| Currentseason: | 2024 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team |
| Teamname: | Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football |
| Firstyear: | 1901 |
| Athleticdirector: | Bryan Maggard |
| Headcoach: | Michael Desormeaux |
| Headcoachyear: | 3rd |
| Hcwins: | 13 |
| Hclosses: | 14 |
| Stadium: | Cajun Field |
| Stadiumbuilt: | 1971 |
| Stadcapacity: | 41,426 |
| Stadsurface: | Turf (ProGrass) |
| Location: | Lafayette, Louisiana |
| Ncaadivision: | I FBS |
| Conference: | Sun Belt Conference |
| Confdivision: | West |
| Websitename: | RaginCajuns.com |
| Websiteurl: | https://ragincajuns.com/sports/football |
| Atwins: | 565 |
| Atlosses: | 580 |
| Atties: | 34 [1] |
| Bowlwins: | 5 |
| Bowllosses: | 4 |
| Conftitles: | 10 |
| Divtitles: | 4 |
| Allamericans: | 4 |
| Fightsong: | Ragin' Cajuns Fight Song |
| Marchingband: | Pride of Acadiana |
| Pagfreelabel: | Outfitter |
| Pagfreevalue: | Adidas |
| Rivalries: | Louisiana Tech (rivalry) ULM (rivalry) Lamar (rivalry) McNeese State (rivalry) Southeastern Louisiana (rivalry) |
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football program is a college football team that represents the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Since 1971, the team has played its home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana. Michael Desormeaux has served as Louisiana's head coach since 2021.
The RCAF (Ragin Cajun Athletic Foundation) is the supporter association that assists with funding for all Ragin Cajun sports.
The program began play in 1901 when the school was known as Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. The school's sports teams were known as the Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs from 1921 until 1973. The school's fight name was formally changed to Ragin' Cajuns in 1974, which had been in use since the 1960s. In 1999, the university took on its current name, at which point its sports teams were referred to as Louisiana–Lafayette. A rebranding in 2017 dropped "Lafayette" from the Cajuns' name.
Between 2011 and 2014, the Cajuns won four consecutive New Orleans Bowls, representing the most successful stretch in the program's history at the time, but later had to vacate two of the victories due to NCAA violations.[2]
Between 2018 and 2021, during the tenure of head coach Billy Napier, the Cajuns reached many milestones, including the first National ranking in program history, four consecutive division championships, two conference championships, three bowl championships, and the best season finish and conference finish in the 2021 season, finishing 13–1 and 7–0 in conference play.
The Cajuns have had several players go to play professionally in the National Football League (NFL), including Jake Delhomme, Charles Tillman, Brian Mitchell, Orlando Thomas, Brandon Stokely, Elijah McGuire, Elijah Mitchell, Kevin Dotson, and Levi Lewis.
See also: List of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football seasons. Before 1974, the team's official nickname was the Bulldogs, although the current nickname was in common use with the football team for approximately the decade prior.
| 1937–1962 | National Junior College Athletic Association |
| 1963–1972 | NCAA College Division (Small College) |
| 1973 | NCAA Division II |
| 1974–1977 | NCAA Division I |
| 1978–present | NCAA Division I-A (FBS) |
Louisiana has been both independent and a member of four different conferences.[3]
Louisiana has won 10 conference championships, with the 2013 championship later vacated.
| 1952† | 3–0–2 | 5–2–2 | ||
| 1965† | 4–1 | 7–3 | ||
| 5–1 | 8–2 | |||
| 5–0 | 9–3 | |||
| 1993† | 5–1 | 8–3 | ||
| 1994† | 5–1 | 6–5 | ||
| 2005† | 5–2 | 6–5 | ||
| 2013†‡ | 5–2 | 9–4 | ||
| 2020†^ | 7–1 | 10–1 | ||
| 8–0 | 13–1 | |||
Louisiana has won four division championships with the most recent in the 2021 season.
| Sun Belt West | 5–3 | 7–7 | L 19–30 | |||
| 7–1 | 11–3 | L 38–45 | ||||
| 7–1 | 10–1 | No Contest^ | ||||
| 8–0 | 13–1 | W 24–16 | ||||
| January 1, 1944 | Louis Whitman | W 24–7 |
| December 12, 1970 | Russ Faulkinberry | L 25–26 |
Since joining the NCAA Division I-A (FBS) in 1978, the Ragin' Cajuns have played in 11 bowl games, although two of those games (which were victories) were vacated due to sanctions. Officially, they have a record of 5–4 in bowl games.
| December 17, 2011 | New Orleans Bowl† | W 32–30 | ||
| December 22, 2012 | W 43–34 | |||
| December 21, 2013 | New Orleans Bowl† | W 24–21 | ||
| December 20, 2014 | W 16–3 | |||
| December 17, 2016 | L 21–28 | |||
| December 15, 2018 | L 24–41 | |||
| January 6, 2020 | W 27–17 | |||
| December 26, 2020 | W 31–24 | |||
| December 18, 2021 | W 36–21 | |||
| December 23, 2022 | L 16–23 | |||
| December 16, 2023 | L 31–34 | |||
See main article: McNaspy Stadium. In 1940 McNaspy Stadium was built on the campus of Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette). It served as the Cajuns home field through the 1970 season and was demolished in 2000. McNaspy Stadium was located at the site where the current computer science building Oliver Hall now stands.
