No. 20 Louisiana to Host App State in 2021 Sun Belt Championship

LAFAYETTE – After a historic 2021 regular season, that included a perfect conference record and program high 11 wins, No. 20 Louisiana Football will host App State in the 2021 Sun Belt Football Championship game 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Cajun Field. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Now making a fourth consecutive title game appearance, a win would give Louisiana its first outright conference title as a member of the Sun Belt. The Ragin' Cajuns finished the season as conference co-champions in 2005 and 2020.

Having already tied the single-season program win total record set in 2019, This year's team is looking to capture history and become the first in school history to earn 12 victories. The Ragin' Cajuns are just one of 10 teams in the nation with 11 or more wins on the season.

Since 2019, Louisiana has been one of the upper echelon programs in the sport. The Ragin' Cajuns are 32-5 (.864) with only four programs, Alabama, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Georgia achieving a higher win percentage during that time.

Under fourth year head coach Billy Napier, the program is 27-7 against conference opponents, including a perfect 16-0 mark against members of the West Division. With last week's victory over ULM, Louisiana completed a perfect regular season for the first time as a member of the Sun Belt. The Ragin' Cajuns have been perfect in league play just once before, posting a 5-0 mark in the Gulf States Conference during the 1970 season.

App State prevailed out of the Eastern Division with a 10-2 record. The Mountaineers posted a 7-1 conference record that included a victory over last year's Eastern Division champion Coastal Carolina on Oct. 20.

Saturday will be the second meeting between the programs this season with Louisiana prevailing 41-13 at Cajun Field on Oct. 12.

Historically, the teams have met a total of 10 times previously, with App State leading the all-time series 8-2.

Who: No. 20 Louisiana (11-1, 7-0 Sun Belt) vs. App State (10-2, 7-1 Sun Belt)
Where: Cajun Field – Lafayette, La.
When: Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2:30 p.m. (CST)
Watch: ESPN
On the Call: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Dusty Dvoracek (analyst), Tom Lunginbill (Sideline)
Listen: ESPN1420
On the Call: Jay Walker (play-by-play), Gerald Broussard (analyst), Cody Junot (sideline), Cody Junot (Sideline)
All-Time Series: App State leads, 8-2
Last Meeting: W, 41-13 (10/21/21)

Game Notes:

cULture created
• A victory on Saturday would mark Napier's 40th as head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns.

No. 1 in Record Books
• With three touchdown passes against Texas State on Oct. 30, Levi Lewis set the program record for career passing scores with 65. The previous record of 64 was held by Ragin' Cajun legend Jake Delhomme.
• Against Arkansas State, Lewis passed Terrance Broadway to move into second place on Louisiana's career passing yards leaderboard.

Goin' Bowling
• With its Week 7 victory over Arkansas State, Louisiana clinched bowl eligibility for the fourth consecutive season.

Shut it Down
• The Cajun defense ranks 13th nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to 18.5 points per game.

Turnover Tally
• Over its last four games, Louisiana is +11 in the turnover margin. In the Napier era, the team is 20-2 when forcing two or more takeaways in a game.

Clutch Gene
• The Ragin' Cajuns own a 15-3 record in one-possession games since the start of the 2018 season.

Light up the Scoreboard
• Louisiana is 39-5 under Coach Napier when scoring more than 20 points. After scoring 45 points against Texas State in Week 9, the team is 14-0 when scoring more than 40 points under Napier

Run it Back
• Per ESPN's Bill Connelly, Louisiana returned a nation-high 96 percent of its production from a season ago, including 93 percent of its offensive production and 98 percent of its defensive production.

Senior Sendoff
Prior to last week's game against ULM, the program honored 19 members of its senior class. The honorees were WR Jamal Bell, TE Hunter Bergeron, S Percy Butler, LB Ferrod Gardner, LS Bobby Hill, OL David Hudson, DL Tayland Humphrey, LB Troy Kruchten, QB Levi Lewis, LB Chauncey Manac, OL Ken Marks, OL Max Mitchell, DL Malcolm Rollins, K Nate Snyder, S Cameron Solomon, OL Shane Vallot, LB Tanner Wiggins, WR Jalen Williams, RB TJ Wisham.

No. 20 Louisiana to Host App State in 2021 Sun Belt Championship

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Players Mentioned

Jamal Bell

Hunter Bergeron

Percy Butler

Ferrod Gardner

Bobby Hill

David Hudson

Tayland Humphrey

Troy Kruchten

Levi Lewis

Levi Lewis

Chauncey Manac

Ken Marks

Max Mitchell

Malcolm Rollins

Nate Snyder

Cameron Solomon

Shane Vallot

Tanner Wiggins

Jalen Williams

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