Showdown with Cajuns lacks bit of luster this year

LAFAYETTE, La. -- On the field, the two programs have been the most successful in the Sun Belt Conference the past five seasons.

If it weren't for NCAA infractions, which caused Louisiana-Lafayette to vacate 22 victories over four seasons, it would be second behind Arkansas State in total league victories. The matchups between the two teams were given center stage the past four seasons, too, with Tuesday night games being played on national TV.

"It's been a good, competitive rivalry for a while," ASU Coach Blake Anderson said.

Similar sizzle seems to be lacking from this year's meeting. Instead of prime time on one of ESPN's networks, today's game will kick off at 11 a.m. at Cajun Field and broadcast on the American Sports Network -- the Sun Belt's newest television partner since August.

Instead of both teams meeting without a league loss, as was the case in each of the past three meetings, ASU (6-4, 6-0) is at the top of the standings while Louisiana-Lafayette is in danger of missing out on a bowl game for the second year in a row.

The Ragin' Cajuns (4-6, 3-3) need to beat the Red Wolves today and Louisiana-Monroe next week to reach bowl eligibility, which would be their fifth in Coach Mark Hudspeth's six seasons.

But Anderson still cautioned his team this week about potential pitfalls.

The Ragin' Cajuns have lost five of their last seven games and are 4-6 overall, but "a dangerous 4-6," Anderson said.

"Our guys have a pretty good understanding that you don't judge a team by its record," he said. "They'll be backed in a corner, and they're going to give everything they've got because they want to get to a bowl like everybody else."

Physical concerns exist, too, such as a healthy Ragin' Cajuns quarterback in Anthony Jennings, who struggled through ankle injuries early in the season but has compiled 588 yards of offense in a loss to Georgia and a victory over Georgia Southern the past two weeks. Of those yards, 189 came on the ground.

There's also the improving health of running back Elijah McGuire, the Ragin' Cajuns' career all-purpose yards leader, who had foot injuries early in the year. He rushed for 129 yards last week against Georgia.

"I really like the direction we're going offensively. We're really starting to come into our own," Hudspeth said. "I think our best football is now and coming."

No need to remind ASU's players.

"We know their season hasn't gone as planned," senior linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster said. "Their goal is to beat us, make a bowl game."

Senior cornerback Chris Humes said a subpar record for the Cajuns doesn't affect ASU's plan.

"We don't look at records at all; we just look at tape," he said. "You can look at us, coming off 0-4 and rattling off six wins. Because you can't determine how good a team is off of record at all."

Some of ASU's most experienced players know what type of game they could get today.

In Louisiana-Lafayette's 55-40 victory at Cajun Field two years ago, nine players were reprimanded by the conference for in-game actions. Former defensive back Frankie Jackson was reprimanded for what the conference called a "flagrant act," while the Sun Belt said Woodson-Luster spit on an opposing player.

Such antics might not occur again, but senior defensive end Chris Odom knows he's not going against his best friends.

"It's going to be physical," he said. "Always physical. It's just that rivalry. I felt that my freshman year. And I still feel it now."

ASU showed its ability to win such a game last week, when it outscored Troy, then in The Associated Press top 25 poll, 28-0 in the second half of a 35-3 road victory.

If the Red Wolves can do that again, they'll win a seventh game for a sixth consecutive year, their 16th consecutive game against a Sun Belt team and clinch at least a share of a conference title for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

"It makes this week even bigger," said Anderson of last week's victory that put it alone on top of the Sun Belt. "We know what's at stake. And we don't want to have a slip up and have a let down in intensity. So we have to turn it up a notch."

Sports on 11/26/2016