See main article: Cajun Field. Cajun Field is a football stadium located in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, and has served as the home field of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team since 1970. Cajun Field has an official capacity of 41,426 with 2,577 chairback seats, and its nickname is "The Swamp."
In June of 2021 it was announced that Cajun Field would be undergoing a $75 million renovation, with construction slated to begin summer of 2022. [10] The plans are to demolish the current West Tower, and replace it with a state of the art facility, including amenities such as premium suites, a club level and club seats, loge boxes, and press box. Because of a $15 million donation, the stadium will now be known as “Cajun Field at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.”
| 1901–1902 | 3–2 | ||
| 1903 | J. Ovey Herpin | 1–1 | |
| 1904 | 2–0–1 | ||
| 1906 | 1–0–1 | ||
| 1907 | 1–0 | ||
| 1908–1911; 1913; 1917–1918 | 34–15–4 | ||
| 1912 | 3–4 | ||
| 1914–1915 | R. B. Dunbar | 10–5–1 | |
| 1916; 1919; 1921–1930 | 57–48–7 | ||
| 1920 | 2–8 | ||
| 1931–1936 | 19–32–2 | ||
| 1937–1941; 1946 | 33–19–5 | ||
| 1942–1945 | Louis Whittman | 14–14–2 | |
| 1947–1949 | 18–8–1 | ||
| 1950 | 5–4 | ||
| 1951–1956 | 29–23–2 | ||
| 1957 | 4–5–1 | ||
| 1958–1960 | 11–17 | ||
| 1961–1973 | 66–63–2 | ||
| 1974–1979 | 30–35–2 | ||
| 1980–1985 | 29–34–2 | ||
| 1986–1998 | 62–80–1 | ||
| 1999–2001 | 6–27 | ||
| 2002–2010 | 41–65 | ||
| 2011–2017 | 29–38† | ||
| 2018–2021 | 40–12 | ||
| 2021–present | 13-14 |
See main article: Sabine Shoe. Although no longer an active rivalry, the first Sabine Shoe trophy was first awarded in 1937 to the winner of the SLI–Lamar football game.[11] The name of the bronze rivalry trophy was derived from the Sabine River that forms the Texas-Louisiana border. USL defeated Lamar in the 1978 edition of the rivalry game, but the Ragin' Cajuns were not awarded the trophy as it had vanished.[12] The Sabine Shoe trophy now sits in at trophy case in the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Complex.
| + Louisiana–Lamar: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | October 27, 1923 (won 19–16) | September 1, 2012 (won 40–0, vacated) | 22 | 11 | 0 | 66.7% |
See main article: Cajun Crown. Another former rivalry. When active the Cajun Crown was the name of the trophy between Louisiana and McNeese State.[13]
| + Louisiana–McNeese State: All-Time Record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | September 22, 1951 (won 35–14) | September 10, 2016 (won 30–22) | 16 | 20 | 2 | 44.7% |
See main article: Cypress Mug. This is another former rivalry. The Cypress Mug was the turned, polished mahogany mug awarded to the winner of the Southwestern–Southeastern football game.[14]
| + Louisiana–Southeastern Louisiana: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | November 11, 1930 (won 13–0) | September 3, 2022 (won 24–7) | 21 | 17 | 3 | 54.9% |
See main article: Battle on the Bayou. The Battle on the Bayou is the annual rivalry game between Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns and Louisiana–Monroe. The wooden boot-shaped rivalry trophy was created in 2002 to be awarded to the victors.[15]
| + Louisiana–ULM: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | September 15, 1951 (lost 7–13) | September 24, 2022 (lost 17–21) | 31 | 26 | 0 | 54.4% |
| + Louisiana–Appalachian State: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | November 22, 2014 (lost 16–35) | December 4, 2021 (won 24–16) | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% |
| + Louisiana–Arkansas State: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | October 17, 1953 (lost 12–13) | October 22, 2022 (won 38–18) | 29 | 21 | 1 | 58.2% |
See main article: Louisiana–Louisiana Tech football rivalry.
| + Louisiana–Louisiana Tech: All-time record | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | LA wins | LA losses | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87 | 1910 (lost 0–75) | October 3, 2015 (lost 14–43) | 33 | 48 | 6 | 41.38% |
See also: List of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the NFL draft.
Announced schedules as of August 10, 2024.[16]
| Grambling State | Rice | UAB | at Tulane | Tulsa | Louisiana Tech | New Mexico State | |
| at Kennesaw State | McNeese | at Louisiana Tech | at UCF | at Buffalo | |||
| Tulane | at Eastern Michigan | Kennesaw State | |||||
| at Wake Forest | at Missouri |