FB Game 8 Preview: at South Alabama

LAFAYETTE – Following a 16-day layoff, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 4) when it travels to Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama in a Sun Belt Conference contest at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m., and will be available on ESPN3 with David Weekley (play-by-play) and Forrest Conoly (color) providing the commentary. The game will also be available statewide on the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Radio Network with Steve Peloquin (PBP), former Ragin' Cajuns receiver Richie Falgout (color) and Cody Junot (sideline) on the call.

Louisiana (3-4, 2-2 SBC) plays its second of three consecutive games on the road that began with an Oct. 19 contest at Arkansas State and concludes on Nov. 11 at Ole Miss.

The game against South Alabama (3-5, 2-2 SBC) marks the sixth meeting between the schools with Louisiana holding a 3-2 lead. The Ragin' Cajuns posted a 28-23 win in last year's meeting at Cajun Field with the Jaguars claiming a 32-25 win in the previous meeting in Mobile.

GAME 8
LOUISIANA RAGIN' CAJUNS (3-4, 2-2 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Mark Hudspeth (Delta State, 1992) • @ULCoachHud
Record at LA: 27-35* (seventh season), Career Record: 93-56* (14th season)

SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS (3-5, 2-2 Sun Belt)
Head Coach: Joey Jones (Alabama, 1989)
Record at USA: 51-47 (ninth season), Career Record: 54-54 (10th season)

Nov. 4, 2017 • 3:00 p.m. • Mobile, Ala. • Ladd-Peebles Stadium (33,471)
Series History: Louisiana leads, 3-2
At Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 3-0 | At Mobile: South Alabama leads, 2-0 | Hudspeth vs. USA: 3-2
First Meeting: Louisiana 52, South Alabama 30 • Nov. 24, 2012 at Lafayette
Last Meeting: Louisiana 28, South Alabama 23 • Sept. 17, 2016 at Lafayette

ESPNU | WatchESPN • David Weekley PXP • Forrest Conoly Analyst
KPEL 1420 AM (Flagship) • Steve Peloquin PXP • Richie Falgout Analyst • Cody Junot Sideline

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Louisiana is one of three FBS teams that is perfect (28-for-28 overall; 25 TDs, 3 FGs) in red zone offense this season.
• Trey Ragas is tied for third nationally among FBS freshman in rushing touchdowns (7) and is seventh nationally among freshmen in total rushing yards (542).
• Louisiana's 280 yards assessed in penalties this season is the fifth-fewest among FBS programs in 2017.
• Louisiana has posted a 5-1 record in games to start the month of November under Mark Hudspeth.
• Stevie Artigue's 51-yard field in the first quarter at Arkansas State was the longest of his career and the first 50-yard field goal by a Ragin' Cajun since Brett Baer against East Carolina in 2012.

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 South Alabama prepare to face off for the sixth time on the gridiron with the Ragin' Cajuns holding a 3-2 lead.
• The home team has held serve in each meeting in the series with the Ragin' Cajuns winning all three meetings at Cajun Field and the Jaguars claiming both meetings at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
• South Alabama claimed a 32-25 victory in the last meeting in Mobile on Nov. 12, 2015 as Xavier Johnson rushed for a pair of touchdowns, including the eventual go-ahead score on a 16-yard carry with 3:32 remaining.

A RAGIN' CAJUNS VICTORY WOULD ...
• improve their overall record to 4-4
• improve Louisiana's Sun Belt record to 3-2
• improve Louisiana's official all-time Sun Belt Conference record to 51-49
• would give the visiting team a win for the first time in the six-game series
• would give Louisiana a 4-2 record in the series
• would mark the first two-game win streak by either team in the series
• would be Louisiana's first win in the state of Alabama since Nov. 29, 2014 (42-23 at Troy)

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.

NEW SURFACE FOR CAJUN FIELD
• Louisiana's 2017 season-opener against Southeastern Louisiana marked the first contest for the Ragin' Cajuns on the new Matrix Turf surface.
• The previous synthetic surface, which was installed in 2008, was replaced with the same surface used at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.
• Hellas Construction, based in Austin, Texas, installed the new surface in August.

#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

CAJUNS ADD CINCY TRANSFER GERACI AT PUNTER
• Looking to replace Ray Guy Award semifinalist Steven Coutts at punter, Louisiana picked up former Cincinnati punter Sam Geraci as a graduate transfer.
• Geraci played three seasons with the Bearcats where he averaged 41.5 yards per punt in three seasons with 67 punts placed inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
• Geraci averaged 46.3 yards per attempt in 2015 with 17 attempts of 50 yards or more. He averaged 40.0 yards per attempt in 2016, with 37 punts resulting in fair catches and 31 attempts landing inside the 20-yard line.

HOMEGROWN CAJUNS
• As with most schools, Louisiana has placed a heavy emphasis on recruiting players within its state borders as 58 players on the roster, including 27 from the nine-parish Acadiana region, hail from the state of Louisiana.
• Fifteen players on the current roster come from Lafayette with 19 coming the talent-rich New Orleans metro area.

THE CAJUNS HAVE THE INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
• Reserve lineman Christian Cederquist (Denmark) is the lone international player on the Ragin' Cajuns roster. The Copenhagen native spent last season as a redshirt after transferring from Eastern Arizona College.

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).

CAJUNS ONE OF THREE TEAMS PERFECT IN THE RED ZONE
• Under first-year offensive coordinator Will Hall, Louisiana has been perfect through the first seven games when entering the red zone.
• Louisiana, which is now one of three FBS teams that are perfect in red zone opportunities this season, is 28-for-28 during the 2017 season with 25 scores coming via touchdown (17 rushing, 8 passing).
• Louisiana finished 8-for-8 (7 TDs, 1 FG) against ULM and was 7-for-7 (6 TDs, 1 FG) at Tulsa.
• The Ragin' Cajuns were a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone against Texas State, scoring on three touchdowns while adding a field goal by Stevie Artigue.

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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stevie Artigue

Brett Baer

Keenan Barnes

Ja'Marcus Bradley

Christian Cederquist

Steven Coutts

Jordan Davis

Sam Geraci

Grant Horst

Jarrod Jackson

Taboris Lee

Ryheem Malone

T.J. Posey

Trey Ragas

Devin Scott

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