 completion percentage.
Nunez had 13 straight completions after missing his first pass of the game and that is the best stretch for a Louisiana quarterback since Terrance Broadway began the 2014 R L Carriers New Orleans Bowl with 14 straight completions.

DEFENSE SLOWS DOWN GRAMBLING

Louisiana's defense put in a complete team effort in the Cajuns 49-17 win against Grambling. A huge red zone stand in the Tigers' first possession of the game set the tone for the entire game.
Junior linebacker Jacques Boudreaux led the team with four tackles and one sack with the Cajuns having a strong showing up front, controlling the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball.
Redshirt freshman Bennie Higgins had a big game, finishing with three tackles and one sack while junior Chaiziere Malbrue and freshman Andre Riley each got a sack to give Louisiana four sacks on the night en route to holding Grambling to 159 yards passing.

A BIRD APPROACHES A MILESTONE

Jay Walker, who many know as the voice of the Ragin' Cajuns, will broadcast his 296th game when Louisiana takes on Mississippi State. 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.

HOME SWEET HOME

Louisiana's win against Grambling, in the home opener, means that over the past 11 seasons, the Ragin' Cajuns are 10-1 in home openers.
During that 11-year stretch, Louisiana has outscored its opponents 420-180, and the only loss over the past 11 years came against Boise State in the 2016 home opener.
Louisiana is 14-4 in the Herbert Heymann Football Classic.

STRONG AGAINST THE STATE

Louisiana has now played every school in the state of Louisiana, Grambling having been the only one that they haven't played.
Over the past four seasons, Louisiana is 8-4 against Division I programs from the state of Louisiana. Besides beating Sun Belt Conference foe ULM three times, the Ragin' Cajuns have knocked off Southern (45-6, Aug. 30, 2014); Northwestern State (44-14, Sept. 12, 2015); McNeese State (30-22, Sept. 10, 2016); Southeastern Louisiana (51-48, Sept. 2, 2017) and Grambling (49-17, Sept. 1, 2018) with all the non-ULM wins coming at Cajun Field.

LOUISIANA VERSUS THE FCS

Louisiana's win against Grambling improves their all-time record 39-19-1 against schools currently in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) dating back to 1982. Louisiana is 11-1 against FCS schools since 2000.

SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME IS HERE

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.

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 Gets Ready To Head To No. 16 Mississippi State

Players Mentioned

Jacques Boudreaux

Terrance Broadway

Bennie Higgins

Kendall Johnson

Chaiziere Malbrue

Chauncey Manac

Andre Nunez

AJ Riley

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

@RaginCajunsFB Gets Ready To Head To No. 16 Mississippi State

Players Mentioned

Jacques Boudreaux

Terrance Broadway

Bennie Higgins

Kendall Johnson

Chaiziere Malbrue

Chauncey Manac

Andre Nunez

AJ Riley

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